In a certain forest in Lille—Grotenhoutbos to be precise—an ominous black armoured vehicle traverses the terrain in search of the secret UDAP headquarters. Occupying this van are: the stalker (who's driving the vehicle), Louane, M and of course, Aaron. It's been almost 24 hours since the cultists coerced our protagonist into joining another of their insane missions and he is still in the dark about what exactly they are going to do. Louane and M have been kept in charge of monitoring him and ensuring he doesn't escape, and no matter what he asks, the two remain adamant on not divulging any relevant information.
After a few more hours on the road, the stalker abruptly stops the vehicle, indicating that they have now reached the intended location. Due to the fact that all the windows at the back are opaque, Aaron has no way of identifying where they are, but he has a feeling it's nowhere familiar. A few minutes after halting, the stalker opens the back door and instructs all three of them to come out, and as they do so, the teen boy's attention is pulled to the black bag the man is carrying over his shoulder.
"What are you hiding in the bag?" Aaron asks him out of curiosity. Something tells him that, like everything the Zomer seems to be doing, it's either something illegal or dangerous, or maybe even both. "Is it a bomb?"
"You'll find out when it's time for it to be unveiled. For now, I need you to leave the van," the stalker answers the question with his regular vagueness and malevolent smile.
When Aaron told himself he wasn't going to recognize the final destination, he wasn't at all expecting what he's currently seeing. For as far as the eye can see, all there seems to be are endless tall evergreen trees and grasses. What's up with these psychos and taking everything to the woods? First was when they attacked Mathéo and Laura on the first day of school, then the disappearing library, and now this. What's next? Playing into cult stereotypes by making animal sacrifices in some backwater forest?
The stalker leads all of them deeper into the forest, insisting that they have to cover the remaining distance by foot for stealth reasons. After over ten minutes of walking through snakes, insects as well as other bothersome creatures, the man stops them in the middle of nowhere. Aaron's starting to think the guy has lost it cause he honestly can't tell the difference between where they came from and where they are at now.
"I thought you guys were planning on infiltrating some high-level security fortress. What are we doing in the middle of the freaking woods?!" The teenager's frustration and annoyance with the whole situation just keep growing bigger and bigger. "I can't even see a single building anywhere close to this vicinity."
"I assure you the headquarters is here. You don't see it cause it's underground. Just be patient," that's all the apparent leader of this operation says in response before switching his focus to Louane who's rubbing her palms on the ground looking for something. "Have you detected it?"
"Yes," the blonde answers as she raises her gaze to the man. "It's deep, but I should be able to teleport us down there."
The stalker's creepy smile appears to grow even wider after hearing the response, and he instructs M to stay back and keep guard while they're gone. Louane comes closer to her boss and Aaron and places her hands on both their shoulders, and in the blink of an eye, they are transported to a completely new location. At the moment, they're in a gigantic building that vaguely resembles the 'Men in Black' headquarters with everyone in it wearing black suits for some strange reason. They seem to use a lot of high-tech gadgets here, for example: a 3D hologram projector displaying the UDAP logo in midair. As Aaron's about to wander off to marvel in the beauty of his current surroundings, the stalker pulls him back.
"If you distance yourself from me, you'll no longer be invisible to all of them," the man warns the boy with a whisper.
The man is right. Everybody just walks pass the three of them as if they don't exist, or more like they can't see them. Like phantoms. This has to be the work of the stalker's zegen ability. His power allows him to manipulate the reflection and refraction of light rays in order to create illusions, mirages, and even make himself and other people within a certain radius from him invisible.
The three intruders head on over to the elevator as a group, but they are unable to access it since it requires an ID card to open. So, they wait there until one of the women in black comes to use it and they stealthily enter along with her without her noticing. She selects the floor she wants to go to and the others just stand silently as they descend even deeper underground.
"Why didn't we take her card?" Aaron questions the stalker angrily after the lady exits the elevator and the door closes behind her. "Are you trying to get us stuck in here?"
