"Ack!"
It didn't come all at once. That would've been merciful.
It was so much worse.
It started as a sudden pain deep in my palm, something small and sharp, like a needle pushed too far under the skin. Then it spread throughout my body. Crawling up my fingers, digging into every nerve, climbing my wrist like it had all the time in the world to ruin me.
And then it bloomed.
This pain...
My fingers twitched uselessly, muscles locking up as if my body had decided to abandon me entirely. Heat pulsed from my hand in violent waves, each one worse than the last, like something inside me was trying to launch its way out.
"Everyone, stand back!" Professor Sylsima's shout cut through the chaos, sharp and commanding as she rushed toward me.
I barely registered her getting close.
Her hand came over my face, cool, way too cool compared to the inferno devouring my arm.
"Lord Atlas, calm down and set your hand down immediately, there's kinetic energy about to burst out of your body. Steady your breath."
Her words didn't exactly reach me, actually, they slipped past me, drowned out by the roaring in my ears.
I can't.
I couldn't move. Not my fingers. Not my arm. Not even my damn legs.
This body wasn't even mine to begin with.
It hurts.
My breath hitched, chest tightening as panic clawed up my throat.
'Oh fuck, this hurts, this hurts, someone, help me—'
Crack.
The sound was initially faint.
Crack.
Again. Louder.
Crack.
My vision snapped down to my hand, pupils trembling.
That noise, it was coming from my palm.
Something inside it was breaking.
Boom.
Fire didn't just burst out.
It exploded.
A violent surge of flames tore free from my hand, wild and uncontrolled, blasting forward with enough force to obliterate every target in front of me. The air itself seemed to scream as the heat ripped through it, distorting everything in sight.
The recoil sent a shock through my arm and, suddenly, everything tilted.
"Ugh…"
The ground wasn't where it was supposed to be.
Or maybe I wasn't.
The world spun, colors smearing together, voices stretching into something distant and warped. My knees buckled without warning, and before I could even think about catching myself, darkness slammed into me.
***
Voices.
Distant at first.
Muffled, like I was underwater.
"—unstable—"
"—burn damage is severe—"
"—that wasn't his—"
Something cold pressed against my hand.
It stung.
Not like the fire, no, this was different. A sharp, biting cold that seeped into the burns, dragging a hiss out of my throat even in whatever half-conscious state I was stuck in.
Probably water.
No, more than water.
It flowed, wrapping around my hand with an unnatural smoothness, like it was alive. Gentle, but firm. It pressed against the ruined skin, cooling, soothing, mending.
"…easy… don't fight it…"
This is definitely professor Sylsima.
Her voice was softer now. Focused.
The pain dulled, just slightly.
Enough for the darkness to pull me under completely.
***
I was standing.
Somewhere.
But there was nothing?
No sky. No ground. No walls. No horizon.
Just… white.
Endless, empty white.
And in front of me a weird big circle.
Like, actually massive.
Perfectly round, hovering in the void like it had always been there.
It was completely empty.
I stared at it, something twisting uncomfortably in my chest.
Then, something poured into it.
Not physically. Not visibly.
But I felt it.
Energy. Power. Something undefined, something foreign trying to fill the circle.
For a brief moment, it seemed to accept it.
But then, it rejected it.
Violently.
The circle trembled, distorting as whatever had entered it was forced back out, expelled like it didn't belong there.
Again.
Something else tried to fill it.
Again, it was rejected.
Again.
And again.
And again.
No matter what touched it, no matter what tried to become part of it, the circle refused.
It stayed empty, like it wanted to stay that way.
A strange unease settled in my chest as I watched.
"What is this?"
My voice didn't echo.
The circle didn't respond.
It just remained there.
Silent.
Unchanging.
Empty.
***
"…he's waking up."
The white shattered.
Pain rushed back first.
A dull, throbbing ache pulsing through my hand, my arm, my head, like my entire body had been dragged through hell and barely stitched back together.
Then came the weight.
My body felt really heavy.
My eyelids twitched before finally opening, light stabbing into my vision.
Blurry shapes formed above me.
Figures.
A lot of them.
"…there."
"He's conscious."
"Lord Atlas, can you hear us?"
My vision slowly focused.
Faces.
All of them familiar.
All of them watching me.
…Why were all the professors here?
I swallowed, my throat dry as hell.
"…I… feel like shit," I croaked, my voice barely working.
Um, wait, no, that wasn't what I meant to say!
Everyone paused. Somehow, that seemed to ease the tension in the room just a little.
