Breaking free was never an option, at least for those young children trapped within a dream. They speak of justice, utopia and hope, devilish plan to subdue the minds of young children, a successful one.

As the hideout in Izora was in a mess following Elijah's death, Ross' plan to leave Ilusia's empire once and for all was being forged, and Viktor was out of sight.

One devil lurked in the artificial lights of the industrial city, walking with quick steps deep into the forsaken alleys of Ilusia. He reeked of malicious intents, and his familiar face revealed itself once he stepped into the lights of the main street. Wearing a black coat, a black hat and gloves while holding something dearly deep into his coat, he walked fast into the street, crossing the roads while paying no attention to the surronding world. He was gasping, mostly exhausted, his pale face was the enigma, that face was an exact copy of Viktor.

The broche was there.

One couldn't doubt the existence of the devil, but in which form?
Some say it's a being chained in the depth of hell, condemned to an eternity of torturing sinful souls, while other believe its a thought, a feeling, an action and a persona. The devil is a state, one we can all reach, one we all have.

That strange man stood in front of a large building, it was a hotel. He took no time to process his thoughts or catch his breath, he barged in quickly. The hotel was old, smelly and dirty. Mainly used by the workers who travel between cities, this man, now fully clear as a deployed black hats agent, had a hidden motive to approach such a dull place.

The clock ticks echoed into the hall, the dancing smoke of the receptionist cigarette flew through the flickering broken lights, the smell of booze was strong and presence of illegal drugs was an assured matter, but this man couldn't care less, his breath joined the irritable sound of the clocks, and now, his distress was apparent more than ever.

He was searching for something.

His eyes darted across the empty hall, the receptionist was alerted, but didn't seem to be interested in the ongoing mess within this man's head, he had his own.

The man walked into the hotel, the hall was in fact large indicating that this was a fancy hotel in the past, his strong shoe-tapping sound alerted the people who were already sleeping in the hall, a faint sound of a music played in the very distance could be heard, and everyone seemed to be quite pleases by its melancholy.

But he wasn't.

His steps grew aggressive as he ran up the stairs looking around while holding the possession dearly. As he ran up to the top finally recognising his destination, the lights obeyed his well, flickering till it became at last dim yet stable, showing him the end of the hallway where one ghost stood silently, emitting a different conflicting aura with the now-obvious black hats agent.

The hostility was apparent, dancing around the dark lights of the dirty messed up hallway, the ghost didn't flatter for once nor move an inch, but the agent couldn't wait any longer, he walked towards the end of the hallway as his trials to regulate his breath were met with failure.

"I see that you are never late." Said the ghost, taking shelter beneath the only flickering lamp within the ending of the hallway where the drop of a pin could be heard.

"T-that w-was not o-our deal" The agent trembled as his steps were slow and almost non-steady as if he was approaching a threat.

"I was never clear about the job, and you never asked. Its not my problem" The ghost replied with a cold monotone wrapping his words.

"I've been fooled into this?!" The agent grew breathless, stood still at fair distance from the ghost, almost unable to control the burst of emotions all agents had, yet, the ghost didn't falter for a moment.

"That's why they call me the Ghostman, the puppet master, the daylight devil, such names are a joy-a pleasure to hear in fact." The ghost, known as The Ghostman, spoke in proud sarcasm that slowly tore the agent into pieces, his pride is shaken.

"I can't give it back to you, and I won't. I'm not stupid, I can't be called a-a t-traitor!!" The agent cried as he unraveled the possession he held dearly in his coat. His face was painted in anguish, his paleness was smudged by sweat and his hands were giving in into fear.

"You're a traitor. Everyone now knows, the entire world knows, Willies knows." The Ghostman said.

"W-what?! H-how?" He cried, holding what at last looked like Merit's camera. He looked at it with profound confusion, looking back at the Ghostman with the look of betrayal.

"This is what I get for helping you?!" He cried once more, sheltering the camera in his coat.

