Consciousness returned in fragments.
First—shards of another life.
Then the ritual.
Then the bite.
His eyes tore open beneath a pitch-black sky.
Is it night…?
The thought lingered before dissolving. No—this wasn't night.
He pushed himself upright.
Before him stretched a sea of blood.
He stared.
The stench of iron filled the air. Waves rolled and collided, their rhythm almost gentle—as if inviting him closer.
For a moment, his mind went blank.
Then he looked up.
A crimson moon hung motionless in a crimson sky.
"Where the f**k am I?"
He turned.
Nothing—only the endless blood-red sea.
He turned again.
Pitch-black rifts split the world apart, carving out a distant sector.
There, beneath a starless night, stood a forest.
Silent.
Watching.
Nothing made sense.
His heart raced.
He looked down.
Beneath him lay a pitch-black circle, isolating him—kept just out of reach from the two worlds before him.
The circle stretched.
It thinned into a single line.
That line split open—
becoming the rift that tore the two worlds apart.
The sea of blood surged with every wave, swallowing the starless world.
His heart raced faster with each collision.
The other world pushed back—relentless, suffocating.
With every clash, resistance made less sense.
"They're… colliding over me," he gasped.
Am I inside myself?
A cough of blood splat out.
"Blood?"
The blood vanished into the darkness.
"So... It wasn't blood?" His eyes grew heavier.
"Wh-"
Air slowly rushed out of his body.
The sound of waves slowly vanishing.
No thoughts.
Everything went silent.
The moment stretched far too long.
Then—
Air tore into his lungs.
His chest convulsed, his body longed for air.
Panick bloomed in.
Pain.
This is killing me.
He understood without words.
If this continued—
"I have to choose one."
His chest tightened.
He rushed back and forth.
His eyes never rested at one place.
His gaze fell upon the black circle.
It travelled with him,
Reshaping the space as he moved back and forth.
His eyes lingered on it.
Streaks of pain rushed through him.
Time was of essence.
He slithered in the middle of the rift.
His heart rate left no room for silence.
The sound of the waves was at its peak.
The rifts slowly thinned.
The circle slowly collected.
Suddenly it stopped.
The moment stilled.
Then—
The darkness vanished.
He let the world's collide over him.
Blood gushesd out like a river.
His heart skipped into nothingness, then clawed its way back, one painful beat at a time.
The world surged with sound, then fell quiet again, pulsing in time with his heartbeat.
One wrong move he would be gone.
...
kael with the others stared at arin's body.
[Do you think he knows what he's doing?]
Their tongues flickered.
[Do you all even know what's happening]
More flickered, uneasy spread
[I see... I think I get what you are saying]
Kael slithered back.
Others watched.
[Where is he going?...]
Silence.
[No. I don't think I get you]
Arin's body suddenly jolted.
The others recoiled at once.
His body convulsed—
violently, relentlessly.
Kael returned, dragging a deer with brown wings—
its bones stretched unnaturally long, protruding past the span of its wings.
He positioned the creature's head above Arin's violently shaking body.
Blood dripped—
slow, deliberate drops—
into Arin's mouth.
…
Footsteps echoed through a wooden hallway.
Shuo. Kayu. The Master.
Their pace quickened.
At the end of the corridor stood a door.
They barged through it.
Inside, a woman stood with steady footing, a rapier held loosely at her side.
Then—
A sudden gust of wind spiraled outward, slamming into Shuo and Kayu and forcing them back.
The old man's braided beard danced wildly, yet his expression remained unchanged.
"Why did you break the door?" the woman asked.
"Reya," the old man said calmly,
"we don't have time."
He turned.
"We leave. Now."