_"We have them both, sir."

_"Excellent. Take the princess to the containment zone. As for the young man, lock him up somewhere while he calms down. I will speak to him later. Your information was correct, you did an excellent job, agent Carson."

_"At your orders, and thank you sir."

**********

_"Let me out! You have no right to keep me here!"

Mathias had been protesting for almost an hour and insisting that he be released. Wrists handcuffed, locked in an interrogation room lit by white neon, with only furniture a table and two chairs, the young man looked straight at the surveillance camera, knowing very well that he was heard and seen. He had first woken up in a small cell, handcuffed, but was soon brought here by guards. Furious at being treated like a criminal, he walked to the locked metal door and kicked it several times with his foot, to no avail. Realizing the uselessness of escaping, Mathias quickly gave up and sat down against a wall, morose. His head still hurts like a hammer was hitting it. The drug that had been used to put him to sleep had also dulled his memories somewhat, not remembering how he had been brought here or how much time had passed. On the other hand, he remembered his capture by these men in black, but of Ahmanet, she too having been captured and since disappeared. He worried a lot about her, wondering where she was and what could have happened to her. But deep inside, he felt that she was still alive, he felt it in his heart, like this flame not wanting to die and embodying this special bond that they now shared.

But his loneliness was short-lived when the door finally opened, letting in two armed guards who immediately backed the young man up against the wall, menacing him with their rifles. But it was the person who entered after them who left Mathias speechless, his eyes wide as if he were seeing a ghost.

_"Professor Winters?"

It was her, Sandra Winters, but dressed in a black suit and tie and appearing cold and neutral, but signaling to the guards to lower their weapons.

_"Hello, Mathias. I would have liked to meet you again in other circumstances."

_"What the...? Sandra, tell me where I am and what that means!" answered Mathias even more confused than before and eager for answers.

_"Sandra Winters is just one identity that I carry among many others. I am Agent Carson. I understand your frustration but believe me, you will soon have an explanation." replied the woman, assuaged vaguely. "Now let's go. The doctor wants to see you."

_"Oh no, I'm not going anywhere until you explain it to me, now! What the fuck is this?!" Mathias retorted firmly, annoyed and losing his cool. 

Suspecting such a reaction but keeping an Olympian calm, Carson ordered with a nod that the guards subdue Mathias and take him by force out of the room. Mathias struggled at first, but it was useless and he was forced to walk, held to the arms by these armed men and following Agent Carson through a series of corridors of a labyrinthine building that was, to say the least, distressing, almost resembling a some sort of shady military-scientific complex. He sometimes met other soldiers armed in black, but also men and women in white coats, like scientists. Then, Mathias passed in front of a large bay window behind which was a real laboratory, confined behind thick metal doors and an anti-contagion airlock. In this lab, dozens of scientists wearing masks and combinations were studying various things, each one more strange and surprising than the last, one of them extracting tissue from a half-human, half-amphibian arm. Others were focused on studying gigantic footprints, like those of Bigfoot or Yeti. Others were studying the corpse of a... Werewolf?! And also rows of jars filled with formalin, containing even more incensed things, like fetuses of half-human and half-beast beings and notably a human skull sporting sharp vampire-like fangs.

What the hell is this place? Mathias wondered. Was he in Area 51 or something? He would soon have the answer. Agent Carson pressed his thumb on a small device that scanned her fingerprint and validated the opening of a heavy metal door. Mathias was taken by force into a large room just as disturbing as those before. It looked like the office of a mad scientist, with dark, iron walls. In the center of one part of the office was a sort of operating table under huge round unlit lamps. There were large display cases, including two murals in which all kinds of scary surgical instruments were displayed. And finally, at the back was a very chic looking black desk on a large red carpet and behind it was a large window overlooking a city that Mathias recognized immediately... Paris! He was in Paris, back in his native country!

He was then released from his handcuffs, much to his amazement, rubbing his aching wrists.

_"Wait here." Carson ordered him coldly, who then left the office with the guards and left Mathias alone, totally lost and wondering where he had fallen.

He then saw the front door of the office being automatically locked with metal bars, preventing him from any attempt to escape.

_"Welcome. I could invite you to sit, but I feel that you prefer to remain standing." Then said a male voice that surprised Mathias and made him turn around, suspicious.

Coming out from behind a row of books, an unknown man stepped forward. He appeared to be in his fifties, a robust-looking body, a tough yet friendly face, sporting a graying mustache and small goatee, short, well-groomed hair, and glasses over his eyes. He was dressed elegantly in a black suit and a red tie. One of his hands was covered with a black leather glove and he was holding some files under his arm. The man, smiling and friendly as if welcoming a guest, walked to his desk and placed the files there.

