Prologue: 20 Years Ago
It was nighttime. A deep silence filled the room, broken only by the low humming of an old AC—Hummm... Hummm. Max, who used to be a member of the Fire Clan, was fast asleep on the bed. The day's exhaustion was clearly visible on his face. But in the pitch-dark kitchen... something kept inside his fridge was wide awake.
It was an ordinary-looking glass bottle. Inside it, the 'Living Liquid Fragments' were sealed—a filth that the world had forgotten, but which never truly dies.
Max's wife, Maariya, who was eight months pregnant, suddenly sat up. Her throat was completely parched from the heat and uneasiness.
"Water..." she mumbled, shaking slightly.
Max stirred in his sleep. "Huh? Where are you going?"
Looking at the empty jug on the side table, Maariya replied, "There's no water here... I'm just going to the kitchen to get some."
"Okay... walk carefully. It's dark," Max replied with his eyes still closed, half-asleep.
Maariya got out of bed and slowly walked toward the kitchen. The haze of sleep still clouded her eyes. She opened the fridge door. Click. The yellow light of the fridge turned on, and right in front of her sat that bottle. Thinking it was cold water, she opened the cap without a second thought and put it straight to her lips.
Gulp. Gulp.
But the liquid inside the bottle wasn't water. It was black, thick, and alive. The strangest part, however, was that the liquid didn't burn Maariya. It went straight down her throat, into her stomach, and was pulled towards her womb. The tiny unborn baby inside her absorbed it completely.
The silence returned. The bottle was empty. Maariya just felt a strange coolness; she put the bottle back and quietly went back to sleep. She had absolutely no idea that she had just made the biggest mistake in the world.
Twenty years later. The bright morning sun fell straight onto twenty-year-old Roye's face through the window. Messy hair, a half-tucked shirt—Roye gave off the perfect vibe of a typical, messy college student.
"Mom! I'm leaving, I'm late for college!" Roye called out in a panic while putting on his shoes.
Maariya's worried voice came from the kitchen, "Hey, at least eat your breakfast! Are you going on an empty stomach?"
Grabbing his bag, Roye ran toward the door. "No, Mom! I'll eat something on the way.
Bye!"
As soon as he opened the door and stepped out, his friend Vex was waiting for him on the road, balancing on his cycle.
"Hey, VIP! We have to submit the file in college today, remember? Or did you forget that too?" Vex taunted, looking at his watch.
Roye's face fell instantly, as if his brain had hit the brakes. "Oh man... shit. I didn't even finish it."
Vex laughed and started pedaling the cycle forward. "You will never change. When will you do it now?"
"Don't stress. I'll finish it during the lunch break. Pedal fast now!" Roye said quickly, hopping onto the back seat of the cycle.
Later that day...
It was the college lunch break, and the classroom was mostly empty. The only sound was the flipping of pages blowing in the fan's breeze. Roye had his head down on the desk, writing furiously to complete his file, while Vex sat comfortably next to him, scrolling through his phone. Suddenly, Tara came and stood at the door. She was the girl in class who liked Roye, and strangely enough, the whole college knew about it except Roye.
"Roye? Your file still isn't finished?" Tara asked with a smile.
Roye looked up; his hand was aching from writing non-stop. "Yeah, it's almost done... Listen, can you help me out a bit? Just the diagrams are left."
Tara immediately jumped at the opportunity. "Hmm... I can. But not for free. I want a treat for this."
Roye looked at the clock. Time really was short. "Alright fine, done! You'll get whatever you ask for, just help me right now, I'm getting late for the shop!"
Tara quickly helped him complete the file. Roye hurriedly said 'Thanks', grabbed his bag, and ran out of there.
Evening...
The sun had set. Roye entered an old General Store, panting heavily. Behind the counter stood the Shop Owner, glaring at him strictly over his glasses. The atmosphere was a bit tense.
"You are 10 minutes and 28 seconds late, Roye," the Owner said bluntly.
Trying to catch his breath, Roye said,
"Uncle... who tracks time that closely? I just missed the bus."
"I do. Business runs on time, not excuses," the Owner replied straightly. "Anyway... listen, be careful from now on. And today I have to go out to get stock. So, you will have to manage the shop tonight."
