"I'm out of time… I'm out of time! What is a month to complete my research?! I'll never make it in time!"  Mada's shouted angrily grabbing his head. Quickly, he began pacing back and forth in his private room with cold sweat to his forehead, mumbling something. "So many variables! Think… Think!" Mada massaged his temple harshly as he shut his eyes tightly.

"Grandpa! calm down! Think straight! How did all this even start?!" Ruan asked Mada as he sat on the broken bed in his room. Mada opened his eyes as Ruan questioned focused him.

"As soon as I saw it... as soon as I was exposed to the truth... I was looking for a reason good enough to raise as much money as possible..." Mada answered ruminating.

"As a young, up-and-coming talent, I knew I could blow the crowd away. I just had to find a good enough reason. A reason that was flashy enough for them to put their money on." He said as he leaned against the wall of his room, still massaging his temple.

"I was looking for something... ambitious enough. Something that touches each and every one. What do we all have in common?

We all breathe.

We all eat and drink.

And in all of us, the Energia resides." With the raise of his hands, Mada explained.

"Without Energia, there is no life. But the exploration of Energia has been vetoed. If I may only suggest research on the subject, I would be imprisoned for life. I had to find something on the border. Something that sits just in-between. Then I understood. "iod metal"..." Mada replied, recalling that brilliant flash of a moment.

"It sits right on the thin line... that's how I got here. I claimed that I would be able to turn ordinary metal, into "iod metal", the most sought-after metal today." Ruan raise his eyebrows in surprise.

"This is funny. He was always so busy in his work, I never got to ask how it all started. He never cared to speak about his past either. His eyes were always on the future." Ruan thought to himself with a smirk as he looked at Mada trying not to disturb his line of thought.

"Our Energia is a kind of lightweight liquid that we are able to release from all parts of our body. Each according to its Energia level. But, without the iod metal, this liquid would be almost completely useless." stated Mada. "The iod metal is able to make it have a meaning for us, thanks to its special ability - reaction to Energia." Mada said as he explained with his hand movements.

"And there he goes…" Ruan thought to himself, " Again… he starts with unnecessary explanations. This is basic information anybody knows." Ruan complained to himself as he rolls his eyes back.

"As soon as the iod metal comes into contact with Energia, it's able to move and change its shape accordingly. This gives us the ability to manipulate objects with the help of our Energia. This is the reason why the use of this metal has become so popular. It is economical and easy to manipulate. It's able to make us acquire unique abilities that we wouldn't have been able to achieve without it.

But, with the widespread use of the iod metal for hundreds of years, it was impossible not to have a shortage. That's why its price has risen, and that's why I decided it would be the perfect cover story to attract the masses!" Mada yelled full of enthusiasm as he excitedly spread with hands to the sides of his body.

"A famous, young, and ambitious scientist who set himself a goal that seems impossible. If he achieves it, he will change the entire job market." Ruan said impressed.

"Definitely!" Mada replied excitedly in a point of his finger, "And it worked." he remembered with a smile. "The beginning felt like a dream. Everyone wanted me. I had so much money at my disposal. But the hidden goal I set for myself was much bigger than changing a single property of a simple material like metal. I set myself a goal, to create a new Energia diamond, which would surpass the existing three.

One type of-a-kind stone that would possess qualities that have never been seen in our world before. It was almost 16 years ago..." Mada said as he sits down on his squeaking bed next to Ruan.

"A few years passed, and people started asking questions. Investors decided to sell the shares, and the plan started to crash. At the time, I didn't realize how complex it was going to be, and most of all how much money it required.

Despite the enormous resources of the launch, I needed more money. I needed all the help I could get. Eventually, I've hit rock bottom, to the point where my grandson has to rob passers-by in the dark of the night to get me as much cash as possible." Mada said closing his eyes painfully.

Ruan looked away in embarrassment.

"But I had no choice." Mada added quickly, as he looked at Ruan. "I needed every penny." Mada said pleadingly.

"I know." Ruan said, "Don't regret it. This is the reality we live in. Trying to hide it from me from a young age would have been a foolish thing to do. We did what we had to." Ruan replied.