Professor Sylsima exhaled softly, her hand still lightly holding mine, cool water gently flowing over the bandaged burns.
"Well," she said, a faint hint of relief in her tone, "is your chest okay, Lord Atlas?"
"Mh, I suppose... I'm not feeling any pain there."
I'm so tired already. I want to yawn but that would look rude, right?
Actually, no!
What am I saying, I literally stopped a fire attack! I mean, more than that, it seems like it entered my body.
I sighed heavily. "Professors, what happened to me?"
Professor Sylsima sighed, scratching the back of her head.
"Basically... you absorbed the kinetic energy Lord Andrei shot." She tilted his head. "We tried making you do the same thing while unconscious and—"
"Um, what? While unconscious?"
"Yes. lord Atlas, and we came to the conclusion that your body... how to say it, can absorb any type of kinetic energy into your lattice, but apparently you can't store it in your core for long."
"Right, it forces it out?"
"...? Yes. We don't know why yet, but there are some theories."
Basically what I saw in that dream was my core.
And these immoral people basically experimented on me while I was unconscious.
Ugh!
"Principal Molianis is scheduled to be back in a hour or two. We'll discuss the matter with him, so rest."
"Okay, yes, thank you, professor Sylsima."
As they walked out, I laid there, staring at the ceiling.
This was quite the mess. I absorbed that energy, for some reason, but then rejected it right after. How does this make any sense?
But, at least, they don't seem mad about it, so I probably won't end into any trouble.
'But now, I'll definitely get their attention... ugh, I hate this.'
Then—
A sudden darkness.
A suffocating, pitch-black void that swallowed everything whole.
My breath caught.
"What, who…?"
The question left my mouth weakly, though I already knew the answer.
Only a few first years had a darkness attribute.
And there was only one kind of person arrogant enough to throw it around like this, an insufferable male lead bastard.
Before I could say anything else, something cold brushed against my face.
A hand.
Large. Firm. Unmistakably a hand.
It slid across my cheek, fingers curling slightly as if testing the shape of my jaw.
My stomach tightened.
"What are you doing?!"
I grabbed the wrist on instinct, trying to pry it away from my face, but it didn't move.
Not even a little.
Instead, another touch appeared.
A second hand settled around my neck.
Not squeezing.
Not quite.
Just… there.
Warm fingers resting lightly against the sensitive skin of my throat, the faint pressure enough to make my pulse throb against them.
My breath stuttered.
"…Hey."
My voice came out lower than I meant it to.
But seriously, was there really a need to grab me like this?
"Woah?!"
A sudden pressure wrapped around my ankle.
Then another hand closed around my left wrist.
My thoughts blanked.
…Wait.
Wait.
That made four.
Four hands.
Four.
My body went rigid.
The darkness pressed in from all sides, thick and suffocating, leaving me with nothing but the feeling of them.
One at my face.
One at my throat.
One at my wrist.
One at my ankle.
My breathing grew shallow as their bodies shifted closer.
Too close.
I could feel heat now, faint at first, then unmistakable. The brush of clothing. The subtle movement of air when someone exhaled. The barely-there graze of a knee against my thigh.
My heart slammed violently against my ribs.
"You… let go…!"
I tried to twist free for real this time, jerking my arm, kicking my leg, but their grips only tightened.
It wasn't painful, they're just... restraining me.
The hand on my wrist slid slightly higher, fingers wrapping fully around it now, thumb brushing once against the inside where my pulse raced.
The one at my ankle pulled just enough to shift my balance.
The hand at my throat tilted my chin upward.
And the one on my cheek, that one lingered.
Fingers tracing slowly along my jaw as if they had all the time in the world.
Someone stepped closer.
I could feel them now, right in front of me.
Close enough that if there had been light, our noses might have touched.
A quiet breath ghosted across my lips.
Warm.
Deliberate.
My entire body went still.
"You're awfully rude. Let go." I muttered, though the words came out far less steady than I intended.
A soft chuckle sounded somewhere in the darkness.
Low.
Dangerous.
Another voice spoke near my ear, so close the sound brushed the shell of it.
"You're the one who is thinking about us constantly."
My stomach dropped.
The fingers at my throat shifted slightly, thumb pressing just enough to make my pulse jump again.
And suddenly, I became painfully aware of something.
There were four of them.
And only one of me.
The hand on my cheek tilted my head again, slowly, almost lazily.
"So," a voice murmured in the dark.
"What exactly were you hoping to do to us?"