CHAPTER 14: FROM RELIEF TO RUIN

Confusion clung to John like a thick fog as he glanced around, trying to ground himself. His surroundings were both familiar and foreign. The trees, the sky, the earth beneath his feet—it all felt real. Too real. But then, sunlight broke through the canopy above, warm and golden, brushing against his face like a long-lost memory.

He blinked.

In front of him stood a tall building—that building. He even recognized the window – the same one he remembered falling from.

A breath hitched in his throat.

"I'm… back?"

Relief struck him like a tidal wave, knocking loose the tight coil of anxiety in his chest. A shaky laugh escaped his lips as he stumbled forward, touching the building's outer wall, as if needing physical proof that it was real.

Thank God, he thought. It was just a dream… a terrible, wild dream.

He quickly checked his backpack, fingers fumbling through the zipper. His school project, perfectly intact, nestled safely within. John let out another breath, this one calmer. Everything was back to normal. He must've fainted after entering the lab… maybe he'd hit his head and imagined the whole thing. All the beasts, the stone, the forest—it had felt so vivid. Too vivid. But dreams had a way of doing that, didn't they?

Still, he couldn't shake the faint, lingering sense of unease. Something about it hadn't felt like a dream.

He shook his head. No. Don't overthink it. I'm here now. And it's time for school.

Straightening his shirt and slinging the bag over his shoulder, John turned and jogged toward the school building with a renewed sense of clarity and purpose.

Meanwhile, across the city, tension hung thick in the sterile air of Luna's laboratory.

Several doctors stood in tight formation near a shattered containment unit, faces grave. Dr. Thomas paced the floor, running his fingers through his unkempt hair. His voice, usually steady and composed, carried an undertone of disbelief as he recounted what had happened.

"That stone… it wasn't just a relic. It evolved. It could think, adapt—and worse, it could mimic. Its intelligence went beyond what any of us had anticipated."

Dr. James, an older man with tired eyes and years of experience behind his gaze, leaned in. "Last time I saw it, it was drained. Cracked. You said it barely had enough energy to hold form. It shouldn't have been capable of—"

"I know what it shouldn't have done," Thomas interrupted, his voice sharp. He gestured toward the broken containment locks. "But it did. It escaped. Somehow. We thought turning into a stone form would leave it harmless. We thought locking it away was enough. But it fooled us."

The room fell into a brief silence, the hum of equipment and the occasional beep of monitors the only sounds.

Then James asked the question everyone had been avoiding. "Where's Luna?"

Thomas sighed, his expression clouded with concern. "She's missing. So is her brother—John. He hasn't been seen in two days. Luna went to the school to look for him but came back with nothing. And…" He hesitated. "The project she made for him? That's gone too."

James raised an eyebrow. "Stolen?"

"Possibly," Thomas replied. "Or maybe it was just thrown out in the chaos. When we got here that day, the whole place was a mess. Broken glass, shattered tools, books scattered. Something—or someone—broke in. Or maybe broke out."

Just then, a sharp buzz broke the tension.

Thomas pulled his phone from his coat pocket and glanced at the screen. It was a message from Luna.

His eyes widened. She must have found him! His pulse quickened as he reread the message.

He suddenly remembered the figure he'd glimpsed walking away from the hospital earlier. A boy with a backpack, moving quickly down the road.

That was John. It had to be.

Without another word, Dr. Thomas turned and bolted from the lab, sprinting through the halls and out into the blinding daylight. The doctors called after him, confused, but he didn't stop. He had no idea what exactly he would find at the school…