"You always knew that once the research is completed, I will give you everything back thousands of times over. You will never lack anything again! We will be invincible!" Mada looked at Ruan with sparkling eyes.

"I know. You always promised it... but I didn't do it because of your promise." Ruan answered quickly with a shy smile.

"Do you even need to mention that?" Mada replied as he stood in front of Ruan and crouched to look him in the eyes. "You did it because you believed in me. Because you love me." Mada said as Ruan blushed and looked away to the floor.

"Grandpa... too close...!" Ruan warned feeling harassed.

"You're still easily embarrassed, just like when you were a kid." Mada joked nicely.

"I'm not! Excuse me for not being used to elderly people looking at me closely as if we're going to make out with me in any given moment!" Ruan replied annoyed.

"Ha-ha-ha!" Mada laughed loudly and patted Ruan on the shoulder. He looked Ruan blushing as he looked away. "Even today, I can see it in his eyes.

 In his concern for me.

In his talks with me.

Maybe in the end, he did get a good education. Despite the lack of time together." Mada recalled with pleasure.

"It was for a reason that I've made sure to always remind him that even if it's just the two of us, we're still a family.

It's us against the world.

Even if we don't have anyone else, we have each other and that's all we need." Mada patted himself on the back. His smiling look changed to a look of annoyance. "Things could have turned out differently.. if she hadn't set me that deadline... that bitch...! Natasha!" cried Mada in hatred and pounded his fist as usual on the old wooden table in his room.

"Since that explosion in the previous laboratory in the city center 5 years ago... She used me to make headlines for her own good. She directed all the public's attention towards me, with the help of her journalist friends. She played with me to get the public's votes. To be elected to be the new mayor of the city. In my naivety, I thought it would never happen. But apparently, most humans are driven by fear and that's why it worked for her. Her stupid slogans..." Mada muttered in a chuckle, "She uses them as her trademark to this day.

"I'll restore the peace in the streets.

I will bring safety back into our lives.

If their way of life is violence, we will show them that violence is not an option" Mada imitated the mayor in a high and feminine voice as he raises his hands in a girly fashion.

"She is blind or stupid?!" Mada snapped suddenly with a furious swing of his arm. "Doesn't she see what's going on?! The streets are full of criminals and thieves because people are starving! They have no other choice! And it's all because of the mismanagement of her and her friends in power!" Mada raged as he holds his head so it won't explode from anger.

Ruan was surprised to see how accurate Mada's memory was regarding everything that had happened.

He immediately realized how much that decision must have affected him, that it was burned deep into his memory.

"She really thinks she can clean the violence off the streets?! The violence from society?! Since the beginning of time, the only two actions humans have done consistently are reproduction and warfare! Our basis is violence! She wants to eliminate violence?! Never!” resented Mada hitting his old desk again, “She's delusional! It's in our nature! Violence is something that neither she nor anyone else can eliminate from the world!" Mada fumed as he leaned over his table, sweating. He grabbed his head sharply, as a sudden headache attacked him.

"Grandpa! Calm down!" Ruan shouted as he got up to help him. Holding his hand, he sat him down on his bed again. Suddenly, Ruan felt a twitch in Mada hand.

Fastly, Mada look in his eyes changed, as if he has been stroked by lighting. He looked at Ruan who leaned in front of him. He looked him dead in the eyes and in a serious tone, said.

"Ruan, remember this forever -Our reality is war, and war never ends. It just changes shape."

Ruan looked back at him, and with a stuffed throat.

Although he had heard this sentence in his life dozens of times before, he always felt each time it was more relevant than ever.

But at that moment, all he could do was keep quiet and look back. He didn't need more. He knew that his grandfather knew exactly how read his looks.

The sudden headache disappeared, and Mada straightened up and continued. "The war is a part of us. It is who we are at our base. They, those people in the government, are cowards who tremble at their own shadow. They try to change the laws of the universe so that it will go their way. But it won't." Mada said as he shakes his head in disagreement. "If she hasn't learned yet, she will learn the hard way." He said as he nodded his head in a scheming yes. "She will pay…once the research is completed. Once the research is completed…nothing will be the same." Mada said looking Ruan at his eyes. After taking a short pause, he continued.

