Darkness pressed in from every side.
Kai was running.
His boots struck uneven ground, splashing through something thick and cold that clung to his ankles like grasping hands. The air tasted metallic, sharp against his lungs, and each breath burned as if the world itself resented his presence. He did not know where he was, only that stopping meant death.
Behind him, something moved.
Not footsteps—those would have been merciful. This sound was wet and dragging, like flesh being peeled from stone. It echoed through the vast emptiness, slow and deliberate, unhurried in the way only a predator certain of its prey could be.
Kai risked a glance over his shoulder.
The monster did not have a single shape.
It loomed at the edge of his vision, a towering distortion of shadow and bone, its form constantly shifting—horns dissolving into tendrils, limbs bending in directions that defied anatomy. Where its face should have been, there was only a hollow void, yet Kai felt its gaze sink into him, peeling away layers of thought, memory, and blood.
It knew him.
The ground beneath Kai suddenly fractured, shadows splitting open like veins. He stumbled but caught himself, his palm slamming against cold stone etched with unfamiliar runes. The symbols pulsed faintly, reacting to his touch, but before he could focus on them, a roar thundered behind him.
The monster surged forward.
Kai ran harder.
The world around him shifted, snapping into clarity like a curtain being torn away. He was no longer alone.
Shouts echoed through the dark.
Ahead, shapes resolved into people—students clad in academy cloaks, their insignias glinting faintly with protective enchantments. Torches flared to life, casting trembling halos of light that barely pushed back the encroaching darkness.
"Kai! This way!"
He recognized Marcus immediately, standing near a fractured stone archway, waving frantically. Axel was beside him, clutching a spell focus with white-knuckled intensity. Several other students clustered nearby, faces pale, eyes wide with fear.
"What happened?" Kai shouted as he reached them.
"The ground collapsed," one student said, her voice shaking. "Something came out of it. Professors told us to stay together but—"
The monster roared again.
Closer.
The archway trembled as shadows bled from its cracks, crawling along the stone like living ink. One of the students screamed as a tendril snapped out, narrowly missing her leg.
"Split up!" someone yelled. "It can't chase all of us!"
"No!" Kai protested, but panic had already taken hold.
The group scattered.
Marcus was dragged one way by two students. Axel disappeared down a narrow passage, swallowed by darkness. Kai turned, searching desperately, but the shadows surged between them like a rising tide.
Then he was alone.
The monster emerged fully now, towering over the fractured ruins. Its presence crushed the air from Kai's lungs, a pressure that seeped into his bones. He felt small—insignificant—like prey cornered in a pit.
"Run," a whisper echoed inside him.
He didn't know whose voice it was.
Kai backed away slowly, his hand tightening around the Blood-Focus Stone hidden beneath his shirt. It pulsed faintly, warm against his chest, but it wasn't enough. He could feel it—whatever this thing was, it wasn't bound by the rules he understood.
The monster lunged.
Kai threw himself aside as claws slammed into the ground where he had stood, stone exploding outward. Pain ripped through his shoulder as debris tore into him, but adrenaline drowned it out. He rolled, scrambled to his feet, and sprinted down a narrow corridor that hadn't existed seconds before.
The walls closed in.
The corridor twisted unnaturally, bending back on itself, runes flickering and dying as he passed. Each step felt heavier, as if the darkness itself were resisting him.
His breath hitched.
I can't outrun it.
The realization struck with cold clarity.
The monster's presence flooded the corridor, shadows crawling over Kai's legs, slowing him, dragging him back inch by inch. His knees buckled, and he fell forward, palms scraping against stone.
The shadows climbed higher.
Fear clawed at his throat—not just fear of death, but fear of failure. Of dying without answers. Of never understanding what his blood truly carried.
Something inside him stirred.
It wasn't violent or explosive. It was quiet—ancient.
A pulse rippled through his veins, deeper than magic, deeper than thought. The shadows recoiled slightly, as if startled.
Kai froze.
The Blood-Focus Stone grew hot, searing against his skin. He gasped as pain flared through his chest, radiating outward, not burning but unfolding, like something stretching after a long sleep.
The monster hesitated.
For the first time, it seemed… uncertain.
"What… is this?" Kai whispered.
The world slowed.
He felt his heartbeat echo not just in his ears, but in the air around him, each thud sending ripples through the darkness. Shadows bent—not toward the monster, but toward him.
Lines of faint silver-black light traced themselves along his arms, disappearing beneath his sleeves. They weren't markings—more like veins of living shadow, moving in rhythm with his pulse.
A presence settled behind his eyes.
Not a voice. Not words.
Recognition.
The monster shrieked, an ear-splitting sound that fractured the corridor walls. It lunged again, desperate now, claws tearing through the air—
—and the shadows obeyed Kai.
They surged upward instinctively, not as a conscious spell, but as a reflex, forming a translucent barrier between him and the monster. The impact sent a shockwave rippling outward, throwing Kai backward.
He hit the ground hard.
The barrier cracked, splintering like glass, but it held.
Kai stared at his hands, trembling.
"I didn't…" His voice shook. "I didn't mean to—"
The presence stirred again, deeper this time, a warning hum reverberating through his bones. Whatever had awakened was incomplete, raw, untrained—but it was there.
The monster recoiled, its form destabilizing, shadows peeling away from its body like smoke in strong wind. It snarled, rage and something else flickering within the void where its face should be.
Fear.
Then the ground beneath Kai collapsed entirely.
He fell.
The darkness swallowed him whole.
Kai jerked awake with a sharp gasp, sitting upright as his heart hammered violently against his ribs. Cold sweat drenched his back, his breath coming in ragged bursts as he scanned his surroundings.
Dorm room.
Stone walls. Morning light filtering weakly through the tall window. His bed sheets twisted around his legs.
A dream.
Slowly, his breathing steadied.
He pressed a trembling hand to his chest. The Blood-Focus Stone lay cool and inert beneath his shirt, as if nothing had happened. No warmth. No pulse.
Yet the sensation lingered.
That presence.
Kai swung his legs over the side of the bed, running a hand through his hair. His palms were slick with sweat. For a moment, he just sat there, grounding himself in the familiar creaks of the dormitory and the distant murmur of other students waking.
"It was just a dream," he muttered.
But even as he said it, he wasn't sure.
The monster's gaze still clung to him, heavy and knowing. The feeling of his blood responding—recognizing something—had been too vivid to dismiss entirely.
A deep, resonant bell rang out across the academy grounds.
Once.
Twice.
The sound rolled through the stone halls, vibrating through the floor beneath his feet.
The signal for the beginning of the first day of class.
Kai exhaled slowly and stood.
Whatever that dream had been—premonition, memory, or warning—it would have to wait. The academy was waking, and with it, the next stage of his life.
Still, as he reached for his cloak, one thought echoed quietly in his mind:
Something is already hunting me.
And this time, it might not stay in his dreams.