A giant forest of purple trees, and black trunks grew out of a ruined city, surrounded by concrete rubble, and metal debris. The old buildings, and remains of civilization were buried by strange glowing plants, and sinister looking vines. In a small corner of this exotic forest a slim figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

A person wearing a black suit with vibrant silver hair walked out slowly, the face was covered by a strange mask that seemed to mirror the environment, as if a giant hole was opened in it, showcasing what was behind.

On the person's waist was a long slender sheathe, and in the left hand, was a metal case. Behind the woman was a young man with tattered clothes, his once handsome face was covered in bruises and minor scars, his blonde hair was messy, and his blue shirt was covered in dirt.

The woman in the mask walked ahead casually, despite the rough terrain, and uneven footing, her pace was continuous and surprisingly fast, while the man kept stumbling to catch up.

“W-wait up.”

“It's better to keep a safe distance Leon, unlike you I'm better suited to this.”

“Guh, it hurts my pride to hear you say that.”

The woman's left hand twitched slightly, and a small flat blade dropped from her sleeves, she immediately flicked it with her gloved fingers near Leon who was trailing behind her, with a loud thwack something hissed. There stuck on a tree trunk was a small furry black snake about a foot away behind Leon, it's skull was buried into the tree by the blade.

Looking closely, a small barely visible wire attached to the blade started to shudder, and retreat back to her hand. Along with the blade, was the corpse of the snake, binded by minuscule threads of the wire, the penetrated it's body like a spike.

The face mask started to glow, and an image of a small flat circular disk could be reflected off her mask. She immediately dug the device from the snake, with her blade, an slowly pocketed it.

Leon looked at her with a puzzled expression.

“What are you doing?”

“We might gain some insight on the technology they use, every little bit helps.”

The mask on her face changed colour, and looked no different than a mirror, reflecting Leon's own face.

“Sis, I can't help but admit that mask makes you look creepy, how long will the experiment last?”

“Hmm It's been about 3 years now, the mask is machine evolving at a decent pace, it's learning, and adapting; it's definitely remarkable.”

Leon just stared at her praising the mask with a weird face.

She quickly ended the conversation, and lead the way past the streets, she gently lifted her pale right hand, and touched the air with her fingers; Leon could feel a slight sense of unease that lasted several milliseconds.

“Five large biological activity south west from here, about 100 metres away, judging by the movement speed, and movements trends, they haven't found us yet.”

She immediately signalled Leon closer, and lead the way into a small alley. Leon could see rats staring at them from the shadows, and scurrying all over the place. After several twists, and turns she led him into one of the few erect sky scrapers within the metal jungle.

The doors were long torn down, and covered by plants, the inside was filled with dirt, mould, and what remained of crushed furniture. It used to be the entrance of a grand hotel, now it's merely the living quarters of beast, and plants.

While Leon followed her he could only hear the sounds of his own foot steps, despite her being only a few centimetres away. She made no sounds, and even the presence of a living being did not emanate from her, she felt more like a ghost than anything else, and would disappear from existence, the moment his eyes wandered away.

They climbed several stairs, and passed many dilapidated rooms, eventually stopping at a room near the stairs, she casually walked into the room, and Leon followed. he noticed it was had a device planted into the middle of the room, and saw packaged food as well.

Leon stared at her in surprise.

She just shrugged her shoulders, inspected the room, before pulling out a blanket over the dirty floor. As Leon was about to join her she pointed at his shoes.

“It's rude you know.”

“Eh it's just a run down..”

“Manners first, it doesn't matter where you are.”

“Yes....”

When Leon sat down, she gently wiped the scars and bruises on his face, in her hands was a white cloth filled with an anti-bacterial liquid.

“Wait, stop I can do it myself.”

Despite his complaints, she ignored them and gently cleaned his wounds, treating him like a struggling child.

“Leon, you may be built stronger than an average person, but you're not really trained in combat, you should take better care of yourself.”

After cleaning his scars, she gently wiped away the dirt on his face, and picked the dirt from his hair with her delicate fingers.

“So, how was she?”

A bitter smile formed on his face, as he stared at her mask.

“I could feel it, how sad she was, how hopeless she felt, and the amount of guilt digging deep into her. Even if it was temporary, and even though she lied, for only a few brief moments, I could feel her warmth, and love.”

A small sigh escaped form her mask, as she gently combed Leon's blonde hair.

“Is that because of your ability, or your personality? Or maybe both?”

“I couldn't leave her alone; I wanted to help her.”