"Immediately after Natasha was elected, she caused the laboratory to move outside the city, with a specified deadline.

 5 years from that day.

If there is not a sufficient breakthrough in the matter, the laboratory will be closed and the government funding for it will be completely stopped. She replaced the previous staff I had, with their people. They wired the entire lab with their own cameras, making this whole process much more complicated than it was. Much more." Mada said with a serious and penetrating look.

"I have one more month left. Just one more month…That's not enough time.

If only I had more resources... manpower... time...!" Mada said in frustration, "Maybe then! But these scoundrels! They are giving me the exact opposite!" Mada shouted angrily. "They are wasting my precious time so that I will fail! They are investigating every running process! Checking every component that goes into the lab! They are asking questions... Far too many questions!" Mada got furious again as he got up from the bed to walk nervously in his small room.

"Grandpa... remember the headache... don't start again." Ruan warned him, asking Mada to sit back down.

He always had a tendency that would pop sometimes when got passionate, to get carried away by his feelings, even if they hurt him.

"It became complex.. too complex. All because of her. Since she was elected... Everything deteriorated rapidly...!" Mada said in frustration as he bent over, burying with his head in his hands.

Ruan placed his hand on his back, as he heard a murmur from his grandfather.

"I... I... rn her.. I tell you...!" Mada's whispered grew stronger and stronger, he rose from his bed to the bedroom window next to him as his mouth distort from anger.

"I'll burn her alive! I'll make her suffer just like she made me!" Mada shouted in madness as his spit is flying all over, his palms gripping the window rail of his room, crushing the cheap wood with all his might.

"An attack on my research is an attack on my life and it will pay its due! I swear to you it will pay its due!!!" Mada screamed as his old, thin body trembled from the nerves that filled him and could have filled an entire stadium.

"Grandpa! Calm down!" Ruan rushed over and released the grips on Mada's hands, which were beginning to bleed. "Again?! C'mon! Calm down! Control yourself!" Ruan yelled at Mada dissatisfied.

"Sorry... you know how it is... runs in the family..." Mada whispered. "Indeed..." Ruan muttered. He looked at Mada with concern.

The sight he hated to see more than anything, was his grandfather's emaciated body betraying him more and more every day.

It was always a sensitive subject for him.

Even when he was a child in kindergarten, the children would make fun of him because his grandfather was older than all the other parents, even if he was actually only a few years old.

They would laugh he will be the one to die first before everyone else. Ruan was hurt to the core.

Sometimes, he hears their words echoing in his soul to this day.

Suddenly, Mada put his hand on the floor, and a tear fell on it. His look contained so much emotion that he was unable to express in words.

A mixture of fear, despair, and pure hatred.

Everything he was unable to express in words, came out in tears.

Another one, and another one. And another one.

Ruan looked at his grandfather and for a moment, froze in his place. The man who was always so calculated, so much that he sometimes thought was a machine, cries. Ruan knew how important the research was to his grandfather. He always made sure to mention it. "This is the essence of my life." Ruan recalled in his memory as his see Mada huge smile. He also knew that he had never seen his grandfather cry before.

And so, when Ruan saw his grandfather's gaze, the hatred in his heart ignited to levels he had never known or thought were possible.

In that moment, he knew, as if he had made a pact with his heart - she would pay for it.

She will pay for every tear he shed, in blood.

-----------

Lynn Hart. High school student. 16 years old.

Her height is average. Her skin color is light. Slim body and brown, long and smooth as silk hair on top of her head, which she always makes sure to arrange behind her ear.  Her large eyes are decorated with two green pupils, reminiscent of grass after the rain. In her front, a small nose and wide lips.

"Mom, there's no way! It's excessive and unnecessary!" Lin complained. "-It's not!" insisted Natasha, "with the current situation it's not. It's better to be careful than to regret it later." she stated with her eyes closed. "-You always say that! Because you're so afraid of everything! Stop being so paranoid! How will my friends feel when a bodyguard sits next to them at lunch?!" Lin asked decisively, "They'll think I'm out of my mind!" she said with a theatrical wave of her hands.

