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nMisery loved company, and Kieran was an avid believer of that concept, evident by the selfless invite he extended toward Altair.

nIt wasn’t long before Lillian turned each of them into her glorified lab rats, inserting large needles into prominent veins in their arms to extract blood samples. That was only the beginning, however. This blood draw was to be compared to blood drawn from their effete bodies to note whether there was a significant difference between them. Since this was all uncharted territory for her, Lillian chose to err on the side of caution, making a conscious effort to record every step in the process.

nKieran grimaced, and Altair glared hatefully, for as soon as he arrived, it was Lillian who exposed who had treacherously given him up. What he got in return was a playful wink on Kieran’s part.

n“When we return to Xenith, watch your back. I swear I’m going to cut you.”

nKieran egged Altair on with mock fright. “Oh, so scary. Tell me more about how you’re going to do that. My senses are pretty sharp.”

nAltair only smirked in reply, giving Kieran a simple answer.

n“Not all of us can see inside the Night. I travel it confidently; you do not.”

nKieran’s expression darkened, for Altair had him beat there. His eyes couldn’t withstand peering into the Night, and his senses were obscured in that place. More frightening was Kieran’s lack of knowledge regarding Altair’s current skill with manipulating and traversing the Night, as they called it.

nAnd given their harmless banter and the subtle flames of competition flickering in Altair’s gaze, Kieran doubted he’d openly share the extent of his abilities. Not that he needed to know. As long as Altair was strong enough to protect his rear, that’s all that mattered to Kieran.

nThe rest… he could learn that from carefully watching his confidant’s actions in battle. After extracting a few vials of blood for testing, Lillian set them aside for analysis, which should come back in record time now that it had previous data and baseline information to compare it against. Lillian also took it a step further with Kieran’s samples, dating back to when he arrived at the facility. The changes were recorded, but she wanted to know how Kieran’s cells looked. The last time she checked, they were dreadfully bizarre and in a state of chaotic flux with a ravenous appetite.

nWas that quality persistent throughout all of the samples? “Follow along, boys,” Lillian said.

nOf course, she hadn’t led them far. All of the machinery within the lab was designed with mobility in mind, allowing Dr. Lillian to manipulate them using a large, multi-jointed mechanical arm. It was how she got the preliminary imagery done on the immobile Dahlia.

nKieran was accustomed to what came next — laying dead center in the lab across a cushioned medical bed. Then, the clangor of colossal magnets powering up erupted in the room. It sounded like someone had thrown a big rock inside a washer machine and set it to a rapid rinse spin cycle… if the noise were multiplied ten, maybe a hundred times over.

nThe imagery was layered, mapping musculoskeletal, vascular, and other levels of the physical anatomy. The last and most uncomfortable was the cellular imagery, which made Kieran feel as if he was about to be baked alive.

n“Uh… is it supposed to feel like this?!”

nLillian’s voice came not long after.

n“What do you feel like?”

n“A potato in an oven.”

nLillian gave an amused look along with a melodic giggle, “Sounds about right then.”

nIt was abnormal to feel such a sensation. However, Inhumans were the epitome of abnormal — of what a human should not be. However, Lillian was far from done.

n“Kieran, if you will, please tap into the ability you’ve unleashed a few times before. I need to record its function. And see what similarities exist between you and Xane.”

nKieran regulated his breathing, and moments before attempting to conjure that dreadful, ruinous energy, he paused.

n“What if I damage the machine?”

n“Well, at that point… you’ll be buying a new goddamn machine. Learn restraint and try to limit its range so that it doesn’t destroy the machine. Think you can manage?”

nKieran stuck up a hand and waved a finger, pantomiming: “No promises.”

nHis energy, by nature, sought to destroy, and he did not know how to impose a manageable constraint on that inclination.

nLillian and Altair watched grimly as Kieran resumed activating his Inhuman Manifestation. Plumes of smoke spilled off Kieran’s body as the moisture evaporated instantly, reaching an absurd heat.

nThen, crackles of a blackened-red flame flickered across his fingertips accompanied by a strange, pungent odor seconds later. It reeked to the high heavens! Lillian wretched, keeling over and clenching her stomach. “What is that smell?”

nAltair pinched his nose with his visage contorted in disgust.

n“Ugh! It… it smells like death!”

nPrecisely as they said. The smell was that of rotten flesh being burned, which was happening to Kieran’s hands. They were rotting at a visible rate, being ruined by the flame he was conjuring.

n“Kieran, stop! STOP!”

n08:23

nKieran reacted with a star. With his focus disrupted, the nauseating smell soon assailed him, too. Then, he felt an itch in his fingertips. He wore a look of horror as he stifled a scream.

nAltair coughed, fanning the air before him, before yelling to Lillian?

n“Is there a vent? If you had a vent, open it! Please!”

nLillian darted across the lab and slammed a large red button. Nothing bad ever came of a big round button, certainly not a doomsday.

nAn emergency ventilation system was activated, and the rancid smell of death was sucked up, followed by a healthy spritz of decontaminating gasses, both odorless and harmless.

nAltair was the first to ask the question on everyone’s mind:

n“Dude, what the hell was that?”

nKieran wanted to say he didn’t know, however, that was far from the truth. He could feel the power coursing through him, setting his body aflame with ruinous, infernal vigor. Exactly how much power he drew upon was lost upon Kieran, but he felt it shouldn’t have been some outrageous amount. Considering he was still in a partially enervated state, that was likely a fraction of what he could muster in perfect circumstances.

n“So… that was a thing. Enlightening, I guess. As it would turn out, this power is a sick joke. No, really, trying to draw on it damages my body. Isn’t that hilarious?”

nWhile Kieran talked and joked about the situation, wearing a fake smile to mask his vexation, Lillian looked stricken with terror. Or perhaps the situation was so absurd a laugh and furious smile was all he could manage. The situation had been salvaged before irreparable damage occurred to either Kieran or the machine… but the information she received was disconcerting, to say the least.

n“Kieran, if you think it’s damaging your body… you’re sorely mistaken. That power is dormant, but once you activate it… it begins killing you. I don’t know what kind of power you wield, but I forbid you from ever employing it. It is a death wish.”

nKieran was left dumbfounded. The damage he could somewhat wrap his mind around… but directly killing him? That was where he drew the line. Forget Lillian forbidding him; he forbade himself!

n‘Good riddance. I condemn this damned power.’

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