"Mrs. Natasha!" called Sergeant Nish from the police unit. "Mada escaped with his grandson Ruan. He must have realized that he was about to be arrested. However, we were able to trace his tracks. He prepared everything in advance. A real underground building... But we were one step ahead of him. Our teams are there right now, inside the basement. They found everything. All the materials he hid, that's more than enough evidence to arrest him for life. We just need to find him now-" The sergeant's words were interrupted by a huge explosion that shook the entire city.  

The blast noise woke up the city's residents, who a moment later felt the powerful shockwave.

"What was that?!" asked the mayor in a panic. "I don't know ma'am!" answered the terrified policeman. When a short moment after, Sergeant Nish received a report. "Ma'am! I am receiving a report that the explosion came out of Mada's research lab!" Sergeant Nish reported nervously.

Natasha was shocked.

She stepped outside her house and looked towards Mada's lab. She saw the big smoke cloud coming from its direction in the nearby mountains. Without hesitation, the 16-soldier unit rushed towards Mada's laboratory.

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

In the lab, Ruan laid on the floor with his eyes closed, when suddenly, one of his eyes opened.

"Where am I..?" he asked himself confused. "What is this place...?.. this annoying beeping... what's going on here?" he questioned as he put his hand on his head in confusion. He tried to stand but couldn't. Dizzy, he began crawling forward the wall next to the laboratory monitor to use it get up on to his knees. When he was up, he opened his eyes wide as a result of the burnt smell he inhaled which focused him sharply. Suddenly, in a flash of memory, he recalled what happened just a moment ago.

"Grandpa!" he called out in a stressed voice, moving his head quickly around, looking for him. On the floor a few meters from him, he found him.

Rather, it.

The body of his grandfather.

Ruan eyes opened wide awake as his pupils narrowed quickly.

The sight was clear. It was impossible to make a mistake in the assessment.

He is no longer alive, as a huge cut split his head to two. His opened eyes indicated that the blast was so quick, it didn't even had time to close them before the hit.

Standing near him, Ruan felt paralyzed. He raised his hand and tried to call for him, but the words did not come out of his mouth. He stepped towards but quickly fell to the floor as a result of a sharp pain. Looking at his leg, he saw it.

A 30 cm piece of glass that was once the cell outer glass is stuck deep inside his left thigh.

Determined while struggling with the pain, he dragged himself to Mada, basking in his blood. When he reached him, he slightly lifted his corpse and put it on his knees, as if he was about to medically treat him. But, his shocked gaze hinted he knew it was for no use.

Instead, he hugged him tightly when he cried a loud, hysterical, and heartbreaking cry as his clothes fills with his grandfather's blood.

From the noise of the alarms, he heard rough footsteps increasing. He immediately realized that these belonged to military men or policemen, carrying heavy and noisy operational mountain boots.

"They are going to catch me and throw me in prison... What was all of this for? For what purpose was I born?" Ruan doubted. Emptiness filled his heart as he regretted all his life's decisions that were presented right before his eyes in his mind.

"My whole life, I just suffered. All my effort. Everything Grandpa worked for all his life… In vain." he thought depressed and dejected with his grandfather's corpse still in his hands.

Suddenly, he snapped.

"Wait - the stone!" he reminded to himself. Quickly, he realized what he had to do.

He closed his eyes and placed him gently on the cold laboratory floor. With fire in his eyes and the rest of his strength, he crawled towards the cell and jumped through the broken glass frame to the location where the stone laid.

He crashed to the floor. The hard landing caused a sharp pain in his thigh that caused him to writhe in pain. Although the pain, he quickly came to his senses and searched for the stone.

"Where is it... where is it?!" Ruan exclaimed with astronomical pressure.

The sound of the soldiers' footfalls got louder and louder as they are getting closer.

"Where is it?! Where is it?!?" Ruan panicked. "Is it even here?! Did the explosion broke it into pieces?!" he stressed and hastened as he scans thoroughly the cell filled with shattered, heavy glass from the inner heating machine cell.

"I lost too much blood..." he thought feeling dizzy as his vision getting blurrier each passing moment.

"Shut up you bitch…! fast... fast!" Ruan exclaimed with a shake of his head as he tries to stay conscious and continues to search. Suddenly, he detected something under thick glass, close to the center of the wide cell. He started crawling towards it.

The soldiers of the special unit broke into the control room. The protective lab glasses that were always on the lab table were on the floor, broken and covered in blood.

"We found him. He's dead." The commander announced in the Walkie Talkie.

"Dead?!" a question was heard from the other side. "There is no doubt about that," replied the commander looking at the body next to him. "What about his grandson?" asked the other side. The commander's look disclosed that for a moment, he forgot about him. "We're after him. In a moment it's all over." The commander announced.

Ruan crawled and reached the odd glass.

When he lifted it, he found it.

The stone.

He sat on his knees beside it. A sensation he had never felt before echoed through his body. A powerful, concentrated, and compressed feeling that has no equal. Its gravity felt immense. Just from being by its side, he felt that it was able to swallow him whole in an instant. On top of it, the stone changed its color permanently, from blue to a dark and deep purple color, which almost resembles black. he looked at the stone as a memory came to his mind.