_"Who are you?" Mathias asked, still suspicious and keeping his distance.

_"Ah, who I am..." replied the man, almost amused. "The big question, but the one that arises more is: you, Mr. Parrish, who are you really? On paper, I know everything about you. A modest French citizen of modest birth dedicated to an equally modest future, a great loner, writer in his spare time and currently unemployed. But you see, this file contains nothing that is really of interest to me, that's why I wanted to meet you, face to face."

The man had advanced towards Mathias who remained even more cautious but noticed that the stranger was just looking at him up and down, almost as if he were examining him.

_"I will repeat my question... who are you?" repeated Mathias, managing to remain calm but showing a certain annoyance at all of this.

_"I am a doctor, Mr. Parrish." the man replied. "Doctor of clinical chemistry, neurosurgeon, member of the royal society... and also a lawyer. My name is Jekyll. Doctor Henry Jekyll."

While introducing himself to Mathias, the doctor went to a trolley similar to those of hospitals and took from it an injection device containing three syringes which he brought back to his office.

_"But you see, for a while, I specialized in immunology. Infectious diseases in other words."

While continuing to tell his life story and opening a black briefcase containing perfectly arranged vials, Jekyll took three of them and began installing them into the injector.

_"I would like, if I may, Mr. Parrish, to tell you a story... a story about a patient of mine. A man of promise and who believed was beyond reproach... until he got ill. The disease manifested itself in subtle ways at first, and then it grew into an overwhelming desire, an unquenchable thirst..."

As Dr Jekyll spoke, Mathias, very suspicious and puzzled, noticed that the man was growing more and more nervous, his hand shaking slightly and seeing him grimacing, as if he were embarrassed or in pain because of something. Then, his skin became more and more grayish and black veins began to appear under the flesh of his face. Taking a deep breath, Jekyll turned his face to Mathias who cringed as he saw the doctor's eyes turning sickly yellow and bloodshot.

_"...A thirst for chaos, for the suffering of others." continued Jekyll, but whose gaze had become dark, and whose voice had also changed, deeper, more threatening, as if a second voice spoke at the same time as his, a monstrous voice, devoid of feelings. "He was quite fortunate. He himself was a physician. If evil were a pathogen, he reasoned, there must surely be a cure."

Jekyll removed his black glove, revealing a gray hand and horribly mutilated by multiple, repeated injections. He then injected this serum into his hand, and immediately Jekyll returned to his normal state, the veins disappearing and his inner suffering vanishing, greatly relieving him. However, he had to take a few seconds to breathe, leaning on his desk. Mathias didn't understand what had just happened or what he meant but tried to understand.

_"If I follow you... You say that you are trying to find a cure... for evil? But damn, who are you really?" asked Mathias.

"You will know it, Mr. Parrish." said Jekyll. "Come with me. I want to show you something."

The doctor deactivated the locking system of his office using a small wall screen on which he placed his ungloved hand which analyzed and identified his DNA and validated the opening. A truly advanced security system, Mathias thought as he followed him.

The doctor took Mathias to another section of the complex, to a large spherical room, with dark walls and lit by neon lights. In one corner, men and women in black outfits sat behind screens and worked. Everywhere and even on high metal walkways, guards armed with rifles closely watched the area and every movement. But it was what was in the center of this room that caught the eye of Mathias, who gasped, his eyes wide.

Ahmanet! She was there, on her knees, her arms tied behind her back by chains coated with mercury and connected to the ceiling. Other similar chains immobilized her legs and the outline of her body. A metal bracelet had been put around her neck and connected to another chain firmly fixed to the ground to prevent her from being able to stand up. In her arms and her neck, several IVs had been placed, connected to tubes permanently injecting liquid mercury into her body in order to keep her weakened and prevent any attempt to escape.

_"Ahmanet!" gasped Mathias who immediately pushed Jekyll aside to run towards her and help her.

Hearing this familiar voice, Ahmanet raised his head and in turn opened round eyes. She wanted to scream his name, but could only make a muffled sound under the thin metal panel that was strapped around her head and covering her mouth. Ahmanet pulled on the chains, in vain, struggling while continuing to scream. Expecting this reaction from the young man, Doctor Jekyll nevertheless remained calm and it was again Agent Carson, present in the room, who signaled two guards to stop Mathias by grabbing him by the arms and forcing him back before he reaches the mummy.

_"No! Leave her, you bastards! Leave her alone!" roared Mathias, struggling like a madman.

Only being separated by a few meters from Mathias and seeing him being forced back by these men, Ahmanet struggled even harder, making the chains resound in a concert of infernal rattling and screamed even louder under her metal panel gag, as wanting to order these wretches to leave Mathias.