Without even Leon being aware, her left hand gently touched the side of his head.

“Is that ability troubling you too much? If so....”

“No.”

She merely shook her head, and retracted her fingers.

“Anyways when your suit was taken, the tracking signal should have been destroyed, why did it last as long as it did, were they really that careless?”

Leon just smiled to himself, in a knowing manner.

Thank you.

She just stared at his smile, and shrugged.

“You're a second seed after all, I probably wouldn't even understand.”

Leon just looked at her, and apologized once again.

“I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused, and we even ended up splitting with Saia, and Ciel.”

“It's ok, the professor, and me anticipated this long ago, which was why I was watching you to begin with. Since it's been a few days, we won't be able to catch up, so lets head home first.

Leon stared at the room, filled with item she had carried here.

“I set up a few temporary bases along the way in case we needed places to hide out, and managed to steal some packaged foods by hijacking some of their transports.”

“Wouldn't they find out about the missing people, and supplies?”

“I left some evidence framing some rival organizations, it should be fine.”

Leon stared at the blinking device planted in the centre of the room.

“So they are going to pick us up?”

She nodded slightly.

“Chasing you down took alot of energy from me, it's safer to have the recovery group come pick us up.”

Leon stared at her mask silently, and asked in curiosity.

“You know, since you rarely take it off, I'm starting to forget what you looked like.”

She got up, and started to arrange packaged food filled with supplements, tablets, nuts, and vegetables, and handed it to Leon. A small frown formed on Leon's face as he stared at the food.

“Can I ignore the supplements?”

She shook her head lightly.

“The amount of vitamins, and minerals is exactly what you need currently, especially since you are injured.”

“Ugh...”

“Do you want me to feed you?”

Leon shook his head as he forced the pasty, chalk flavoured supplements down his throat. After giving a nod of approval as he downed the food, she opened the metal case she was carrying, and began to inspect the items.

Inside the case was filled with various tools, from daggers, wires, powders, and vials, to small listening devices, and various concealed weapons. Leon who stared at the items, glanced at her clothes closely hugging her body revealing her slim but unmistakingly feminine build.

She noticed him staring and asked in a plain manner.

“What is it?”

“Don't you think you outgrew that suit already?”

“.... Are you calling me fat?”

“Eh! Not at all, it's just I think you should get a new one, you definitely have enough contribution points.”

“Nope, I like it.”

“But it's so old.”

As if to emphasize her point she repeated again with the same measured tone.

“I like it...”

Leon gave up, and focused on his meal, as he was eating, he unconsciously used his ability, and felt a slight uneasiness emanating from her. While looking up to her facing the window, her mask was pitch black, and focusing on something distant in the sky.

It was an emotion he rarely felt from her, or for that matter any of the first seeds.

A day later, a helicopter came to pick them up.

.....................

A large shadow loomed over a frozen landscape of ice, and snow. The shadow belonged to a large black dome the size of a small city, floating lazily in the dark sky. The bottom portion was covered by a strange black ore, while the upper portion was filled with a shell of ice and snow.

Inside the dome was bright, and even sunny, which painted a stark contrast to it's exterior, in the centre was a giant cluster of buildings all huddled together, surrounding it were large patches of green grass, and artificial lakes. Strange machines could be seen half buried in the grass, next to metal sidewalks and roads that can be seen leading from the centre stretching outwards, towards five enclosed domes spread to the edges.

In one of those transparent domes a few giant buildings lay, in one of those building Saia was inside wearing a white coat, he was surrounded by giant tubes filled with gel, an operating table, and giant holographic screens with several images of organs, and statistics.

A small girl was unconscious in a breathing mask on the white table; looking over the girl was a woman in a white gown covered in blood, with a mask, and silver hair.

“Professor, how is it?”

“I'm surprised a tumour formed on her lungs, but it's should be fine now. The basic class nanites implanted into her should help with the cellular deterioration, and organ repair.”

“You're not taking out the hybrid organ?”

“No, after a deep scan I discovered that it's linked to many other essential organs, instead of removing it, I implanted some cybernetic jammers inside to null most of it's functions.”

“Would it be better to install a cybernetic data chip inside her brain, to lock some of her more dangerous mental functions?”

“I merged some bio-implants to her brain, that will preserve what she already has, for now I can't improve the salutation, but I can theoretically stop it.”

After several more hours, Saia brought the patient into a human sized capsule, where she remained a sleep. Beside her were a few other capsules that contained other occupants. He massaged his neck, and stretched out his arms.

“Well we're finally done.”

