"You said I made you?" Ethan asked, scanning the black goo as it pulsed in the dim light. "How…?"
"I don't know either," the creature murmured. "All I know is you completed my process. I was something whole but broken—and you fixed the cracks. You made me intact."
"Wait…" Ethan snatched his leather notebook and flipped through the pages until a sketch of a dark flower caught his eye. "Is that you?"
The goo tilted its jelly-like head. "Maybe. All I know is that you made me. And someone… woke me."
Ethan's brow furrowed. "Then how did you get into my body?"
"You were dying," the creature said softly. "And someone woke me up to save you. It was like… a shallow voice calling."
Ethan studied the dark mass, eyes narrowed. "Then… what are you?"
The black goo rippled. "I'm Zermorphosis. You created me. I can soak up any kind of energy, twist it, and fire it back—but I'm nowhere near my full power yet."
"Not your true potential?" Ethan asked.
"Yes." The black gloop's voice was low, almost thoughtful. "I've only used it once—when you were struck by lightning. I acted on instinct to protect us."
"You used it while I was unconscious?" Ethan leaned forward, eager.
"Yes," the blob replied simply.
"Can we use it now?"
"Alright. But you might not be ready." The gloop shimmered and vanished beneath his skin.
Minutes passed. Ethan flexed his fingers. "How exactly is this—"
A sharp crack of bone cut his words. "AHH!" He doubled over as his left arm twisted. Scales bloomed across his skin like dark armor. Energy coiled in his palm, humming with raw power.
Then came the whispers—eerie, hollow, a chorus of agony threading through his skull. The voices grew louder, ("who are you stop it !stop it!")screaming. Make it stop! Make it stop! he begged.
Abruptly the pain ceased. The scales dissolved, bones snapping back into place. The energy wave winked out as if it had never been.
Breath ragged, Ethan looked at the reformed goo. "Why did my bones break? And those… whispers?"
Zermorphosis surfaced again, its voice a slow echo. "I had to restructure your arm—mutilate and remake bone into scales. Your body can't yet handle that level of energy control. As for the whispers… they're fragments of me. I told you: someone woke me, but I'm still incomplete. Something's missing. The voices are the empty parts."
"I'd better get used to it," Ethan said, still catching his breath. "You're a part of me now. For now… we need to figure out where you came from—and who woke you. So… partners?"
He held out his hand.
The creature tilted its liquid head, meeting his gaze as if it already knew him. "Partners."
A cool, viscous hand slid into his own, sealing the pact with a quiet ripple.
Ethan flinched at the strange texture—slick yet almost cozy. "Whoa. Warm slime. That's… weirdly comforting
The door burst open and sneakers squick on the floor,Zermorphosis darted back beneath Ethan's skin like a shadow sucked into ink.
"Roomie!" Dash zipped inside, a human whirlwind. In one motion he combed his hair, straightened his uniform, wolfed down an energy bar, and brushed his teeth—done in under a minute.
"Whoa, your side of the room is awesome," Dash said, eyes roaming. "Dark and gothic—kind of like Mycroft's. Except for the chalkboard and all the mad-scientist stuff."
He tossed a bundle onto Ethan's bed. "Don't forget your class gear: uniform, timetable, name pin."
"I'm… going to class?" Ethan asked, still off-balance.
"Of course—to harness and discover your Will," Dash said with a mock salute. "Welp, gotta jet." And in a blink, he was gone.
Ethan glanced at the uniform: a tailored vest and coat, the school's fountain emblem stitched in silver on the patch, encircled by the words Grimore High – House of the Awaken.
The trousers lay neatly folded beside a brooch set with a dark-blue gem and a name tag etched in gold: Ethan Von Claude.
His fingers traced the engraving. "So familiar… yet so foreign."
The bell tolled, low and melodic like a lovely tune sang by birds and nature
"Well," he murmured, sliding on the coat, "time to find out what this place really is."