Darkness.
Not the kind that comes when you close your eyes.
This darkness was deeper.
Heavier.
It felt endless, as if I had fallen into a void with no ground beneath me and no sky above.
For a long time, I could not tell if I was breathing.
Then I heard it.
A sound.
Soft at first.
A single drop.
drip…
Then another.
drip… drip…
The sound echoed through the darkness like water falling inside an empty cave.
I tried to move.
My body refused.
Pain exploded at the back of my head.
Sharp.
Burning.
The memory hit me like lightning.
Hotel room.
Li Na.
Zhao Wei.
The flask.
Blood.
Pendant.
My hand instinctively moved to my chest.
The pendant was still there.
But it no longer felt like cold metal.
It was alive.
A warm pulse beat beneath my palm.
Like a second heart.
Suddenly—
light.
A crimson glow erupted in the darkness, spreading outward in rings.
The void around me began to shift.
Symbols.
Ancient, glowing symbols.
Golden characters floated in the darkness, spinning slowly around me like stars in orbit.
I stared at them, unable to understand what I was seeing.
Then a voice echoed through the void.
Ancient.
Deep.
Neither male nor female.
Yet carrying the weight of countless ages.
"Bloodline confirmed."
My breath caught.
The voice continued.
"Direct descendant of the original lineage detected."
The symbols around me began to move faster.
Their golden light intensified.
"Pendant seal…解除."
The final word struck my mind in a language I did not know—
And centred synchronisation, and I understood.
Seal released.
My heart pounded.
"What is this?"
My voice echoed into the void.
No answer.
Instead, the pendant in my hand rose into the air.
I stared in shock as it floated before me, no longer dull silver but blazing with golden-red light.
The engraved symbols on its surface glowed like molten fire.
Then the pendant split open.
A vertical line of brilliant light emerged from its centre.
Like an eye.
A giant eye made of light opened in the darkness.
I froze.
Its iris was a deep cosmic gold.
Within it, galaxies spun.
Stars were born and died.
Time itself seemed to flow inside that gaze.
The moment it looked at me, my entire body locked in place.
I could not breathe.
I could not think.
I could only stare.
Then the voice returned.
"Omniscient Origin Eyes My initiated."
Pain.
A scream tore from my throat.
A searing fire burst behind both my eyes.
It felt as if someone had plunged burning blades into my skull.
I dropped to my knees.
The darkness shattered into fragments of light.
Memories.
Not mine.
Ancient battlefields.
Heavenly palaces floating above clouds.
Demons cloaked in black flames.
Gods with wings of light.
A silver-haired old man standing beneath a blood-red moon.
Then—
my grandfather.
I gasped.
He stood in the void, younger than I remembered, wearing a dark coat and holding the pendant in his hand.
His eyes were solemn.
"Arjun."
My heart nearly stopped.
"Grandfather?"
His expression softened.
"If you can hear my voice, then the seal has finally been broken."
I stumbled toward him.
"Where are you? What is happening?"
His image flickered like a flame in the wind.
"There is no time."
His voice turned grave.
"The world you know is only a veil."
Behind him, the darkness parted.
For a moment, I saw shapes moving in the shadows.
Massive wings.
Horned figures.
Golden spears.
Eyes.
Countless watching eyes.
"The accident was never an accident," he said.
Cold spread through my chest.
"What?"
"Your family was targeted."
The words struck like thunder.
"By who?"
His gaze sharpened.
"Those who seek the original bloodline."
My mind reeled.
"Why us?"
He looked directly into my eyes.
"Because your father was born into a lineage older than gods and demons."
Before I could speak, his image began to break apart.
"No—wait!"
His voice became distant.
"Protect Riya."
My heart tightened.
"Why?"
For the first time, fear appeared in his eyes.
"Her seal must never break before you are strong enough."
Seal?
Riya?
Before I could ask more, the void exploded.
The giant eye of light descended toward me.
The pain in my eyes intensified.
The world shattered.
I opened my eyes.
White ceiling.
Harsh fluorescent lights.
The smell of antiseptic.
Hospital.
I was back.
For a moment, I lay still, breathing heavily.
The back of my head throbbed.
A bandage wrapped around my skull.
Slowly, I sat up.
The room was silent.
But something felt different.
Wrong.
No—
changed.
I blinked.
And the world transformed.
The hospital walls became translucent.
My breath caught.
I could see through them.
Corridors.
Nurses moving outside.
Patients in nearby rooms.
I froze.
What?
I looked down at my own hands.
A faint golden aura shimmered around them.
Tiny threads of light flowed through my veins like rivers.
Panic rose in my chest.
I swung my legs off the bed and stood.
The moment my feet touched the floor, information flooded my mind.
Bedframe: stainless steel alloy, minor rust, weight 36.2 kg.
I staggered.
The words had simply appeared inside my head.
I turned toward the door.
Wood composite, density 0.72, lock mechanism standard magnetic latch.
"What the hell…"
Every object I looked at filled my mind with data.
Structure.
Composition.
Weakness.
History.
The room door opened.
A nurse stepped in.
"Mr Rao, you're finally awake—"
I stared at her.
And froze.
For a split second, I saw something behind her.
A dark shadow wrapped around her body.
A thin black mist was clinging to her shoulders.
Then it vanished.
My breathing quickened.
Was I hallucinating?
The nurse approached with a relieved smile.
"You were unconscious for six hours."
Six hours.
The hotel.
Li Na.
Zhao Wei.
The pendant.
I touched my chest.
Still there.
But now its silver surface glowed faintly beneath my shirt.
"What happened to me?" I whispered.
The nurse frowned.
"You had a head injury."
No.
That wasn't it.
I looked toward the mirror on the wall.
Slowly, I stepped closer.
My reflection stared back.
Same black hair.
Same exhausted face.
But my eyes—
I stopped breathing.
Golden rings now circled my irises.
Faint.
Almost invisible.
But undeniably there.
The moment I focused—
The golden rings brightened.
A pulse of light flashed.
And suddenly I saw it.
Dark threads.
Black chains.
Countless strands of cursed energy stretching from somewhere beyond the hospital—
all leading toward one place.
Ward 707.
My family.
Ice spread through my veins.
This was not over.
This had only begun.
I grabbed my jacket and rushed out of the room.
Because for the first time in eight years—
I had finally found a clue.