Ren brought the jug to his lips. The water hit his throat coldly, like something alive. It didn't fix the pounding in his head, but it dulled it just enough for his brain to form a thought.
'Who is this?'
He blinked up from the jug.
The boy standing in front of him looked like he'd walked straight off a tech-corp runway. Not flashy, just… precision-crafted. His black coat shimmered faintly with silver seams, etched so fine they looked like spiderweb cracks in a windshield.
The turtleneck underneath was just as precise. Dark slate gray. No wrinkles. No scuffs. Even his boots looked ironed.
His gloves were fingerless, thin, probably custom. Ren's eyes tracked a strip of green glass wrapped around the boy's wrist, smoothed down and dangling from a leather strap like a relic. Then his gaze caught on the pendant tucked just under his collar: a disc of nearly invisible glass, pale and ethereal, that shimmered faintly when the light hit it.
The guy didn't just look rich. He smelled like money.
Ren licked his lips, wincing at the cracks still lining them.
'Strange… how did he know I needed water?'
He took another sip, slower this time. His throat still ached, but his hands weren't spasming anymore.
That dull static crawling under his skin was starting to settle, replaced by something sharper and quieter: awareness.
He looked at the boy again. He could somehow feel some sort of energy oozing off him.
'What's this feeling I'm getting from him?'
It wasn't the same as Anele's, the blood man's. That one felt like copper slicing open your teeth, like drowning in something warm and wrong.
This was different. Subtle. Like standing in a sealed glass room and realizing there's no door.
Ren looked back at the jug in his hands.
'Shit. What if the water was poisoned?'
His stomach twisted. His fingers tightened around the handle.
'Tsk… I drank it already. Too late now.'
"Come with me," the boy said, already turning away.
"You were looking for the restroom, right?"
Ren blinked.
'What?
Okay. This is past weird now. How the hell did he know that?
Oh… is he a psychic or something?'
He opened his mouth to ask but didn't.
His body was still screaming for water. That was all it cared about. And sure enough, he was looking for the restroom after all.
After a brief hesitation, he followed without a word.
They reached the restroom quickly. The boy walked to the sink and turned the tap on full.
"Hurry. Drink," he instructed, motioning toward the stream.
Ren stared at him again, handed the glass jug over, then bent down without asking questions. He drank directly from the sink, hands gripping the edges as cold water spilled over his face. He didn't care. His lips were cracked. His vision blurred. He drank like his life depended on it.
Because it probably did.
Three minutes passed. Maybe four.
His hands trembled. His back ached from leaning. But he couldn't stop until the weight in his head eased enough to steady himself.
Finally, he pulled away, gasping, forehead wet, eyes red. His breath came shallow and fast.
"How do you feel?" the boy asked.
Ren blinked, swallowing hard.
"…Still thirsty."
The boy didn't look surprised. He tilted his head slightly, as if confirming something.
"I know something that could help," he said cheerfully, already pulling out his phone.
Ren watched him swipe and tap like this was normal. Like dragging some half-dead stranger to a bathroom and letting him drink from a faucet was just… routine.
Ren's voice cracked.
"Who are you?"
The boy paused briefly, his pale lashes lifting.
"Call me Sami," he said, then looked back down. "I booked us a ride. It'll be here in three minutes…"
Ren kept staring.
Three minutes to what? To death? To kidnapping? To more confusion?
His legs still felt hollow.
But he didn't move.
Sami pocketed the phone and zipped up his coat in one smooth motion. Ren noticed something: the glass jug was gone. Just… vanished.
"There's a private pool rental not far from here," Sami said casually, like it was nothing. "Thirty minutes in the pool should be enough to get you back to normal."
Ren frowned. "Normal?"
"Yeah. Well. Closer to normal." Sami made a little gesture with his fingers, approximating a straight line that was definitely crooked.
He turned halfway toward the door and didn't look back.
"You're… still leaking, by the way. Your Vira. I mean, I'm guessing you don't know what that is."
Ren didn't answer.
The stranger was calm, too calm, confident like he already knew how this would go. This made Ren wary. But his body was still screaming, his skin felt like paper. Despite everything, he found himself deciding to follow this stranger.
He didn't trust him, but he wanted to return to… normal.
Sami glanced back at him.
"Save your questions for later," he said, his voice lighter now, almost teasing. "You'll have your answers soon. Let's go."
Ren hesitated for a moment before following.
***
Ever since he was a little boy, Ren had been made to shower three times a day.
Morning, noon, and night. His mother, Rhesa, was strict about it, almost ritualistic. It didn't matter if he was tired, freezing, or sick.
Even when the power was out, she made sure it happened.
Back then, he thought it was just one of her weird rules. Something old-fashioned, obsessive even. He never asked why. The truth was… he liked it.
The water made him feel better. Not just clean, but calmer. Like something inside him unclenched every time he stepped under the stream. And more than that…
He noticed something.
The more time he spent under real water, the less he felt like drinking it.
That shouldn't make sense. But it did.
And now, standing here, soaked in sweat and silence, he found himself hoping it might still work.
They'd arrived at the private pool rental about fifteen minutes ago. It wasn't far from the hospital. Sami had barely said a word the whole ride, just tapped something on his phone and hummed along to a song Ren didn't recognize.
Inside the indoor rental, the air felt warm, chlorinated, and artificial. But the pool itself shimmered beneath the soft lighting. Thick soundproof walls surrounded the space, which was filled with clean lines, minimal furniture, and a quietness that felt deliberate, the kind of place where rich people probably swam to avoid being seen.
