Three years had passed since Aiden’s first encounter with Darius. Three years of grueling, nearly inhuman training that had broken him and rebuilt him more times than he could count.

  The first year was the worst.

  Aiden had never been pushed to his limits like this before. Every day, Darius forced him to run, fight, and endure pain far beyond what his body was capable of. Sometimes, it was simple—endless hours of running up and down steep hills, pushing his body until his legs felt like they would snap. Other times, it was brutal combat training, with Darius showing him just how outmatched he was, even with his strange powers. Aiden had been weak, but Darius kept telling him that pain was the key. He needed to understand it, to control it.

  Pain was his only friend.

  At first, Aiden thought he wouldn’t make it. The physical exhaustion and the mental strain were overwhelming. But with every bruise, every cut, every broken bone, he learned more about his power. It wasn’t strength, not like Darius’s. It was something different—something darker. He didn’t know where it came from or how it worked, but the more pain he endured, the more his abilities grew.

  He could feel the power inside him, twisting, changing. It wasn’t just his physical endurance that improved; his perception sharpened. He began to understand the way pain worked in others, the way it could be maniputed, the way he could use it to control the flow of a fight.

  Aiden never gave up. Even when his muscles screamed in protest, even when his body refused to move, he pushed through. There were times when Darius would look at him with a raised eyebrow, clearly impressed that Aiden hadn’t broken. And that was all Aiden needed to keep going.

  But even now, after three years of training, his power remained a mystery. He could feel it, deep within him, but he couldn’t always control it. It was like a storm inside, always on the verge of bursting out, but never quite letting him harness its full potential.

  Maybe one day, he thought, I’ll figure out how to control it.

  The flicker of doubt that had once haunted him began to fade. He wasn’t the same person he had been three years ago. He had changed. He was stronger, more skilled—but there was still so much more to learn.