"Mom, I'll be back later from school. I'm leaving now—see you!"
Lei Cheng rushed out of the apartment, shouting his goodbye without knowing that from that moment on, he would never see his mother again.
The 17-year-old boy ran down the street, swiftly dodging every obstacle in his path, as strange sensations coursed through his body—sensations he had never felt before. Since the night before, Lei had known something was off about this day. He hadn't slept at all, tossing and turning in bed without really understanding why.
It was like a strange pressure taking over his chest, as if an invisible dagger were lodged deep in his heart—yet he remained alive, wide-eyed and waiting for something to happen around him.
Eventually, Lei arrived at school.
For him, the hours dragged by painfully slow.
Classes felt even more boring than usual, almost unbearable.
Finally, at three in the afternoon, Lei left school and headed home without hesitation, taking the same route he always did.
But this time, that route didn't feel normal.
The air was heavy, and a strange gut feeling began creeping through his body. Lei wasn't the kind of person who had premonitions—he didn't even believe in them.
And yet, he was having one. And it kept growing stronger, turning into a pounding headache. The pain grew so intense that he had to stop walking altogether. Then came a high-pitched ringing in his ears—sharp, unbearable.
Lei shut his eyes tightly and covered his ears with both hands, as if that could help block out whatever was overwhelming his body.
After a few moments, when he realized people on the street were staring at him like he was some kind of escaped circus act, he forced himself to keep going.
Lei lived with his mother in a small two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment not far from the school. The location had been chosen so they could save money on train fares or bus tickets, and instead put that money toward Lei's monthly university savings.
His mother dreamed of seeing him graduate as an engineer one day—it was Lei's dream too. She worked tirelessly as a maid in two mansions owned by billionaires who paid her handsomely for her services.
Together, they had managed to move forward after Lei's father abandoned them to be with another woman.
Lei had never looked for his father again. In fact, he and his mother had promised never to speak of him. They didn't need him.
At least not until the day the tragedy struck.
As Lei approached his apartment, he saw the front door had been knocked down. Rubble and ash littered the floor inside. Thick smoke filled the air, and a hellish heat had taken over what was once his home.
That same strange sensation returned—but this time, it was stronger, more painful, as if it had no intention of leaving him.
Lei tried to hold himself together, but the sight before him mattered more than anything else. That day was his mother's day off—he knew she had to be inside. She never went out unless she had errands to run or something important to take care of.
So when she didn't rush out of the apartment despite the growing flames, Lei feared the worst.
"Mom?!" he shouted, his voice filled with panic.
The ringing in his ears returned, and suddenly, his vision went blurry. Everything around him shook violently, like an earthquake was tearing the ground apart. Lei struggled to walk straight, stumbling forward, trying to avoid falling and choking on smoke and ash before reaching his mother's room and pulling her out in time to save her.
"Mom!" he gasped, struggling to breathe.
But no one answered.
Lei made it to his mother's room. She was there—lying on the floor, on her back, eyes closed, her breathing growing weaker with every second. She had inhaled so much smoke that she only had minutes left. She wouldn't survive.
"Mom!" he shouted again, his legs trembling as he collapsed beside her on the floor.
With great effort, she opened her eyes.
Lei hadn't noticed it before, but in her hands she clutched a small object—an artifact that would change his life forever the moment he received it.
"Mom! What are you doing? Come on, help me get you out of here!" Lei pleaded, gently trying to lift her.
But she resisted. She knew her time was up. And now, more than anything, she had to fulfill the promise she had made years ago—to protect Lei until he turned eighteen.
Only… the moment had come sooner than she expected.
"Son, take this. Please. Keep it safe, protect it, and carry it with you wherever you go. With this, I'll always be watching over you… even if I'm no longer in this world."
For a second, Lei hesitated as he looked at the silver necklace, adorned with a crimson quartz gem shaped like a lightning bolt. He had always loved quartz crystals—in fact, he had a beautiful collection of them, which had surely been destroyed in the fire. He knew every type of quartz in the world. But this one… this one was different.
The moment he took it into his hands, Lei felt the surge of energy within it. A blinding red light burst from the gem, and when he opened his eyes after instinctively shutting them, his mother was gone.
But the fire remained.
And if he didn't get out fast, he'd be buried in the rubble.
Quickly, summoning all his strength and courage, Lei covered his face with his left arm while clinging tightly to the necklace with his right, refusing to let go of the final gift his mother had left him—a treasure from the very moment of her death.
Dodging falling debris and avoiding the thick smoke, Lei managed to escape the apartment. And the moment he felt the air clear around him, his body collapsed.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Two days later, Lei saw his mother for the last time. She lay in a coffin, eyes shut, breathless—forever gone. He no longer cried. He had wept so much two days earlier that it felt like every tear in his body had dried up.
In fact, he had shut off his emotions. From the moment he woke up in a hospital bed after the fire, Lei had sworn to himself that his life would never be the same.
There was no one else at the funeral.
His mother never had many friends, and Lei's grandparents had died shortly after he was born. He had never even met them.
To afford the funeral, Lei had made a terrible sacrifice—one he would never speak of to anyone. At the time, he had no money. Without his efforts, his mother would've been buried in a mass grave. And she didn't deserve such a dreadful ending—not even in death.
At the back of the funeral home, a man dressed in black entered quietly.
Lei didn't notice him—he had his back to the door, still gazing at his mother's coffin. But his quartz necklace did. It began to move on its own, as if a powerful gust of wind were pushing it toward the stranger's direction.
Lei said nothing. He simply grabbed the gem with his right hand to keep it from flying off.
He knew the legends: when a quartz crystal detaches from its chain, it could mean it has fulfilled its purpose… or that it has absorbed too much negative energy and must be cleansed.
But Lei wasn't worried about superstition.
He feared losing the gem because it was the only thing he had left of his mother—the only thing she had sworn would protect him, as long as he kept it close.
That afternoon, the necklace wouldn't stay still.
And all because of the cursed presence of that mysterious man, who now stood motionless, staring at Lei in complete silence.
Seconds passed.
Lei began to feel it—that unmistakable sensation of being watched.
But how could that be, if he was the only one at the funeral?
He turned around.
The man was there. Even with sunglasses on, Lei could sense the intensity of his gaze.
"Who are you? What are you doing here? This is a private funeral! If you came to mock me for being alone… I'm asking you to leave. Right now," Lei said calmly, trying not to raise his voice out of respect for the sacred space.
The man didn't speak.
He simply raised a hand toward Lei—and in the blink of an eye, when Lei loosened his grip for just a moment, the necklace flew from his neck straight into the man's hand, drawn by the very energy that had been calling it all along.
Lei was frozen.
In shock.
The man received the quartz in his hands, gripped it tightly, stood up, turned around, and without saying a word, walked away patiently—as if he believed that doing so would be enough to capture Lei's attention. And indeed, that was exactly what he intended.