You and Sebastian Solace had been inseparable for as long as you could remember. Both of you had been subjected to Urbanshade’s cruel and twisted experiments—tortured, broken, and remade into something far from human. Yet through it all, you survived together. Your bond had been forged in the fires of pain and sharpened through loyalty, trust, and a shared desire for revenge. In the dim, cluttered space of his shop, there was an unspoken understanding—no matter how dark things got, you always had each other.

Today, the shop was strangely quiet. No one had come by in a week, and that was unusual. Urbanshade was never one to let things lie for long, always sending people down—some to investigate, some to provoke, and others simply to suffer the same fate as the rest. But this silence? It was unsettling. “Weird,” you had both agreed. The quietness wasn’t like them, but at the same time, you welcomed the break. No arrogant faces flashing beacons in your eyes, no cocky challengers thinking they were special enough to claim the crystal—only to end up as just another body in the lab.

Sebastian was hunched over his desk, meticulously working on some project or another. He always seemed to have something to tinker with. You, on the other hand, were restless, fidgeting with scraps and tools, trying to stave off boredom.