Roye's heart sank. Not again... What excuse will I give Mom today? Last time I said I was staying at a friend's house, he thought to himself. Ever since his father, Max, passed away, their financial situation hadn't been good. Roye worked this part-time job without telling his mother so she wouldn't worry.
"Okay, Uncle. I'll handle it," Roye agreed.
Meanwhile...
On the other side of town, there was a completely different kind of tension in the Principal's office at the Elemental Academy. It was a grand, old school made of stone, where a heavy energy and stillness could be felt in the air. Standing right in front of the Principal's dark wooden desk was a first-year student—Rex. He belonged to the Stone Element (Earth Clan), looked strongly built, and had a strange calmness and seriousness in his eyes.
"Rex, you have been chosen for this mission because your element is the most stable," the Principal said seriously. "You have to find that bottle of 'Living Liquid Fragments'."
Rex stepped forward and looked at an old photo—it was the same bottle that once sat in Max's fridge.
"But Sir... what is so special about this that we've been searching for it for so long? It just looks like some chemical," Rex asked, confused.
The Principal turned his chair, his face still in the shadows. "It's not a chemical, Rex. It's a Special Cursed Object. It attracts monsters to it, just like blood attracts a shark. If this goes inside any monster, it will become immortal. And if it's left out in the open... the lives of ordinary humans nearby will be in great danger."
Rex looked at the photo closely again.
"Go. Before someone else finds it," the Principal ordered.
Rex said, 'Yes Sir,' and walked out of the office. Walking down the corridor, a sudden thought crossed his mind. A terrifying thought. If this is so dangerous for monsters... what happens if a human accidentally consumes it?
Midnight...
It was 12:15 AM. The street was completely deserted. Under the flickering light of an old tube light, Roye was dozing off with his head resting on the shop counter. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. He checked his phone screen.
"Oh man... it's past 12 today. Mom is really going to scold me. What new excuse will I make up now?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes.
He quickly pulled down the shop's shutter, locked it, got on his cycle, and set off toward home, cutting through the cold wind. His brain kept inventing new excuses the whole way.
When he reached his front door at 12:45, he froze in his tracks. His mother, Maariya, was standing outside the house in the freezing cold, wrapped in a shawl. But her face didn't show anger; it showed deep worry.
"Mom? What are you doing outside so late? You'll catch a cold," Roye asked as he parked his cycle on its stand.
Maariya looked at him with tired eyes and said, "I should be asking you that question, Roye. Where were you this late?"
Roye, without meeting her eyes, threw out his rehearsed excuse, "Mom... my exams are coming up, right? So I was studying at my friend Vex's house. I lost track of time."
Maariya took a deep breath, stepped closer, and said, "Tell me, exactly how many exams do you have in a single month? You said the exact same thing last week."
Roye felt a bit guilty. He hated lying to his mother, but he didn't want to stress her out by telling the truth either. Changing the topic, he said, "Mom... I'm really hungry. Let's go inside and eat something."
He stepped forward to open the door. Maariya looked at his back and, with a faint smile but a worried heart, said, "If you were with a girl... you can tell me. I won't say anything."
Roye stopped abruptly and turned around, looking embarrassed. "What? No, Mom! It's nothing like that. You really..."
They both went inside and sat at the small dining table to eat. For a while, there was complete silence, save for the clinking of utensils. Then Maariya broke the silence.
"The landlord came today. He was saying we will have to vacate this house," she said, looking down.
The food slipped from Roye's hand. He didn't know that his mother hadn't been able to pay the rent for the last 6 months. "But why? We pay the rent every month... right?"
Maariya tried to hide the truth. "Hmm... but the owner wants to renovate this place. And anyway... after your father passed away, I don't feel right in this house either. His memories are everywhere. I wanted to change places too."
Deep down, Roye realized there was more to the story, but he didn't press the issue.
"Come on, finish your food and go to sleep. You have college tomorrow," Maariya said lovingly.
"Okay, Mom. Good night," Roye said softly.
"Good night, child."
The next day's routine was exactly the same. The same morning rush, boring college lectures, and then straight to his shift at the old General Store. Roye was sitting at the counter, getting bored. He grabbed a cloth and stepped outside to clean the large glass window of the shop.
