Bound by the king of destruction

It felt louder than I remembered. Brighter, too. Neon lights spilled from towering buildings, bleeding into smoky clouds above. Giant screens floated through the air, cycling advertisements and streaming news like living banners.

People rushed past, faces glowing beneath visors and wrist-links, drones hovering obediently overhead.

It reminded me of old clips I'd seen of Tokyo at night—only sharper, quicker, colder… less human. The city didn't sleep anymore; it simply swapped masks. Leaning my head against the cool taxi window, I watched colors and noise blur into one chaotic symphony.

So many people. So many voices, yet none of them mine. I felt like a ghost among the living, unseen, unheard.

"District 7," the taxi driver muttered, glancing irritably at his scratched dashboard. "Home of money and broken manners."

I didn't respond, my gaze fixed on the strange, glowing sky. The chaos behind me meant nothing. The sky looked more real than anything else.

Suddenly, the world screamed.

CRACK.

A blur of metal and flashing lights rammed into us, jolting us forward. My teeth slammed together, breath snagging between fear and fury. The taxi's front crumpled like paper with a deafening shriek. No airbags deployed just the harsh, merciless collision.

Smoke hissed from the taxi's hood. Beside us stood an untouched luxury vehicle, sleek as polished onyx, its windows dark and unyielding, completely unscathed.

"What the—?!" The driver kicked open his battered door and stormed out, fists clenched. "You rich scum think you can just crash into people like it's a game?!"

The driver's door of the luxury car opened slowly, smoothly. A man in a pristine dark suit stepped out calm, polite, bowing slightly to diffuse the tension.

"It was my fault, sir. I'll handle everything."

"Damn right you will!" the taxi driver snarled, his anger unsoftened.

I climbed out, gripping my bag, barely sparing the ruined taxi a glance. It wasn't going anywhere.

"Hey, calm down. No one's hurt," I murmured, but the driver was too far gone.

It's pointless sticking around. I have to walk the rest of the way.

The suited man handed over a thick wad of bills, instantly silencing our cab driver. As I passed them, Van fused into my body. He hated walking long distances, always complaining.

"The city's so crowded and noisy. I wanna go back home," he muttered inside.

"No one asked you to come along."

Inside the dark luxury car, a figure sat hidden behind tinted glass. He didn't move, head tilted slightly, eyes half-lidded watching. Not the crash, not the confrontation. Me.

As I walked past, his lips moved rhythmically, chanting softly:

"Venak'shur… Teluvahr… Venak'shur… Teluvahr…"

Several steps beyond, something shifted. Subtle but sharp, a tension gripped the air. My back began to burn, fierce and relentless. A strange glow seeped through my jacket, smoke curling from my shirt.

Van pulled away from my chest, splitting like twin shadows, grumbling about the heat. I ignored him.

My right iris shifted from blue to vivid red, unnoticed by Van on my left. Even as my jacket scorched, I kept moving uneasy, but unwilling to stop.

Then a deep voice called out, resonant and powerful, speaking my full name from nowhere:

"Fiel Ashenhive… How I've waited for this day."

"Oh, shut up."

It was the same voice that haunted my dreams always calling, always burning.

The figure in the car's eyes widened in shock. He had heard the voice too, heard my name. He twisted to look through the dark glass, but couldn't see clearly. Finally, he stepped outside, dressed in sleek, casual luxury. Pale green hair gleamed under the city lights, his eyes scanning the street.

His driver noticed immediately. "Mr. Elyen, please get back in the car. People might recognize you and make a commotion."

Elyen stayed silent.

"Mr. Elyen, your Aunties will have my head if something happens to you out here."

I forced myself onward, stumbling as dizziness dragged me under. Van separated fully, watching helplessly as I veered into a dark corridor and collapsed hard.

He rushed closer, yanking off my jacket. My shirt was gone, burned away to ash and scorched threads, exposing seared skin beneath. My head buzzed with disjointed whispers I couldn't decipher.

Pain hammered my skull. It felt like something was clawing its way out of my bones, ripping screams from my throat. My left eye flared, blazing red.

"This isn't good," Van muttered. He raised his hands, rotating them in a swift circular motion. Water shimmered into existence, hovering between his palms, only to boil instantly.

"This is worse than I've ever seen," he whispered, panic creeping into his tone.

"It hurts… it hurts so much…" My voice cracked with every breath.

Van began murmuring incantations, he clenched his fists then extended only his index and middle fingers on both hands, weaving complex shapes in the air. His voice stayed steady, rhythmic:

"Calmness to evil in the presence of greatness… Voste'alesna… konan'ka…"

Everything he did blurred together, but this wasn't the first time I'd seen it. I'd just never asked.

He repeated it, tirelessly shaping a shimmering white orb that flickered, collapsed, and reformed, each failure forcing him to start again.

At last, the orb stabilized, suspended in the air like fragile glass. Van shifted his gestures and released it.

The force struck me gently yet decisively, knocking me unconscious.

Van exhaled, relief softening his face as he knelt beside me. The white orb lingered for a heartbeat, then blinked out, its energy spent.

"This is why I can't leave you alone," he muttered with a long exhale. "Thankfully… it always works."

The alley fell silent, the weight of something unseen still clinging to the air. Van's gaze flicked toward the street, catching a flash of pale green hair turning sharply away, retreating to the luxury car.

Suspicion narrowed his eyes, but he turned back to me. He settled beside my body, watchful, waiting for me to wake.

There's something off about that guy, Van thought, his gaze sharpening. The air around him… it felt just like yours.