"You need to calm down. We won't be needing it where we are going to," the man responds as he presses the last button on the elevator control panel, taking them to the building's lowest level. "All we require is in here," he adds as he taps on his black bag, which in no way reassures any of Aaron's concerns on this mission.
It takes a few minutes before the elevator door opens up to an empty black room. The only thing here is another metal doorway at the opposite end of the room. Aaron slowly approaches it ahead of the other two and notices it has some sort of scanner.
"I told you that we were going to need the card, but you didn't listen. What are you going to do now? Lemme guess, Louane is going to teleport inside."
"That isn't even an option," Louane starts as she places her palm on the door to feel it. "The door's made of pure Palladium, so it'll repel my teleportation. UDAP definitely isn't joking about securing this room."
"Not having a card isn't a cause for concern, it's a retina scanner," the criminal mastermind tells the boy as he shoves him aside to take a look at the door. "Don't worry, I have the key."
The stalker finally unzips the bag he's been carrying and what he brings out of it instantly disgusts Aaron. It's Rudi Vervoort's head in the same fresh condition as when it was just cut off. Is that why the creep specifically asked the teen to decapitate the politician? Too irritated to utter another word, the boy watches mutely as the guy opens up the dead man's right eye for the device to examine. The machine immediately shines a green light to show the recognition is a success and the door rises up, making the room behind it accessible to them.
Strangely, there's only one thing in this new chamber. Resting perfectly on top of a metal podium in the room's center is a thick black globe that looks like it might be made of clay. From afar, the orb seems to be nothing more than a harmless inanimate object, but as the three zegens gradually come closer to it, Aaron feels something bizarre. It's almost like the whole ambiance around him just got denser. It's clearly not the effect of the stalker nor Louane's abilities, so does that mean it's the artifact that's causing this feeling?
'Is that orb alive?' Aaron wonders deeply as he stops his movement out of fear of what would happen if he proceeds any further.
"Are you frightened now, little baby?" Louane teases him as she walks past him. "I thought you weren't afraid of anything."
Aaron ignores the blonde girl's remark and goes on to ask the stalker the question that's bothering his mind. "What exactly am I looking at and why does it seem to be living?"
"So you noticed it already?" the demented man starts with another mischievous grin. "This right here is the essence of Feto, the Zomer's greatest achievement. Think of it as an embodiment of his heart and soul, and with it back in our possession, he'll be restored to his full glory."
Aaron already knew that the cult members were the farthest thing from sane, but this new revelation puts his previous ideas to shame. What the fuck is this Feto creature and what's so unique about it to warrant this much security? The more time the teen boy spends with these people, the more messed up everything seems to become.
Without giving any more elaboration, the stalker stretches out both of his hands and takes the ball from the platform holding it, instantly setting off alarms everywhere in the entire building. Loud sirens begin to blare from every direction as the door behind them suddenly shuts closed as a security protocol, trapping the three zegens inside the room. To make things worse, the vents on the ceiling start releasing an unknown gas whose function Aaron has no idea about.
"What the fuck were you thinking removing it!? It was obviously a trick," the adolescent shouts at the stalker as his heart starts racing faster and faster out of panic. "Now we're all just going to end up dying down here."
"Would you shut up for once, you baby!?" Louane claps back at him before turning to face her boss and asking, "what's our escape plan? It's going to take a lot of energy out of me cause of how deep underground we are right now, but I think I'll be able to teleport us back to the surface once we're out of this Palladium coated prison."
"That's good to hear," the stalker responds and turns to Aaron. "I need you to use your powers to get us out of here."
"You can't be serious," Aaron protests as he starts to cough as a result of inhaling the gas.
"This isn't the best time to complain, you idiot! Do your thing or we're all going to die down here whether you like it or not," the blonde cultist angrily points out to him as she also begins coughing.
