Chapter 6: The Burden of Secrets
Adrian was getting good at pretending.
Pretending he was fine. Pretending he was still the same guy who used to laugh too loud at Marco's jokes, who used to spend weekends gaming or drinking cheap beer on the rooftop. Pretending he wasn't waking up in cold sweats, heart pounding from dreams of lightning and blood.
He sat across from Marco now, in a noisy café off E. Rodriguez, trying to focus on the conversation. Marco was rambling about his new job—something in fintech, something with a startup that had "disruption" in its mission statement. Adrian nodded when he was supposed to, smiled when it felt right. But his mind was elsewhere.
He could feel the pendant under his shirt, warm against his chest. It hadn't stopped pulsing since last night's training. His meridians still ached. His ribs were bruised from the fight in the alley two nights ago. He hadn't told anyone. How could he?
"You've been weird lately," Marco said, cutting through the noise. "Like… off. You okay?"
Adrian blinked. "Yeah. Just tired."
Marco gave him a look. "You've said that three times this week. You're not sleeping, you're jumpy as hell, and you flinched when I slapped your back earlier. What's going on?"
Adrian hesitated. For a second, he wanted to tell him everything. About the pendant. The Qi. The fights. The woman with silver eyes who tried to kill him. About how he could hear people's heartbeats now if he focused hard enough. About how he wasn't sure if he was going insane or becoming something else entirely.
But he didn't.
Because how do you explain something like that without sounding like a lunatic? And even if Marco believed him, what then? He'd be in danger just for knowing.
"I'm just dealing with some stuff," Adrian said finally. "Family stuff. Money stuff. You know."
Marco didn't look convinced, but he let it go. "Alright. But if you ever need to talk, man… I'm here."
Adrian nodded. "Thanks."
They finished their coffee in silence.
That night, Adrian sat on the floor of his apartment, the lights off, the city humming outside his window. The pendant lay in his palm, glowing faintly. He stared at it like it might answer the questions he was too afraid to ask.
"Why me?" he whispered. "Why now?"
No answer. Just the steady pulse of energy, like a second heartbeat.
He thought about his grandfather—about the stories he used to tell when Adrian was a kid. Tales of warriors who could fly, of monks who could split mountains with a punch. Back then, Adrian thought they were just bedtime stories. Now he wasn't so sure.
He remembered the dream—the one where his grandfather stood beneath a sky full of stars and said, "The world hides secrets, Adrian. Seek them, and you will ascend."
He didn't feel like he was ascending. He felt like he was drowning.
Every day, the gap between him and the rest of the world grew wider. He couldn't tell his friends. Couldn't tell his family. Couldn't even write it down—what if someone found it? What if someone came looking?
He was alone.
And yet… not entirely.
The pendant pulsed again, and warmth spread through his chest. It wasn't just a tool. It was a tether. A reminder that he wasn't crazy. That this was real.
He stood and walked to the window. The city stretched out before him, alive and oblivious. Somewhere out there, others like him were hiding. Training. Fighting. Maybe watching him.
He clenched his fists.
"I didn't ask for this," he said. "But I'm not running from it either."
He turned back to the room, to the pendant, to the path that had already begun to shape him into something else. Something more.
Tomorrow, he'd train harder. He'd dig deeper. He'd find out what this pendant really was, what his grandfather had left behind, and why people were willing to kill for it.
He wasn't ready yet.
But he would be.