Agent Carson arrived and to calm Mathias gave him a blow in the back which made him fall to the ground, on his knees. Jekyll stood back, watching, with the coldest seriousness, but had observed the way in which the young man and the cursed princess had reacted to each other and attempted to reach each other's side.

_"You wanted to know who we are, Mr. Parrish?" then said Jekyll, whose firm and solemn voice resonated in the room. "We are Prodigium. We are everywhere and we are here to keep secret a truth that many people are not ready to accept: monsters exist. This is why we are here: to identify evil in all its forms, contain it, study it and destroy it."

Mathias, still on his knees, had listened but his gaze, worried, remained on Ahmanet, who also showed a lot of concern for him.

_"You're talking about evil, about monsters..." Mathias then said to the doctor. "You're wrong. She's not what you think she is."

_"Princess Ahmanet is the oldest entity we have been able to capture, but also the oldest and most powerful form of evil." described Jekyll. "She has made a deal with the darkest of magics, murdered her own family and threatened to spread chaos and desolation across the entire world."

_"You didn't see what I saw: she only wanted to be accepted as she was, nothing more." Mathias insisted.

_"Maybe, and it's heartbreaking for her, but by embracing evil, she has become far too great a threat to ignore." Jekyll explained. "This is why we inject her with mercury, which in Egyptian beliefs was known to weaken monsters and spirits of darkness. We must believe that they were right. At less than 38 degrees, the mercury will solidify in her body, will kill her and we will then be able to dissect her for more in-depth studies."

Mathias' heart leapt in his chest when he heard this, he was so horrified, but also furious. He attempted to punch Jekyll but was once again grabbed and held by the guards. Mathias struggled a little longer, his eyes full of contempt, but quickly stopped resisting.

_"And me? You're also going to kill me and study me like a fucking lab rat?! What am I to you, huh?!" Mathias asked angrily.

_"You are unique, Mr. Parrish." replied Jekyll. "Do you realize? You, a simple human, have managed to create a strong and sincere bond with a millennial egyptian princess. You are the first case ever seen until now: a human who has bonded with a monster."

Showing benevolence despite everything, the doctor asked his guards to release Mathias, which they did and the young man did not seek to create more problems, knowing he couldn't do anything against all these armed men. Jekyll then put his hand on the young man's shoulder and pointed to Ahmanet, only a few meters away from them.

_"See how she looks at you..." Jekyll said calmly. "That flame that burns in the back of her eyes..."

Since she had seen Mathias, Ahmanet's gaze had not left him for a single second. In the inhuman irises and the expression of the princess's eyebrows, one could guess sincere concern for Mathias, but also another, much stronger feeling.

_"She loves you, Mr. Parrish." Jekyll finally said. "Look into her eyes, look..."

He then allowed the young man to take a few steps towards Ahmanet and ordered everyone to do nothing, to see what happened. Mathias moved forward, falling to his knees right in front of Ahmanet. Then, Mathias found himself in the middle of this sea of dunes under the Egyptian sun. Ahmanet was there too, in her human form, draped in her beautiful white silks. She came to see him, almost clinging to him and looking at him with tenderness, a tear falling from her eye.

_"I was so scared, Setepai..." she breathed. "I was afraid I would never see you again."

Mathias guessed that she was talking to him again in her mind through the bond that united them. No longer hiding, he couldn't hold back his feeling of helplessness and clenched his fists in anger at himself.

_"I'm sorry, Ahmanet." he moaned, sad. "I'm not strong enough to help you and seeing you like this is unbearable for me. You don't deserve all this."

Ahmanet smiled tenderly at these words and to comfort Mathias gently placed her warm and soft hands on his cheeks.

_"I will not let anything or anyone separate us." she replied. "I am yours and you are mine, and soon we will be together again. I swear to you... I will wait for you, my beloved."

Their lips were about to meet, but Mathias was brought back to reality, helpless and Ahmanet, prisoner, right in front of him. Jekyll and all the other Prodogium members in the room had observed in perfect silence. Everyone was then surprised to see Mathias gently place his hands on Ahmanet's cheeks and say these few words...

_"I...I love her too."

_"Fascinating." whispered Jekyll. "Truly incredible. This is beyond anything I could have imagined. Mr. Parrish, come with me to my office. We have to talk."

Knowing well that he could not put up any resistance against this organization and not wanting to put Ahmanet in more danger, Mathias decided to obey bitterly and followed the doctor and the guards, not without taking one last look at Ahmanet who really showed herself concerned and worried to see him leave the room. But in this last look that they shared, they expressed the promise they had made to each other. They would be reunited again.