"Fine," the teenager reluctantly agrees. "But you have to take out the light first. I'm going to need here to be as dark as possible if that door is really made of Palladium like you say."
Louane does as he says and transforms her right hand to a squid tentacle. Then, stretching out her animal appendage, she shatters the only light bulb on the ceiling and plunges the room into darkness. Aaron takes a deep breath as he mentally reaches out for the underlying energy contained in the bountiful darkness surrounding him. Next, he pushes and some form of black ooze bursts out from the shadows and displaces the door from its place, freeing them.
The three of them rush out and are surprised to find five heavily armed guards waiting for them in front of the elevator door. They all have their guns pointed at the intruders and, considering how high-status UDAP is, their weapons are most certainly specially equipped to kill or at least incapacitate zegens.
"Catch us if you can, bozos," Louane mocks the personnels as she places her hands on her two fellow criminals' shoulders and instantaneously teleports them all back to main land.
"Guys, we need to leave here immediately. It won't take long before those UDAP officials come up here looking for us," the stalker calls the attention of his two accomplices as he leads the way back to their escape vehicle. He also stuffs the stolen orb along with the head into his bag so as to ease his movement.
"I'm not leaving with any of you," Aaron objects as he refuses to move an inch towards the man's direction. He understands that he surrendered himself to these felons so that they leave Sara and the others in peace, but he doesn't believe he's willing to continue going along with their psychotic ideas (especially not while he still has this uneasy feeling about that artifact they took). "I've had enough of all of your bullshit and I don't want anything to do with it anymore."
Louane and the stalker don't cease their movement upon this declaration and Aaron suddenly realizes M is no longer there. In fact, he didn't see him when the blonde brought them back up, but he was supposed to wait for them here. Could he have already returned to the van?
To Aaron's surprise, before he can turn around to check for his fellow zegen, somebody comes out of nowhere and stabs a needle into his back, injecting an unknown chemical substance into his body. Aaron falls to the soil as his whole body quickly becomes burdened with fatigue. As his vision slowly fades, he looks up to see M standing over him with an emptied syringe in his hand and a blank expression on his face. They must have planned this. They would have predicted that the teen would get second thoughts in the course of their escape and put M on standby with the sedative. Those bastards!
'Fuck you!' is Aaron's last clear thought before his eyes close and he loses consciousness.
* * * *
Aaron forces his eyes open as he slowly wakes up. His head hurts as if it was just bashed against a wall and he's still feeling very drowsy. He moves his gaze from left to right and he doesn't recognize where he is. He's in a vast empty room with no windows, and the only source of light here is a single light bulb on the ceiling. He doesn't have a watch so he has no idea how long he was unconscious. The teen tries to move his legs and hands, but they don't budge because his limbs have been chained to the wall. That's when he remembers the last thing that happened before he passed out.
'Those assholes!' Aaron thinks as he suddenly becomes filled with rage. Well, what was he expecting from a group of mentally disturbed cultists?
The door at the opposite end of the room opens up and the stalker walks in. In the palm of his hand is the ominous sphere that they stole from UDAP, and the moment Aaron lays eyes on it, the throbbing feeling of danger immediately comes back to him in full force.
"So, you're finally awake. I was starting to think we might've overdosed you a little bit," the mad man jokes as he gradually approaches Aaron, but the boy is not in the mood for his non-existent humour.
"What the fuck am I doing here!?" Aaron yells as he struggles ferociously to free himself from his metal restraints but to no avail. Whatever drug they injected him with must've also affected his ability 'cause he doesn't seem to be able to call upon his authority over the shadows. I bet he's loathing this feeling of being a normal right now. "What did you do to me!? Why isn't my power working!?"
"Don't worry, your ability isn't gone. It's just a simple chemical compound that numbs zegen powers for a few hours. You'll be fine; the police use it all the time while apprehending criminals of our kind," the stalker reveals as he stops right in front of his captive, barely a few inches apart from each other.
