Kane lay in bed. A dim white light drifted through his closed eyelids. His blonde hair lay in a mess around his head, his red bangs flopped indolently over his face. He reached out his hand to brush away the hair from his face. He had a tattoo of a slitted eye on his hand. He opened his deep marine-blue eyes.

He heard a faint ringing sound, but it wasn't until the sound got louder, that he came to his senses. It was the morning alarm. He sat up in the dull, plain and looked around his cell irritably. Strong, glaring light bounced off the white walls as a ventilator gusted chilled air into the room.

Although Kane was in thin, white and blue training garments- he couldn't feel the cold it brought to his skin.

This was only the effect of one of the many drugs they gave him. 'They' were a group of scientists who dedicated their lives to training him and 20 other subjects. The subjects were taught fighting skills, mathematics, mind games and the history of the world before it all went to hell.

The purpose of their training -they were told- is to fight in the third world war, better identified as world War A. The scientists taught them about the cause of the war, a mineral called Arcidite which has amazing destruction and healing capabilities, depending on how it is used. It was used to end previous wars and move the world to a better future, but a group of German officials wanted to harness its powers to create a dangerous machine beyond human imagination.

The United Nations had however disagreed with them. This lead to conflicts and eventually the reformation of the Nazi party, who started the Third World War.

Kane had always thought about what the world on the outside looked. He was told that before the war, life was peaceful, green and plentiful. But now it is a barren wasteland full of fire, blood and raging battles. A sliding sound snapped him out of his thoughts and he brought his attention to the door.

It was wide open and a tall man wearing a white lab coat walked in carrying a metal tray. He placed the tray down on a small bench next to Kane's bed. The man picked up a small syringe filled with a blue substance.

'Put your arm out, number 20' the man said brusquely.

Kane held out his arm and the man plunged the syringe into his wrist. Kane's mind went blank. Any thought that wasn't related to his training was dissipated from his head. The drug was an obedience serum; it destroys a person's rebellious thoughts and made them completely docile. This happened every morning. To him it was customary.

The man withdrew the needle and handed Kane a plate of fruit. It was genetically altered so the subjects wouldn't become ailing or sick. Kane took the plate and thanked the man, who departed without another word. He took an apple and bit into it. The genetically altered fruit tasted the same as it always had, sweet, but he didn't care. All he thought of was giving himself nutrients and going on to training.

He had soon downed everything on the plate. After he had finished, he put it into the collection depot and headed off to training room A-07, as he always did. As he stepped inside the heavily air conditioned room, several scientists watched him from the walkway, and several others were working on large computers.

The room was frosty, but of course he didn't feel a thing. A red haired woman with glasses and a lab coat that reached down to her ankles stepped forward. She spoke with a punitive tone in her voice.

'Subject 20, Kane, your training today will consist of sparring with subjects 21 and 19. Proceed to the armoury and prepare your weapon. You will then report back here and begin.'

Kane stepped back into the hallway. Subject 21… this will be interesting. He looked into some of the other rooms as he was passing by. Other subjects were fighting each other, training in simulators, or playing mind games with the scientists. It was all training. Training for when the day shall come, for when they fight in World War A.

Suddenly a voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

'Kane! Over here!' called the voice.

Kane stopped and turned around. There was subject 21, Abel, waving at him. He, like Kane, had blonde hair with an oddly coloured blue hair streak. His training garb was similar to Kane's, but it was a lighter shade of blue, almost white.

His eyes were also a lighter shade of blue, almost an aqua colour. He waved back, and beckoned Abel to come over. Abel caught up with him.

'Hello older brother,' he said, 'looks like we'll have to spar with each other today. Spar, spar!'

'Yeah, I've never fought you before brother, this ought to be interesting.'

Kane smirked. This will be a very fun day. They were soon at the armoury, inside there were weapons lined all around the silver walls, behind bulletproof glass cases. Kane quickly found his weapon on the far wall, a black and red scythe. It is the weapon he had been trained with ever since he was little. He was occasionally labelled as the 'Scythe Device' by the scientists.

Abel had been trained with Katana instead and he was therefore known as the 'Katana Device'. Each of the 21 subjects have been trained with a different weapon, ranging from swords, to bows, to guns. He opened its case and pulled it out slowly. Abel drew the two black and red Katana from his own case with graceful precision, and started walking back to the training room.

'Hey! Wait up!' Kane called, as he ran after Abel.

Subject 19, the 'Longbow Device', was inside the training room waiting for them. Short brown hair fell around her face. She held a large bow in her hands.

'Took you long enough to get here' she remarked with a smirk.

