Avu Kumar lay sprawled across his bed like a dropped pillow, one chubby arm hanging off the edge while the morning sunlight crept through the thin curtains of his room.
"Avu beta! Come fast and eat breakfast!" his mother's voice echoed from downstairs.
Avu groaned and buried his face deeper into the pillow.
"Yeah, mom… coming," he replied, voice thick with sleep.
He didn't move.
The ceiling fan spun lazily above him, creaking with each rotation. His walls were plastered with anime posters—heroes with impossible strength, monsters frozen mid-roar, battles that felt far too grand for a small city like Almora.
The world outside wasn't like those posters.
Or at least, Avu believed it wasn't.
The Audvik family was ordinary. No glowing tattoos marked their skin. No animal spirits whispered in their minds. In a world where some people traded body parts or years of life for power, his family had never dared to make a contract.
Courage, after all, was expensive.
And contracts always demanded sacrifice.
With a sigh, Avu finally rolled out of bed, landing on the floor with a dull thump.
"Okay, okay! I'm coming!" he shouted.
He had no idea this would be one of his last truly normal mornings.