Everything looked blurry and white, and there was a light, clean smell of bleach in the air.
Aiden blinked.
The ceiling was unfamiliar. The gentle beeping next to him was annoyingly steady.
A hospital. Fantastic.
He tried to sit up, but a wave of exhaustion pushed him back down into the stiff sheets. His head throbbed, a dull ache that felt less like a headache and more like a power failure.
He remembered his desk. The marketing proposal he was finishing. The way the words on the screen started to swim.
Then, nothing.
"Overwork," he muttered to himself, the words dry in his throat. His father would be disappointed. Weakness.
His phone was on the bedside table. He reached for it, his movements slow and heavy.
The screen lit up, and there, on his pristine, minimalist home screen, was a new app. It had a sleek, black icon with a pulsating pink heart in the center.
VitalLink.
He definitely didn't download that. He hated clutter on his phone.
He tapped it.
The screen filled with what looked like a video game health bar. It was mostly empty, glowing a critical, angry red at the very end.
A single number hovered above it: 9%.
Beside it, a timer was counting down. 4 hours, 23 minutes, 12 seconds.
A soft, feminine voice echoed in his head, seemingly coming from nowhere and everywhere at once.
"Ah, my sweet vessel is awake. I was getting so lonely in the dark."
Aiden froze. He looked around the empty room.
"Hello?" he said, his voice quiet.
A giggle, light and airy. "You can't see me, darling human. Not yet. I'm inside your head now. Think of me as your new life coach."
A life coach. Right. More likely a tumor.
"What is this?" he thought, directing the question inward.
"This," the voice purred, the sound tickling his thoughts, "is the VitalLink System. And that little red bar? That's you. Your life force. Your… energy. And darling, you're running on empty."
The door to his room creaked open.
Elena stood there, her wavy blonde hair catching the sterile hospital light. She was holding a small paper cup of water, her gentle blue eyes wide with worry.
She looked like sunshine, even in this depressing place.
"Aiden," she breathed, rushing to his side. "You're awake. The doctors said you just collapsed. You overworked yourself again, didn't you?"
Her hand went to his forehead, her touch surprisingly cool. It was a gesture of pure, simple concern.
He hated it.
He hated the worry in her eyes. He hated the way it made something twist in his chest. Vulnerability was a liability.
"I'm fine," he said, his voice flat. He tried to pull away slightly, but his body felt too heavy.
Elena's hand lingered for a moment before she drew it back, clutching the necklace at her throat. A nervous habit.
"You're not fine, you scared me," she said softly, her voice trembling just a little. "I'll… I'll go get the doctor."
As she left, Aiden's eyes flickered back to his phone.
Elena's touch, her open display of worry, had done something. The red bar had ticked up.
10%.
"Ooh," the voice in his head sighed contentedly. "Did you feel that? A little spark. Her affection. It tastes… warm. Like honey."
This was insane. He was hallucinating. That was the only logical explanation.
He was discharged a few hours later, the doctors unable to find anything wrong besides severe exhaustion. Elena drove him home, her hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles were white. The car was filled with a thick, awkward silence.
The house was just as quiet. His father, as usual, wasn't home. It was a large, cold space, filled with expensive furniture that no one ever seemed to use.
Elena insisted he rest on the sofa. She brought him a blanket, fluffed his pillows, and made him tea. Each act of kindness was a small, agonizing poke at his defenses.
He just wanted to be left alone.
He closed his eyes, pretending to sleep, hoping she would just disappear.
Then, a sharp, clinical chime echoed in his mind. A notification window, stark white against the darkness of his closed eyelids, appeared in his vision.
[New Quest Issued]
[Quest: Generate 50 Affection Points from Elena Vale before midnight.]
[Reward: Energy Replenishment.]
[Failure Penalty: Cardiac Collapse.]
Aiden's eyes snapped open.
His heart hammered against his ribs. Cardiac collapse? This wasn't a hallucination. This was a threat.
"Don't look so panicked, my vessel," Liora, the spirit, cooed. "It's a simple task. She's already overflowing with affection for you. You just need to… squeeze it out of her."
He looked at the timer on his phone. 2 hours, 10 minutes.
His energy was back down to 9%. The simple act of being awake and stressed was draining him.
He felt a cold sweat on his brow. This couldn't be real. But the frantic thumping in his chest felt very, very real.
Elena was in the kitchen, humming softly to herself as she washed the teacups. Her back was to him. The soft glow of the under-cabinet lights made her blonde hair look like a halo.
She was his stepmother. His father's wife.
This was wrong. On every possible level.
"What is wrong?" Liora asked, her tone one of innocent curiosity. "Love is never wrong. Affection is survival. Go on. Touch her. Tell her she's beautiful. Mortals love that sort of thing."
He couldn't. He was Aiden Vale. He didn't do emotional displays. He didn't do… this.
[Energy levels at 8%.]
His chest tightened. A sharp, needle-like pain pricked at his heart.
Panic, cold and absolute, washed over him. Logic shattered. Propriety vanished. All that was left was the primal fear of death.
He stood up, his movements stiff.
He walked into the kitchen. The sound of his own footsteps was deafening.
Elena turned, a small, gentle smile on her face. "Do you need something, Aiden? More tea?"
Her smile faltered when she saw his expression. His eyes were wide, his face pale.
"Aiden? Are you okay? You look…"
He didn't let her finish.
He closed the distance between them in two long strides. He backed her against the counter, his hands landing on either side of her, trapping her.
Her breath hitched. The soapy cup slipped from her fingers, clattering into the sink.
"Aiden, what are you doing?" she whispered, her eyes searching his. They were filled with confusion, and something else.
"Yes, that's it!" Liora cheered in his head. "Look at her tremble! How fragile mortals are… how beautiful."
Fueled by desperation, he leaned in.
He could smell the faint scent of her perfume, something floral and warm. He saw the way her pupils dilated. The way her lips parted in a silent gasp.
Then he kissed her.
It wasn't gentle. It was a desperate, frantic act. It was the kiss of a drowning man gasping for air. His lips were hard against hers, demanding a response she was too shocked to give.
For a moment, she was completely still, frozen against the cold marble of the counter.
Then, a small, broken sound escaped her throat, and she kissed him back.
Her response was hesitant at first, then it became as desperate as his. It was a kiss filled with months of unspoken tension, of shared loneliness in a cold, empty house. It was wrong and reckless and utterly, terrifyingly real.
A flood of warmth exploded in his chest, so potent it made him dizzy.
He looked at his phone, which he was still clutching in one hand.
The bar was skyrocketing.
[+10 AP]
[+20 AP]
[+30 AP]
It shot past the 50-point goal, filling up a quarter of the bar in a brilliant flash of pink light.
[Quest Complete! Reward: Energy Replenished.]
[Energy: 78%]
He pulled away from her, breathless.
Elena stared at him, her blue eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Her hand was at her lips, her whole body trembling. She looked stunned, guilty, and heartbroken all at once.
He had what he needed.
But looking at her face, he realized he had just broken something.
Something that could never be fixed.