'Wow, how did you get here so fast 19? You weren't here when I arrived.' Kane asked with trivial surprise, although he shouldn't be, everyone in the facility knew that Subject 19, Kayt, was the fastest out of all the subjects.

Kayt just laughed, she opened her mouth to retort but the red headed scientist cut her off.

'Enough talk. Begin!' she yelled from the walkway.

She pressed a button and reinforced glass walls shot up to form an arena that contained the subjects from doing damage to any of the equipment.

'Well, I guess we should start' Kayt sighed, and put a red-tipped arrow to her bow. Kane leapt backwards, into a defensive stance with his scythe held out in front of him like a shield. Abel disappeared and reappeared directly above Kayt on the walkway. Kayt appeared to be studying the distance from herself to Kane and calculated the forte and velocity she should use to get a direct hit. She waited for a weakness in his concentration. Kane looked up and saw Abel. He let down his guard for a split second, but it was all she needed. She released the arrow.

Bingo.

Kane swiftly moved out of the way, but the arrow still scratched him. A drop of blood fell from his cheek. Abel leapt down upon Kayt; he swung his left hand katana at her. She quickly stopped it with her bow.

'Hahaha!' Abel cackled, 'You forget that I'm not left handed, my other hand is much more powerful! Powerful!'

He brought down his other katana, it met its mark. Kayt cried out in pain; blood tricked from her shoulder. The wound was small, but deep.

'Sorry Kayt, I didn't want to do that!' Abel said, with slight remorse in his tone.

'Don't worry about it, I'm fine, you should be worried about yourself at the moment.' Kayt grimaced. She hit Abel in the stomach with the end of her bow sharply. He grunted and stumbled over. Dammit Abel, why do I always fall for the girls, he cursed himself for his own foolishness. Kayt winked at him. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was her fist approaching him.

Kane felt a twang of disappointment, not being able to fight his brother. But, he still had to defeat his other opponent. He leapt at Kayt and swung his scythe, but she ducked and swung her leg at his ankles and knocked him over. She pulled an arrow out of her quiver and put it to her bow. She drew it back, but before she could shoot him, one of the scientists spoke to them through the loudspeaker.

'STOP ALL TRAINING ACTIVITIES! THERE HAS BEEN A CHANGE OF PLANS, PLEASE PROCEED TO THE DRUG TESTING LAB!'

Subject 19, and subject 20 exchanged looks. Kayt put her bow away, and helped Kane up. Kane went over to his brother and tried to waken him.

'C'mon Abel, we gotta go to the drug testing lab, let's go!'

Abel stood up, slightly dazed. Automatically, several small hovering robots flew over to them and sprayed a bizarre glowing liquid onto their wounds, which soon healed. Kayt smiled and looked over at him. '

Sorry Abel, I didn't want to do that' she giggled mockingly.

Abel flushed momentarily.

'You know, you're being trained as a weapon of war, you shouldn't let girls interfere with that training.'

Kane laughed. Abel looked away.

They soon arrived at the drug testing lab, which to their surprise, stood 17 other subjects, all in a line, but one was missing. They quickly made their way into the line hopefully not being noticed, but they were however.

An old scientist with grey, receding hair and squinty eyes went right up to them. He was shorter than them, even though they were only 13 years old.

He squinted even harder than Kane thought possible, studying his face, and body structure.

'You are a fine specimen; the other scientists have raised you well'.

The old man went on to look at the other two.

'All very brilliant weapons of war you are, but now, we will make you even better!' he exclaimed, and turned to all the other subjects.

'We have developed a new ability enhancer called the T-42, which has been created from large concentrated amounts of Liquid Arcidite. It will greatly increase your strength, speed and dexterity. It will make you perform better than you ever have! And, ' his voice got louder as he got more excited, 'you'll only ever need to take this drug once, and the effects are permanent!'

The 20 subjects were ushered into a small chamber, where a heavy titanium door was closed behind them. Kane heard the sound of a lock. Kayt moved closer to Abel. They waited… nothing happened. Then suddenly, several small vents came out from holes in the walls and started spraying a purple gas into the room.

'Abel, I-I feel something weird, that I've never felt before. We learned about it before. I think it's called fear.' Kayt whispered, and clutched his hand. Abel squeezed hers in return.

'Don't worry Kayt, it's just another enhancer, it'll be fine!'

But Abel was wrong.

Dead wrong…

Some of the subjects started gagging and a couple fell over. Sharp-looking, purple crystalline growths appeared on their faces and bodies. Kayt gasped. Kane felt like all the enhancers he had taken were being destroyed. Emotions were entering the space that was previously empty. He ran to his brother's side. Abel grunted and fell to his knees.

