Hollywood Zenith

Samuel clutched his chest feeling the wave of pain penetrate his body. It was quite different, like someone was prickling his chest with thiusand needles.

After a minute, he began to steady himself. No matter how much pain he felt, his body was always adapting. Beside, his willpower was not ordinary, giving him enough mental strength to suffer it without it overwhelming him.

"It seems the girl is in grave danger but she will live." Apollo suddenly materialize out of thin air, a rare occurrence as most of the time, he would meet him in his mind.

"This pain...why does it feel so different?" He asked still clutching his chest.

"Your title is special and the more it will upgrade, the more risk it will bring to your body. It will not kill you but it could show something much worse just like the fate your partner is going through."

Samuel listened but he didn't understand his riddles. He was quite anxious now, he didn't know where she was or what was happening to him which made him feel powerless for the first time in his life.

"Can't I locate her? There must be a way."

"I can't help you with it. Something, you have to do it yourself but I wouldn't be here, if I knew the general area where she was." He said before running away.

After thinking about it, Samuel knew he was complacent. He knew she was in Moldova, maybe going there in person would give him some clues.

Beside, now he had wrapped up everything here so there was no point in him staying here.

He cleaned himself up, the pain was there but it subsided a lot after an hour. He could appear normal but his face was paler which really made him look like a vampire since he already had such pale skin to begin with!

Dressing up, he was ready to call his uncle to arrange for a plane for his travel. Something more discreet than his usual jumbo plane since he was trying to keep a low profile.

He also noticed, the pain cycles were consistent, always in the morning around the same time which meant he will have twenty four hours before something happens to her again.

As he picked up his phone, it flashed with an incoming message but it was from an unknown number. He knew something was wrong since his number was private only known to important people in his life.

He opened it to find a string of number as well as one word 'Talia'. He instantly became alert and entered the location on the map to find it pointing to a mountain.

It didn't take him long to fill in the details. The reason why they weren't able to locate where Talia was held must be because, the base qas underground.

But why was the other party helping him? Was this a trap set by them to lure him out? It could be many things but he knew he could just sit on his ass and wait. He needed to move.

He went downstairs to grab some food and saw Ellie and Robyn. As soon as Robyn looked at his face she knew something was wrong.

She came to his side but he patted her hed and said," I am sorry but I need to leave. It's something urgent or else-"

"You don't have to say anything. Go, when you come to the states I will find you." She said with a smile but there was a shadow of sadness in her eyes.

He sighed knowing, he couldn't do anything about it. He kissed her, one deep kiss leaving her breathless.

"You will owe me one! I will not let this matter go!" She shouted, he waved his hand in acknowledgement.

Now, he only needed to convince his uncle and his family to lend him a plane to go into a hostile territory without any guards. The day, just kepps getting better and better!

...

...

...

"It hurts..it hurts so much." Talia opened his eyes only to feel her body's condition. She knew this time was different, she tried to move but she could being herself to do it because of the pain.

Ariel rushed to her side, ignoring protocols. She could see the state of her body but up close, Talia looked even more miserable.

All her limbs were charred black, where the syringes plunged into her body, the blackness enveloped her body making her look horrible with festering flesh and mangled body, something completely different from a human body.

It was like she was burned from the inside, even her face and neck were the same and she knew if she looked below her clothes, the situation wouldn't be any better.

"W-what happened to me?" Talia voice was horse, like her windpipe was smashed to pieces.

"You survived but...I don't know..I.." Ariel didn't know how to describe it.

Talia lifted her head and saw her body only to be horrified by the sight. It was like she was zombie experiment that went horribly wrong.

She tried to touch her self only to feel nothing, like she had no sensation of touch but her bones and muscles ached constantly.

She knew the experiment had failed but to live like this...like a monster seemed to be fate worse than death. She didn't say anything or ask Ariel anything.

After an hour, she was able to stand up but it hurt even to take a step. But she persevered, when she tried to drink water from the glass, the place where she made contact hissed like it was being corroded by something.

The deadly poison courses through her veins but it made her into something that could not exist in this world as she was too dangerous, too hazardous for humans.

Seeing her reflection in the mirror, she finally understood why Ariel looked at her like that. Her face was disfigured beyond recognition, like someone had put acid on it, only her eyes reminded her of her previous self. After few minutes, she didn't know what to think or do, she only wanted to lay down on bed and never wake up from this nightmare.

Ariel followed her and when she saw her master coming back, a sudden anger surged in her heart but she swallowed it. Maybe there was a way to heal her sister.