"You still haven't told me what I'm doing here. I thought you just wanted my help to steal whatever that ball is. If it's in your custody now, why am I still here?"
"You completely misunderstood our intentions. We didn't bring you along with us because we needed your assistance with the stealing part, that was just an added bonus. We did so 'cause we need you to serve a much bigger purpose, one greater than you and I both. You're going to fulfill your life's destiny by functioning as the vessel for the soon to be restored Feto. You will help to reestablish balance in this disorderly world."
Has this man completely lost his marbles or something? What does he mean by 'fulfill your life's destiny'? Is this supposed to be the point in every horror plot where the cultists cut open the preordained sacrifice and drain his blood for their summoning ritual? I guess this became painfully inevitable the moment that the idiot teenager decided to get involved with such a clandestine group of psychos.
"So you're just going to kill me? Then what? Use my entrails as offerings to that ball of dirt?" Aaron may sound all harsh and confident, but deep down he's shivering in his pants like a scared child. He isn't prepared to die, especially not by some gruesome method like butchering. Maybe this is just karmic retribution for the lives he took on the night of the gala.
"This isn't death my friend, far from it. It's your transcension," the stalker declares with a huge evil smile as he pushes the orb against the boy's torso. "To be honest, I wish I was in your position. Who wouldn't want to sacrifice themselves for a god?"
The second the object makes contact with his body, it instantly melts into a gooey liquid and permeates his skin, like a parasite penetrating its host. The pain it evokes is utterly unbearable and Aaron starts screaming as his very being is invaded by this mysterious entity. Death would've been a much more merciful punishment than this horrific torture. His sight soon begins to darken until everything goes pitch black.
* * * *
For as long as I can remember, I've always had this voice in my head. Well, not really in my head but in the shadows around me. Like an incessant whisper. Since my earliest memory back at the Foyer Lilla Monod orphanage, it's been talking to me whenever I'm alone in the dark, like an apparition haunting its prey.
"Just fight back. You know you wanna. You'll feel so much better if you shoved your fork into his throat, I promise." It would suggest revenge plots like that to me anytime I got bullied or ridiculed by the other orphans, but I always resisted.
Nobody else could hear the voice and it began to drive me insane. Sometimes, I would scream at the ghost talker when the noise got too much and all the other kids would stare at me with frightened and disturbed looks. They all distanced themselves from me and eventually tagged me as the unstable zegen whose ability was driving him to derangement. Even the caregivers that worked at the home were scared of coming close to me. I'm sure they were convinced that if they did so I would stab them or something like the mental train wreck I was.
All that stigma never made the voice go away. If anything, it only amplified it. I would shrivel myself into a ball in my bed in the middle of the night when they would switch off the lights for bedtime. As the darkness settled in, the whispers got even louder and more intolerable. I started to ask myself what I had done to be born with such a malediction. Was I cursed by my real parents or was I just mad like everyone said? Maybe that was why I was abandoned in this hellhole.
As my erratic behavior got worse and worse, all my roommates began to complain that I was a safety hazard to them. Siding with the bullies as usual, the matron at the time decided to relocate me to an empty room so that the only person I could pose a danger to would be myself. My whole perception of the world had become bleak and I had accepted that I would remain that way forever. I would remain the most unfortunate human in existence, but an unexpected person that suddenly came into my life helped me change my perspective.
"Hello. Are you Aaron?" a certain Latino boy with a bag hung over his shoulder asked me as he stood at my room doorway and I nodded my head in affirmation. He looked like he was about the same age as me but, unlike most of my mates, something about his demeanor seemed devoid of emotions. From his blank eyes to the dull tone in his voice, it was as if he was a body without a soul. His body was covered with scars too. What could he have experienced at that age to make him like that?
"Why do you ask? Did anyone send you to look for me?"
"No. My name is Mathéo and Mrs Ariane said that I will be sharing this room with you. I just arrived here this morning and, according to her, this is the only available room at the moment."
