Maddie was screaming beside him, eyes wide in terror, but her voice sounded distant, distorted — like it was coming from the end of a long tunnel. Kai only caught fragments:
"YOU'RE BLEEDING!" — … — "CALL AN AMBULANCE!"
A stabbing pain split through his skull, as if someone were driving a burning nail straight into his head. It was so unbearable it almost made him miss the migraines his dreams used to cause. He clutched his temples, eyes squeezed shut, gasping for breath. Amid the sharp ringing that drilled into his ears, his hearing began to return — slowly, painfully. His body was responding again… or maybe it was just that the pain was overriding everything else.
When he finally lifted his head, he couldn't tell if he was crying. The blood running down his face blurred his vision — it was the only thing falling now, hot, thick, relentless.
Maddie was holding her phone with trembling hands.
"There's no signal," she said, desperate, staring at the screen. "Why the hell is there no signal?!"
Kai barely understood her words… and yet, he heard everything.
Her ragged breathing. The crunch of snow and leaves under Maddie's boots. The whisper of wind weaving through distant pines. The scent of soap in her hair. The metallic tang of his own blood. Even the dirty snow had a smell — sharp, raw, alive. His lungs expanded like never before. Every part of him responded with pinpoint precision.
With effort, he began to sit up.
"Hey!" Maddie shouted, panic breaking through her voice. "Don't get up, idiot! You could be having a stroke!"
"Strokes don't do this," Kai muttered, still hunched over. He touched his face, and when he saw his hand slick with red, a chill ran through him. That doesn't make sense, he thought. With that much blood, I should be unconscious... or dead.
"Do you think now's the time to get logical?!" Maddie snapped, pulling at his arm. "You might not even feel the pain because of the adrenaline!"
Kai knew she was right. Bleeding from his eyes and ears wasn't exactly normal. But somehow… he felt fine. Weak, yes — but strangely whole. Aware. Grounded. More… alive.
It lasted fifteen glorious seconds.
Then came the spasms. His spine arched, muscles locking uncontrollably, and more blood spilled as if his body were shutting down from within.
"Ah—" he groaned, collapsing to his knees.
"See?!" Maddie yelled, hanging up yet another failed call. The no signal tone screeched so sharply it made Kai flinch.
"Shit! Okay… don't move. We need to get you ho—"
She froze. Her eyes widened, her face drained of color.
"What…?" Kai's throat tightened. "What is it?"
"Your ears," she whispered. "They just… shrank… and then… changed."
Kai's hands shot to his head. The blood was still there, but the shape beneath was wrong — longer. Thinner. Slightly pointed.
"You look like a freaking elf!" Maddie blurted out, stepping back. Her expression wasn't just fear — it was something older, deeper. The kind of confusion that claws at the foundation of reality itself.
"Do you have a mirror?" Kai asked, swallowing hard. Maddie didn't move. "A mirror, Maddie!"
She fumbled in her coat pocket and handed him a small one. Kai looked — and his stomach dropped.
The ears were only the beginning. His face wasn't exactly his anymore. His hair had grown several inches, wild and unkempt. He felt a sting in his mouth; when he touched his lip, his fingers brushed sharp, elongated fangs. His eyes glowed faintly, and the reflection staring back at him looked fierce, untamed… wrong.
He didn't have time to process it.
A sharp crack split the air behind him — like a blade cutting through the silence. His new ears twitched instinctively, animal-like, pinpointing the sound before he even turned.
A bald man was walking toward them barefoot through the snow. He wore a tattered robe that left half his chest exposed, covered in tattoos that seemed to writhe beneath his skin. Around his neck hung dozens of necklaces and bracelets — grotesque offerings. His smile… that unnatural, stretched smile — as if his face had no bones, as if the skin had been pulled too far for any human anatomy to allow.
A terror beyond reason seized them both. It wasn't rational fear. It was primal — the kind that makes animals flee before an earthquake.
Maddie grabbed Kai's coat.
"Oh…" the man said in a voice that was both gentle and deranged, his mouth stretching even wider. "Today must be the luckiest day of my life. Surely this will earn me a place in nirvana — right beside Buddha."
He raised his arms to the sky, eyes bulging with feverish devotion. Then he looked straight at Kai. That was all the warning he needed. Despite the convulsions tearing through him, Kai bolted — and Maddie followed without looking back.
The monk's laughter echoed off the alley walls, chasing them like a rotting echo.
They ran for blocks. He didn't seem to follow… but that smile — that impossible, twisted grin — stayed burned into Kai's mind like a brand. That voice. That inhuman expression.
They were only a few meters from the house when Kai collapsed. His legs simply gave out. He glanced down — they were trembling, stiff, unresponsive. Maddie tried to lift him, but his weight was impossible now, as if he'd turned to stone. She used to be able to carry him easily. Why can't I move him now?
With almost superhuman effort, she dragged him to the intersection of two streets and hid behind a dumpster. The world went silent again. Only the soft murmur of falling snow.
"We lost him..." Maddie whispered between gasps. "What the hell was that thing?"
"You think I know?" Kai rasped, slumping against the wall — and then broke into a violent coughing fit.
The sound was far too loud for such an empty street. Maddie quickly pressed her hand against his mouth to muffle it.
When he finally stopped, she lowered her hand… it was covered in blood. Kai clenched his teeth. He tried to focus, but his glasses were useless now; his vision was a blur of chaos and red.
