~~~
Jin had barely taken three steps away when something hard and muscular wrapped around his throat from behind, cutting off both his thoughts and his air supply in one swift motion.
Shit!
"Shh, shh," a voice whispered in his ear. "You fucking bitch, think you could disappear after the shit you pulled?"
I know that voice!
But instead of panic, memories flooded through Jin's consciousness—not his own memories, but the original Jin's. This insane person choking him was actually his best friend.
Of course. Because my life wasn't complicated enough already.
"Rudy!... I can't breathe!" Jin gasped, the name coming automatically from the original Jin's memories.
"Oh! Really? Here I thought my chokehold wasn't working!" The voice carried dark amusement. "Of course, dumbass, I'm choking you so you can't breathe! That's the whole fucking point!"
"Owww, Rudy! Come on, man!" Jin wheezed, but even as he complained, muscle memory from the original Jin's training was already kicking in. The original Jin had been trained for this exact scenario.
The hold loosened enough for Jin to breathe, but instead of relaxing, he gripped Rudy's arms tightly. With a swift twist and pivot, Jin slammed his attacker down in an overhead throw that sent the larger boy crashing to the pavement with a satisfying thud.
"Goddammit, Rudy!" Jin cursed, rubbing his throat and taking deep, grateful breaths. "What is wrong with you? Normal people say 'hello' when they meet their friends!"
Rudy lay sprawled on the pavement for a moment before letting out a booming laugh that echoed off the empty buildings around them.
"Hahahaha! Here I thought you lost your drive after awakening!" Rudy grinned up at him from the ground, purple eyes sparkling with manic energy. "But you're still the same Jin who used to beat the shit out of me during sparring!"
This maniac thinks nearly strangling me is a friendly greeting?
"You sure love to imagine useless things," Jin shook his head, extending his hand to help Rudy up. "Some friend you are, trying to murder me in broad daylight."
Rudy grasped Jin's hand with a grin that was equal parts grateful and challenging. As Jin hauled him to his feet, Rudy's expression shifted to something more serious—though the manic gleam never quite left his eyes.
"Oh, really? I seem to remember someone promising me, 'Just you wait, Rudy, I'm taking both the mantle and Serena.' I really wonder who that was."
Oh fuck.
Memories rushed through Jin like a flood, and he grimaced as the original Jin's embarrassing declarations came back to haunt him. The previous Jin had indeed said exactly that, drunk on bravado and teenage hormones.
Hidden feelings and emotions rose with the memories, and Jin realized that the original Jin had harbored a serious—and apparently very obvious—crush on Rudy's sister, Serena.
The image materialized in his mind unbidden: long, dark, wavy hair with white accents framing a gorgeous face with purple eyes just like Rudy's, but softer, more mysterious.
Even experiencing it secondhand through borrowed memories, Jin felt his heart skip a beat, and he had to forcibly stop his emotional reaction before he lost control entirely.
Great. Just great.
"See! Here I thought you were just playing with Sis's heart, but no, you really do—Ouch!"
Jin knocked Rudy's head before he could finish the sentence, his face burning with embarrassment.
Rudy was many things, but a certified yapper topped the list. Some things never change.
"What was that for? Come on, bro—" Rudy started, then stopped mid-sentence as he really took in Jin's appearance for the first time. "Wait, what the hell are you wearing?"
Rudy's jovial demeanor evaporated like morning mist as he studied Jin's gear properly. Not just the armor, but multiple layers of clothes layered over it. Combat boots. The kind of equipment you wear when you expect to fight for your life.
His purple eyes narrowed with sudden suspicion, and Jin could practically see the gears turning in his friend's head.
"Jin..." Rudy's voice carried a warning note that made the hair on Jin's neck stand up. "You are not doing something stupid? Are you?"
Here we go.
But before Rudy could voice his questions, Jin held up his watch and spoke with deadly seriousness.
"Rudy, I won't explain what or why right now. But I'm glad you're already geared up; this makes things easier."
"Of course I've been training with the guards and Dad," Rudy replied automatically, still staring at Jin's tactical setup. "Did you forget about my apprenticeship with the City Guard? But Jin, seriously, what—"
Right. Rudy's father is the captain of the city militia.
Jin held up two fingers and stared directly into Rudy's eyes with the kind of intensity that made grown men take a step back.
"Two options, Rudy. Number one: you shut up and go do your City Guard work, pretending you never saw me." Jin's voice dropped to something barely above a whisper. "Number two: you shut up and follow me into something that might get us both killed."
The temperature around them seemed to drop several degrees as Jin's words hung in the air.
"You have ten seconds to decide."
Sorry, Rudy, but I don't have time to explain that Vienna is about to become a hellscape and we need to find sanctuary before the real monsters show up.
For a moment, Rudy looked like he might argue, purple eyes flashing with indignation. But something in Jin's expression—a cold certainty that hadn't been there before, like someone who'd seen the future and didn't like what was coming—made him reconsider.
"What the fuck happened to you?" Rudy muttered, but he fell into step behind Jin as they broke into a run. "You're acting like someone replaced my best friend."
So close to the mark it's terrifying.
"Did your Mantle awakening scramble your brain or something?" Rudy continued as they sprinted through Vienna's darkening streets. "Because this whole 'mysterious badass' thing is really weird on you."
