The rain kept falling.
Heavy. Endless.
It struck concrete and steel and skin with the same dull insistence, washing blood into thin red rivers that disappeared into the hospital drains. Water ran down my arms, soaked my clothes, slid between my fingers where they trembled uncontrollably around Renya's small body.
Not from fear.
From something deeper.
The sword hummed faintly in my hand.
Not loud. Not demanding.
Just… present.
Like it was listening.
The world sounded distant, muffled, as if cotton had been stuffed into my ears. Hospital alarms wailed somewhere below—warped, overlapping. Automatic doors slammed. Security shutters clattered down. Voices shouted orders I couldn't make out.
None of it felt real.
I tried to take a step.
My legs folded instantly as white-hot pain surged through me all at once, overwhelming and absolute.
It wasn't like being stabbed.
It was like every injury I'd been ignoring finally introduced itself at once—demanding payment, collecting interest. My nerves lit up in protest, screaming in different directions, none of them agreeing on where the pain even lived anymore.
I went down hard.
Blood pooled beneath me, spreading across the rain-slick ground like a second shadow. Warm at first. Then cold. My limbs felt distant—like they belonged to someone else entirely.
She stood a few steps away, watching me bleed out as if it were mildly entertaining.
" …Wow," Jacklin said lightly. "You're still alive."
Reality hadn't paused for me.
I tried to breathe.
Renya was still alive.
My chest burned.
That was the only thing that mattered.
"Oh shit…" My voice came out broken, barely more than air. "No… not now…"
But my body—
My body felt wrong.
Too light. Too heavy.
My vision dimmed, edges collapsing inward, like I was only half inside the world anymore.
Darkness crept in slowly, patiently.
Not rushing.
Like it knew I didn't have the strength to fight it even if it hurried.
Like it had all the time in the world—and I had none.
I collapsed fully to the ground, Renya still clutched to my chest. My heartbeat refused to settle—stuttering, speeding up, slowing again, like it couldn't decide whether I was alive or not.
"No… move," I whispered. "Move."
Nothing answered.
My chest tightened until every breath felt borrowed. Not earned.
Each inhale scraped my lungs raw—shallow, uneven—like my body had forgotten how breathing worked without conscious instruction. My fingers twitched uselessly around Renya, strength draining in quiet, terrifying increments.
I tried to count.
One breath. Then another.
I lost track before I reached three.
I tried to remember how I'd been standing seconds ago.
Tried to remember how my legs were supposed to feel.
They didn't feel like legs anymore.
They felt unplugged.
The rain on my skin felt too sharp. Too loud. Every drop hit like it was arriving late, warped, as if reality itself was lagging behind my thoughts.
This isn't how it ends, I told myself.
The words felt hollow.
My body didn't listen.
Something deep inside me—older than fear, heavier than pain—was slipping its grip, like it had finally decided I wasn't worth holding together anymore.
Jacklin exhaled softly.
"…Bravo," she said, almost impressed. "So this is it?"
My body remembered standing. Reality did not.
She nudged my shoulder with her foot.
Nothing.
Her lips curved into something faintly mocking.
"Guess miracles have limits."
Her tone wasn't angry.
It was disappointed.
Like she'd expected better from me.
She looked down at me like I was already a corpse.
"…All that noise," she muttered. "And you still ended up like this."
My vision darkened further.
Oh shit.
I'm going to pass out.
I collapsed completely, my head striking concrete with a dull sound I barely felt. Renya remained clutched to my chest, his small fingers buried in my shirt like anchors.
Jacklin's gaze flicked between me and him.
"So that's it?" she murmured. "That was your miracle?"
She tilted her head, assessing.
"…Shame. You're done."
Renya stared at me.
His small body trembled violently.
"Kai…en…"
He wasn't calling for help.
He was checking if I still existed.
The sound barely made it past his lips.
"Kaien… wake up…"
Her thoughts were almost visible now.
Everyone else was finished.
Only cleanup remained.
Her eyes settled on Renya.
"…We'll dispose of the child next."
Renya cried.
Not loud. Not screaming.
Just small, broken sounds.
"Kaien…"
That voice—
That sound—
It stabbed deeper than any blade.
My heart slammed violently in my chest.
Again. Again.
Too fast. Too hard.
My heartbeat raced like it was trying to outrun death itself.
The world flickered.
Reality stuttered.
The rain froze for half a second—
Then resumed.
Not like time stopping.
Like it had hesitated.
Like reality itself had flinched.
Something felt wrong.
For a moment, everything felt thin—like a sheet of glass stretched too far.
Jacklin stepped forward.
Then—
She stopped.
Her brow furrowed.
"…What?"
Renya wasn't in her arms anymore.
And neither was I on the ground.
For half a second, it felt like the world had skipped a frame.
Rain still falling. Bodies still there. Blood still spreading.
But we weren't.
The absence left behind a pressure in my skull, like something had been removed too quickly and the space hadn't decided how to close yet.
Jacklin stepped back slowly, eyes scanning the emergency bay.
"…Did someone intervene?"
She turned.
And froze.
I stood behind her.
Renya clutched tight against my chest.
Renya clutched my shirt weakly.
His eyes were open—but unfocused, glassy, drifting instead of seeing.
"Ka…" he tried.
The sound barely made it past his lips.
Not a word.
Just a breath shaped like my name.
But something about me had changed.
She saw it immediately.
Her gaze locked onto my face.
"…No," she whispered.
Her breath hitched.
"That's not—"
My body convulsed violently.
Pain lanced through my skull—sharp, invasive—like I'd slammed my head into reality itself. My vision smeared sideways, colors bleeding into each other.
Something inside my head felt bruised.
"I… I don't know what's happening," I whispered, my voice shaking. "But… I have to save him."
Jacklin didn't answer.
She was staring at my eyes.
Her fingers tightened around her blade.
"…Your eyes," she said slowly. "They were black."
Heat flooded my skull.
The rain seemed to hesitate again—just for a fraction.
The glass wall beside us reflected a warped image.
And I saw it.
For a heartbeat, my mind refused to process what my eyes were telling me.
Like acknowledging it would make it permanent.
My eyes were no longer black.
They were red.
Not bloodshot. Not injured.
Red.
Glowing faintly, like embers trapped beneath glass.
Shining.
Wrong.
Jacklin swallowed hard.
"…So it's true," she murmured. "You awakened."
A chill ran through me.
I didn't feel powerful.
I felt exposed.
Like something inside me had been dragged into the open and forced to breathe air it wasn't meant for.
The sword was in my hand.
I didn't remember picking it up.
It hummed softly.
Warm. Alive.
Its pulse shifted—not a heartbeat anymore.
A resonance.
Like it was tuning itself to the same fracture in the world that I was standing inside.
Jacklin took a step back.
Then another.
Her footing slipped slightly on the wet concrete.
She caught herself—but the motion wasn't confident.
For the first time—
She hesitated.
Not fear.
Shock.
Uncertainty.
The kind that comes from realizing the rules you trusted no longer apply.
Her eyes never left mine.
And for the first time since this nightmare began—
Jacklin wasn't in control.
Neither was I.
But for the first time, the difference mattered.
✦ End of Chapter 13 - The Eyes ✦