"Shit… what's happening to me?" he murmured, voice shaking, frustrated, and close to tears.
Maddie opened her mouth but had no answer. All she could do was wrap her arms around him, holding his trembling head against her chest. He seemed to calm down a little… but not for long.
A footstep echoed down the alley.
"It's what my order, the Fǎ Xiè, calls the Golden Time among the barbarian tribes," said a familiar voice.
Maddie froze — then turned.
The monk was there. Standing. Unharmed. Smiling. He walked barefoot over the snow, leaving dark prints with every step.
"When the reincarnation enters its stage of mutation or uses its powers for the first time," he continued cheerfully, almost playfully, as if he were talking about candy, "the body becomes vulnerable. It doesn't yet know how to handle so much energy. How fortunate that I was nearby."
"I think you and I have very different definitions of 'fortunate,'" Kai grumbled — weak, but his sarcasm still intact.
Maddie looked at him; he was barely conscious. She turned back to the monk — that smile was wider now. His face looked like it was made of rubber.
"Tell me, girl…" the monk said, tilting his head. "Are you a virgin?"
"What…?" Maddie immediately stepped back in disgust. Her hand went into her coat pocket. Her mom never let her leave home without the taser. It had never seemed useful — until now.
She locked her gaze on him, analyzing every movement. He didn't look strong — just a crazed old man. But every nerve in her body screamed that he was dangerous. Unnatural.
"Ah, never mind," the monk said, still in that disturbingly casual tone. "I don't need a sacrifice for Buddha today. I already have what I came for — the reincarnation."
He took another step. Now he was barely a meter away.
"Tell you what, girl," he said, stretching out a hand with grotesque mock empathy. "If you leave now… I'll let you live. How's that sound?"
Maddie trembled, but didn't move. She planted herself in front of Kai like a human shield. He looked up at her, surprised, then frowned and turned his gaze back to the monk, summoning what little courage he had left.
"So… you're a Buddhist?" Kai asked, stalling for time, searching for any opening.
"We are the true servants of the Lord of Nirvana, yes," the monk replied without blinking, his stare fixed on Maddie. She was shaking, but she didn't retreat an inch, while Kai tried to push himself up against the wall.
"Isn't Buddhahood supposed to represent a State of mind of universal balance? Compassion for all living things?" Kai pressed, forcing his voice to sound confident.
The monk's gaze flicked — one eye on Kai, the other still on Maddie.
"Where does sacrificing virgins and stalking teenagers fit into that philosophy?" Kai added, a faint trace of irony in his voice.
A twitch crossed the monk's face. This time he turned fully toward Kai. Maddie looked at him, waiting for a signal. Kai made a quick gesture: give me a second.
"Come on, answer me, idiot," Kai said, breathing heavily. "Isn't that right?"
The monk let out a dark, guttural laugh. Kai frowned, confused.
"'Buddhahood' is a state of mind," the monk said, stepping closer. "Just as you are merely a boy. Enlightenment means becoming one with the universe — transcending the gods themselves. Something you almost achieved. But you chose to betray the master."
"What the hell are you—" Kai started, but didn't finish.
The monk took another step. Maddie, done with the conversation, pulled the taser and drove it straight into his leg. Electricity tore through his body; he convulsed like a broken puppet. Maddie smiled in relief as he dropped to his knees. She kicked him hard across the jaw — the crack of bone echoing in the alley.
Kai shot her a look that screamed, Seriously!? He was about to say something important! Maddie only shrugged. They stood frozen for a few seconds, panting, thinking it was over.
"Let's go home before this gets worse," Maddie said, stepping past the motionless body.
But something changed.
A giggle. Soft. Horrible.
Before they could react, the monk sprang to his feet. With impossible anatomy, his torso twisted a full one-eighty, and his fist shot out in a brutal punch to Maddie's side.
She was thrown like a rag doll, crashing into the wall with a sickening crunch. She hit the ground hard, her arm hanging at an impossible angle. The plaster behind her was cracked, the mark of her impact carved deep into it. Blood dripped from her mouth as she let out a strangled groan.
Kai froze. Fear. Helplessness. Fury. It all crashed down on him at once.
"You bastard!" he roared, standing up as if pain no longer existed. He ignored the spasms, ignored the blood, and charged straight at him.
The monk watched him come. His eyebrows still smoked from the taser hit, yet his smile remained — obscene, unbroken. Kai threw a punch with everything he had, and it connected.
There was a sharp crack. The monk's head twisted sideways, as if poorly attached, and a thin thread of blood dripped to the floor… but the body stayed upright. Motionless. His neck contorted, eyes staring lifelessly in the opposite direction.
Kai's knuckles burned. The skin had split open. He stared at his hands, stunned, unable to process it. He'd snapped the man's neck. He — Kai — had done that. It didn't make sense.
"What… what's happening?" he gasped, disbelief breaking his voice.
Maddie watched him from the floor, tears of pain streaking her face, torn between horror and confusion — or both.
Kai took a step toward her… but the voice stopped him cold.
"You really don't know?" the monk said. Slowly, with one hand, he grabbed his head and twisted it back into place.
The sound of bones cracking echoed like splintering wood. Kai didn't move. He couldn't. He just stared, frozen in terror. And the only thought that crossed his mind was:
What the hell is this monster?