The light slowly dimmed, allowing Ren to perceive objects around him once more. He blinked and kept still for a while, unsure for a moment if the pain would return. But it didn't. In fact, he felt nothing, and that came with a different kind of discomfort.
He sat up slowly, testing his arms and legs by carefully stretching them out. The pain he expected didn't come. He pulled his shirt aside and ran his fingers across the place where the wound should've been. But it was gone. There was no scar, not even a mark.
His hands trembled. He clenched them, but the shaking only got worse.
He looked around, trying to anchor himself to something real, when he suddenly felt the subtle but familiar presence from before.
He looked up.
Kagami lay stretched along a pipe up the wall, while her tail hung loose over the edge. She was grooming her paw like nothing around her was important. Her posture was elegant and relaxed.
Ren's voice came out sharp. "What did you do to me?"
Kagami yawned then stretched, intentionally prolonging the moment. "You're the one who agreed to the pact," she said without even looking at him. "Don't blame me for it."
He stood, slowly, trying not to let the dizziness show. "What kind of an answer is that?..."
She turned her head towards him and finally looked him in the eyes. "Figure it out yourself. Or die, if not. It doesn't matter to me."
Ren stared at her for another moment, then looked around the room. He hadn't had time to do so before, but now, even with all the noise echoing so harshly in his eardrums, he started looking around. If the cat wouldn't help him, at least figuring out where he was might give him a clue as to what to do next.
The room was old. Older than the city above. Stone walls surrounded it, but they were partially in ruins now, barely held together by the arch at the end. Glyphs were carved on the front wall, where the arch stood above, and a few others were scattered on the floor and side walls. Despite the mystic air around this place, a handful of rusted pipes and cables ran up walls and crevices, a small reminder that even here, the city's machinery had found a way in.
It all looked like some kind of a shrine.
Ren then looked back toward the corridor that led out of there. Light pushed gently inward, proving the city was still out there.
"Where the hell is this?" he whispered, mostly to himself.
Kagami slowly licked her paw again.
Ren exhaled and turned toward the exit. His thoughts were still foggy, but the idea of a hot shower and familiar walls felt like the closest thing to salvation.
"I'm going home," he said.
Kagami didn't object to it.
Ren stepped out of the tunnel and immediately felt the rain hit him. The city looked the same, but there was something else layered on top of it. Like his senses had been enhanced. He saw symbols and glyphs on the walls that hadn't been there before. Some were simply carved into stone, while others glowed and released energy around them. The people on the streets paid no attention to them, or simply did not see them. Ren decided it must have been the second option, since it was easier to believe than the alternative.
The streets buzzed as floating signs and ads ran everywhere. People swarmed, gathering near neon lit shops and synthetic noodles carts. A simple tap of the hand on small glowing platforms, and the food was theirs.
Ren balanced himself against a light post next to him. Even the texture of metal under his palm felt different in an obvious way he couldn't explain.
The building where he lived was close by. Just a few more alleys across two more blocks. But just as he thought he was nearing the last corner, Ren heard a familiar laugh.
He turned, then stopped towards the source of it.
Three men stood at the edge of the alleyway. Two of them had high stature, while the smaller one had some sort of reinforced armor running across his arms and legs. Enhancements like that weren't unusual in those parts. All three of them had markings on their bodies in the form of tattoos, so it was easy to recognize what they were. They were Hounds. Low-level gangsters who ran jobs for whatever Clan they belonged to. They usually functioned as debt collectors but had other, more violent uses, too.
They were the ones who had beaten him and left him for dead earlier that day, collecting on a debt he hadn't paid, and probably never would. Of course, they recognized him immediately.
"Well, look at that," one of them said. "I thought you died out there."
"His debt might have just increased," said another, stepping forward.
The third one smiled and drew a knife.
Ren took a few steps back. Today, it seemed, he was unlucky in everything he did.
The first Hound lunged, in an attempt to grab Ren by the arm, but Ren moved before he could even think. He rotated in place, ducking under the Hound's raised arm, and ran his own elbow into the man's jaw. As hard as he could. He felt the bone cracking under the pressure. The Hound stumbled backwards and gasped for a few moments as he hadn't expected that reaction to happen.
Another Hound grabbed him from behind and tried to drag him down. But Ren drove his foot into his ribs and broke free from the hold.
Then the Hound with the knife came in last. His blade hit Riven's shoulder, tearing skin open. Blood spilled instantly, but Ren moved anyway, faster than he himself could understand. He grabbed the Hound's wrist, twisted it, which caused the armor to throw away sparks and the knife to fall. But Ren didn't care about the knife. He had no use for it. Instead, he turned the Hound over his back, like all that metal weight meant nothing, and threw him hard to the ground.
Now they were all either on the ground or staggering to regain their composure.
After a few seconds, the tattoos on their skin began to pulse, each in a different rhythm. Their bodies twitched, and their wounds healed. As they pulled themselves together, they exchanged a brief and uncertain look. Then they turned and ran.
Ren stood alone in the alley, breathing hard. His knuckles were bloodied, and his hands were trembling uncontrollably as he tried to process everything that had just happened in the last ten minutes. And for a brief instant, his eyes flashed with a golden light.