"How does this window get so dirty every day? Seems like Uncle only cares about counting money, he has no interest in cleaning," he muttered to himself while scrubbing the glass.
At that exact moment, a short distance away from the shop, Rex was standing near an old, broken-down shrine. He wasn't wearing his academy uniform so he could blend in with the crowd. Flanking him were two 'Shadow Dogs'—curses that could only be seen by trained eyes—sniffing the ground.
Surveying the area, Rex spoke to himself, "The tracker says the 'Liquid Fragments' should be somewhere around here. This shrine looks pretty old... maybe the previous generation hid the seal here."
The road was quite busy. A large delivery truck was parked a little ahead of the shop. The driver had stepped out in a hurry but forgot to engage the handbrake. There was a slope ahead, and the truck slowly began rolling backward. Right behind the truck, a 5-6-year-old kid was crossing the road to pick up his ball.
When the driver turned around and saw this, he panicked. "Oh no, my truck! Hey, someone stop it! Move that kid away from there!" he screamed wildly.
Rex heard the shout and instantly assessed the situation. He focused his Earth energy into his legs and dashed to stop the truck, but the distance was too great. I won't make it in time! he thought in a panic.
Just then... he saw something that stopped him dead in his tracks. An ordinary-looking boy—Roye—had appeared right behind the truck out of nowhere. With no earth-elemental glow, without chanting any mantra... Roye placed both his bare hands on the back of the truck.
BOOM.
A heavy thud echoed. The truck's rear wheels skidded against the ground and stopped right there. The entire momentum dropped to zero in a single second. Alone, with his bare hands, the boy had stopped a heavy, rolling truck on a slope. His body hadn't moved back a single inch.
Without even panting, Roye looked at the driver with a completely calm voice and said, "Brother, engage the handbrake quickly."
The flustered driver climbed into the truck and yanked the handbrake up. The little kid picked up his ball and quietly walked away. Roye dusted his hands as if he had just shooed away a fly, and calmly walked back inside the shop.
On the other side of the road, Rex stood frozen like a statue.
How... how is this possible? Rex's mind was spinning. A normal human cannot absorb such heavy force so easily! And that too without any recoil? Is he a hidden member of another clan? Earth Clan? No... if he were Earth Clan, an aura of stone would definitely be visible around him.
To clear his doubts, Rex entered the shop. He pretended to be a normal customer and started wandering between the aisles, but his sharp eyes were constantly observing Roye. His two Shadow Dogs were now sitting right by his feet. If he's not from a clan, then he's definitely not normal. But how is his aura completely blank? Rex wondered.
Roye, who had been watching him wander around suspiciously from the counter for a while, walked up to him.
"Sir? Excuse me, you've been standing here for a while. If you can't find something specific, I can help you."
Rex was slightly caught off guard. "Uh... yeah. I was actually... looking for cookies. I can't find them."
Without a word, Roye picked up a packet from the rack to his left and handed it to him. "Sir, the whole cookie section was right behind you. Here you go."
Both of them walked back to the counter. Rex couldn't hold himself back anymore. "By the way... how did you stop that truck outside all by yourself? It was quite heavy."
Roye scanned the packet. There was no arrogance or attempt to hide anything in his voice; it was completely natural. "I don't know, sir. Ever since I was a kid, I've been able to lift slightly heavier things. It's all normal for me... And, that will be one hundred rupees."
Rex pulled a 100-rupee note from his pocket and handed it over. His eyes were still trying to read Roye. "What is your name? My name is Rex."
Roye put the note in the cash register and said something that completely blew Rex's mind.
"My name is Roye, Mr. Rex. By the way..." Roye smiled and looked down, "...your two dogs are very cute. What are their names?"
Rex's breath caught in his throat. He looked down at his feet, where his two invisible Shadow Dogs were sitting. He stared at Roye with wide eyes. "You... you can see them? But... how?"
Roye shrugged his shoulders very casually, as if it was an everyday thing. "What's so surprising about it? They are dogs, of course I can see them."
Rex was just about to say something when suddenly...
Tring!
The bell on the shop door rang. A tall man, wearing a long, black trench coat, entered the shop.