"Mum? Lily? Is anybody home?" After three consecutive knocks without any response, Leon's blood began to boil. Sweat started dripping from his brow by the fourth knock.
"Why? Where are they?" He whispered, peering his eyes through the cross-iron window with its shattered louvers.
The room inside was dark—almost as if no one had ever lived there.
But on his fifth knock, footsteps descended the stairs. "Lily! Is that you?" The sound of the footsteps grew closer, easing the shiver that ran down Leon's spine.
As it reached the other side of the door, every hair on his arm stood on end, tension gripping him like electric current.
"Who's there?!" he shouted, slamming his fist against the door. But the thick wood—cemented as rock—his dad used to create the door refused to break.
"Where is my family?!" Leon demanded; he became frantic as he strained to see through the window.
The door handle rattled violently as he tried to force it open.
"Leon, is that you?" Just as the handle nearly gave way, Lily's voice called from the stairs.
"Lily, run to your room! Someone's at the door!" Leon shouted with a voice sharp as steel. But what he got as a response stunned him entirely.
"Leon, what's wrong with you? How were you able to know and conclude that someone's at the door while you're outside?" Lily kept moving closer and closer while wearing a confused face and voice.
As soon as the lock clicked, Leon stepped back—ready to dash inside and confront the owner of the footsteps he'd heard before Lily descended.
But Lily's expression stopped him. "Leon, you're late today too. And why do your face look like you've seen a ghost?" Even with her dull gaze, Lily noticed how desperate Leon was.
As she ascended the stairs, she whispered in a faint voice.
"I can't keep opening the door this late. Try and come early—or better still, take one key—so you can open it yourself."
"But I heard someone coming to the door before Lily mentioned my name. How come no one is here except Lily and Mum?"
After searching every possible hiding spot, Leon muttered to himself, locking the door behind him.
Checking the time, he knew he had to sleep now so he could get there on time for the exam.
As he entered the bathroom, Leon caught sight of the mark on his forehead. "Wait… no one mentioned this at school. Is it really there? Or, am I the only one able to see it?"
He brushed it off with a smile, took his bath, and went to bed.
"So many strange things... the mark, the healing, and how my eyes change when I'm angry. How I wish I could understand it all." Leon whispered as sleep took over him.
Everything turned quiet. Then, the 'Y' mark shimmered. The ceiling melted, turning into a spiral of transparent ocean—revealing the night sky.
A surge of light shot from its center into the mark on his forehead.
Leon's body twitched as the light pierced him. He could feel it as if someone was driving a needle through him.
Just as it died out, another vision erupted.
This time, he wasn't on a green ocean but stood between two mighty giants, draped in long white cloth from their head to toe—leaving only the voids of their eyes visible.
As Leon tried to speak, his body lifted above the clouds as if he had wings. "Are those… wings?" he cried, twisting to see the giant on his left.
Tension spiked in him as they soared beyond the clouds into a radiant, endless land; its gate gleamed like a king's treasure.
There, Leon saw a vast storehouse of snow and frost, guarded by fearsome giants with skeletal faces. Some stood like watchers keeping vigil over a distant planet.
They moved again. Leon gasped at the massive ocean suspended impossibly in the sky—almost as if it had been held back by a supreme being.
Everything looked impossible: the giants' movements, the way winds were harnessed like wild horses—almost as if restrained to blow at their appointed time.
"Where am I?" Leon turned to one of the giants beside him with a puzzled face. But as the giant faced him, he froze; under the weight of the giant's gaze, regret flooded his mind and heart.
Instantly, the world wrapped like a sped-up film, morphing into a realm.
Here, Leon vowed not to move. There were no lights, only pure thick darkness. He could feel the texture of the darkness pressing against his skin.
Unlike the first realm, this place had death everywhere—as if it was death's birthplace.
Rustling chains clanked on every wall. Screams, cries, and wails filled the air like an angry storm.
As they advanced, Leon saw faces: humans, animals, and hybrids of humans and animals, weeping without rest—as if waiting for judgement.
Then, he saw two reptilian humanoids shedding thick green liquid from their skin. Leon became furious but didn't know why—he doesn't remember seeing them—but still his heart began to burst.
But as they passed one strange wall, Leon's heart froze as he saw a face he had seen before—the man who was being devoured by the wealthy man for his abilities.
Tears welled in Leon's eyes. As soon as he lunged towards the wall, the giants roared, "These rebels deserve their fate!"
Leon froze mid-step, but as their words faded, he refused their warning and moved straight to the iron chains. Then, he shouted, "But he didn't do anything bad!"
The moment his fingers touched the chains, an unseen force slammed the man down, his skull splitting the earth. Blood gushed out of him like a ruptured pipe.
Leon's heart raced; the ground turned milky with the blood.
The giant's face gleamed with a deep smile. Their lips became visible but wrong—teeth soared like sharp spears as their lips stretched, almost touching their ears.
Leon still tried to break the wall and set the man free. But just as dust fell from the wall upon his third punch, both giants spoke in a soft, calm, but terrifying manner: "Break, and remain with us forever."
Then they smiled.