(Irori's POV)
I couldn't open my eyes at first.
It was like trying to lift iron gates with bare hands. Everything felt... heavy. My eyelids. My limbs. Even my breath.
There was light behind my eyes — sharp, white, stabbing into the darkness of my mind like a blade. I flinched. My body tensed. The pain hadn't left me, not really. It just sat quieter now, waiting.
A dull ringing echoed in my ears, like someone had struck a bell and walked away, leaving the sound behind. There were no voices. No wind. No crackling fire. Yet it wasn't silent. It was loud in the way only stillness can be, when you don't know if you're alone or not.
The scent of earth reached me first — raw soil, damp wood, dried hay. Then smoke, faint and bitter. My fingers twitched against rough fabric, scratchy but warm. When my eyes finally peeled open, I was greeted not by trees or stars or monsters…
…but by a roof.
No—a ceiling. Hand-tied sticks, lashed together with wild vines and leaves. Sunlight bled through the gaps, pale and slow, like it, too, was unsure of this place.
"Where… am I?"
My voice was hoarse. A whisper lost in my throat.
I pushed myself upright slowly. My muscles protested. My head throbbed with every heartbeat. For a moment, everything tilted, and I nearly collapsed back down — but I caught myself.
I blinked hard. Again and again. And then it hit me.
The forest. The monsters.
Their claws. My leg.
The fire.
That... explosion.
I glanced down at my leg, bracing for the sight.
But it was fine.
Wrapped, even. Clean white bandages around my ankle and knee, secured tightly. No blood. No break.
"Was it a dream…?"
No. It couldn't have been. My bones remembered too clearly. The ache in my chest wasn't from sleep. It was from something real.
The flap at the entrance of the tent rustled.
I froze.
Footsteps. Light. Careful.
A girl entered — maybe my age, maybe a bit younger. She wore a worn but tidy dress beneath a white apron stained with herbs, smoke, and time. Her brown hair was braided back in a way that looked more practical than proper. She carried a tray. Didn't even look at me.
She placed it down at my side and muttered without emotion, "Your breakfast, Mr. Peasant."
That last word hung in the air, sharp like frost. She turned on her heel to leave.
"W-Wait," I croaked, blinking. "This is… for me?"
She didn't answer. The flap closed behind her.
I looked down.
Bread. Coarse, but fresh. A bowl of soup — steam curling gently into the air. The scent of garlic, potatoes, maybe some kind of root vegetable. Nothing fancy.
But warm.
Real.
My stomach growled. Loudly.
Even at home, I'd never been served food this carefully. Even when we had a good harvest year, my share came after the dogs had theirs.
I didn't wait.
I grabbed the bread with both hands, barely noticing how my fingers trembled. I tore into it like it might vanish if I looked away.
The soup was hot — it burned my tongue. I didn't care.
I ate everything. Every crumb. Every drop.
Because I was starving. Because I was cold.
Because for the first time in days — maybe ever — someone had let me live.
I didn't know where I was.
I didn't know who she was.
I didn't even know what I'd become.
But I was alive.
And that had to mean something.
The tent flap rustled again.
But this time… it wasn't a maid.
A man entered. No — not just a man. A knight.
He wore black armor from head to toe, every inch polished and cruel. His eyes were cold — not angry or annoyed, but empty, like he wasn't looking at a person at all. Just property.
He stopped at the edge of the room and threw something at me.
It landed with a metallic clink at my feet.
"Put it on, slave."
I stared.
A collar. Iron, heavy, with a chain attached. A sick feeling crawled up my throat.
Slave?
He stepped closer, the earth seeming to shrink beneath his boots. The pressure he gave off was suffocating — like the monsters in the forest, but worse. This wasn't fear of death. This was fear of existence.
"Did you not hear me?" he said, voice like a blade scraping stone. "Your master is calling."
I didn't move. Couldn't. My body locked up, like my soul knew that whatever happened next would change everything.
