Kai finished the last bite of his burger with a strange sort of reverence, chewing slowly like it might vanish if he rushed. The meat was lukewarm and overly salted, but it was real. It was cooked. It wasn't... flesh.
He licked grease from his fingertips, but the taste turned bitter.
"You…" he started, voice low. "You guys know I… I ate a body. I don't want you knowing that."
The words hung like smoke. He didn't look up.
Neo didn't flinch. Just sighed, setting his plastic bag of supplies aside and leaning his elbows on his knees.
"You don't talk about it," Neo said gently. "The Lawless City, I mean. That whole place's like a swallowed trauma. I know some things — like the arena, and Renn, who, by the way, ends up being the first real friend you ever let close. They're part of an illegal trading company, yeah, but somehow you still managed to get them government contracts. I don't even know how."
Kai blinked, overwhelmed, but Neo kept going. Not fast — just honest.
"Look… a lot of things happen. You're on Day 16 in the pit right now. The Cleaners show up Day 22. So you've gotta hold out a little longer. Oh… and a doctor takes your kidney."
Kai choked on a breath.
Neo winced. "Sorry. I can't change that. It already happened. But don't worry — you get it back."
Kai stared at him.
Wide-eyed. Silent. Pale. As if Neo had just recited a future eulogy.
"You okay, man?" Waffles whispered, nudging him.
Kai didn't answer. His hands had gone still on the paper wrapper.
Waffles looked to Neo, squinting. "Why are you telling him all this if you're just gonna erase the memory anyway?"
Neo blinked at him. Then shrugged.
"Because I like Kai?" he said, like it was obvious. "He's awesome. He's isolated as hell, but he still tries to stay kind. Becoming a vampire was the best thing to ever happen to him. He actually needed people. Letting others in… it felt great."
Kai's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait. Wait-wait. Vampire?"
Waffles snorted. "Oh yeah. You're a vampire."
Neo laughed softly, nodding. "You're not just a vampire. You're a progenitor."
Kai blinked again, almost entranced. "Is that… a title?"
Waffles raised a hand like a professor. "Progenitors are made by drinking the enchanted blood of a god. Normal vampires are born into the lineage, but you? You sipped some divine juice and boom — third Progenitor."
Kai didn't know what to say.
Waffles clapped him on the back. "Also, your sense of smell gets creepy good. Like, stalker-tier. I watched you sniff a liar from across a room once."
Neo grinned. "And you grow claws when upset. Real sharp ones. But you're gentle with them."
Kai stared at his hands like they weren't his.
A sudden click echoed from above. The hatch.
Neo's head snapped up. "Cover," he whispered, yanking his cloak forward like a curtain and pulling Waffles under with him. The moment the hood dropped, their presence vanished completely.
Light poured down into the pit. Then came a voice.
"Look at you, still breathing," said the admin from above, voice thick with mockery. "You're so lucky you woke up when you did. That crate we dropped? Weighed sixty-five kilograms. Would've snapped your spine like paper."
A plastic bag tumbled down after his words, bouncing off Kai's shoulder. Half a rotting sandwich, bruised fruit, and another water bottle.
This was the first time they gave him food what was strange but welcomed even if it was moldy. It'll help him get through this.
The hatch slammed shut.
Silence followed, thick and absolute.
Kai didn't react right away. He just sat there, head lowered. Face unreadable.
"Damn assholes," Waffles muttered from under the cloak.
Neo nodded. "Don't worry. He gets what's coming to him. Renn made sure of that."
Kai looked up slowly, eyes rimmed in exhaustion. "What else can you tell me, Neo?"
Neo hesitated.
Then sat beside him again, the cloak dissolving into soft static as it faded from view.
"Well… you create spirit guardians for people and you make your money that way. Hell you bypass the workshop costs with thought alone. You make a territory that sovereign keeps track off. You become a Count . People fear your name, but the ones close to you know you're the gentlest one of us."
Waffles added, "Oh, and you take over an entire criminal underworld while still struggling to ask for help. It's kind of badass and tragic at the same time."
Kai stared. "...Why does that sound like a terrible idea?"
"Because it is," Neo agreed, smirking. "But you do it anyway."
They talked more. About stupid things.
Waffles described the first time he went to the human realm with Kai and they tried cafe food
Neo told the story of Kai's first time feeding — how he panicked, apologized a hundred times, and then passed out from guilt.
"Oh you get first blood memories of mine too, you started to believe you were me it was real cute"
Kai, dazed and half-lucid, still laughed. It hurt his ribs, but he laughed.
Eventually, the moment began to settle. Neo packed the empty wrappers into a pouch, sealing it with practiced precision. Not even crumbs remained.
Waffles dusted off the ground and tightened the straps of Kai's ruined cloak around his shoulders.
"You're gonna be okay," he said, quietly. "You just have to survive a little longer."
Kai nodded slowly.
He didn't say thank you. Didn't need to.
Neo stood, placing a palm briefly against Kai's forehead. "Memory seal will kick in the moment we step back through the rift. You'll forget this conversation. You'll just feel… a bit calmer. Like you had a good dream. Oh and waffles you'll receive the memory when the present catches up, can't have you changing your past because of this knowledge"
Waffles nodded and so did kai. Slower this time.
Waffles wasnt really listening , he was sticking his finger in Kais blood puddle and licked it
"Waffles?" he whispered.
"Yeah?"
"are you a vampire? You just licked my blood"
Waffles grinned. "Half vampire but I'm pretty much a human. I do have some attributes from vampires like healing saliva."
Neo noticed him touch the blood and sighed.
Waffles being waffles.
Neo chuckled. "Come on. Let's go. if we overstay, Sovereign throws a fit."
The cloak shimmered again — one breath, two — then vanished, leaving only shadow behind.
Kai sat alone in the dark again.
But something felt lighter. Not healed. Not fixed.
Just… less unbearable.
He glanced at the paper bag beside him.
Neatly folded. No trace left behind.
And for the first time in what felt like years, Kai closed his eyes — and whispered, "Thanks."
After the rift closed.
Flicker who had been hiding from the strangers has reappeared.
His memory suddenly changed
He looked at his bandages wounds confused.
The bag he didn't remember getting thrown.
The corpse.
He refused to eat it.. again...