'Just arrived here?' I thought when I heard his response. That could only mean his real family either abandoned him or something terrible happened to them. Maybe that was why he appeared to be so dead inside.
"I don't think you'd want to stay here with me. I tend to be 'unsafe' at times," I warned the newbie, but he didn't seem to care. He just walked over to the vacant bed and sat down on it as if I had just spoken gibberish.
"I assure you that would be doing me a favor."
Back then, I couldn't understand why every word that came out of Mathéo's mouth sounded so morbid, but as we gradually became friends, I learnt how cruel and toxic his household was. Much like me, his mental health was in a very messed up state. Over time, our friendship became a way for me to ignore the continuous pining voices from all the shadows around me.
Around a year and a half after Mathéo's arrival, on a random Tuesday afternoon, Mrs Ariane (the witch of a matron) came to inform me that some guy named 'Robert Renaud' was there to adopt me. It came to me as a shock since all of the previous aspiring foster parents I had seen had steered clear of me. They looked at me like I was the doll from a 'Chucky' movie, too creepy and deadly to raise. When I met my adoptive father, he seemed like a decent person, but I didn't know how to feel about the situation. Regardless, Ariane was so stoked to finally get rid of me she concluded all the paperwork and documentations before the close of working hours that day and had me leave with Rob.
The first two years of living in Robert's home weren't exactly sunshine and rainbows. With no friend anymore to use as a crutch to ignore the unending whispers, I fell back to my emo phase. That time the ideas it put in my head were even more diabolical, like "set the house on fire" or "kill him before he can do the same to you". My new dad tried being a caring parent, but honestly speaking, he had no idea what to do. He was between his mid to late twenties and I doubted a man his age knew how to handle a mentally problematic preteen who was also a zegen, unlike him. I couldn't even imagine why he wanted to adopt a child and become a single parent while he was so young, so one day I asked him.
"Why did you adopt me?" I put forward the question one evening as we both ate dinner at the dining table, and I could tell from Rob's immediate reaction that it took him by surprise.
"What's bringing this up all of a sudden?" the man asked in return as he halted his eating so that he could fully concentrate on our conversation. "Did something happen at school today? Are they bullying you because you're adopted?"
"No, nothing happened. It's just a subject that's been on my mind since I got here, but I just didn't know how to mention it."
"It's somewhat of a long story, but I'll try to summarize it for you," the tone of Robert's voice suddenly sounded a bit sombre. "It was actually my fiancée's idea. Her name was Émilie and she died from lung cancer a year before I finalized your adoption. She didn't want to give birth nor did she want a surrogate, so we agreed to adopt once we got married. You might not remember us, but we used to come to the orphanage all the time when we were engaged and we would always see you curled up by yourself at a corner. Émilie would always tell me you reminded her a lot of her younger brother and you were the one for us, but sadly, a few days before our wedding, her health started deteriorating. I immediately rushed her to the hospital and they quickly started her treatments, but even a year later she still hadn't gotten better. She eventually kicked the bucket and for such a long time I was in a very dark place, but then I remembered how much she wanted to help you and give you a family and I thought if I adopted you myself, it'd help me feel a little bit closer to her. I understand if you feel that my reason was selfish, but it's the truth and I hope it doesn't make you think less of me as your guardian."
After hearing that story, I deeply felt for Rob. I couldn't imagine the immense pain he was experiencing deep down and yet he had the courage to take in a child like me. My whole point of view on the man was transformed and that was the day I started to consider him as somewhat of a parent.
Unfortunately, finding out about that touching story didn't magically bring an end to my regular mental torment and it was starting to affect all aspects of my life more and more. I began acting out towards everyone around me—Rob, my classmates and even my teachers. That was when the whispers became self harmful.
