As I lay there, trying to lift my head, it felt like stone. My body—warm and damp. My skin—clammy. I was sweating through every pore. My vision was blurred, my breath shallow, and my limbs... too heavy.
Then I heard Saki's voice. Faint. Muffled.
"I can drop in my blood…"
I didn't understand what she meant. Everything looked like silhouettes and shadows. My senses were half-awake.
But I turned my head—just barely—and saw the mother creature leaning over me, her body trembling, her expression pale and desperate. Her hands hovered above my back, but each time she reached for me—
CRACK!
The thunder struck.
A low ripple of blue-white lightning pulsed through the air each time she tried.
---
Somewhere across the woods...
The air was still, and the forest around him quiet—too quiet.
Kaito stood alone beneath the dappled shadows of tall trees, his jacket slightly open, breaths steady as he walked a narrow trail. It was supposed to be a moment of rest, just a short stroll to clear his head.
But then—
Thump.
He staggered.
A sharp pressure bloomed in his chest.
Then—burning.
His eyes widened. "Ghh—!"
He dropped to one knee. His hands clutched at his ribs, then his back—something was crawling there, invisible yet scorching. Like a phantom mark trying to carve itself into his skin.
"What… is this?" he gasped, breath hitching. "Again?"
His vision swam. He could feel it—not just the pain, but something deeper. Like a call from far away. A heat that wasn't his own. It pulsed in his spine, matching the beat of a distant heart.
And deep inside…
A name whispered across the pain.
'Nageya.'
Kaito's fist clenched against the dirt. "It's him… isn't it?"
---
Back in the cave...
The mother creature approached the fourth time… she didn't flinch.
Her hand reached forward—one trembling claw slicing a thin line across her palm.
Drip. Drip.
Her blood spilled, warm and cold at the same time, onto the mark etched on my back.
FLASH.
A pulse of light exploded silently through the cave—like the breath of something ancient finally exhaling. The glow faded… and for the first time in what felt like hours, I could breathe.
She collapsed next to me, breath shallow, drained.
I closed my eyes. And this time… I didn't fight the darkness.
---
Back at Kaito...
The pain surged one last time—then vanished.
He was left panting, sweat trailing down his temples, his body shaking from something he didn't understand. And behind his eyes…
A flicker—an image.
A mark glowing.
A cave.
Blood.
A creature.
And then… nothing.
He slumped forward, gripping his knees. "It's getting stronger. The pain... is becoming unbearable."
---
When I woke again, I wasn't on my stomach anymore. I was on my side. Someone had moved me. My skin was damp with leftover sweat, but I no longer burned.
The cave was quiet.
Saki lay beside me, curled up, breathing softly.
The children were huddled in the corner, eyes wide and faces pale—like they'd seen something unnatural. Something that made them afraid of me.
The mother creature sat not far from us, her face full of something I'd never expected from her: worry.
When our eyes met, she rose slowly and approached. She held out something.
Food, I assumed.
Though I wouldn't call it that.
It looked like crushed roots mixed with pulped fruit and dust. But I took it. And when I tasted it… it wasn't awful.
None of us spoke.
The air was heavy. Even the cave walls seemed to listen.
After a long silence, the mother creature finally said, "Come."
I hesitated, but followed.
"You may call me Yanayin," she said.
Her voice had changed—calmer now, but sad.
She led me through the tunnel, deeper into the cave. The deeper we went, the more the air changed—dry, cold, and dense. Spiderwebs clung to the walls like old memories. My shoulders brushed the narrow stone as we passed.
We reached a space that widened suddenly. Not carved by hands, but formed by time itself.
In the middle stood a massive black stone—weathered, cracked, but clearly not natural.
Carvings covered all four sides. Ancient letters. Strange curves. Symbols I had never seen.
"I found this place long ago," she said, walking around it. "But I never touched it. I only read what little I could. This…"
She placed her palm gently on the edge of the carving, eyes low, voice soft.
"Long ago… this cave was not just a shelter. It was a shrine. A prophecy. I stumbled upon it many seasons ago. I never understood all of it… but this part—this part I remember."
Her fingers traced the mark carved on the stone—an exact match to the one on my back.
"Sixteen years ago, during the seal break and the spread of the Vyraks. People were forced to leave their homes and run into the woods. A pregnant mother entered this cave with two other people.
And on that day, a child was born here. He didn't cry. His mother, labored in pain for six hours. But when he came, silence followed. No tears. No sound. Only a mark carved onto his back, glowing in different colours.
She paused, then looked at me with unreadable eyes.
"They say the mark split the soul of that child into two. And on the same day, in a far-off place, the other half was born into another child. The stone says the soul halves will always drift toward each other—drawn by fate."
Her voice grew quieter, heavier.
"Most believe this mark is a blessing. A source of power. They are wrong."
She glanced down.
"It is a seal. A seal that binds or banishes any creature not born of the human realm. Once activated, it opens a gate between worlds.
And on that day every creature ran to hiding in fear. "
"But…"
She looked directly into my eyes.
"Once it begins to activate, it cannot be stopped with mere will. Only the blood of an inhuman creature—dropped directly onto the mark—can calm it."
I flinched.
"You did that?"
"I tried," she said. "The first three times… the thunder rejected me. But the fourth time… it accepted the offering."
She held up her palm, still slightly red from where the blood had come.
"That is how I knew. I had read it before. The seal bearer—if they are to master it—must learn the ancient command word. One passed down in carvings. Hidden in languages only a few can still read."
I wonder when these carvings were made?
"If you speak that word… you activate the seal."
I swallowed hard. "What's the word?"