-"Okay.. okay...! You are so stubborn...!" Natasha despaired, "But promise me you'll be careful. Don't stay out after dark. Come back before sunset." Natasha requested, tired of the long argument.

"No problem! Thanks mom!" Lin said cheerfully and picked Natasha up in a crushing hug that only she could produce. "Lin! Take me down! You'll break my back!" Natasha shouted with a stunned look of surprise and pain.

After a few days, Lin stayed downtown, at the end of a shopping spree with her friends. To her hands, bags of products she purchased. "Bye!" Lin called out. Her friends waved goodbye. A moment after they parted, rain began to fall.

Lin started walking towards her house. She entered a long and narrow street. The narrow street was empty but suddenly, a man in a raincoat appeared a few dozen meters away from her. His face had a mask on it.

The eyes of his mask were rounded, with a blackened lens over them. For each of his eyes, a red horizontal stripe. The nose of his mask is square like a monkey, and a small stripe below it marks the position of his mouth.

The masked man raised his hand and despite the impaired visibility due to the rainy weather, a knife with a glinting blade could be seen.

"Give me your money" demanded the man in the raincoat.

Lin's heart skipped a beat, she knew the situation on the streets but still didn't believe it was happening. However, she quickly came to her senses.

"Here" Lin answered quickly as she showed her purse to the robber. The bandit's eyes opened wide in surprise as the pupils of his eyes narrowed. A thud focused him again as he heard the purse Lin had thrown land at his feet.

He stood there, without moving.

A few seconds passed, but he didn't move. Just staring at the floor.

Lin, who expected him to disappear after getting what he wanted, felt uneasy. She tried to move slowly back as she looked at him, but sudden alertness appeared in the figure.

Lin returned to standing still, her eyes never leaving the figure in front of her. "What do you want?" Lin asked worriedly.

The figure continued to stand and stare into the air.

After a few more seconds, he raised his right leg. With a light kick, he tossed Lin's purse to the side of the road.

Lin was surprised as fear crippling in.

Right after, he raised his head and looked directly at Lin's face.

Lin felt panic as her heart start racing.

Suddenly, the figure leaped forward at high speed as the knife he was holding was swung to the side of his body.

"He's too close! I can't run away! I must fight!" Lin thought quickly, as she sent her right hand out to the side of her body. Light pink Energia began to gash out of her body pores as it starts to envelop her right palm.

The bandit jumped into the air, his hand with the knife raised high.

Suddenly, there was a deep landing sound. Drops of water from the wet floor flew up into the air quickly as a figure in a black body suit stood in front of Lin and the robber. His head is bald, and his triangle upper body is big and muscular.

In the air, the bandit got surprised and startled.

Quickly, the figure hit the robber's palm with a blow, and the knife fell from his hand to the ground. As fast as he jumped, the robber ran away and disappeared.

Lin released the Energia lingering around her hand and dropped her arm down.

"Th-thank you..." Lin said relieved.

"A kitchen knife? He's an amateur!" stated the character with a loud voice. "Hi Lin, I'm Pit. One of the bodyguards of the "Grit" unit. The one run by Fit. You know Fit right?" asked Pit.

"Y-yeah..." Lin replied.

"Your mom assigned me here. She wanted to keep an eye on you. Just to be safe." Pit shared.

"It suits her so well..." Lin said, "She's always so fearful of everything... this time, it came in handy..." Lin said to Pit while questioning her own decisions.

"Yeah, I noticed that..." Pit admitted, "But, that's the trait that brought her to the position she's in." said Pit with a smile.

With a brief delay and a surprised face, Lin's actions caught his attention. "You were going to fight him right?" he asked when he was aware of the answer. "You are a brave girl." Pit praised Lin.

"But seriously, a kitchen knife? Even for a bandit this is unusual. He could have found a much more threatening weapon in the simplest Energia weapon shop. Those sellers are everywhere." Pit thought out loud.

He looked at the knife in his hand.

"So delicate-" Pit grinned, as he placed the blade and base of the knife between his huge finger and thumb.

"-that I could break it with the strength of my fingers alone" Pit boasted smugly facing Lin, with a sly smile.

His well-known party trick.