Sami lounged on a small sunbed to the side, arms behind his head like he had all the time in the world. His coat was folded neatly beside him, phone resting on the seat.
Ren stepped into the pool slowly, his muscles aching. The water was warm, too warm, and he didn't like it. But his skin did.
It stopped stinging almost immediately. His cracked lips stopped bleeding. The ringing in his ears dulled. For the first time since waking up in that hospital, his chest didn't feel like it was caving in.
Still, something was wrong.
He turned his head toward Sami, who was now sipping from a clear bottle with a little wedge of lime inside.
"So… how is this supposed to help me?" Ren asked. His voice came out hoarse.
Sami smiled without looking. "You'll see."
That was it. No explanation. No science. Not even a shrug.
Ren frowned and floated a little deeper into the pool, his arms lazily moving at his sides. The tension in his shoulders melted, but the questions didn't go away. If anything, they multiplied.
Who was this guy? Why had he helped him? How did he know what Ren needed before he did? And what the hell did he mean by "leaking Vira"?
Ren sighed and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he noticed something. It felt too quiet in here.
He tried to speak again, but then the thought slipped away like water through fingers.
His vision blurred. He blinked hard once, twice, as the lights overhead smeared into streaks. Turning to look at Sami, he saw the figure's outline become fuzzy and indistinct.
"Huh…?"
The warmth was no longer comforting. It was heavy. Too heavy. A slow, invisible weight pressing down on his lungs. On his mind.
"What is…"
His arms stopped moving. His body drifted.
He couldn't tell if he was sinking or floating anymore. The water felt deeper than it had a moment ago, impossibly deep and endless.
Somewhere in the distance, Sami's voice echoed, far too calm for what was happening.
"Relax. Don't fight it."
"What… what are you doing to me?" Ren mumbled, his tongue slow and numb.
He wanted to get out. He tried to lift his head. Move his legs. But his limbs didn't listen.
The last thing he saw were the ceiling lights fragmenting like glass, fracturing into a kaleidoscope of whites and silvers. Then everything went black, like falling into the mouth of a deep sea trench.
***
"…en… en… REN."
Ren gasped sharply, his whole body jolting like it had been yanked out of sleep mid-fall.
His eyes shot open.
Water pressed gently against his skin, warm and weightless.
Above him, light shimmered in distorted patterns, bending like silk through glass.
'What…?'
He blinked. The air felt thick and quiet around him.
'Did I… fall asleep?
Inside the pool?'
Panic kicked in but settled almost immediately. He jerked upright, arms flailing for a moment before his instincts caught up. He swam to the surface and broke through with a gasp, dragging air into his lungs like it might disappear again.
His head cleared slowly. His limbs felt sore but loose.
And the headache that had been carving through his skull earlier?
Gone.
He floated for a second, then made his way to the edge and climbed out.
Sami was already waiting, crouched at the pool's edge like a cat who'd been there the whole time. A towel hung from his arm. His phone was in the other hand.
"You were in there for three hours," Sami said, tossing him the towel. "I had to wake you up. I've got work, you know. District 4's not cheap."
Ren caught the towel awkwardly.
"Three… hours?" he echoed, blinking.
Then his eyes snapped wide.
"Wait—what? Three hours?! How is that even—?"
Sami cut him off, like the question bored him.
"How's your body feeling?"
Ren hesitated, then blinked down at himself.
The ache in his ribs was gone. The rawness in his throat had vanished. His shoulder, where something had hit him back in District 6, didn't even twinge.
He ran a hand down his side and looked back at Sami, stunned.
"I feel…"
He paused.
"I feel great. What did you do to me?"
Sami looked up from his phone.
"Nothing."
Ren stared.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously." Sami checked the time, his thumb sliding across the screen like this whole thing wasn't weird at all. "Your body just needed the right environment. You were, uh… overdrawn."
"Overdrawn," Ren repeated, deadpan.
"Yeah." Sami pocketed the phone and stood. "Anyway, I've booked a cab. It'll take you back to the hospital. I'll come by tomorrow around 2 p.m. to pick you and your sister up."
"Wait—what?"
"There's someone who wants to meet you both." Sami shrugged like it was no big deal. "You'll get your answers then. I know you've got a lot."
Ren opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He did have a lot of questions. But his brain hadn't caught up enough to form them yet. Everything still felt… off-balance. Like waking from a dream where the ground never stayed put.
Sami reached into the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out two small pendants, smooth glass discs nearly identical to the one he wore. They caught the overhead light with a soft, ghostly shimmer.
He held them out.
"Here. Keep one. Give the other to your sister."
Ren took them cautiously, feeling the cool weight of them settle in his palm.
"What are they?"
"Good luck charms," Sami said with a sly grin.
Ren gave him a look. "Seriously?"
"Mostly."
Ren sighed and shook his head. "Right. Of course."
Still wrapped in the towel, water dripping from every step, he turned toward the changing room.
Behind him, Sami called out casually, "I'd hurry if I were you. The cab's not gonna wait forever."
Ren mumbled under his breath, dragging the towel up to his head. "Aiisssh… why won't my hair dry?"
He rubbed harder, as if friction alone could make up for the strange weight still clinging to him.
Sami just watched him go, his expression calm and unreadable.
Then he pulled his phone from his coat again and typed:
[I've made contact. Will bring him over tomorrow.]
His thumb hovered for a moment, then he added:
[He's more receptive than expected.]
And hit send.