------

Mada led Ruan with him as they walk into the insides of his previous laboratory.

A side room that was hidden from all eyes.

In the same room, there was a shining purple stone in a small glass container, held by a thin iron stand. In addition, there were boxes with mice in them. "Come closer." Mada invited Ruan. he leaned over to the cell and looked at the stone through the glass. Small lightning bolts erupted from it.

"It's... amazing..." Ruan marveled. "Right?" Mada asked as he quickly added, "But, it's unstable. This is how far I've come. You see, the stone can draw Energia, it can release it, but it's unpredictable. Because it's not under anyone's control. As powerful as it is, it's possible to give it the ability to be controlled." Mada said with the enthusiasm of a little boy.

"The stone must penetrate the user's body so that it can fuse with it." he told Ruan as they looked at the mice running in the plastic box at the old lab. "The ideal place to attach the stone is in the animal's heart area, as the heart is the one that directs the Energia in our body. If it succeeds, the creature and the stone will hopefully become one. But, pay attention." Mada said and lifted the diamond stone with long tweezers from its designated compartment.

He put the diamond into the box with the mice. The mice first showed concern. But, after a few seconds, one of them returned and looked at the shining stone. He moved his head up as he tried to sniff it. Getting closer and closer each time. Until a single strand from his mustache accidentally touched the stone. In a sudden and rapid explosion, he turned into dust in an instant.

Ruan was startled and jumped back, almost tripping on the floor. The two remaining mice in the cage backed away as they let out frightening chirps. Mada picked the diamond back up and returned it to his cell.

 "Right now, the stone will absorb the power of any creature that comes in contact with it and kill it instantly.

All that will be left is dust.

However, if the stone instead of absorbing the creature's Energia, integrates with it - on that day, my research will be complete. However, this stage is still far ahead as you see. So, what do you think?" Mada asked with a sly smile.

Ruan, who had just been exposed to his grandfather's real research for the first time, couldn't believe what he was watching. It was too good to be true. "It...” he stammered, trying to find the right words. "It's the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life..." he said in excited amazement.

--------

Ruan focus returned in an instant. He looked at the stone in front of him as the mouse leftover dust appeared in his mind.

Death.

But suddenly, without his intention, he remembered his grandfather's words.

When he lost him, when he lost everything – only then he understood his sentence.

"The worst option is not death…" he whispered to himself.

"The worst option is to give in to the fear that paralyzes you to get what you want." He said aloud. Shocked, he recited his grandfather's words as it's understanding seeped into him.

"He didn't lose his mind... he was ahead of me… again. like always..." he grabbed his head, frustrated.

"Because I was reckless... because I didn't trust him enough, it came to this..." he realized disheartened. "He invested his whole life, all of his mind! In order to create this stone!''.

"It's the essence of my life" he remembered the sentence his grandfather always told him from the day he found out about his real research.

In his vision, he saw his grandfather before his eyes. How he would pick him up from kindergarten with a hug. How he would listen to him, whatever his age was, with great interest. How he promised him that he could always count on him. "You have me, and I have you. We are together, a family. Forever." Said Mada in his memories.

"Grandpa was everything to me... and now, he is no longer here... But, his life purpose is here. Lies right in front of my eyes." he came to an understanding.

On the one hand, the fear of death. On the other hand, the purpose of his grandfather's life.

he closed his eyes tightly, reaching forward where the stone was placed. He narrowed his eyes nervously even more when he felt a touch at his palm.

Peeking with one eye, he took a look.

"I... touched it... I'm not dead...!" he exclaimed surprised. Quickly, he picked up the stone.

The soldiers came through the side entrances to the stone storage cell. They pointed their weapons in the direction of Ruan, as the commander of the soldiers shouted, "Put down what you're holding! Get away from it and raise your hands!" he ordered.

Ruan did not respond to the call. He continued to look at the stone glowing with an immense powerful purple light.

"I'm not going to repeat myself one more time!" insisted the commander, "Drop what you're holding at once!" he strongly ordered. With an aphetic look, Ruan looked at the soldiers and reached his hand forward as he exposed the stone to their faces.

"Stop playing games! Drop what you're holding or I'll shoot! Now!!!" shouted the commander again.

Ruan looked at the stone with bright eyes, as flash memories of his grandfather came to his mind.

"We are family. You have me and I have you. Forever."

"It's us against everyone else."

 "It's the purpose of my life."

He focused. "This stone... was so important to grandpa, that he was ready to die for it..." he thought as he looked at the stone.

"This is your final warning!!! Throw away what you're holding now!!!" screamed the commander, looking through the crosshair of his weapon. The barrel, aimed right at Ruan's heart.

Ruan imagined his grandfather one last time as he closed his eyes. "Grandpa... I'm sorry..." Ruan apologized as a tear fell from his eye when he dropped the stone from his hand.

The commander and his soldiers looked at it in astonishment. For a moment, it felt like time slowed down, as the stone floated in the air, falling slowly side to side with Ruan's teardrop.

"I'm sorry... that you couldn't be the one..." Ruan whispered in deep agony. Suddenly, In an extreme frenzy with his eyes wide open from rage, he grabbed the stone in the air and thrust it forcefully into his chest.