Linsley placed a comforting hand on Ted's shoulder, his voice steady. "We'll find out soon enough."
And that was the truth. Whatever awaited them in this underground facility, Linsley would see it through to the end.
The experiment might just be the key to unlocking the Diviner World's powers—and Linsley wasn't about to let that opportunity slip by.
They had been chosen. And now, Linsley would discover the true nature of the Diviner World.
...
The following days passed in a blur of sterile white rooms, metal corridors, and tense silence.
The routine was always the same: Linsley, Ted, and Lucy were escorted from their cramped cell to various examination rooms, where scientists performed blood draws, scans, and asked cryptic questions.
Each day, they were returned to the same cell, none the wiser as to what exactly was happening. Yet, Linsley knew something was off—this wasn't just routine medical testing.
The three older children in the cell with them barely spoke. Their eyes were hollow, their bodies thin and scarred. They were from the same orphanage as Ted and Lucy, supposedly "adopted" months earlier. Their spirits seemed broken, and they moved mechanically, like puppets on strings.
Linsley had no doubt they had gone through whatever experimentation lay ahead, and the results were plain: this facility had stolen more than just their youth.
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Linsley wasn't going to let that happen to him—or to Ted and Lucy.
Over time, Linsley observed, piecing together snippets of conversations from the scientists and guards. There was a purpose behind all of this.
The constant tests, the blood samples, and even the strange energy that permeated the facility—it all pointed toward something specific.
One word kept coming back to him: Diviners.
One evening, as he lay awake on his thin mattress, staring at the cracked ceiling, Linsley's mind raced.
"They're looking for something," he whispered to himself.
He had overheard words like "potentials" and "unlocked abilities" in passing, and it was becoming clear what they were trying to do: awaken latent powers in the children.
The lead scientist pressed a button, and the room's lights dimmed.
The hum of machinery filled the space, and a sudden wave of energy surged through the air. It wasn't just physical—it felt as though it was pulling at something deeper, something inside his very soul.
Linsley clenched his jaw, his small body stiffening in response. Beside him, Ted and Lucy cried out in pain, their young forms convulsing under the strain.
The older children in the room barely reacted—they had been through this before, their spirits already broken.
Pain shot through Linsley's body, but it was different from anything he had experienced before. It felt as though the energy was trying to force something out of him, to unlock something buried deep within.
He gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to act, knowing this was his only chance to fully understand how the Diviners' Gifts were awakened.
Suddenly, Linsley felt a surge of power—different from when he had awakened his Invisible Providence avatar in the Avatar World. This power wasn't controlled or refined. It was raw, untamed, like a force waiting to be unleashed.
His consciousness expanded, and for a moment, he could feel it: a Gift dormant within him, on the verge of manifesting.
Unlike the other children, Linsley's awakening triggered something far more volatile.
The facility's equipment started to malfunction, unable to contain the energy surging through him. Sparks flew from the control panels, alarms blared, and the scientists scrambled, shouting orders.
Without hesitation, Linsley tested the restraints on his wrists. Though they were tight, he knew Universal Key (Gold) would be enough.
With a simple thought, the locks clicked open, and the restraints fell away as if unlocked by an unseen hand.
Just as he stood up, ready to free Ted and Lucy, a piercing scream erupted from Ted, filling the room.
Linsley's head snapped toward him, and in that instant, the entire underground facility began to shake violently. Ted's Gift was awakening, and it was far more destructive than anything Linsley had expected.
The ground trembled as if an earthquake had been triggered, and the walls and ceiling began to crack.
The machinery around them groaned under the strain, and pieces of debris started to rain down from above. Ted's power, unchecked and uncontrollable, was ripping the facility apart.
Linsley's heart pounded as he reached out for Ted, but before he could act, a massive chunk of debris broke free from the ceiling, heading straight for Lucy!
"Lucy!"