Spencer slowly opened her eyes, her eyelids fluttering as he adjusted to the brightness of the room.

  Blinking a few times, he felt a wave of fusion and disorientation wash over him.

  As her surroundings came into focus, Spencer realized she was in a hospital. The unmistakable smell of disiants and alcohol permeated the air, enveloping her senses.

  "What happened?" He murmured, her voice barely audible.

  "Did the pne crash?" The words escaped her lips in a mixture of shod disbelief.

  A surge of fear coursed through her veins. "What the hell..." he trailed off, uo prehend the situation fully.

  "Am I still alive?" Spencer's voice wavered with uainty.

  "How did I survive?" Her mind raced with questions, desperately seeking answers.

  A sense of surrealism washed over him. "Is this a dream?" he wondered aloud, his voice ced with a tinge of hopelessness.

  "Josh, where is your friend?" Spencer's voice trembled with as he looked around for any sign of familiarity.

  Where is he?" Spencer repeated, his tone growing more urgent.

  Somethi off, deeply uling. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had been through a pne crash, but the details remained hazy, elusive.

  Had he been in a a for years? The thought flickered through her mind, casting a shadow of doubt on her fragmented memories.

  Vaguely madjusted, he tried to piece together the jumbled fragments of his ret experiences. Nightmares of him and Josh iwined with the presence of a mysterious hacker in a mystical, supernatural setting haunted her subscious.

  However, as she stepped through the door with Josh, the world transformed before her eyes, and bright diffused lights danced in the air, morphing into a breathtakieor shower. The speed seemed unreal, dist her perception of reality.

  Another bizarre and supernatural enter.

  Spencer's senses heightened, allowing him to perceive the details of the room. He could hear the reverberations of a man's roar, resonating like that of a wild animal. The sou a chill down her spine.

  Standing at an exceptional; height of 1.92 feet (0.59 meters), Spencer sidered herself tall. But the man before him towered over him, his massive frame boasting twice the muscle mass.

  Spencer, a strong and reasonably healthy 48-year-old, couldn't help but wonder: Is this man turning into a werewolf? ??

  Spencer found himself ensnared in an utterly surreal nightmare, remi of a spine-chilling se straight out of a horror flick. A mixture of dread and panic flooded his being as he became acutely aware that he stood on the precipice of being devoured, akin to the hapless victims in those bone-chilling movies.

  Yet, armed with a mischievous sense of humor, Spencer couldn't help but ment his ck of a silver bullet or any means to bat the looming threat. Uerred, he steeled himself for a showdowermio take down his assaint by any means necessary.

  Amidst the chaos, Spencer could vividly feel the excruciating pain of the creature's bite on his neck, as if it had actually happehe agony overwhelmed him, causing him to bck out.

  When he regained sciousness, Spencer believed he was finally emerging from the a that had been induced by the act. Memories of haunting nightmares left him shivering, a chill creeping down his spine.

  Despite his attempts to rise, Spencer found himself uo do so. A nurse's bell caught his attention, vely pced within his reach. He pressed the button, summoning assistance.

  Soon after, a man in his sixties ehe hospital room apanied by a nurse. Introdug himself as Dr. Jacob Evans, he approached Spencer and inquired, "áster, how do you feel?"

  "Aster?" Spencer questioned, his voice sounding peculiar to his own ears. Had his extended a caused ges to his vocal cords, or was it yet another maion of the ongoing nightmare?

  Dr. Jacob Evans narrowed his eyes, a flicker nition passing through them, but Spencer couldn't decipher its meaning.

  Seeking answers, Spencer asked, "Is my friend here?"

  Dr. Jacob Evans replied, "Yes, Damián is in the room."

  Curiosity piqued, Spencer inquired further, "How long have I been asleep?"

  "Three days," came the doctor's response, his tone den with a hint of .

  Both the doctor and the nurse silently he signifit ges in Aster's appearance.

  As Spetempted to rise from his bed, fragments of unfamiliar memories began to swirl in his mind. These disjointed recolles felt like glitches in a scratched record, intensifying his headache until he ultimately succumbed to unsciousness once more.

  Spencer's cold, moist, bluish, and pale skin, rapid breathing, and weakeate, Dr. Jacob Evans identified the signs of shock. Ag swiftly, he initiated necessary first aid procedures to stabilize the patient.

  In the midst of the otion, a tall, elegant man with a regal beariered the room, his attire exuding an air of sophistication. An exasperated tone ced his voice as he inquired about the situation.

  "The patient has colpsed into shock," Dr. Jacob Evans informed him. "Given the circumstances and what has transpired, I kindly request that you leave so that the patient receive proper care."