He pushed it hard with pressure as his Energia surrounding his hand. The knife, penetrated his finger, creating a deep cut. He stood there, with blood dripping from his hand, a smile full of himself still on his lips.

Lin looked at him with a confused look as she awaits for him response.

"Huh?!?!" Pit screamed in panic, as the realization belatedly reached him along with the feeling of pain. "I'm bleeding!!! What's going on here?!" he asked in a high-pitch voice, shocked and in a sudden panic.

"Are... you okay?" Lin asked awkwardly, still confused.

"A-Ahm" Pit cleared his throat as he pretends the scream didn't come from him. He didn't respond, as his panic was replaced by unusual concentration.

He surrounded his palm with Energia, bringing it closer to the blade. Suddenly, he noticed, that his Energia vibrant and evaporates in contact with the blade.

"A-Amazing! I've never seen that before!" Pit said in excitement. "This is no ordinary blade! I need to take it for investigation!" Pit called out loud. "Lin, come with me!" Pit called as he carried her shopping bags.

Lin quickly caught him within a light skip.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lin asked worried and slightly embarrassed. "Of course! Aha! Nothing a real man can't handle!" Pit exclaimed proudly as he covers the wound with the fabric of his shirt.

"My mom is amazing... she knew what's right more than I imagined…" Lin thought to herself. "Maybe she's a little less crazy than I thought" she giggled happily.

-----------------

Lookouts of Mada's study watched the weekly tapes as usual.

On one of the last nights, they saw Mada sneaking into the lab at night. He performed the same experiment he had performed dozens of times before, but this time the reaction was different.

Huge amounts of light were released from the cell. Light hundreds of times stronger than all previous experiments. From the tape, they didn't understand what was going on but understood that it was unusual. They informed the staff about it.

The team manager who had known Mada for years called him to get an explanation as they had done several times before. After the conversation, Mada looked up with a gleam of excitement and apprehension in his eyes. "The time has come." he said aloud.

After an hour of inquiry from a higher senior team, the manager received an emergency call. "It's one of the three forbidden diamonds!!! Stop him immediately!!!" Called the other side. The manager, sweating with fear, ran towards the lookouts.

"Don't worry. We have his location from the moment we watched the tape. He didn't leave his house. Get there quickly and it's easy work." Said confidently one of the lookouts.

The manager breathed a sigh of relief.

The military teams were dispatched, but when they got there, Mada was gone.

-------------------

-Forty-five minutes beforehand -

"Get up! It's time!" Mada called out to Ruan in the doorway of his bedroom.

"Huh? It's the middle of the night... what time is it?" Ruan rubbed his eyes, confused.

"Time for the final experiment." Stated Mada decisively. "It's called the final experiment because if it works, we'll have everything we ever wanted.

All our dreams will come true.

But, if I can't fuse with the diamond, I'll die, and nothing will be left out of me but dust." Declared Mada without fear. "Even if I was able to fuse with the diamond, it might've not work as expected. Then, I would be arrested and sent to prison until the day I die." Mada calculated confidently.

"What? Why such an extreme punishment?" Ruan asked as he quickly gets ready to leave.

"The government is trying to control the freedom of people. To decide for them what they can research and what they can't. In our world, there is much more than what you are aware of. Much more than you can imagine. There are substances that you can't even imagine. Some of them are very dangerous. The government is aware of it. That's why it tries to do what it can to keep them to themselves. That's why they created their own group of scientists, who support their point of view. Then, they put a veto on the Energia and any matter that could be composed of it.

Do you understand what they're doing? They decide what we can study and what not. Even the Energia of our bodies we are not allowed to explore! Do you understand what they are trying to do?! They are trying to take away our freedom!” Mada screamed furiously.

"And because it's important for the government that we obey, it punishes anyone who even dares to investigate what it's against, in an extreme fashion.

They do it to intimidate us. Scare us, so they can keep everything for themselves." Stated Mada as Ruan put on his shoes.

"But a free man is a man who controls his fear in order to achieve what he believes in.

