Once Ms. Claire had walked far enough away, I turned and headed back into the woods. The deeper I went, the more the air thickened. Pine and old earth replaced smoke and crystal dust.
Somewhere in the distance, an owl cried once, then fell silent.
Eventually, I reached a small cave at the edge of a dried-up stream barely tall enough to stand in, just a shallow dent in the side of the hill.
I stepped inside and lay down on the cold stone floor, leaning my back against the wall. I closed my eyes, the dark pressing in around me. Then I heard a sudden deep voice call out my name.
"Fiel."
I jerked up looking around, but there wasn't even a bird chirping, total silence.
'He's calling again, I wonder what he wants this time. But I shouldn't think of napping right now, I might get another one of those dreams.'
This was a spot I used to come to when I didn't know what I was feeling. When the world felt too loud, when even silence had weight.
I sat there a bit longer before finally deciding to head back. There wasn't much left for me here. And like it or not, the city was calling.
'Mom, Dad, here I come. I'm going to do my best as an Exo-hunter and prove to everyone that my emotions don't control me, that I am not just a destroyer. I am going to save as many people as I can to atone for the damage I caused. This time, I promise we'll see you again.'
---
I returned to the house, quiet as always. I didn't own much, a few clothes, a jacket, some tools, and a small box I kept sealed. I packed them into my bag. The silence was heavier now. It felt final.
Van approached, his movements less shadow-like this time, standing upright like a real human for once. His pale figure seemed almost solid as he pocketed and tilted his head leaning against the wall.
"You're leaving, Master?"
'Quite calling me Master already.'
I gave a simple nod, stepping past him toward the door. "Do you mind watching the place until I come back?"
Van tilted his head toward the ceiling saying he could leave that to Nellie, as if he already knew she was there listening, which made her leave immediately.
I paused, half-turning to face him. "So you're coming with me to the city?"
He gave a slow, deliberate nod, a faint grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Arguing with Van has never got us anywhere so I didn't press the matter and just let him come along. We would figure out the rest later.
He suddenly requested, his tone half-serious, half-hopeful. "Let's form a pact?"
'Not this again.'
"I know you don't believe me, Master. But I'm telling the truth, I've evolved into a spirit."
"I believe you Van, trust me I do. But how do you explain the fact that I'm still human?"
He didn't say a word, but the truth was obvious even though he didn't want to say it out loud; that I was already half demon.
This wasn't the first time Van had asked to form a pact, but every attempt ended in failure. It only reinforced my belief that he wasn't truly a spirit yet. He always claimed something within me was blocking the bond, and I believed him. But even so, he never stopped asking.
"You do know you're going to need to fordge a spirit pact to enhance your ability's essence, right?"
'As if I have any ability.'
"I will think about it once we arrive in the city. But first, where is Nellie?"
"Probably somewhere eavesdropping."
"Nellie," I called out loudly, "if you ever miss me, please come and visit." But she didn't respond, and not that I expected her to.
Somewhere in the house, Nellie sat in a corner, her legs folded, her face close to her knees as she listened quietly.
Honestly, Nellie's presence still creeps me out. I've lived with her for two years, and all I know is her name. Somehow the silence is the worst part. I don't even remember how I began living with her.
I closed the door and left the key where I always did, beneath the loose brick beside the door and looked at the place one last time.
'I'm really gonna miss this place…though maybe not for long.'
I walked with Van beside me, his steps quiet and slower as if he wanted us to arrive seven months later.
The walk to the edge of the highway felt longer than I remembered. Same trees, same cracked path, but the road seemed further away now, like the world had shifted slightly while I was gone.
I popped a question to Van. "Where are my cinder puffs?"
He choked, swallowing dry air. " I thought they were meant for me?!"
"Yeah great."
This wasn't the first time he ate them all alone, then used the same excuse.
A lone taxi pulled up beneath the flickering streetlamp. I didn't ask for a destination. I just gave the district number and leaned back in the seat. It was getting dark, and I could see the bright lights from the city.
'Finally, after three years, who knows what awaits me in the city.'
---
It was a long drive but we finally arrived. And the city didn't just welcome me back, it absorbed me as if I'd never left.
It felt louder than I remembered, brighter too. Neon lights spilled from towering buildings, painting the sky with colors. Giant screens floated through the air, cycling advertisements and streaming news like living banners, advertising names I no longer recognized
People rushed past, their faces lit by glowing visors and wrist links, drones hovering obediently over their heads.
It reminded me of old clips I'd seen of Tokyo at night, but sharper, quicker, colder and less human. The city didn't sleep anymore; it simply swapped masks.
Leaning my head against the cool taxi window, I watched colors and noise blur into one chaotic symphony.
So many people, so many voices but none of them mine. I felt like a ghost among the living, unseen, unheard.
"District 7," the taxi driver muttered, glancing irritably at his scratched dashboard. "Home of money and broken manners."
I didn't respond, eyes fixed on the strange glowing sky. The chaos behind me meant nothing; the sky looked more real than anything else.
Then suddenly, the world screamed.
CRACK.
A blur of metal and flashing lights rammed into us, jolting us violently forward. My teeth slammed together so hard I tested blood, and my breath caught somewhere between fear and fury.
The taxi's front crumpled like paper with a deafening shriek. No airbags deployed, just the harsh collision with reality.