"This..this holds all the secrets of the world..This..this can free us all, you, you have to give it to the rebels" He trembled while disregarding the fact that the Ghostman was approaching him, and the light fell on his face, revealing it at last.

It was the features of a man crawling out of hellfire alive. His eyes were red as blood, his hair was as black as coal,the entirety of his face starting from his mouth was wrapped in gray gauze till his neck, as for the rest of his body, he wore a similar black agents hat and a longer coat, the rest of his body was hidden and he wore black gloves as well as walking with a cane that added more mysteriousness to his look.

Only the sound of his cane tapping on the ground could be heard all alongside the breakdown of the agent who at last noticed how close they were to each other.

"I am the one who decides whether this is given to the public or not, I am the one who gives orders, never I have been given an order, never I will obey one." The Ghostman said, with no emotions apparent on his eyes, he snatched the camera out of the agents hands, and he quickly wrapped his hand around the agents neck, violently strangling him with his eyes filled with pleasure.

"Say hello to Jen for me" He said, cracking his neck with one hand as the agent looked with teary eyes, unable to resist, "Please, he'll kill me, don't send me back" He muffled the words till The Ghostman delivered his final action, dropping him dead.

The agent gave in his last breath, with a look of fright on his dead face. The Ghostman took the camera and put it into his bag, he kneeled down and extracted a special device from the agent's neck and putting it alongside the camera, and at last, he left the hotel.

"It feels good to be back."

Steamhall.

Back into the train to Steamhall, Lydia was sitting on her chair stretching out her arms excitedly once the windows opened, Merit didn't share the same excitement as Lydia. She felt something was off, but couldn't recognize it.

"Could you calm down a little bit? You're making a scene! We're almost there." Merit said, holding Lydia's arm back and making her sit still.

"Could you stop acting like a grumpy sixty years old woman?!" Lydia said, breaking free from Merit's grip.

The two kept on fighting like cats until the train stopped and they finally reached Steamhall.

Steamhall was the same. A showcase of thousands of illegal robots and machinery in plain sight, the people still looked the same too. The smell of garlic soup still haunted Merit who found herself hit by a wave of Nostalgia accompanied by fear, she was aware that she was in Ross' nest.

"Put on your hood" Merit told Lydia who did so quickly.

"Where do we go now..?" Merit asked Lydia as she looked around the huge market they were in, feeling lost. Merit could hardly remember anything in Steamhall except one memory.

Viktor tried to kill her in this market.

"Listen, I remember a place called Inkhouse here, this is where we will find my father's friend."

"And..?"

"He has it! As far as I remember.."

"I don't trust your memory, but its the only thing we have." Merit said, leaving Lydia to ask for Inkhouse's address.

As Merit got the address, Lydia was shaking with fear of her fragile memory, but Merit got back and took her to Inkhouse.

Through the crowded streets and the annoying white lights, the two young girls held each others hand tightly as they felt insecure about what they're getting themselves into. Merit felt pain once she remembered Lydia's dead body. She was conflicted about telling her, but felt it was useless to do so, Lydia would only freak out and lose her mind.

But Merit knew this will only end in blood.

Once they've escaped the crowds and reached the place named Inkhouse, the two stood in the empty street looking at the neon lights hanging on the place, the half opened door leaked the smoke and smell of booze of out it, the two were aware of what they were getting themselves into, but there was no going back.

"Uhmm..I'm not sure about this.." Merit whispered to herself as Lydia took the first step and dragged Merit alongside her to the place.

Once the two got inside, they were met with nothing but silence and strange glaring looks, this was obviously not a place for underage girls, but Lydia didn't hesitate to push herself and Merit through the people inside the private room where supposedly her father's friend would be, and it was true.

Once she opened the door, both girls, specially Merit, were shaking and sweating nervously, the only man in the room turned around and looked only to have a huge smile on his face once he saw Lydia, but Merit's heart grew numb and she felt like she was about to pass out.