It will not stop me from completing my research." Said Mada with a sparkle of determination in his eyes. I have done everything in my power to make it a reality. Even if it is not optimal. The final experiment will be performed right now. No matter what happens after me this day - after the final experiment, our lives will not be the same. This is our last chance. Our only chance. And I need you ready." Mada said looking closely into Ruan's eyes. Ruan, all dresses up, was ready for his command.

Mada put his right hand on Ruan's shoulder. "All your life, you helped finance me.

You fought for me.

You believed in me.

You are the only family I have left, and I want you by my side, in that special moment." Said Mada sentimentally.

Ruan recognized the tears he was holding inside. He looked at Mada as tears flowed from his own eyes. "I'm ready… grandpa… thank you." Ruan concluded as he placed his hand on his grandfather's palm and closed his eyes in completion. "Come," Mada interrupted the moment after a few seconds "We don't have much time" he claimed as he left Ruan's room towards his own room.

Mada entered his room and forcefully dragged his bed aside to the corner of the room. Under his bed, a wooden door was revealed. He opened the door which revealed a long old ladder into the bowels of the earth.

"What is this thing?!" Ruan asked stunned. "We don't have time for explanations! Push the bed back before you go in and close the door behind you!" Mada rushed Ruan.

Inside, Ruan and Mada walked through the vast tunnel gaping in the bowels of the earth. "Where did you get all of that?!" Ruan asked surprised, looking at the vast space where dozens of different electronic devices are scattered. Various tankers of all kinds, with unidentified materials inside. Cables tied to the base of their cell dangle from the high earthy ceiling. "What is this place?! It's always been here?!" Ruan asked astonished. The place above was his home for his entire life, and he never even questioned there's an underground building below it.

"They've been following me for years. There's no way I'd be able to do everything in my main lab. This place is my real lab. Here I've done all the experiments I couldn't do there." Mada revealed with a smile as they walked inside the laboratory carved into the ground stone.

Ruan looked around. He saw the mouse box he remembered from his childhood. "Everything is here..." he thought to himself as nostalgia hit him.

"We don't have time to be impressed. They are close." urged Mada as he put a glove on his right hand. He approached a side drawer and opened it. From it, he took a blue diamond the size of his palm. "Where are we going?" Ruan asked.

"To the central laboratory." Mada answered.

"Why there?" Ruan asked.

"The final experiment can only be carried out there. All these years… they thought I was heating metals to convert them into iod metal… I tried to convince them that I was trying to reach a higher and higher temperature because it was necessary for the success of the research. But, this device is meant for another, much greater purpose.” Mada shared and walked up the ladder at the other end of his secret lab.

On the surface of the ground outside the city of Saraf, a thin wooden door opened from the ground. Mada felt the cold air on his bald scalp. He looked around, looking for what he had left on the mountainside.

Shortly, he found it.

An old car that looks like a scrap that was forgotten outside the city.

From it appearance, Ruan was sure that it would not start. But to his surprise, they began a short drive to the main laboratory located on the nearby mountainside.

"What is this diamond you took with you? It is much bigger than any previous diamonds you had before." Ruan asked curiously.

"Definitely." Mada replied, "This particular stone is our last chance. All my research boils down to it. All the previous diamond stones I made... they were not meant to succeed. They had many flaws... but I was aware of it. I had to be economical with the materials I had. They are not cheap. I couldn't waste them. Some of these materials are extremely rare." Shared Mada as a contemplative look appeared on his face.

" If not for them...-" Mada recalled when in his head vision, he saw two people standing next to each other. Black silhouette of a man and a woman. The man has glasses on his eyes. The woman who hugs him has a Kare hairstyle. "- Without them… I wouldn't have been able to get here." Mada recalled quietly with sadness in his eyes.

When they arrived at the lab, Mada placed the diamond in the container as he said to Ruan. "This is it. The moment has come." he finalized as he looks at it one last look. Ruan gazed in amazement at the stone behind Mada.

"This stone. My life." Mada concluded as he closes the cell door.

----------

The special police unit, numbering 8 soldiers, broke into Mada's house.

"Lie on the floor! Hands behind your back! You're under arrest!" cried the soldier as they kicked the door open.

But, only the silence was heard as a response.

"Where is he?!" he asked his teammate after scanning Mada's house.

"I do not know!" answered another soldier.