Smoke hissed from the hood of our wrecked taxi. And beside us stood an untouched luxury vehicle, sleek as polished onyx, windows dark and opaque, completely unscathed.
"What the heck …?!" Our driver kicked open his battered door and stormed out fists clenched. "You rich scum think you can just crash into people like it's a game?!"
The driver's door of the luxury car opened slowly, smoothly. A man in a pristine dark suit stepped out calm and polite, bowing apologetically to diffuse the tension.
"It was my fault, sir. I'll handle everything."
"Damn right you will!" the taxi driver snarled, still seething.
I climbed out too, gripping my bag, barely sparing a glance at the ruined taxi. It wasn't going anywhere
"Hey, calm down. No one's hurt," But the driver was far too gone to hear what I had said.
It was pointless sticking around so I had to walk the rest of the way.
The suited man handed out taxi driver a thick wad of bills, instantly silencing him.
As I passed them, Van phased into my body. He hated walking long distances, always preferring to sit and sulk. This was easier.
"The city is so crowded and noisy, I wanna go back home?" Van muttered from inside.
"No one asked you to come along."
Inside the dark luxury car sat a figure hidden behind tinted windows. He didn't move, head tilted slightly, eyes half-lidded, watching not the crash, not the confrontation, but me.
As I walked past the vehicle, his lips moved rhythmically, chanting softly as if doubting the words: "Vanik'shur... Teluvahr... Vanik'shur... Teluvahr…"
Several steps beyond, something shifted. It was subtle but undeniable. A sharp tension filled the air, a strange eerie glow seeping through my jacket. Then my back began to burn faintly, but with each step it grew hotter, relentless. My shirt began to smoke, unnoticed beneath.
Van pulled out his head from my chest separating like twin shadows, complaining that I was heating up. But I paid him no attention.
My right iris shifted from blue to vivid red, the sclera turning black, unnoticed by Van on my left.
But even as my jacket scorched, I kept moving, uneasy but unwilling to stop.
Then a deep voice called out, resonant and powerful, speaking my full name from no clear direction: "Fiel Ashenhive. How I've waited for this day."
"Oh shut up." that was clearly the wrong time to start calling my name.
It was the same voice that haunted my dreams, always calling, always burning, whispering through fire. It wasn't from the street.
The figure in the car's eyes widened in shock. He had heard the voice too, and heard my name. He twisted to look through the dark glass, but couldn't see clearly.
Finally, he stepped outside, dressed in sleek, casual luxury. Pale green hair gleamed under the city lights, his half-lidded eyes scanning the street.
His driver immediately noticed him standing out of the car.
"Mr. Elyen, please get back into the car. People might recognize you and make a commotion."
But Elyen was quiet, still scanning the street as if searching for something only he could see.
"Mr. Elyen, your Aunties will have my head if something happened to you out here." Still Elyen didn't say a word.
I forced myself onward, stumbling as dizziness overwhelmed me. Van separated fully, watching helplessly as I veered into a dark alley and collapsed heavily.
He rushed closer, urgently stripping off my jacket. My shirt was gone, reduced to ash and scorched threads exposing seared skin beneath. My head buzzed, filled with disjointed whispers I couldn't decipher.
Pain hammered inside my skull as if something was clawing its way out of my bones, forcing screams of rage from my throat.
My left iris also shifted to blazing red and black sclera.
Van raised his hands, rotating them swiftly in a circular motion. "This isn't good."
A shimmer of water formed between his palms and instantly vanished in a sharp hiss of hot steam.
For a moment Van felt anxious. This was far beyond what he always saw.
"Master, you have to calm yourself," But as if I could hear him.
He repeated the technique, swiftly rotating his hands again, trying to summon spirit embuked water to cool my heat but it boiled away instantly.
"It hurts… it hurts… so much" My voice broke with each tortured breath.
Van began murmuring incantations. He formed fists, then extended only his index and middle fingers on both hands. Then began weaving complex patterns in the air, his voice steady and rhythmic.
"Calmness to evil in the presence of greatness."
"Calmness to evil in the presence of greatness." He repeated them for as much as he needed to.
Everything he said and did was a blur to me, but it wasn't the first time I'd seen him do it, even though I'd never asked about it.
He repeated everything tirelessly, forming a small shimmering white orb that flickered, but kept vanishing before it could stabilize. Each disappearance forced him to start again.
Then at last, the orb held steady, hovering delicately in the air. Van shifted his weaving motions then released it.
Its force struck me gently yet decisively, knocking me unconscious.
Van exhaled deeply, relief washing over his face as he knelt by my still form.
The white orb hovered a second longer, then blinked out. The energy from it was spent.
"This is why I never leave your side, Master. Luckily, I always manage to succeed in the end."
"The alley fell quiet again, the weight of something unseen still clinging to the air.
Van instinctively glanced back toward the street we'd come from. He spotted a figure with strikingly light green hair in flashy attire standing by the luxury car. Then the figure turned sharply away disappearing into the vehicle."
Suspicion lingered in Van's eyes, but he brushed it off and turned back to me, lying motionless on the ground. He settled beside me, preparing for a long wait. Vigilant until I woke.
But the suspicion didn't fade. It spiraled deeper into his mind.
"Master," he muttered under his breath, "you kinda look like that guy…"