I woke to the sound of birds screaming.
At least, that's what it felt like—a piercing, shrieking cacophony that drilled into my skull. I bolted upright in bed, hands clapped over my ears, only to realize the sound was just ordinary birdsong outside my window.
Ordinary birdsong that now sounded like metal scraping against glass.
"What the hell," I groaned, lowering my hands slowly. The room around me was unfamiliar—polished wood floors, minimalist furniture, a bed that was definitely not the lumpy dorm mattress I'd grown accustomed to.
Right. Shinra House. Amelia. Incubus.
"Still hoping this is some elaborate prank," I muttered, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. My foot brushed against something soft and warm.
Freya blinked up at me, her golden eyes studying me with newfound interest. There was something different about her now—a weight to her gaze that hadn't been there before.
"Morning to you too," I said. "Apparently you're not a normal cat? Which tracks, honestly. No normal cat would put up with my student housing situation."
Freya yawned, displaying a row of teeth that seemed... sharper than I remembered.
"Great talk," I sighed, pushing myself to my feet.
The bathroom attached to my new room was twice the size of my old dorm room, with a shower that probably cost more than my entire college education. I turned on the tap and splashed cold water on my face, trying to clear the fog from my brain.
When I looked up, my reflection stared back with luminous blue eyes.
"Jesus!" I stumbled backward, nearly slipping on the tile. The glowing faded quickly, but the memory remained. This was real. All of it.
After showering and changing into the only clothes I could find—apparently Amelia's idea of "moving my belongings" was limited to my laptop, three t-shirts, and a single pair of jeans—I ventured downstairs.
The house was silent. No sign of Amelia or anyone else. Just a note on the kitchen counter:
Gone to handle some business. Training tomorrow instead. Use today to acclimate to your senses. DO NOT remove your necklace. - A
My hand went to my throat reflexively. The necklace was back. She must have returned it while I slept.
I breathed a sigh of relief, then noticed the P.S. scrawled at the bottom of the note:
The necklace has been modified. It no longer suppresses your abilities completely. Consider it training wheels.
"Perfect," I muttered. "Just what I wanted. Supernatural puberty with training wheels."
My stomach growled. I opened the refrigerator to find it fully stocked—premium ingredients and prepared meals that looked like they belonged in a high-end restaurant. I grabbed what looked like a breakfast burrito, heated it up, and devoured it standing over the sink.
It tasted like... nothing. Like I was chewing on paper. My stomach was full but somehow still empty, like I'd missed the actual point of eating.
I needed air. I needed normal. I needed to walk around campus and remind myself that the world hadn't completely turned upside down overnight.
Big mistake.
===
The moment I stepped off the property of Shinra House, I knew something was wrong. The air felt thicker, heavier, like trying to breathe underwater. Colors were too bright, sounds too sharp. Everything was... more.
I pulled out my phone to check the time—11:30 AM. Most students would be between classes now, which meant the quad would be packed. Perfect place to see some familiar faces and remind myself that normal still existed.
The walk started out okay. The campus looked the same—redbrick buildings, sprawling green lawns, students lounging under trees with textbooks and laptops. Normal.
Except it wasn't.
As I approached the main walkway, I noticed... something... clinging to a girl sitting on a bench. At first, I thought it was a scarf or maybe a pet. But as I got closer, I realized it was neither.
It was a creature—pale, translucent, about the size of a small cat, with too many legs and no discernible head. It clung to the back of her neck, pulsing gently as it... fed? The girl showed no sign of noticing it, continuing to tap away at her phone with a stressed expression.
I blinked hard, hoping it would disappear. It didn't.
"You okay, man?"
I jumped. A guy from my Business Ethics class—Mark? Matt?—stood next to me, looking concerned.
"Yeah, I'm..." The words died in my throat as I saw what was wrapped around his neck. A dark, leech-like thing that pulsed with each beat of his heart. It was black and slick, with ridges along its body that contracted rhythmically. "Fine. Just... didn't sleep well."
"I hear that. Professor Reynolds' tests are killing me." He laughed, and the thing around his neck tightened, its color darkening.
I forced a smile and kept walking, trying not to stare at the... phantom? Curse? Whatever it was.
Once I was away from him, I leaned against a tree, taking deep breaths. This couldn't be happening. But when I looked up, I realized it was happening everywhere.
Nearly every student I could see had something attached to them. Small, grub-like creatures clinging to backpacks. Wispy, smoke-like entities hovering around heads. Spindly, spider-like things perched on shoulders.
And the air itself—there was something wrong with the air. It shimmered with an oily, rainbow-colored film, like gasoline on water. The longer I looked, the more patterns I could see in it—currents and eddies flowing around people, concentrating in some areas and dispersing in others.