  When Spencer regained sciousness for the sed time, he cast his gaze out the window and saw the night enveloping the surroundings. The hospital room artially illuminated, creating a seremosphere amidst the lingering sense of uainty.

  In Spencer's hospital room, another bed occupied the space, its oct seemingly lost in slumber. Spencer refrained fring the bell, opting io take a moment to pte his predit. He ime to gather his thoughts, to mull over the bewildering situation he found himself in.

  Seating himself on the bed, Spencer's dition gradually improved, and he couldn't help but notice a striking differen his hands. They appeared smaller, prompting a growing curiosity within him. A pressing need arose within him to locate a bathroom, a pce where he could glimpse his refle, for he had an insatiable desire to see himself.

  Setting his sights on the door at the far end of the room, Spencer rose from the bed with cautious movements, ensuring that his footsteps were soundless as he made his way towards the bathroom.

  Upon catg sight of his refle in the mirror, a jolt of realization surged through Spencer. "Oh, shit, it's not me. It's the person in the mirror," he muttered, a mix of surprise and incredulity c his words. The figure staring back at him appeared to be in their early twenties.

  Aster, as he now identified himself, possessed a visage of extraordinary beauty, akin to a meticulously crafted work of art. The natural tours of his face held a captivating allure, with his slightly fuller and rounded lower lip exuding a sense of te, as if life had smiled upon him. His upper lip, slightly thinner and uptur the ers, bestowed upon him an almost perpetual smile. A straight and proportionate nose added to his lively and charismatic tenance.

  But it was Aster's eyes that truly mesmerized Spencer. A deep, starry blue with hints of violet and flecks of bck, they held an irresistible allure. His petite ears framed a cascade of dark curls, bestowing upon him an air of grad modesty, with no need for eborate hairstyling teiques. Regardless of the angle from which he observed áster's refle, Spencer couldn't help but aowledge the young man's breathtakiy.

  As Spencer gazed into those captivating eyes, a memory surfaced. Violet eyes were exceptionally rare, a unique bination associated with a geic mutation lio the fabled Genesis Alexandria. Carriers of this mutation were said to possess immunity to diseases, granting them loy, youthfulness, and remarkably clear vision.

  paratively, Spencer, at 48 years old, sidered himself a handsome man, but when juxtaposed with the image in the mirror, his former features appeared somewhat blurred, g the captivating allure that áster possessed.

  Spencer found himself engaging in a soliloquy, attempting to calm his rag thoughts. "Is this some NASA experiment? A diabolical scheme orchestrated by a crimiy? Perhaps an enigmatic experiment by the FBI?" He chuckled, his ughter tinged with fusion and disbelief. Frankly, he had anticipated waking up in heaven, but this bewildering turn of events was beyond anything he could have fathomed.

  Exhalily, Spencer endeavored to rex his mind, allowing a faint smile to grace his lips. "I suppose I should start pnning a long vacation," he mused aloud, attempting to find a sembnce of humor amidst the chaos of his surreal dream-turned-nightmare.

  The madness of the nightmare triggered memories of a mission Spencer had uaken at the age of 36. It was a mission that had left an indelible mark on his mind, for reasons he couldn't quite fathom.

  This mission had taken pce several years after the tragic death of his beloved wife, Emma. During the darkest period of his life, when he had pted surrendering to despair, he had merely existed, a mere shell of his former self, surviving on the promise he had made to Emma. Emotional healing seemed elusive, aoiled tirelessly, funing like an apathetibie, ging to survival.

  The cooperative mission had been a joint effort among allied tries, aimed at thwarting terrorists and curbing the illicit arms trade. Spencer had colborated closely with a French agent named Pierre Durand, pying pivotal roles in strategizing and exeg the mission's objectives.

  For a span of 15 days, they had masqueraded as a couple on vacation, taking up residen a luxurious resort. While their true purpose was to infiltrate the arms dealers' work, their days were spent appearing like enthusiastic tourists, expl the opulent surroundings and indulging in the amehe resort had to offer.

  Even after the successful pletion of their mission to intercept the arms dealers, Spencer and Pierre had remained fast friends. Pierre eculiar and enigmatidividual, someone Spencer deemed as different, though not in a ive sense. In fact, he regarded Pierre as an exceptional agent.

  Pierre carried a colle of books with him during their time together, despite having little familiarity with literature. The volumes featured stories from otherworldly realms, captivating Spencer's curiosity. One day, while they were in their shared hotel room, Pierre had flung a book onto the ground in evident displeasure. his Frenpanion's agitation, Spencer had wondered what had transpired.

  The memory of that particur i lingered in Spencer's mind, mingling with the bewildering circumstances he currently found himself in.