THE NSDA

OLAMILEKAN:

Joshua and I sat silent for what felt like hours, the cold metal of the van biting into our backs. The cuffs on our wrists hummed with a low, dampening energy, draining us of any chance to struggle. My fingers convulsed against the metal, my body instinctively trying to summon even a spark of my ability—but nothing. It was like trying to clutch smoke in naked hands.

The road stretched out endlessly beneath us until, finally, the van slowed. I glimpsed through the small, reinforced window a massive structure looming ahead of us. A giant building, its gleaming glass façade reflecting the cloudy sky, stood like a monolithic beast on the horizon. New, immaculate—almost too immaculate. But beneath that polished surface, I felt something synthetic lurking.

The van jerked as it came to a halt. A second later, the opaque doors swung open, and the same dark-complexioned woman who had led the raid on my home stood in the opening. Her frigid brown eyes scanned us briefly before she gestured for us to alight.

"Move," she ordered, her voice emotionless.

Flanked by five hulking officers, Joshua and I had no choice but to comply. The air outside was fresh, but there was a synthetic quality to it, as though the very atmosphere was controlled down to the smallest detail.

The inside of the building was even more intimidating. The lobby was vast, the walls covered in perfect screens displaying rivers of data. Uniformed personnel strode purposefully in all directions, some in lab coats, others in tactical gear, each with a clear task.

We were led to an elevator at the end of the hall. I expected the woman to press a button for a lower floor, but she extended her hand instead and pressed an invisible switch on the panel. A hidden button materialized, glowing gently. She didn't pause but pressed it.

The moment the doors closed, a sense of eeriness wrapped around me. The air vibrated with a buzz, and runes of gold flared to life on the walls of the lift. My stomach plunged as gravity seemed to slant, the air itself bending around us. The very next moment, all dissolved into streaks of light. I felt like I was falling and rising at the same time, a bearable pressure crushing me before disappearing in the wink of an eye.

Then the doors opened and a whole new world was revealed.

---

We had reached the real headquarters of the NSDA. But it was no longer in Nigeria.

We stood in a massive underground facility, the likes of which I could not have conceived. The ceiling was incredulously high, lined with artificial sky panels mimicking daylight. Transparent bridges connected a number of floors upon which scientists and soldiers rushed, monitoring awakened humans who were put through rigorous tests. Floating holograms displayed charts of magical energy levels, some of which spiked wildly. Training zones were sectioned off, where humans with strange powers battled in controlled environments.

A grand symbol loomed over the center of the main hall—a gold eagle clutching a sphere of light and dark, the NSDA symbol. 

"Welcome to the National Security Department for the Awakened's core," the woman led us on. "Your testing begins now." 

I clenched my fists. 

Joshua snorted. "And if we refuse?" 

She turned to him, her face completely emotionless. "Then you die." 

The room fell silent.

Having no choice, we continued on.

---

The deeper in we went, the stranger it all became. The facility continued like an underground city, with room after endless room, hallway after hallway, and chamber after chamber, each to some experiment or study. One hallway we passed through was lined with containment pods—large, cylindrical tanks filled with a strange, viscous liquid, in which unconscious humans floated, wires and tubes attached to their bodies. Their faces were peaceful, yet something wasn't quite correct about them. They had been slept, it appeared, forever.

"What the hell is this place?" Joshua muttered.

"They're experimenting on the awakened," I said, my voice grim. "Like lab rats."

The woman leading us did not appear to hear our conversation. She simply kept on walking, her pace steady and unvarying.

We finally came to a test chamber, circular and lined with solid metal walls imbued with runes. Inside, several floating scanners floated around, their lenses whirring as they stood ready to scan us. Behind a glass partition, a group of scientists stood by, taking notes on holo-screens.

Joshua was tested first. A scanning beam swept across his body, casting a changing energy reading in the air above his head.

"Subject shows above-average magical potential," one of the scientists noted. "Shadow-based powers are present, though refinement is nil." 

Joshua scoffed. "Refinement? Seriously?"

Then it was my turn. The scanner hummed as it slid towards me. But the moment it got too close, a shrieking sound filled the air. The device flared erratically, bursting into pieces as its circuits overpowered. The energy suppressors on my wrists arced wildly as the runes along them glowed, fighting to contain the energy within me.

Alarms blared, and the lights overhead flickered.

"What the hell is happening?! " one of the scientists shouted.

One of them frantically typed away at his console. "His power level… it's catastrophic! It's completely off the scale! We can't even accurately measure it!"

The officers reflexively went on defensive alert, their hands darting toward their weapons. The tension in the room shot up in an instant.

"He's unstable," a scientist warned. "He needs to be contained—now!

The woman who was overseeing us narrowed her eyes. For the first time, I saw something other than icy professionalism on her face. Was that… fear? Concern?

Before anyone could respond, a low, authoritative voice cut through the chaos.

"Stand down."

The entire room fell silent.

A giant of a man appeared—a gray-haired man, likely in his sixties, with piercing blue eyes that mirrored decades of experience. His silver hair was slicked back neatly, his military uniform adorned with dozens of medals. Even the scientists straightened up at his arrival.

Fredrick Robertson.

The leader of the NSDA military forces. The director of the entire operation.

His eyes settled on me, unwavering, analytical.

"This one." he growled, studying me as if I were a loaded weapon. "This one is more than we've encountered."

He turned to the scientists. "Prepare. We need to know whether he is an asset." His eyes locked onto me again. "Or a th

reat."

I swallowed. 

Something told me that whatever came next would determine my fate.