"Just focus on keeping up," Jin replied, checking his phone for directions while maintaining their pace. "And try not to die. I'd hate to explain to your father why I got his son killed."
According to the original Jin's memories, there should be a small grove just outside the city limits, which would sometimes flicker in and out of existence.
If my knowledge is correct, it should contain exactly what we need.
"Jin, seriously, what's going on? You're acting like the world's about to end!" Rudy kept pace easily despite his questions, his City Guard training evident in his fluid movement.
If only you knew how right you are.
"Is this about your awakening? Did something go wrong with your Mantle? Are you in some kind of trouble?"
Jin ignored him, focusing on navigation. They were almost there—just a few more minutes through the industrial district and they'd reach the forest edge.
Please let this work. Please let the dungeon entrance be where I think it is.
Five minutes of hard running brought them to the edge of Vienna's urban sprawl, where manicured parks gave way to wild forest that stretched toward the mountains. Jin plunged into the trees without hesitation, ignoring Rudy's cursing as branches caught at their gear.
"Jin, what the hell are we doing out here? There's nothing but trees and—"
"Stand back," Jin ordered, his voice carrying an authority that made Rudy obey before he could think to question it.
Jin began pulling items from his spatial storage with practiced efficiency, each component appearing in his hands like magic. Because it literally was magic, and watching Rudy's face as materials manifested from thin air was almost worth the insanity of their situation.
"How are you—is that spatial storage?" Rudy's voice cracked slightly. "Jin, those cost more than my father makes in a year! Where did you get—"
Salt. Scaroma ash. A small vial of what looked like liquid mercury.
Jin began sprinkling the materials in a careful pattern around what looked like an empty clearing, ignoring Rudy's increasingly frantic questions.
"Jin, you're starting to freak me out. How do you know about ritual magic? Where did you learn—"
The air shimmered like heat waves rising from summer pavement. Reality twisted, folded in on itself, and suddenly a portal stood where empty space had been moments before.
The dungeon entrance pulsed with otherworldly energy, casting everything in an eerie blue glow that made the shadows dance.
Rudy's jaw dropped so far that Jin was surprised it didn't hit the ground.
"What in the seven hells is this? How the fuck do you know about hidden dungeons?" His voice cracked. "Jin, this is serious magic. Academy-level shit. Where did you—"
Before Jin could answer, a sound like the world breaking echoed across Vienna.
BOOM.
The ground shook beneath their feet, and Jin felt his teeth rattle in his skull. In the distance, orange light painted the sky as something massive exploded in the city center. Screams carried on the wind, growing louder and more desperate by the second.
And so it begins.
"What!" Rudy spun toward Vienna, instinctively reaching for his weapon as the glow of destruction lit up the night sky. "I need to get back! People need—my family—"
I gotta decide should I… fuck it!
Jin's hand clamped down on Rudy's arm like a vise, stopping him mid-step.
"No."
"What do you mean, no?!" Rudy's eyes blazed with purple fire, his face twisted with anguish. "That's our city! People are dying, and you want me to run away?!"
God, this is hard. But if he goes back now, he'll die. They all will.
"Let me go, Jin, or I'll make you let me go!" Rudy's hand closed around his sword hilt, and for a moment, Jin thought his friend might actually draw steel on him.
Jin's grip didn't waver, even as his heart broke a little at the betrayal in Rudy's eyes.
"Rudy, listen to me carefully. If you go back there right now, you will die. Not might die—will die. And your death won't save anyone."
"How can you possibly know that?!"
Before Jin could answer, it hit them.
An invisible pressure slammed down from above like the weight of a collapsing mountain. Bloodlust so pure and concentrated that it turned the air thick as syrup, making it almost impossible to breathe. Both boys were driven to their knees, gasping for breath that wouldn't come.
Jin's vision swam as the psychic assault battered against his mind like a sledgehammer. Every instinct screamed at him to curl up in a ball and wait for death. This was power beyond anything he'd imagined—the kind of force that could level city blocks without breaking a sweat.
But I can't give up. Not now. Not when Rudy's life depends on it.
Beside him, Rudy was making choking sounds, his face turning purple as the overwhelming aura crushed down on them both. Blood vessels were starting to burst in his eyes.
No. I won't let this happen.
Jin clenched his fists, forcing his essence to respond. It was just a small drop compared to what was crushing them, like trying to fight an ocean with a cup of water, but it had to work. It would work.
Jin exhaled, forcing a ripple of essence into the invocation. His voice was low, almost a growl:
« "O Earth that endures, grant me your strength to weather the storm—let my mind be free from burdens!" »
Pop.
Blood burst from Jin's eyes as the essence invocation took hold, the strain of fighting against the immense pressure nearly tearing his soul apart.
The overwhelming pressure didn't disappear, but it became bearable—like carrying a heavy weight instead of being crushed beneath a falling building.
That's all I can do. It'll have to be enough.
Jin staggered to his feet, grabbed Rudy's semiconscious form, and threw them both toward the dungeon portal.
"This is our only chance, Rudy," he gasped, blood streaming down his face as they tumbled through the dimensional threshold. "Trust me just this once."
Please let this work. Please let me be right about the dungeon being safe.
The portal swallowed them both in a flash of blue light, and Vienna's nightmare began in earnest.
As consciousness faded, Jin's last coherent thought was a mixture of relief and terror.
We made it. But now comes the hard part…
~~~