The knight didn't wait.
He reached down, yanked me to my knees by the hair, and shoved the collar into my hands. Trembling, I clasped it around my neck.
Click.
The sound echoed louder than thunder.
And just like that, I stopped being a person.
Without another word, he yanked the chain. I stumbled forward, barely able to stay upright as he dragged me out into the open. My bare feet scraped across dirt and gravel. My legs were still sore, my strength nearly gone, but I had no choice. If I fell, I'd be dragged like a sack of meat.
We passed tents. Soldiers. Mages. None of them spared me a glance.
To them, I didn't matter.
Then we reached a clearing.
The knight stopped—and without warning, he threw me to the ground like garbage. I hit the earth hard, coughing as pain spiked through my ribs.
And then… he knelt.
"Young Master," the knight said, bowing deeply.
"We've brought your slave."
I looked up, breath caught in my throat.
There she was.
The noble girl.
The one who had spoken to me in the forest. The one who told me I'd never be free again.
She stood at the center of it all. Her long cloak fluttered in the breeze, dark as the night sky. Her face was blank. Pale. Beautiful. Cold.
Our eyes met.
And the moment they did, that pressure returned. Stronger. Heavier. As if the very air around me bowed to her presence.
My heart pounded. My throat tightened. I felt like I was standing before a storm dressed as a girl.
"You," she said at last, her voice flat, commanding.
"What's your name?"
I swallowed. "I… Irori. From Nazareth Village…"
She said my name slowly. Testing it.
"Irori… Yesterday, you used magic. Didn't you?"
"M-Magic?" I blinked. "I-I don't know—maybe? I mean, there was this light, and then—"
She didn't wait for my explanation. Instead, she raised a hand and pointed behind her.
I followed her gaze.
And there, in the distance, carved into the earth at the edge of the forest, was a crater. Enormous. Scorched. Smoke still rose from the center. Trees were flattened. The earth itself had been torn open like paper.
"I… I did that?" I whispered.
A chill passed through me.
She chuckled — not kindly. Not amused.
It was low. Dark. A twisted sound that didn't belong on the lips of someone so young.
"That," she said, "is what I want. That's what my sword should be."
She took a step toward me.
"From now on, Irori… you are mine. Your body. Your magic. Your soul. Everything."
I backed away slightly. "W-What are you saying?"
I didn't even see them arrive.
Three robed figures stepped out from behind her — mages, judging by their staffs and the glow in their eyes.
Before I could react, they grabbed me.
"Wait—no! Let go!" I cried, struggling.
They pinned me down, tearing open my shirt. Cold air hit my skin. Panic flooded me.
One began chanting. The others joined in. Their hands glowed with a strange, molten energy.
"STOP—PLEASE!"
But they didn't.
Agony tore through me as they pressed their palms against my chest. My scream filled the clearing as burning light carved itself into my skin — a seal, glowing red-gold, twisting like fire and blood.
When it was done, I lay there shaking, gasping for breath, skin smoking where they had touched me.
"The seal is complete," one mage said, stepping back.
"He belongs to you now."
She approached.
Kneeling down, her face just inches from mine.
Then… she kissed me on lips.
My chest exploded in pain the moment her lips touched mine. It wasn't gentle. It wasn't romantic.
It was a curse being sealed with flesh.
I screamed.
Every nerve lit on fire. My body arched, twitching violently as if something was trying to change me from the inside.
"It's done," she whispered.
"You belong to me now."
She stood, brushing invisible dust off her cloak.
"You'll live for me… or die for me."
Her voice hardened.
"And if you ever disobey… or try to run…"
She pointed to the burning crest glowing faintly on my chest.
"That mark will detonate. Instantly. No mercy. No escape."
I didn't respond.
I couldn't.
I just lay there, staring up at the sky.
My chest hurt.
My body shook.
And my heart whispered what I had tried so hard not to believe.
This is real.
To be continue....