"Just jump off. It's not like anyone cares if you're alive or not," it said to me as I stood in front of the pavement on my school's second floor, and for a moment I actually considered it. Taking into account my small size back then and how long the fall would've been, I was sure I wouldn't survive it, but a sudden female voice that came from behind me pulled me out of my suicidal thoughts.
"You know you wouldn't survive if you jumped."
I immediately turned around to see one of my classmates (Sara Bloomaert) standing there with a heap of fencing club flyers in her hand. I had seen her many times in class, but that was the first time she ever spoke to me.
"I don't see any problem with that. It's not like anybody would mind either way, apart from maybe the janitors who'd probably have to clean up my dead body."
"That's not true at all. I for one would be highly disturbed if I heard you died," she assured me as she handed me one of the flyers. "You should try joining the club. It might help lift your mood, and when you do, don't forget to add that I was the one that recommended it to you."
I was pretty sure that everything she told me that day was more or less an ad to get me to join fencing, but in that moment I was starstruck. In my mind, I had fallen for an angel whose beauty had silenced my problems and all the whispers had gone mute in that instant. I had a crush on her that continued to grow even though we never spoke to each other afterwards. I doubt she ever realized how much that short exchange had changed my life.
I eventually got the opportunity to reconnect with Sara when she was hospitalized during our middle school years and it ended up being the seed that blossomed into our romantic relationship. After that, my life felt perfect. My best friend—Mathéo—had gotten adopted by a loving family and he was getting the help he needed, I had a father that always tried his best to make sure I was alright and happy despite how troublesome I was most of the time, a girlfriend I was head over heels for and the whispers were finally gone. I was at peace with the way things had become, at least until that afternoon happened.
"... Loredana gave birth to some sort of miracle baby who possessed a unique ability..."
Once I discovered the mystery surrounding my birth, the voice returned in full throttle and I no longer knew how to resist it. I kept on succumbing to its notions and ruining my life and the lives of my friends.
"You can't just take that. That normal had the gull to punch you and that can not go unpunished. He's exactly like the people that took Loredana away from you and it's about time he got a taste of his own medicine. If you don't, he'll just end up betraying you like people of his kind always do. He isn't your brother, he's your enemy."
And I foolishly listened. I was fully aware that my ability could kill or severely wound Mathéo if I lashed out on him, but I did it regardless, and I didn't even feel an ounce of remorse for what I had just done. A part of me felt somewhat good about it and that sickened me. It disgusted me knowing that I had derived some form of pleasure from almost murdering my oldest friend, but maybe it was the right thing to do since people like him can't be trusted.
From that moment on, bad decision making simply became a norm in my lifestyle. I refused to tell Rob I was involving myself with a crazy cult cause I wasn't sure if he was a UDAP spy or not, I pushed away Sara (the only person that continuously stuck by me regardless of my actions), I murdered all those innocent people out of pure hatred, then I... Then...
Then what? What did I do next? I don't remember anymore.
"Aaron. Earth to Aaron," I hear Mathéo's voice speaking to me and I'm pulled back to the real world in front of me. I forgot I'm having lunch with him and Sara in the school cafeteria. I must've spaced out again, but what was I thinking about again? "You completely blacked out for a moment there. Is there something on your mind?"
"No, it's nothing important," I shrug off my initial confusion and resume eating. When I take my first bite of the spaghetti on my plate, the spiciness of the sauce instantly chokes me and I start to cough.
"Do you need some water?" Sara asks me compassionately as she offers me her cup and I gratefully accept it, but as I drink I notice something odd about the current scenario and the liquid. First of all, the water has an extremely heinous taste to it, and even more bizarre is the fact that I appear to be the only one in the entire refectory with a tray of food. Everybody else is just sitting and doing absolutely nothing.
Before I'm able to open my mouth to ask why that is, I experience a sudden ache in my chest and breathing becomes difficult for me. My friends see me in clear distress and just stand up to leave as if what I'm going through doesn't bother them in any way. Could they have planned this? Is the whole school in on it? But why?