"This..this is..Eddie.." Merit muttered to herself as she almost lost consciousness.

At this point, Merit was sure Lydia was a total idiot, leading them to exactly what they were avoiding, and she only had two thoughts in mind.

It was either Eddie was unawre of what happened in Izora, or he was fully aware of it as well as remember Merit. But Eddie's warm welcoming made her believe the latter.

"Hey, Lydia! Look at how much you've grown, young lady..and hey there..Merit?" Eddie said, which turned the little-relieved face of Merit into a complete terrified one once again, he did recognize her.

"Hello..Mr. Eddie.." Merit whispered in complete fright while Lydia stood like the complete idiot she is, she was about to ask Eddie for Corelight's map.

"Sit down!" He said, as the two young girls sat down. "What are the two of you doing here?" He asked, Lydia decided to be the representative of the duo this time.

"I was looking for Mr. James, I'm sure he worked here" Lydia asked, Merit's face rested a little bit once she figured out that Eddie has nothing to do with the map. "Oh, old James..May he rest in peace." Eddie said, "He's dead?!" Merit burst out suddenly, Lydia ushered her to calm down.

"Uhm, then, where's his daughter? Annie?" Lydia asked, "Oh, she's in their house, the one besides the market. I'm sure you remember it" Eddie said, taking a sip from the whisky he had, he couldn't share it with them for obvious reasons.

Lydia quickly got up, and Merit followed her, unable to maintain her stability and eager to run out of the place before she stumbles upon Ross or even worse, Andres.

"This is it?" Eddie asked, Lydia nodded, "I'll make sure to come back later, but I'm currently busy." Lydia replied. "Alright then, be safe, girls!" Eddie said, with obvious signs of being drunk.

As the two approached the door, Eddie shouted for Lydia's name, Merit's heart dropped to the floor and felt the world falling apart around her, Lydia turned her face but Merit didn't.
"Your father would have been proud to see his little girl being well on her own" He said, Lydia smiled and thanked him as she took Merit out, Merit felt nothing but a massive feeling of sadness once she heard these words, after all, Lydia had someone who would be proud of her, it turned her heart to be unwillingly jealous as well as being relieved of getting out alive.

"You must be the stupidest god damn idiot on this entire planet, do you know who Eddie is?!" Merit aggressively said, grabbing her arm violently, Lydia paused and looked at her in discomfort, then took off Merit's hands, "I knew what I was doing" Lydia said, "No! You weren't, you were going to g-"

"We don't have time for this, James daughter should not be so far away from us, she must have the map" Lydia said, interrupting Merit was stopped talking and calmed down, Lydia sensed Merit's jealousy, but couldn't make her even more miserable.

The lightmen's asylum.

It was the same routine for these strange considerably young boys, they'd leave them in the guarded garden with metal bars all around them and strapped mouths to avoid them lashing out, they were walking around like zombies, head stuck to the ground and eyes drifting somewhere on a different planet, these boys still did have a little bit of memories in their heads, their names, maybe a family member or two and maybe their home as well, but no one could ever find out what's inside their head as they never spoke, they were put under extensive mental control that they can never subdue to their desire to leave this place and destroy it, but there was only one subject that showed signs of rebellion.

He was locked inside his room, prevented from going to the garden, he watched it though the metal-bars guarded window while feeling a little bit dizzy after he had experienced a strange incident not so long ago, the boy rested his head against against the window, struggling to let out words on his mind, he muffled them in pain, he does remember a specific name that has been on his mind for a long while now.

"A-andre-s" He stuttered, calling out his name.

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After an entire year, I finally reached chapter 20! Don't forget to vote and comment if you liked the chapter :3

Edit: If you're keeping up with distorted and noticed the very delayed update, I'm currently in the process of editing chapters which eventually led to me rewriting some, I'm halfway finishing it! So don't worry, Distorted isn't on hold or something.