Walking through the castle corridors beside Lady Evalyn, Dick learned more about Deviants, Beasts, and the strange nature of this world.
For starters, his assumption had been correct—a Deviant's rank corresponded directly to the rank of their Beast. But there was more. The "Locker" inside a Deviant's heart wasn't only used to store contracted Beasts, it also stored absorbed Particles.
A Deviant's path to ascension was simple in theory, but brutal in practice: they gathered these Particles by slaying monsters during Island raids, filled their Locker to the brim, and once the threshold was reached, their body would undergo a painful awakening, breaking through to the next stage.
That was why his Nature's Blessing, to absorb ambient Particles from the environment, was so extraordinary. Most Deviants could only draw Particles from defeated Monsters, even though everything in the world, from trees to the ocean itself, brimmed with the same energy.
For Dick, this meant his growth potential was exponentially faster.
They stopped before a row of old wooden doors lining a dimly lit hallway. The castle was made of grey stone walls, creaking floorboards, and air thick with the scent of dust and age. It didn't suit Evalyn at all. A radiant woman, who was divine, living in something so bleak felt… wrong.
But Dick didn't ask.
"All right, this is your room," Evalyn said, turning to him.
He nodded and opened the door. The room inside was plain but spacious—a large bed, a nightstand, and little else.
"Thank you," he said, bowing slightly.
Before he could close the door, Evalyn spoke again, her tone warm but carrying a hint of command.
"Get familiar with your Beast tonight. Tomorrow, you'll be divided into squads and begin training for your first mission."
Her gaze flicked to the door beside his.
"Summer is next door if you have any questions."
Dick froze.
"Ah… I'm sure I'll manage. Thank you."
He closed the door quickly, cutting the conversation short.
For a moment, he stood in the quiet, the flickering candlelight painting soft shadows across the walls. Something about Evalyn lingered in his mind. She was always smiling, always calm… but beneath that serene expression, he could feel something off.
Something dangerous.
Dick sighed, patting down the pockets of his cloak and then his undershirt. Nothing.
A flicker of panic hit him. He swung the door open and shouted down the corridor, his voice echoing through the dim hall.
"Evalyn! My wallet—do you have my wallet?"
She didn't even turn around. With a lazy flick of her wrist, a wisp of green light shimmered through the air and coalesced in his hand.
The old brown wallet appeared, warm to the touch.
"Thanks," he muttered, though she was already gone.
He flipped it open, not to check for money, but for the picture inside. The edges were charred, blackened by fire, yet the center remained intact: his wife, his daughter, and himself, arms wrapped around one another, smiling as if the world were kind.
A small smile tugged at his lips, soft and fleeting. Then he closed the wallet, stepped back into his room, and sank onto the bed. The mattress creaked beneath him as he stared at the ceiling, the faint image of his family still burning behind his eyelids.
Suddenly, a tug pulled at Dick's chest, faint but insistent. His Locker. The Beast wanted out.
Dick straightened.
Uh… how do I do that?
"Summon?" he said aloud, half-guessing.
A pulse of blue light flared before him. Particles drifted from his chest, and in their glow, the black Dog materialized at the foot of the bed. Its fur shimmered briefly before settling into a dull, midnight matte.
Dick felt his own energy dip.
"So summoning costs Particles, too," he muttered.
The Beast—if you could even call him that—didn't move. He just sprawled across the blanket, snoring softly, one ear twitching.
Dick stared at the creature in silence. The room felt heavier now, quieter. He could feel the connection between them, faint but present, like a second heartbeat echoing in his chest.
"You wanted to be summoned for this?" Dick asked flatly.
The Dog groaned, rolled over, and dangled half off the bed, completely unbothered.
Dick's jaw tightened. Is being stored inside me really that bad?
The Dog, eyes still closed, gave a lazy nod.
Dick blinked.
Wait… you can hear my thoughts?
Another slow nod. Then, without lifting his head, the Dog cracked open his hollow, smoke-colored eyes and shot him a look that was equal parts annoyance and amusement.
If an expression could talk, his said plainly: You're loud, and I was sleeping.
Dick exhaled through his nose. "Fine. Go back to sleep then."
The black Dog cracked an eye, gave him a lazy glare, then rolled over with a grunt, already halfway back to unconsciousness.
Dick sat on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, staring at the floorboards. The candlelight flickered. The silence pressed in.
"I guess I should name you, though," he said quietly.
That earned him a faint tail flick.
He rubbed his face, exhaustion pulling at him. "Rocky."
The Dog opened one hollow eye, stared at him flatly, and shook his head.
"James?"
Another slow head shake.
"Bobby?"
Nope.
"Rex?"
Still no.
"Caesar?"
A snort.
Dick let out a long, tired breath and flopped back onto the bed, throwing his arms out. "You know what? I don't care. I'm calling you Dog."
The Beast lifted his head slightly, stared at him in silence for a long, painful moment… then exhaled through his nose and went right back to sleep.
Dick stared at the ceiling. "Yeah. You look like a Dog."
In the quiet that followed, he could've sworn he heard a faint, unimpressed grunt echo in his head.
Then, as tiredness overwhelmed him, he reached inward to unsummon Dog. But through their connection, he felt an overwhelming desire to stay at the edge of the bed.
Dick rolled his eyes.
"All right. I guess you can stay out for tonight."
The dog's tail gave the faintest wag.
Dick pulled the thin blanket over himself, the wallet still clutched in one hand. The photo inside pressed against his palm, warm and familiar.
He closed his eyes.
For the first time in ten years, he didn't fall asleep alone.