I found myself sitting behind the arena, where the noise of training faded into distant echoes. The air was cool, late afternoon light stretching shadows across the stone floor.
My knuckles were still sore. My chest still felt the weight of every blow Om Sai blocked like it was nothing.
Was I weak?
…Or was he just too strong?
Perin hopped beside me, shaking its fur slightly and tilting its head like it was checking if I was still alive.
"I'm fine," I muttered.
It licked my cheek anyway.
I stared at my fist.
Three hits. All clean. All meaningless.
But he noticed them.
"He said it was step one…" I whispered.
Perin lay its head on my knee, warm and steady.
My mind replayed Om Sai's voice— 'Control. Intent. Flow.'
Is that what I was missing? Not strength… but direction?
I let out a long breath.
"That bastard," I muttered, lips curling into a tired smile despite myself. "...He hits like a truck but teaches like a… broken monk."
Perin gave a little sound that might've been a laugh. Or a wheeze. Hard to tell.
I leaned back, eyes drifting toward the sky.
Everything was changing so fast.
From a tube… to a runaway… to fights, beasts, girls, new powers, spirits I don't understand…
…to being punched in the face by a man who treats death like a joke.
I rubbed my chest.
"This world is insane," I sighed softly.
A breeze passed.
But for some reason…
…I didn't hate it.
There was fire in my blood. Something awake. Hungry.
Perin pawed at my arm, as if saying, "Move forward."
I nodded slightly. "Yeah. I know."
The sky was beginning to darken.
Tomorrow would be worse.
Harder.
Painful.
But I felt something I couldn't name.
Maybe it was thrill.
Maybe it was fear.
Or maybe…
It was the first step toward becoming stronger.
By the time I stepped out of the arena grounds, my body felt like it had been thrown into a blender and served as a smoothie. Every muscle ached, but weirdly… I didn't hate it.
Perin sat on my shoulder, tail swishing proudly for "surviving the chaos."
As I turned toward the residential path, someone stepped out from the roadside.
Shivani.
She folded her arms, giving me a once-over. "You look like death wrapped in exhaustion. So… training went well?"
I grunted. "Define 'well.'"
She smirked. "Alive. That counts."
Perin made a chirping sound at her. She blinked. "Is that thing… glaring at me?"
"He thinks you're mocking me," I said flatly.
Perin puffed its tiny chest like a tiny warrior beast.
Shivani raised an eyebrow. "…Does it bite?"
"Only enemies," I said.
Perin growled as if agreeing.
She actually chuckled. "Cute. Looks like a cross between a plushie and a mistake."
Perin flailed its arms dramatically, furious.
"Don't provoke him," I said. "He once tried to fight a tree."
"A tree?"
"He lost."
She snorted, covering a laugh. "You two are disasters."
We walked a bit in silence until she asked, without looking at me, "So… Om Sai didn't break your bones?"
"Not all of them."
"Hmm. Good progress."
Then she casually said, "Don't die tomorrow," and turned away with a half-salute.
I watched her go, unsure whether she was encouraging me or betting on my funeral.
Back in my room, I collapsed on the bed without bothering to remove my boots. Perin curled up beside me, lightly snoring like a tiny engine.
Sleep dragged me under quickly.
The Red Dream Returned.
My eyes opened—not to my room—but to an endless red sea, glowing like molten lava. The sky above was black, starless, heavy.
In the distance, a throne stood on elevated obsidian rock, carved with strange symbols that pulsed faintly. A figure stood with his back to me.
Even without seeing his face, something about him made my chest tighten. His posture was calm, controlled… but felt like it was holding back storms big enough to destroy worlds.
Kalkin.
That name echoed on its own in my mind.
He stood motionless, long hair moving gently like smoke in the heated air. Every breath he took seemed to bend the space around him. It was like standing behind a king forged for war… or a god who had seen civilizations burn.
Then he turned.
And I froze.
His face was sharp, majestic, and fearsome—like a ruler carved by battle and betrayal. But there was something darker underneath… a cold cruelty in his eyes that felt inhuman, like he had once died with hatred, then crawled back stronger.
Across his neck and part of his jaw, strange crimson markings pulsed like cursed energy etched under his skin—alive, shifting faintly with his breathing.
His gaze met mine.
It felt like being seen completely.
Like he knew every weakness I had… and was simply waiting for me to admit them.
"Did you forget what I told you?" he asked, voice deep, echoing like a war anthem dragging through blood and memory.
I swallowed. "Why do you want her dead? What unfinished business… are you talking about?"
He stepped closer. Each step made the red ocean ripple.
"She must die," he said quietly. "My cycle is not complete. Accept my power… finish what I began."
He extended his hand toward me.
"Make a contract with me."
I clenched my fists. "I am not your servant."
For a moment, silence.
Then he smiled.
It was not kind.
It was not amused.
It was something far worse.
A grin that belonged to someone who had broken entire worlds and found joy in the sound.
He began to laugh—low, echoing, growing louder, darker.
"Hahaha… So that is your—"
I woke up.
Gasping. Sweating.
Lying not on my bed—
—but on the floor.
Perin squeaked in alarm, jumping onto me.
My chest burned.
Slowly, fearfully, I tugged my shirt down—
And froze.
A faint, blood-red marking was etched over my chest—right where the pain had stabbed me in the dream.
A symbol I had never seen before… yet somehow felt hauntingly familiar.
I stared at it, my breath shallow.
"…What is happening to me?"
Perin pressed closer, eyes wide and uneasy.
The room felt colder.
And for the first time…
I wasn't sure if I had dreamed Kalkin.
Or if he had truly… reached out from somewhere beyond.
Perin pressed closer against my chest, trembling very slightly—as if even it could sense something… wrong.
I placed my palm over the faint red mark.
It was still warm.
Still real.
Still there.
I swallowed hard.
"…This isn't normal," I muttered to myself. "This isn't just a dream anymore."
My heartbeat wasn't racing from fear alone.
It was something else.
Something waking up.
Something watching me from inside the silence.
"Kalkin…" I whispered the name, barely breathing it.
Saying it made the air feel heavier.
Perin whimpered softly.
I looked toward the window—night still blanketed the sky, quiet and calm… as if mocking the chaos underneath my skin.
Whatever was happening…
It wasn't going to stop.
Not on its own.
I lay back slowly, staring at the ceiling, unable to return to sleep.
That red sea.
That laughter.
That hand reaching out, not as guidance...but as a chain.
My chest tightened.
"…I won't be your puppet," I whispered to no one.
But somewhere deep in the darkness beneath my thoughts, a voice—maybe memory, maybe imagination—whispered back: We'll see.