"What happened? Am I alive?" Asher felt like his head had exploded. Every possible kind of negative sensation coursed through his mind.

  He opened his eyes.

  "Where am I? What is this place?" He knew nothing. He thought his life was over. He was sure he had turned into a monster and that Mark had killed him.

  He smelled cleanliness, felt soft bedding.

  He noticed he was lying in a bed. On both sides of the bed, there were slightly blue curtains. To his left was a nightstand with a white electric lamp on it.

  On the other side of the room, opposite him, was a similar bed.

  A girl with short, tousled chestnut hair is lying on it. She looks like someone who doesn’t pay much attention to her appearance.

  A long scar stretches beside her left eye. It is gray and slightly raised, creating a stark contrast against her fair skin.

  She looked at him with amusement visible in her deep, hazel eyes.

  "What am I even thinking about… Get a grip, Asher. A white room, looks medical. They must have saved me after a successful mutation. I should be assigned to the White Division now." The twelve-year-old quickly regained his composure. He glanced at the girl opposite him.

  "I don’t recognize her. She must be an orphan from another place." Asher continued to think, observing the girl with an indifferent gaze.

  "Finally awake? Took you long enough." The girl snorted, looking at the boy.

  Asher ignored the girl and continued to analyze his surroundings.

  "If I ended up here, that means I’m in the Legion of Rebirth. Someone will probably come soon and tell me what happens next." He decided to wait patiently.

  "Hey, are you just going to keep ignoring me, you jerk?" The girl taunted Asher with a hint of aggression, gripping the bed’s railing tightly.

  "Yeah. So what?" Asher replied with a slight amusement in his eyes.

  "You little bastard! I’m going to smash your face in like no one ever has!" The girl immediately flew into a rage, trying to lunge at the boy. A solid metal chain linking the shackles on her hands to the floor stopped her.

  "Doesn’t seem to be working out for you," Asher said with a wide grin.

  "Can you two calm down? Especially you, Vera. My head is starting to hurt from your anger. Please." A voice came from behind the curtain on the left side of Asher’s bed.

  "By the way, my name is Lys. Apparently, I have the ability to sense and influence emotions. You’ve already met Vera - she has highly enhanced senses, which is why she reacts so strongly to everything. And you? What’s your name?" Lys asked, slightly excited. Clearly intrigued by a new person.

  "I’m Asher. I don’t fully know what my ability is yet. But I do know one thing, this bitch is annoying." Asher said, slightly intrigued by Lys’s ability.

  "You piece of shit!" Vera was fuming again.

  Asher glanced at her, slightly irritated.

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  "You’ll get used to each other. After all, we don’t know how much longer we’ll be stuck here." Lys replied, slightly saddened by his fate.

  At that moment, a blond-haired scientist entered the room. The same one who had conducted Asher’s Awakening process.

  The children fell silent, and the tension in the air increased.

  The scientist approached Asher’s bed, gave him a fleeting glance, and said,

  "Get up. Follow me."

  Then he began heading toward the door.

  Despite the headache and initial disorientation caused by the sudden movement, Asher stood up and followed the scientist.

  Asher stepped out of the room, finding himself in a long corridor with metal doors on both sides. Each door had a number written in chalk.

  He saw numbers from 1 to 20. He had just exited room number 13.

  At the right end of the corridor was a staircase.

  To the left, a flag with the emblem of the Legion of Rebirth was displayed - a steel fist gripping a monster’s spine, ending in a skull.

  The floor was stone, and the walls seemed very solid.

  They headed toward the stairs.

  They walked for a few minutes through similar corridors until they suddenly stopped in front of a door twice the size of the others.

  The scientist opened the door.

  Before Asher stood a vast, empty room. Everything was made of visibly solid metal. The walls, doors, ceiling, and floor. Asher was surrounded by a metallic world.

  When the scientist closed the door behind them, he introduced himself.

  "My name is Arnold. I am a scientist of the White Division, specializing in mutation research. I am responsible for studying the abilities of recruits."

  He opened an armored door in the room’s wall. These too were metal but looked even more massive than the previous ones.

  "Research tables, a computer, and many medical tools, there are also folders with documents." Asher quickly noted in his mind after glancing at the room.

  "Sit here," the scientist ordered, pointing to an ordinary wooden chair.

  Asher obediently did as he was told.

  Arnold took a syringe and approached Asher. He rolled up his sleeve, inserted the needle into his arm, and began drawing blood.

  After collecting two vials, he placed them in a designated container.

  "Now lie down there. On your back." Arnold gestured toward a steel platform the size of an adult man. It had leather safety straps and chains, clearly meant for each limb.

  "This is finally starting to look like something a scientist from the White Division would ask me to do," Asher thought as he obediently walked toward the table.

  He lay down. He strapped in his legs himself to spare Arnold the trouble and waited indifferently.

  "You know, I have to secure you myself anyway - for my own safety." Arnold scoffed, approaching the boy with a metal scalpel and forceps.

  "Oh." The boy replied, unbothered.

  The scientist placed his tools on a nearby table. He unstrapped the boy’s legs, then efficiently fastened him back in, tightening the restraints securely.

  He pulled a small chip from his pocket, made of nanometal and biocompatible polymers.

  He took the scalpel, approached the boy, and said, "This might sting a little."

  Then he began cutting a hole on the left side of the boy’s neck.

  The twelve-year-old started to pale. He panted heavily, gritting his teeth, and sweat drenched his back. Through clenched teeth, he only managed to utter:

  "Fffuck…"

  "If you move and I cut something I shouldn’t, we might have a small problem. I mean, I could probably fix it, but I’m not sure I’d want to waste my time on that." Arnold said, sounding slightly bored.

  "In this moment, I am implanting the Signature Module in you. Connected to a modern bracelet, it will display your power. Every member of the Legion of Rebirth has the same one. It serves both as a symbol of your strength and a means of identification. Currently, it is impossible to counterfeit, and it will remain that way for a long time. I will implant it in such a way that you won’t even think about removing it. That’s the procedure."

  The scientist muttered as if speaking to himself.

  Asher began to struggle with his legs. Despite the pain, he didn’t dare move his upper body.

  "Bastard! He could at least give me some anesthesia! This couldn’t get any worse..." Asher cursed the scientist in his thoughts. After all, what else could he do at that moment?

  Arnold paused his actions for a moment, giving the boy a brief respite. He walked over to the tool table and pulled out a large drill with a small, sharp rod attached to it.

  "Oh, fuck... Turns out it could." Asher lost all hope upon seeing the scientist’s equipment.

  Unmoved by the boy’s horrified gaze, Arnold stood beside him and began drilling into his cervical spine.

  Asher’s entire body tensed for about two seconds, he couldn't even make a sound.

  He blacked out.

  "Hmm, he lasted quite a while," Arnold murmured, pausing briefly before continuing to drill into the boy’s neck.