"War always reaches the depths of horror because of idiots who perpetuate terror from generation to generation under the pretext of vengeance." - Guy Sajer (The Forgotten Soldier)

* * * *

The silence inside the boathouse felt like a fog—thick, suffocating, and heavy with grief.

A single white sheet lay over the still form of Karl Myrick, upstairs in one of the seldom-used storage rooms, the air smelling faintly of disinfectant and old wood. It was all they could do for him now—preserve what dignity remained.

His eyes had been closed gently, and his arms crossed. No one said it aloud, but they'd all felt it: the old world was dying, and he was its funeral pyre.

An hour had passed. Maybe more. Time had fractured. And in the cramped lounge of the boathouse, every second dragged like lead across bare nerves.

Rain pattered faintly outside, but the interior held no warmth. Just the cold, low thrum of a storm building over Eldario, distant thunder rolling like an omen across the water. The generator buzzed faintly from the rear cabin, casting the room in low, yellow light—just enough to see each other's expressions.

Everyone sat where they could—couches, worn chairs, or even the edge of the table. No one touched the coffee table at the center, though. It might as well have been cursed.

Resting atop it, in a plastic blister pack of clinical clarity, were the scarlet pills.

Six pills. Sealed. Glossy like polished blood.

Next to them, half-spread, were the stained documents and research files Letha, Claudia, and Lucie had risked their lives to retrieve. Some pages bore fingerprints—someone's blood, maybe. Or something worse.

None dared touch the pills. Not even Sera.

The silence was a pressure. A storm waiting for someone to speak first.

Then…

"Blue Pandora…" Letha's voice was low. Strained. Her elbows were on her knees, her fingers woven into her platinum hair as though trying to hold her thoughts together. She didn't look up. Her pale blue eyes were shadowed with memory. "I never thought I'd hear that name again," she murmured. "It was…just after I joined Whirlwind. Back when Zalfari was still ours. Back when Klein was alive."

At the name, Raul visibly winced. His golden eyes looked away. He hadn't heard Klein's name in years.

"Blue Pandora caused chaos even back then. Whirlwind had to clean up the aftermath more than once. Some of our own even tried it. I saw what it did to them. What was left of them."

A pause.

Lucie, seated cross-legged on the old armchair, frowned. Her voice was tentative, almost a whisper. "What's…Blue Pandora?"

Silence fell again. No one rushed to answer.

Then, Sera exhaled slowly. She was perched, as always, on the edge of the bar counter. Legs swinging slightly, her arms folded tightly across her chest. Her raven hair was tied loosely in a low side ponytail, the loose curls brushing against her coat's collar. She looked down at the pills like they were old ghosts.

Stolen story; please report.

"The darkest sin of the underground," she said, her tone grim, each word like stone. "A name that's practically taboo now. You never speak it unless you want a knife in your back by morning." Her eyes flickered toward Raul. Then Letha. "Back when Blade, Dragonfly, and even Whirlwind were still around… There was an incident."

"Incident?" Ness echoed, glancing toward Tatius beside him.

Zest was the next to speak, his arms folded and leaning next to Sera, against the side of the counter. His voice was low and calm. But his eyes, always too keen, too perceptive, burned with bitter recollection.

"Do you know why drug trafficking is forbidden in the underground? Why no matter how violent or divided the gangs are, everyone agrees on that one rule? Why anyone who dares to deal gets executed without a trial?"

Claudia looked up from the files, a grim frown forming. "I always wondered…"

Kailey, huddled next to Neil on the couch, blinked. "I thought it was just…one of those things."

"Six years ago," Letha said, her voice sharpened with tension, "a drug started circulating. Quiet at first. Hidden. But then… It spread. Underground. Civilian circles. Even some hunters and ESA agents."

"Blue Pandora," Laura supplied, seated stiffly on the armrest of the long sofa, her arms crossed. "A drug designed to awaken latent Gifts in the Gifted. Forcibly. Even if they weren't ready. Even if it killed them."

Lucie's lips parted slightly. "…Killed?"

"And for Normals," Raul said with a snort that lacked any humour, "it gave power. Temporary gifts. Strength. Speed. Reaction times off the charts. Senses boosted to predatory levels. They could go toe to toe with Gifted. And for those in professional sports, it was a lifesaver for them. They could reach times, and even speeds they would never have managed otherwise. It was used widely amongst the ESA circles back then. Even amongst the lower ranks of the hunters."