'Abel!' Kayt cried, 'What's going on? You said it would be ok! You SAID-!'

'Kayt, I'm sorry, sorry!'

He grabbed her and held her in his arms. She didn't reply, but held him tightly. He held her close. Suddenly, Kayt cried out and shook uncontrollably, blood splattered out of her mouth and her eyes went white. Her body was being overtaken by the strange purple crystals. Soon, after the crystals has ceased expanding, her body fell limp.

Abel put his ear to her chest, listening for that faint sound of a beating heart, but couldn't find it.

'Her heart isn't beating anymore' he said in an emotionless tone, but tears ran down his face like a waterfall.

He lay her down and closed her eyes. He suddenly paused and screamed in agony. Something weird started happening.

The strange purple crystals started growing over the left side of his face and his left arm. They expanded for a bit, but then abruptly stopped. His eyes turned an eerie purple colour.

'Kane! Help me!'

Kane saw what was happening; he shook Abel like a ragdoll.

'DAMN IT BROTHER! You CANT die now! You're all I have!'

He looked around, all the other subjects were dying, trying to hold on to their lives, but failing, slipping away from the shore of life. He didn't understand why it wasn't happening to him. Outside the chamber the scientists were shocked by the results. The old man stepped forward.

'Why? The virus was perfect, how could this happen! This was supposed to be for a better future, now it's all been for nothing!'

A flagrant purple light was coming from inside the chamber, getting brighter every second. The bright light was coming out of Abel. Kane realised his death, and his brother's were unavoidable and stepped back.

'No, I'm sorry brother, but we're going to die, there's nothing I can do!'

'No brother! No, no! Please save me! Don't desert me!' Abel bellowed.

The light grew brighter, and then disappeared. Everything went completely still for a moment. Kane was shocked, he couldn't move, see or hear. The scientists outside the chamber ran for cover. The old man just stood there, staring into the light. Kane saw him through a small glass panel. He walked forward, it seemed that he also knew death was inevitable. Then it happened.

Boom.

The light exploded, it rushed through the corridors of the facility and decimated almost all the equipment in it's path. The laboratory collapsed. It was exposed to the outside world. It only took seconds, but both Kane and Abel would both remember it for the rest of their lives. Smoke floated through the air. Purple fire raged along the corridors of the now ruined lab.

Abel lay underneath a pile of rubble. Kane stood up across the other side of the chamber, shaking. There was a deep wound across his nose. He looked around. There was no trace of any of the other 18 subjects, though the scientists bodies were lying in bits and pieces all over the room, covered in blood.

The blast had blown a gigantic hole from the facility all the way to the surface. The moon shone down upon him. His eyesight was averted from the destroyed lab, towards the sky and the stars above him. He had never seen them before. To him it was a beautiful sight, amidst all the chaos, like a rose in a thorn bush. He searched the room for Abel, and found him under the debris.

He tried to pull Abel out from under it, but couldn't muster the strength to do so. He was utterly exhausted from shock.

I'm sorry Abel... he thought.

So sorry.

He jumped up and headed towards the surface. He looked back down upon the ruined laboratory, which to him held many memories that would disturb him forever…

Kane eventually got to the surface, but there was nothing to see but bloodstained sand and ruined buildings.

Everything was on fire, and there were corpses everywhere. So this is the war we would have fought in, and these are the people we were supposed to protect Kane thought to himself with anger. He wandered through the crimson dunes until could wander no more, and simply collapsed in the sand…

Abel regained consciousness, but still couldn't move. He looked down. Dammit, I'm trapped and losing blood fast! He thought.

'Brother… where are you?' He whispered, but soon realised that his brother had left him to die. Blood spurted from his wounds, but then something remarkable happened. A faint purple glow came from under the debris. Eerie purple sparks flashed all over his body. He could feel his own wounds closing up.

In minutes he was repaired, and he tried to lift the debris. To his surprise it moved quite easily and he threw it aside without any effort whatsoever. Meanwhile the virus inside his body reached his brain, and was rapidly taking over, making him more aggressive by the second. Abel suddenly felt uncontrollable hatred for his brother for leaving him.

'Curse you brother! I shall end you for deserting me!' Abel looked up into the starry night and screamed in rage.

'DAMN YOU BROTHER! YOU LEFT ME FOR DEAD, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, I WILL DESTROY YOU!' Then he lowered his voice

'Why brother? Why?'

He too collapsed amidst the ruins…

Nothing left…

Nowhere to go…

No purpose…

It's all gone…

All gone…

gone... gone... gone...