A migraine began to build behind my eyes, a steady throb that intensified with each new horror I noticed.
This is what the world really looks like, I realized. This is what's always been here, hidden behind the Veil.
I needed to get away from people. The quad was too crowded, too overwhelming. I turned toward the athletic fields on the far side of campus, hoping the open space would offer some relief.
I was wrong again.
The woman's tennis team was practicing. The moment I got within a hundred yards, I felt it.
It wasn't visible, not exactly, but I could sense it. The sheer life force concentrated in one place. It radiated outward in pulses that matched my heartbeat, calling to something deep inside me.
And I was hungry.
I could take it. I could have it all. I just needed to get closer, to touch them, to—
"No," I gasped, stumbling backward. "No, no, no."
I turned and ran, no destination in mind, just away. Away from the temptation, away from what I'd almost considered doing.
My heart hammered against my ribs, my breath coming in ragged gasps that had nothing to do with physical exertion. The campus blurred around me, a kaleidoscope of colors and sounds and wrong things that shouldn't exist.
I ran until I couldn't anymore, finding myself at the edge of campus where the trees grew thicker, marking the boundary of the university grounds. Beyond them, I could just make out the path that led to Shinra House.
Safety. Sanctuary. A place where I might not be the most monstrous thing in the room.
By the time I reached the front door, my shirt was soaked with sweat and my legs felt like rubber. I practically fell through the entrance, slamming the door behind me and leaning against it, eyes closed, trying to calm my racing heart.
"Rough day?"
My eyes snapped open. A girl sat cross-legged on the couch, slurping noodles from an oversized bowl. She wore a baggy t-shirt at least three sizes too big, black sweatpants, and mismatched socks. Her short black hair was slightly messy, like she'd just rolled out of bed.
Freya sat beside her, purring contentedly as the girl absently scratched behind her ears.
"Who are you?" I managed, still trying to catch my breath.
"Brittany." She slurped another mouthful of noodles, studying me with mismatched eyes—one gray, one blue. "You look like shit."
"Thanks," I said dryly. "Always nice to meet a fan."
She snorted, almost choking on her food. "You're the new guy, right? The one the boss lady dragged in?"
"Isaiah," I confirmed, finally peeling myself away from the door. "And 'dragged' is pretty accurate."
"Welcome to the freak show." She gestured around with her chopsticks. "Population: growing. Apparently."
I made my way to an armchair across from her, collapsing into it. "So you're... what? A student? A shaman?"
"Both." She set her bowl down, giving me her full attention. "First-year. Criminology major. And yeah, I'm a shaman. Kind of a recent development."
Now that I was looking at her properly, I realized she seemed vaguely familiar.
"Wait, are you in Johnson's Statistics class? Back row, usually wearing headphones?"
Her eyebrows shot up. "Good memory. I didn't think anyone noticed me back there."
"Hard not to notice the only other person actually taking notes while everyone else is on Stargram."
She gave a half-smile, revealing dimples on both cheeks. "So what sent you running back here like the devil was on your heels? Let me guess—first time seeing past the Veil?"
I leaned forward, elbows on my knees. "There are... things... attached to people. Feeding on them. And no one notices."
Brittany nodded, completely unfazed. "Low-level phantoms. Stress-eaters, anxiety-feeders, general emotional parasites. They're everywhere."
"And that's... normal?"
"That's life." She shrugged. "Most people go their whole lives with those things hanging off them and never know the difference. They just blame their bad days on poor sleep or whatever."
"But they're hurting people."
"Eh, not really. It's more like... they're eating crumbs that fall off the table. The really bad ones, the ones that actually cause harm—those are what shamans deal with."
I ran a hand through my hair, still struggling to process it all. "And the... hunger. Is that normal too?"
Something in her expression changed, a wariness entering her eyes. "Hunger?"
"… Nevermind."
Brittany set her bowl down carefully. "Right. Maybe try the kitchen? But don't touch my stash. I don't share."
"Thanks," I said, standing up. "I think I'm just going to crash for a while. It's been a lot."
"Alright, see you later Isaiah."As I climbed the stairs to my room, I could feel Freya following at a distance, her paws making no sound on the wooden steps. When I reached my door, I looked down at her.
"So what are you, exactly? If not a cat?"
She tilted her head, golden eyes reflecting light in a way that seemed too intelligent for an ordinary animal.
"Right. Still not talking." I sighed, opening my door. "At least one of us is good at keeping secrets."
I collapsed onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. Outside the safety of Shinra House, the world had teeth—countless, hidden teeth that had been there all along. And now, so did I.
The question was whether I'd end up using mine to defend or to devour.