She hesitated.
"I… don't know it in your tongue. It is old—ancient. But it is written here… somewhere, in a tongue I myself can't read."
She pointed to a patch of the stone carvings, darker than the rest, covered in dust and webs.
"You must learn it, Nageya. Because if the seal awakens again… and there is no one to offer blood—"
She didn't finish the sentence.
"But if you speak the command word… then you control it. That is when it obeys you."
So the seal is like a living gate.
"This is where I was born…" I murmured.
I turned and sat down against the damp stone, my palm pressing against my back, where the mark still felt… warm. The cave was cold, but my body pulsed with heat, as if something inside him had been stirred awake.
Suddenly—
THROB!
I winced. A stabbing pressure behind my eyes.
Then it hit.
I didn't know what hit me.
One moment I was staring at the stone…
The next—I felt something pulling from deep inside me.
My chest tightened. My breath shortened. My head throbbed.
Then the cave vanished.
---
It was like I'd fallen into someone else's memory. Or maybe it was mine—but from another life.
I stood in a wide open courtyard, the air thick with smoke and blood.
Old Japanese architecture crumbled around me—pagodas cracked, torii gates bent, the ground scarred from battle.
Vyraks—hundreds—clawed through the mist, slithering, screeching, tearing through walls like paper.
In the middle of it all, people gathered in a tight circle.
Not soldiers. Not hunters. But priests. Dozens of them. Drenched in blood and sweat, holding spears made of stone, their mouths moving in perfect rhythm.
"We have to perform the seal ritual!"
"Protect the priestess!"
"Protect the priestess!"
Their voices rang like thunder in my skull.
And at the center of their circle, I saw her.
A young woman, barely older than me, standing still—her eyes closed, both hands pressed against her stomach. Light pulsed from beneath her robes.
I couldn't see the mark, but I knew it was there.
My mark.
The first seal wasn't carved into flesh.
It was summoned.
Brought into this world with blood, sacrifice, and words I didn't understand.
The air around them shimmered. The wind screamed.
I felt like I was about to be torn in half.
"The seal… is complete!" someone shouted.
Then—
BOOM.
White light exploded outward, like the world itself had exhaled.
---
Back in the cave...
I gasped.
My whole body jerked forward, hand on my chest, skin burning hot.
The vision faded, but not completely.
Some of it still clung to me. My hands were shaking. My lips were dry.
Ms. Yanayin didn't say a word. She was watching me.
Like she'd seen the glow in my eyes.
I swallowed.
"I saw… a ritual. Priests. Vyraks. A girl they called the priestess."
"They kept saying… protect her… perform the seal ritual …"
I leaned against the stone wall behind me, heart pounding in my ears.
"That seal… the one I carry now—wasn't meant for just anyone, was it?"
Ms. Yanayin finally nodded.
"No," she whispered.
"It was meant for someone born differently… someone meant to rule."
---
Somewhere in the woods, Kaito had pulled himself to the base of a tree and slumped against the trunk. His breathing was uneven, his body still trembling from the aftershock. He shut his eyes, trying to steady the fire running through his veins.
But then… his eyelids twitched. A flicker. A flinch. Like someone caught mid-nightmare.
He was seeing them—the same visions I had.
Flashes. A battlefield. Warriors screaming. Priests chanting. A ritual underway. The seal being formed.
It all came to him in broken glimpses—like scattered glass reflecting someone else's memories.
Kaito… he'd known about the mark on my back since we were kids.
Though I never told him. No one ever did.
Honestly, I don't even know how he found out. My father never spoke of it, and I've never let anyone see it. Not clearly. Most people don't even know it exists.
But now it all makes sense.
I was born far from the city…
In a cave where no one could find me.
And maybe… that's where the hiding started.
---
Elsewhere in the woods, Ayumi stood alone in a clearing, brushing her hair from her face as a faint breeze passed. A holographic screen hovered in front of her, flickering softly.
> You have leveled up.
> Warning: Stamina is low. Rest recommended.
She sighed. "I still need to find my supplies…"
With a swipe, she opened her stats—but before she could read a thing—
—WAAAAAH!!
A scream tore through the air.
So loud it didn't just echo—it rippled across the entire forest.
My ears rang like metal struck with a hammer. It felt like the sound was crawling under our skin, trying to burst out through our skulls.
The students in the eastern region heard it too, though faintly. It was strongest at the center and west.
Everywhere—glimpses of students dropping to their knees, hands over their ears.
But this wasn't just a scream.
It was a signal.
A warning.
A call.
Or a countdown.
The forest held its breath.
Birds stopped chirping. The wind paused mid-motion. Even the bugs went silent.
Not a single living thing dared move.
All around, even hunters staggered from the pressure of that noise.
Tiny creatures scattered into burrows.
Large ones stormed into dungeons.
And those already deep underground crept further into darkness.
In the city—far from the trees—humanoid creatures wearing borrowed human faces turned in unison.
Though the humans didn't hear the sound, these beings did.
They stood still amidst crowds, their eyes locked toward the forest's edge—as if they understood what had been awakened.
And at the Generation Hunters Guild,
panic erupted.
The trackers that monitored every student inside the forest—vanished.
One by one...
Blips on every screen—gone.
East.
West.
Center.
All silent.
There was nothing left to trace. No pulse, no signal, no ladder of levels.
Just empty screens.
Back inside the cave, Ms. Yanayin looked at me with a strange expression.
Her eyes were wide.
Sad.
Like she'd waited for this moment… and feared it.
Then, in a soft, knowing voice, she muttered:
"It's almost time you decide… what to do with that seal."