Dawn was breaking late, and Raiden lay on his bed with gritted teeth, hands pressed between his legs in agony, while Ash lay beside him, her breath creating a smoky sensation on the sheets.
Raiden felt like his hands were being torn apart. He had experienced a similar sensation during the day, but now it was more intense and breathtaking, just like when Ash first bit his hands to form their contract.
But at that mont, he cared less about where it ca from; he only wanted the pain to go away as he fought the urge to scream out loud.
Despite his efforts to calm the pain, it only grew worse. His temperature spiked drastically, his body instantly drenched in sweat as he trembled. Still he held it in, refusing to wake anyone. But the pain didn’t seem to care much about that.
In an instant, the pain doubled, causing his eyes to bulge as he clenched his teeth tightly, his entire face turning crimson.
Then, as abruptly as it had intensified, the pain stopped, sending relief flooding through Raiden’s body as he lay there breathing deeply through his mouth, hands still pressed between his legs.
[You have to get stronger, Papa.] Ash’s voice echoed in Raiden’s head as she raised her head slightly toward him. [We must hurry, Papa,] she added, then let her head drop back down as she returned to sleep.
Raiden was too tired to even turn toward her, much less respond. But for a long ti, Ash had been asking Raiden to get stronger, and more perplexing still, the pain he felt was similar to what he had felt when she bit him. Too light and yet too painful.
Was there sothing he wasn’t understanding?
He had initially thought that climbing the ranks could give Ash the ability to speak freely and finally tell him why she wanted him to get stronger, but despite getting to number seven, there was still nothing. Maybe he still wasn’t there yet. It did seem that way.
He finally adjusted himself on the bed and glanced at his hands. But his expression grew darker, contrasting sharply with what he normally was.
There were faint dark lines spreading from his fingernails, the nails themselves seeming darker. The lines stretched to his waist, where they rged into a single line. Raiden traced it slowly and carefully, watching as it wrapped around his hand like a snake and followed that sa pattern toward his neck.
He imdiately rose to his feet, headed to the bathroom, and looked at himself in the mirror. Leaning in closely for a better look, he saw the line wrapped around his neck in the sa pattern as his hands.
He stood there with his mouth slightly parted in confusion. What was going on?
If the pain was truly from the contract Ash ford with him, then the lines had sothing to do with her. Though he didn’t have much to base it on, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was from her. The timing of her words confird everything to him. Still he wondered, what exactly was Ash?
The thoughts alone filled him with overwhelming heat, and he imdiately headed outside for more air. Perhaps that would help him think everything through.
He wanted to go back to his world—it was a must—and he also admired Ash, but that didn’t an he was going to sign up for sothing he didn’t truly understand.
The least Ash could do was try to explain whatever it was that made her always want him to get stronger and more powerful, and also what these unexplainable things were.
The mont he stepped outside, he could see the knights camping while a few of them held lanterns, roaming around as they stayed alert, but Raiden simply threw himself onto the grassy field.
His recent days were filled with nothing but confusion—unusual dreams that he totally forgot yet left him with a familiar sensation, the familiarity in his hug with Hannes, and now this pain and what seed like an unwanted tattoo.
He brought his hand closer to his face. "Hey, what’s this?" He tried to ask the system, but it offered him nothing but silence.
He began to believe the system itself was sohow related to Ash; he’d had a similar epiphany before, considering he was the only one with a voice and a blue screen.
And since he was also the only one who could speak telepathically with his familiar, it was only natural, but now he had more evidence to believe Ash was involved sohow.
The motion triggered random thoughts that jumped through his mind as he tried to make sense of everything, until at one point he was almost certain that the Dreamwalker, Alora, was playing tricks on him.
However, his mind couldn’t spiral forever, and before he knew it, he was fast asleep, his questions still unanswered.
Before long, Raiden woke to sounds behind him and the guardians roaming around. The mont he rose from the floor, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched his body to the fullest. But his attention instantly shifted as he glanced at his hands. Was everything a bad dream? He hoped it wasn’t there, but luck wasn’t on his side.
Raiden’s mind filled with more confusion as he realized the black ink was becoming more visible. He stared at it for a mont. What if Ash really understood why he wanted to go back to him? What if everything that was happening was progress toward sending him back to his world?
This was shallow thinking, but he needed sothing to hang on to until he finally understood what was going on. He didn’t want to waste all his ti and energy on such thoughts. There were bigger concerns than this confusion.
After standing there for quite a while, he shrugged, stretched his body, and began heading back inside. But at the entrance, just before he could step into the corridor to the living room, goosebumps surged through him, forcing him to pause.
His danger detection was active, and he could feel a swarm of auras heading toward them. There were too many, but their presence was just a tickle; they were still distant before they could reach.
Raiden smiled and brushed his hands through his hair. They weren’t wrong after all; everything had been just an act so the assassins could attack Raiden.
It was a relief, but he was also kind of scared. A part of him still hung onto the confusion in his life, while the other part simply couldn’t wait for what kind of powerful people he had to fight, as euphoria surged through him and turned his smile more devilish.
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