.................

The two of them rode a primitive bicycle to the largest building in this area, made of stone, and tinted glass. When Saia walked in, his eyes were met with a massive expanse of books that rivalled any library, and had several floors worth. It was filled with books from digital to print, the languages were numerous and varied, and the topics were immense.

This building contained the blood, and sweat that took a majority of Saia's life collecting, some legal, and some through illegal means.

Her mask reflected the books all in front of her, instead of sitting, she went away to a small room in the corner. Saia had a stack of books related to mythology, history, occult diaries, and a few old journals.

As he was sifting through the pages of a book, he noticed a plate of food placed next to him.

“Professor, you're health is more important than your hobbies, please eat first.”

“Eh, hmm thanks.”

Saia just mumbled as he ate, and read simultaneously, the vegetables were perfectly seasoned, the supplements had there chalk flavour expertly disguised, and the sauce was complex. She took a seat next to him, and took out a book as well, despite still wearing the mask.

It was quiet, calm, and uneventful, in this large building they silently enjoyed the time here. After many hours she got up to leave, while Saia remained perfectly entrenched with a very old book.

............

Date: XXXX

I bought a strange wooden idol I found at a shop in a small foreign village to the east, it looked like something resembling an octopus with innumerable mouths. The shop owner himself did not recognize the origins of this statue.......

Saia noticed some chapters were torn off, and some of the words were smudged.

Date: XXXX

I haven't been able to sleep properly for many weeks, those images assaulting my mind is driving me crazy, every time the sun goes down, strange innumerable whispers of unrecognizable languages continue to haunt me every time.

From women, from men, from children, and from things I dare not imagine.

At first those whisper were vague, and distant, but as the days went by, they became louder, more pronounced, and felt as if they were now whispering directly into my ears, and sitting at my bed side where I lay. But as I turned my head all I could see was the empty darkness in my room.

Date: XXXX

I can't go on, I am too scared to sleep, and my body is growing tired. This morning when I was in the kitchen I somehow cut a small scar in my own neck. My mind was blank, and I didn't even notice why I did it, the shock of crimson blood shook me awake.

What is happening to me?

Date: XXXX

I cannot live like this any longer, I'll do anything to stop this. Even after getting rid of that idol nothing changed.

Saia noticed several more torn pages, and flipped to the nearest one with legible words in it.

Date: XXXX

The temple was found off the coast, buried deep within the jungle. The local natives were primitive, and hostile, but were no match for modern weapons. I spent a fortune hiring these people, the whispers told me it would stop, if I found that box hidden here.

Date: XXXX

It was unlike anything I had ever see before, dark spires jutting out from the earth, the soil was tainted black, and red. Something was calling my very soul, dragging me inside to it's cold depths. The whispers inside my head grew excited, and forceful.

Please, leave me alone. Please....

The other pages were torn off, and Saia could see red finger prints on the pages.

Date: XXXX

Everything was dark, my mind is usually dull, and whenever I wake up again several hours passed, and I do not know what happened. All I know is that everyone in camp is dead, lying in the pool of their own blood, and my hands are dyed red.

Now that I think about it, humans only have two hands and feet right? Then why......

Date: XXXX

The dreams no longer terrify me, my mind became clear again. For some reason I am alone now, my men, and the natives are all gone. The few time I explored the temple, I saw strange carvings of a fantastical creature.

Date: XXXX

It granted me back my sanity, it gave me a brief moment of clarity. God help us all, what have I seen, just how ancient was this.............

The page was covered in dried blood, and a part of it was torn off, leaving the last pages unreadable.

As Saia wondered about the last words he noticed a figure walking in, Saia stared at her mask, and suit, and couldn't help but comment.

“Don't you think that suit isn't a good fit anymore?”

“But I like it though.”

“I can see where some of the blades, and tools you hidden on it are located, it's not loose enough to conceal weapons.”

She remained silent, and nodded slightly. Saia just sighed, “you probably have much more contribution points than I do, but fine, I'll buy you a new one, is that fair enough?”

“If it's free.”

As the pair walked out, she handed Saia a single tablet. He looked at it curiously, and noticed a single report. It contained information about major events, obtained by the information network.

A slightly surprised expression could be seen on Saia's face, as well a subtle cold gaze.

An entire nation of people abruptly disappeared a few hours ago. Not a single living being was found, outside forces that went into the territory completely disappeared, the entire nation was dyed in thick black ink, from the soil, the trees, and to the buildings.

Everyone that stepped a foot in that land simply disappeared.