"Are you sure about this, Mathéo?" Sara looks like she's beginning to have second thoughts about poisoning me.
"Of course. Aaron's too dangerous to just be left alone. Do you honestly think that all that power won't eventually get to his head? If we didn't do what we just did, he would've ended up killing us all when he got fed up with us, just like he did with all those people at the gala."
As I fall to the ground due to my fading consciousness, I spot Rob exiting the dining hall with the rest of the conspirators. Does that mean he helped them? How could he? Why would any of them have agreed to do this to me? I trusted them. I even considered them as my own family and this is what I get in return. I was wrong. Everybody is selfish and narcissistic and no one deserves to live. They should all die.
"So you finally agree with me." It's the voice from the shadows again, but this time it sounds rather welcoming than menacing, unlike previously. "If you let me in, I'd be able to help you exert your revenge on those despicable creatures. We no longer have to be foes. Our ideologies are one and the same, so we can assist each other in achieving our shared goals. What do you think?"
I have no idea if whatever it is that's speaking to me is good or evil, but I honestly don't care either way. Without giving it much consideration, I give it my answer.
"Yes, I accept."
* * * *
In the hall where Aaron's unconscious body has been chained to the wall, the stalker and a densely populated congregation of Zomer cultists are all standing and facing him, almost as if they're patiently waiting for some miraculous event to occur, and in a way, they are. They all wish to witness the revival of their cult's most historic creation—Feto—with their own eyes. This is something the devout secret group has been working towards for centuries and at last, their dream will soon become a reality.
After hours of heavy anticipation, Aaron's eyes slowly open, but something seems different about him. For one, the color of his irises have clearly changed from their original blue color to scarlet. Moreover, he now exudes a certain hazardous aura, like what you'd probably feel if you stood face-to-face with a cold-blooded serial killer. Whatever they forced inside his body earlier has definitely taken effect.
"Welcome Master Feto. We, the Zomer cult, are all your humble and loyal servants and whatsoever you desire is our command," the stalker addresses the being inhabiting the boy's body on behalf of all his colleagues as they all get down on one knee to show their reverence for him. "We apologize for the unsightly restraints; they were used to ensure the vessel didn't escape. We are aware that you feed on living souls in order to recuperate your energy more quickly, and thus we've captured some sacrifices for that sole purpose. Should we bring them right away?"
"No, that won't be necessary," Feto answers with a blank expression and he sounds exactly like Aaron. He snaps his finger once and the chains restricting his wrists and ankles immediately dissolve into the shadows on the wall, freeing him and allowing him to stand on his own two feet. "All of you here will just have to suffice for now."
"Pardon my insolence, master, but you must be surely mistaken. The people in this room are your followers while the offerings have been stored for you in a different chamber," the stalker tries to explain to the monster in human flesh, but he isn't willing to listen. It's quite obvious that the man wasn't expecting such a declaration.
Before the cult leader can utter another word to convince him, the boy stretches out his hands and starts to magically draw out black smoke from the shadows of every person in the hall with him. As the fumes are being absorbed into Feto's skin, the zegen cult members scream in agony while their skins age rapidly. By the time there's no more magical gas for the creature to consume, the crowd ahead of him falls dead to the ground, all of their bodies now resembling overstayed cadavers that were never properly preserved.
"That felt great. I feel a bit more like myself after that little snack," Feto soliloquizes as he walks past all the corpses and leaves through the door. "I think I'm still very hungry, those souls weren't enough to sate my appetite. I guess I'll just have to find more people to snack on by myself."
While all that takes place inside the secret Zomer headquarters in Antwerp, the clouds outside slowly disappear and the dark night sky above the entire state turns red to signify the historic monstrosity's reawakening. As the clueless citizens gradually notice the dreary change in the atmosphere, they all fear the thought of one thing. The possibility that this may be the beginning of an end, but what is ending? Could it be the end of their society or even the world as a whole?