S kept his word.In the next two weeks the nine children were reduced to just two: 1305 and 1317.
S made sure to keep 1305 alive, feeding his rage and hatred. He watched as 1305 beat Elian, laughing every time the boy fell to the floor without strength. To S, pain was music, and Elian was his favorite instrument.
That day the theater stage filled with lights again.It was no longer the same space where one hundred and thirty-seven children had been presented to hell.Now only two shadows sat at opposite ends of the stage… and, in the middle, the master of ceremonies of horror.
"HAHAHAHAHA, CONGRATULATIONS, WRETCHED RATS," S spread his arms in jubilation. "Look at what you've achieved. From one hundred and thirty-seven, only two! What a beautiful symphony of suffering and endurance!"
1305 smashed a chair, sending it flying through the air."Enough of your damned games! Tell me who the chosen one is," he shouted.
"1305… calm down," Elian tried to say from the other side.
"Shut up, 1317!" the older boy roared. "Everything revolves around you! It's always you! I deserve the power, not this pathetic weakling!"
S watched, delighted by the tension."Relax, my dear creatures," he smiled. "Today both of you will have your turn. Today you will learn the Great Final Test."
The words rang like a sentence.The door at the back of the stage —the one they had seen open for so many children who never returned— creaked slowly.Elian and 1305 looked at each other in silence.
"Move," 1305 snarled, shoving him before entering first.
S was last to cross, closing the door behind them with a wide, almost maternal smile.
The room was cold and metallic, lit only by a yellow lamp above an operating table.A smell of rust and disinfectant hung in the air.
"First will be—" S began.
"I'll go!" 1305 interrupted, leaping onto the table. "Give me your power, bastard! Make me strong!"
S looked at him with delight."What pathetic enthusiasm," he laughed. "Alright, if that's what you want… I'll give it to you."
He strapped the youth firmly to the table and placed his palm over the boy's face. A thick, dark shadow began to flow from his hand, slowly enveloping 1305's head.
The boy screamed, but also laughed—a guttural sound halfway between pleasure and pain."HAHAHAHAHA… AAHHHHHH… SHIT… IT HURTS LIKE HELL…"
The black energy pulsed like a living heart, covering his face. S held his hand steady as if molding burning clay. When he finally withdrew, the sphere of darkness sank down like heavy smoke.
1305 panted, his eyes now shining with a dark, hollow glow, devoid of life."Happy now, you piece of trash?" S asked, smiling.
The boy only nodded—exhausted and expressionless.
"Take him to Level -4. He's the last subject of the Legion," S ordered.
Two hooded figures from the Order of the Black Mantle emerged from the shadows and hauled him away without a word.
Elian collapsed to the floor, shaking."W-what did you do to him?" he whispered.
S watched, amused."I only granted his wish. I gave him power." He leaned close, lowering his voice to a near-caring whisper as he cupped Elian's face with both hands. "But you… you don't want it, do you, 1317? You just want to go home…"
"And that will never happen," he added with a monstrous smile.
Elian gritted his teeth, trembling with fear and hatred."What are you going to do to me?" he asked weakly.
"Just lie down." S pointed to the table. "The rest will be my work."
Elian obeyed, his body rigid, while S began to pace around him.
"The sight… the instrument that lets you perceive the world.The body… the fragile vessel of the human soul.The mind… that prison you limit yourselves to.And the soul… ah, the soul… so fragile, so boring."
Elian swallowed."What nonsense are you spouting now, idiot?"
"Just explaining… how I shaped you."
"Shaped? But you never trained my sight or my sou—" He didn't finish the sentence.
S lunged and covered his face with both hands, driving his thumbs into the boy's eyes—bursting both eyeballs.
Elian felt something hot, sharp, inhuman.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—" His scream tore the silence apart.
A wet sound filled the room. Then… nothing but darkness.
S breathed deeply, in ecstasy."Ah… what a beautiful melody." He spoke on the edge of orgasm. His fingers moved with surgical precision as black energy seeped into the boy's nerves, coursing through his skull, sinking deeper into the empty sockets of his eyes.
The process lasted three hours.Three hours of convulsions and screams that shook the fortress's foundations.Until, finally, S withdrew his hands.
Elian no longer screamed—his vocal cords had been shredded by the continuous yelling.His body lay motionless as S wrapped his face with white bandages, then placed his hand over the boy's eyes, rebuilding them slowly.
When the procedure ended, S looked at him, satisfied."Perfect," he murmured, wiping blood from his coat. "You are my finest work."
Before leaving, he gave the scientists on Level 2 one last order:"Monitor his vitals. Notify me when he wakes."
And he left, smiling.
Elian lay under the yellow light, unconscious.
…
In the darkness of his mind, two voices began to speak.
One, cruel, laughing with euphoria:"HAHAHAHAHA. AT LAST, AT LAST I AM FREE TO DO WHATEVER I WANT!" it said in Elian's voice.
The other, firm, angry but with a trace of kindness:"SHIIIIIIIIIT! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE, I WON'T BE TIED TO THIS HUMAN, I ORDER YOU TO RELEASE ME FROM THIS PLACE NOW!" the other demanded, also in Elian's voice.
Two extra voices and…One single soul?