CENTI

PROJECT: CENTI CHAPTER 1: THE ESCAPE The first thing I remember is pain. Not the sharp kind. The deep kind. Like my bones were boiling and freezing at the same time. White room. White lights. White coat. "Subject 500," the doctor said. "Vital signs are spiking." "Then do something," another voice snapped. "The Warden wants results today." I couldn't see them. Tubes in my arms. Ice on my left side. Fire on my right. Cryo X + Pyro V. The dual serum. They'd tried it on 499 people before me. All 499 died. "Initiating final test," the doctor said. The machines screamed. My body arched off the table. 100x strength. 100x speed. 100x everything. And 100x pain. Something in me broke. The glass around me shattered. Alarms. Running feet. Shouts. I don't remember standing. I remember the door not being there anymore. I remember running down white halls. I remember guards with guns. I remember not wanting to kill them. So I didn't. First guard: disarmed. Dropped. Second: frozen to the wall with ice from my hand. Third: burned his weapon with fire from the other. I ran. Outside was snow. Cold. Real cold. The serum inside me hated it. My vision went black at the edges. I made it 200 meters before I collapsed. --- When I woke up, I wasn't in AEGIS hands. Fireplace. Wood cabin. Old man watching me. Late 50s. Scar across his eye. Sword on the wall. "Kazuo," he said before I could ask. "And you're Subject 500." "Ryze," I croaked. "Name's Ryze." He nodded. Poured water. "Drink. Slow." The water felt like heaven. "Where am I?" "Somewhere they won't look. For now." "Why help me?" "Because I trained the man who built you," he said. "And I watched him ruin it." He told me everything over the next 2 weeks. PROJECT CENTI: Make a super soldier. 499 failed. I was the first to survive the dual serum. Side effect: 6 months to live. Maybe less. "Your cells are burning out," Kazuo said. "Fire and ice will kill you." "Can you fix it?" I asked. "No. But I can teach you to live with it." "How?" "Control. Breathe. And this." He handed me a wooden sword. Day 1 to Day 14 was hell. "Breathe in on the ice. Breathe out on the fire." "Footwork. Again." "A weapon is an extension of will, not rage." I learned. Because I had to. Because if I didn't, I'd die in a lab or in the snow. On day 14, drones. AEGIS found us. Kazuo pushed me toward the back door. "Run, Ryze. Don't look back." "What about you?" "I've already lived my life," he said, drawing his sword. "Yours is just starting. Go." I ran. Behind me, I heard steel. And shouting. I didn't look back. That was 2 hours ago. Now I'm in a ditch, 10 miles from the cabin. Bleeding. Shaking. Ice in one hand. Fire in the other. A baton I took from a guard. Master Kazuo is probably dead. And AEGIS is coming. But I'm alive. And I'm not Subject 500 anymore. I'm CENTI. End of Chapter 1