The antiseptic scent of the hospital room was the first reality Jai registered. He woke with a gasp, his eyes instantly wide open, but the sterile ceiling vanished a moment later, replaced by blinding gold.
He was kneeling on polished marble, his head bowed before a figure of terrifying, glorious authority. She sat upon a golden throne, her skin a terrifying, luminous white, contrasting sharply with the silken white cloth that completely veiled her face. Her presence—her aura—was not merely light, but a crushing, oppressive golden power that radiated outward, filling the chamber and pressing against his very lungs.
"Son, do you understand why I speak those words?" the Dominatrix's voice boomed, its tone both majestic and dismissive. "This power you have been given is both powerful and dangerous. And know this: wherever you go, problems will follow you."
He was forced to his knees by an unseen weight, his body trembling, not from fear, but from the raw, sheer force of her being.
"See?" she said, the amusement evident in her tone. "I didn't release even one percent of my power, and you kneel. But you desire to be the strongest. If you want to become strong, you must fight for it, and fight for justice."
Then, the crushing pressure vanished. The golden aura receded like a tide, and Jai, now simply a man in a hospital gown, was able to rise. He faced her, curiosity overriding the remnants of shock.
"Madam, what are these powers?" Jai asked, his voice shaking only slightly. "Who are you? And who is the person you warned me to be careful of? There is also a man—black hair and red eyes—who visits my dreams. Who is he, and why is our connection so strong? Do you know him?"
She offered a small, knowing smirk beneath the white veil. "Son, you will understand everything when the correct time arrives."
The gold disintegrated.
Jai woke, cold sweat plastering the thin gown to his chest. The hospital ceiling was back, and the pale light filtering through the window told him the sun had long set. It was night.
Needing air—air that hadn't been filtered through a vision of divinity and danger—he slipped out of the room and walked toward the small, well-tended hospital garden.
He sank onto a simple black wooden chair, a wave of relief washing over him as he realized his profound injuries were completely gone. The artifact his mother had given him was indeed a marvel. Even after taking a death blow, I can still maintain the disguise of Arthur, he mused.
The garden was quiet, the air sweet and thick with the combined fragrance of night-blooming flowers. The scene was still just as it had been in his previous consciousness, bathed in the extraordinary, ethereal beauty of the blue light. The moon's glow mixed with the mysterious, singular radiance, turning the landscape into a deep, silent azure shore.
Then, another man approached. He settled easily onto the chair right beside Jai, the simple black wood of the seat joining them.
The newcomer's skin was stark white, his hair a vibrant, impossible blue, and his eyes were the same mesmerizing, deep sea-blue color. He wore a simple brown shirt covered by a fine brown coat and black pants.
The man looked at Jai and offered a small, unsettling smile. Jai returned a nervous, polite grin.
"Hey, mister, what are you doing in the hospital this late?" Jai asked, trying to sound casual. "You don't look injured. Are you a patient or not?"
The blue-haired man chuckled softly. "Your body doesn't look injured either. Are you also an outsider?"
"I'm a patient ," Jai replied quickly. "The doctors here healed my injuries."
"And for what reason did you find yourself in a hospital?" the man inquired.
"An accident happened," Jai explained. "A great blast at a palace, so that's why I was brought here."
The man cut him off, his sea-blue eyes suddenly sharp. "Oh, you were also there, in that palace."
Jai felt a cold shock. He stared, speechless, as the man resumed, a cruel smirk spreading across his lips.
"I am the reason that accident happened. And you tried to hide your personality, Mr. Jai."
Jai shot up from the chair, the shock turning instantly to anger and fear. "How do you know that?"
The man rose slowly. "I think you also know the reason."
As the mysterious man began to walk away, Jai instinctively drew his weapon. A brilliant flash of golden sword-light ripped through the blue air, aimed not to strike, but to warn.
The man merely turned back and smiled—a terrifying, confident expression. "Don't worry. We are going to meet one day, and it is going to be an extraordinary day for you and for the whole kingdom."
He vanished. One moment he was there, a figure of impossible blue and white, and the next, he was gone, leaving only the tranquil, luminous garden under the steady, beautiful moonlight.
Despite the calm environment, sweat beaded on Jai's face. His mind, already overflowing with royal tensions, magical duties, and prophecies of doom, now received an immense new weight. He claimed to be the one who caused the damage in the palace, and he saw right through my disguise, right to my name, Jai.
He stood, frozen in thought. He knows my name. He must also know the powers that I have awakened.
Just as the anxiety threatened to consume him, the tranquil blue light began to fade, overpowered by the slow, golden warmth of the arriving sun.
"Mr. Arthur, what are you doing out here?" a nurse asked, approaching with a doctor.
Jai realized he'd been so deep in thought, he hadn't noticed the sun had arrived. He turned to the doctor. "Where are my brother and my friends?"
"You were asleep for three days," the doctor explained gently. "They returned to the palace but come back every day. They were waiting for you to wake up."
As the doctor spoke, James appeared, walking stiffly. His body was still covered in vivid, dark bruises. Jai rushed toward him and hugged him tightly—a rare, desperate gesture that left James momentarily stunned.
"Why are you still covered in bruises?" Jai demanded, his eyes flashing with sharp anger as he looked at the doctor. "Why didn't he get treatment?"
The doctor immediately understood the silent threat. "Sir, they require a Tier 6 healing artifact. We only have four. They can only be used every three days. We prioritized Zayn, your younger brother Arthur, and you, as well as one guard who sustained critical damage. We were scheduled to use the artifact on James today."
Jai remembered a poem:
"The weight of worlds rests on my hand,
A hero's heart, a frozen plea;
I see the storm engulf the land,
With strength enough to only see."
Jai's fury evaporated into cold, sickening understanding. He had the power of an artifact, and his enemies had the power to appear in dreams and vanish in an instant. His loved ones, the people around him, were in immediate, deadly danger, and in this impossibly strong world, he felt utterly powerless to protect them all.