The streets of East Kagura were drowned in water and shadow. The rain had returned in torrents, washing the city in gray.
Ren followed Aira silently, the hum of her weapon the only sound besides the splatter of rain against puddles. Tonight would be his first real mission, his first hunt.
> "Remember," Aira said, her voice steady, "this isn't a training exercise. These Ethereals… they're unstable. If you falter, people can die."
Ren swallowed. His heart pounded, but he tried to focus. He had trained for this, at least in theory.
---
They turned a corner and saw it: a towering Ethereal, writhing like a black storm cloud with glowing red eyes, ripping through a marketplace. Its movements were erratic, almost childlike, but every swing of its phantom arms destroyed buildings, cars, anything in its path.
> "Stay back!" Aira shouted.
Ren's chest ached. The faces of people from the memory he had entered earlier flashed before his eyes, mothers, children, laughter stolen by tragedy.
> I can't let this happen again.
He raised his hand instinctively. Energy flared, bright violet light spilling from his palm. The Ethereal froze, tilting its head, almost curious.
> "Ren!" Aira shouted. "Focus! Control it!"
The world bent around him. He slipped into the Ethereal's memory, seeing it not as a monster but as someone who had lived, who had loved, who had been forgotten.
A scene unfolded: a boy, laughing in a rain-soaked street, chased by shadows. His mother's voice calling him. A door slamming. And then… the boy falling, the life draining from him.
Ren's hand shook. His mind screamed: This is what they want me to destroy?
> "You're too slow!" Aira shouted. "Either you act, or it dies, and so will it take someone with it!"
The violet light surged. Ren channeled the memory, absorbing the Ethereal's pain, feeling its final heartbeat in his chest.
And then, with a burst of white light, the Ethereal collapsed, not destroyed but dissolved into a gentle shimmer of memories.
Ren staggered back, his body trembling. His ears rang with the echoes of the boy's laughter, and then… silence.
Aira approached, cautious but impressed.
> "You… did it. But you almost lost yourself in the process. That's why we train."
Ren looked at her, voice hollow:
> "I didn't kill it. I just… felt it. Is that allowed?"
Aira didn't answer immediately. Instead, she glanced at the sky, the rain thinning slightly as if the city itself were exhaling.
> "Sometimes, the Order doesn't have answers," she said finally.
"Sometimes… we only follow orders."
---
Later, on the rooftop, Ren stared at his hands. The shimmer of the Ethereal still haunted him.
> "I… I could feel everything it went through. Its fear, its loneliness… its mother…"
Aira sat beside him silently. The rain whispered against the roof, soft this time, almost apologetic.
> "That's why Shouma wants you," she said quietly.
"Because you feel. And in his world, that's power."
Ren turned to her, eyes wide.
> "Shouma?"
> "The Refrains," she said. "They believe pain isn't something to erase. They want to protect it. And you… you might be the bridge between our worlds."
From the shadows, the city seemed to pulse in response to Ren's thoughts, the rain rising again, heavier, almost deliberate.
Somewhere in the distance, a faint figure watched, tall, calm, eyes like mirrors reflecting every sorrow in the city.
> "Interesting," Shouma murmured. "The boy grows stronger… faster than expected."
---
End of Chapter 4