"What?! You lost him?! Are you serious?!? He's an old man!!!" Shouts were heard from the commander's walkie-talkie.

"We didn't lose him! I mean, we never got to him in the first place! He wasn't here when we arrived! It's like he disappeared!" replied the team commander in a panic.

"I don't care! Do you realize who you lost?! He's wanted for Energia research! The biggest prohibition in the constitution! That means he jumps to the highest wanted level immediately! Find him now!!!" screamed the brigade commander from the other end of the device.

"Ye... yes sir!" The commander answered with a stressed stutter.

----------

A few minutes into the beginning of the experiment and the heating of the diamond.

The air bubbles inside the cell rose with an escalating speed, indicating the increase in temperatures. The temperature gauge on the laboratory monitor showed a medium-high level. "More.." Mada calculated placing his hand on his chin.

"You raised the temperature 3 times already..." Ruan argued worriedly on the other hand, "Are you sure this is what needs to be done?" he asked apprehensively.

"Don't doubt me." Mada attacked immediately. "I'm sure of it. It must reach the maximum temperature the device can deliver" Mada claimed as he pushed the handle that controls the temperature all the way up. "Wait, Grandpa-" Ruan said when a loud alarm cut off his voice.

Immediately, the emergency lights in the lab turned on. The temperatures rose tremendously quickly as the pressure on the diamond stone in the center of the device increased.

The laboratory space began to move like at an earthquake. The concrete walls rattled as if they were made of paper. A powerful noise of a melting pot was heard from inside the cell.

"What did you do?! This is crazy!" Ruan shouted in panic as he covered his ears with his palms. "There is no other choice! This stone is bigger than the others!" Mada shouted back. "Turn it off now! It's too dangerous! At this rate the whole place will blow up any second! It happened several times before! Stop it now!" Ruan shouted under pressure, dripping with cold sweat. "We can't! It's necessary to create it!" Mada shouted back with determination.

Mada and Ruan watched the temperature gauge as the temperatures continued to rise and reached the maximum shown on the gauge, and beyond.

"Grandpa! We must stop this now and run!!!" Ruan screamed. "Escape?!" Mada shouted in astonishment "And to be defeated?! Never! This is what I live for!" he shouted fiercely.

"It's not ready! There's nothing we can do about it! Despite all our effort so far, is it going to be worth it if this whole place is going to explode along with us?!" Ruan asked with tremendous anxiety and stress. Never had he felt his body is so insignificant compared to the tremendous power emanating from the cell. "Nothing is going to be worth it if we are going to die here! Death is the worst option!!!" Ruan screamed at Mada as he struggled to rise from his knees to his feet.

"It is not!" Mada screamed back. Ruan was surprised by his scream which stopped him in his tracks.

"The worst option is to give in to the fear that paralyzes you to get what you want! It doesn't matter what happens to us! The experiment must be perfected!" Mada shouted back with all his might.

"Grandpa! That's enough! You don't talk sense anymore! We must stop it now!!!" Ruan insisted and shouted back, moving towards the temperature knob. He extended his hand to it.

"No…" Mada thought to himself as he sees Ruan's hand quickly move towards the handle.

"Never!!!" Mada screamed as he hit a powerful body blow on Ruan knocking him to the floor. Mada laid over Ruan with his back to the cell, raising his upper body and looking Ruan deep in his eyes.

"-I didn't get to this point to give up! This is my only chance and I'm willing to go all the way for it! Even if it means paying for it with my life! !!" Mada screamed at Ruan.

The noise from inside the cell continued to rise as it reached its peak.

An immense light burst from the cell.

Mada turned back to the direction of the cell while on Ruan, and slowly stood up, looking at the glowing stone at the center of it.

The noise was so loud, and the light was so bright, that for a moment, it felt to Mada that he was in a completely different place.

A Heavenly place.

Peaceful place.

Just for a moment.

A moment that was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream.

"GRANDPAAAAAAAAA!!!!!", a long scream was heard from deep inside of Ruan's throat with all his might as a massive explosion occurred in the cell. Ruan threw his hand forward toward Mada who was standing above him, trying to shield his face against the cracked lab chamber.