"But it came at a cost," Laura said flatly. "A horrifying one. Addiction. Mental instability. Violent outbursts. Night terrors. Organ failure. Haemorrhaging. Psychological breaks. Some went catatonic. Some lost their identities completely."

Kailey's face had gone white. "That's… That's monstrous."

"It was a death sentence disguised as salvation," Sera murmured. "And it spread like wildfire."

"I think… I think I remember something," Lucie said suddenly. "My dad. He was investigating something like this back then. He said people were dying in batches. But then, he dropped it. Or more like he was forced to drop it. I always thought it was just the ESA who silenced him. But… The gangs too?"

"They did," Letha said. "We didn't want the name circulating. Because anyone who went looking for Blue Pandora…" Her voice faltered. "…never came back."

"Dozens died chasing it," Sera said softly. Her expression hardened. "I buried friends. Watched enemies claw their own faces off. I saw a thirteen-year-old whose powers had just started to awaken overdose in front of me. She couldn't stop screaming. She ripped open her own throat just to make it stop."

The room went still.

Kailey covered her mouth. Claudia turned her gaze away, swallowing hard. Tatius gripped the edge of the seat so hard his knuckles whitened.

"We thought we erased it," Raul said, his voice hoarse. "The Abyss. Dragonfly. Blade. Whirlwind. Every single street gang. Even the Enforcers. We went scorched earth. Every dealer. Every lab. Every supply line. We thought we got them all."

"But we never knew where it came from," Laura added, her voice barely audible. "That was the one thing we could never trace. The source."

"And now we know," Ness said quietly, his eyes glued to the scarlet pills. "It was the hunters. It always was."

Laura leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. "But it was blue back then. Why is it red now?"

No one spoke. The shadows seemed to stretch longer in the quiet.

Then Ness licked his lips. "This is just conjecture. But… Blue Pandora, the original one… What if it was a test run?"

Everyone turned to him.

"I mean, think about it. A prototype. An unstable version. What if it was never meant to be mass-produced? What if the hunters were just testing reactions… Behaviours… The effects on Gifted and Normals alike? Which would explain the instability. Those were just 'test runs' for the real thing. And now…" Ness nodded to the scarlet pills. "They've completed it."

Sera's eyes widened slightly. She looked to Zest, who had gone deathly still. "…You think they perfected it," she said slowly.

Letha's breath caught. "They did. Goddess help us… They perfected it."

"And all those Gifted disappearing across Eldario…" Laura's voice cracked. "The hunts. The seizures. The kidnappings. Even civilians who supported us getting 'accidentally lost'."

"They weren't lost," Raul growled, fury simmering in his eyes. "They were harvested."

"The Gifted we found in Veridale…" Laura's voice trembled. "Strapped to those machines. Drained. Vivisected."

"They were the source," Sera whispered. "The lab rats. The…fuel."

"The frenzy we've seen in some of the new hunter squads…" Kailey whispered, shaking. "Doesn't it sound the same?"

Neil looked sick. "The unrelenting strength. The eyes. The foaming mouths. The erratic screams. They're dosed."

"There's no going back," Tatius muttered. "There's no undoing this."

"The witch hunts aren't even the full scope anymore," Raul said. "They're weaponising our people. Our essence. And feeding it to Normals like it's war candy. But this can't be just everything that they're planning. There must be something else. Something else we're missing."

"Fucking monsters," Ness spat.

"The hunters don't see us as human," Sera said coldly. "They never did."

"And Nicolosi?" Claudia muttered, voice bitter. "What the hell does he want out of this?"

Sera looked at the ceiling for a moment. As if expecting it to answer. Then she exhaled. Her eyes were tired. And impossibly, heartbreakingly sad. "At this point," she said quietly, "even killing Nicolosi won't stop it. It's too late for that."

She looked around the room.

Neil. Kailey. Claudia. Ness. Tatius. Lucie. Raul. Laura. Zest. Letha.

Family. Survivors. Weapons. Witnesses.

"We're looking at the beginning of the end," Sera said softly. Her voice was the only thing in the room. "Nicolosi… Just what the hell are you planning?"

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