ANNA'S POV

*5 years Later*

My hands were shaking, my gaze steady on the glass tube that rested on the steel table.

“One drop… that’s all it would take.” The words managed to leave my lips, quiet and trembling, even though there was no one near me to hear them.

The new compound, Veloraquine-S, shimmered faintly gold under the harsh glow of the lab lights. Its liquid surface rippled slightly each time I exhaled too hard, as if it shared the same nervous energy crawling beneath my skin. This was it, months of sleepless nights, countless failed tests, and endless recalculations, all narrowing down to this single drop.

Veloraquine-S was...