In the 1960s, Dr. Arboria founded the Arboria Institute, a New Age research facility dedicated to finding a reconciliation between science and spirituality, allowing humans to move into a new age of perpetual happiness. In the 1980s, Arboria's work has been taken over by his protégé, Dr. Barry Nyle. Outwardly a charming, handsome scientist, Nyle is a psychopath who has been keeping Elena, a young girl, captive in a prison that doubles as a hospital beneath the Institute. Elena demonstrates psychic capabilities, which Nyle can suppress, using a glowing, prismatic device.