The Immortal That Wants To Die

MAI HASHIMOTO

We walked through the grand halls in silence, Adrien leading the way while Scarlett followed behind me like a looming shadow. I hated to admit it, but her presence was suffocating.....like standing too close to a storm that hadn't yet decided if it would strike.

When we reached an ornate door, Adrien opened it with a polite gesture, as if we weren't stepping into something far more dangerous than a mere office. I hesitated for just a second before crossing the threshold, and what I saw inside froze me in place.

The office was vast, lined with towering bookshelves and adorned with golden accents that glowed under the warm light. But my focus was yanked away from the luxury, drawn instead to the farthest corner of the room—where something waited.

It was massive. A creature I had no name for, its hulking form half-hidden in the shadows. Scales, dark and gleaming, shifted as it moved, its wings—tattered yet powerful—twitching at its sides. A long, sinuous tail curled around its body, and then, as if sensing my stare, it lifted its head.

Sharp eyes, intelligent and ancient, locked onto me.

A slow, deliberate exhale left its nostrils, heat distorting the air between us.

I didn't know what it was. Not a dragon—at least, not like the ones from stories. No, this thing was something else. Something older. Something watching me with an understanding that sent ice crawling down my spine.

Adrien snapped his fingers in front of my face, pulling me out of my thoughts with a sharp jolt. "Don't mind my wyvern, kid," he said, his tone casual, as if the monstrous creature in the corner wasn't even worth a second glance.

He moved toward his chair, sitting with a fluid grace that exuded effortless confidence—like he was the king of this room, and everything else was beneath him. With a languid wave, he gestured for me to sit.

I hesitated, unsure if I even deserved to be here, but eventually, I lowered myself into the seat, my spine rigid. The weight of Scarlett's presence felt almost suffocating, pressing down on me like a storm waiting to break.

Unable to ignore her, I glanced over my shoulder.

Her eyes locked with mine, and in that brief moment, I saw everything she wasn't saying. Her expression was cold, detached, unreadable. Yet, I could feel the contempt rolling off her. She didn't want to be here. Not with me. To her, I was nothing more than a distraction—a waste of her precious time.

And still, she stood there. Silent. Watching

"Why did Zehen have to wander off and leave me alone?" I muttered nervously,as my gaze slowy shifted back to Scarlett once again.

Adrien let out a soft chuckle, his eyes flicking over to me with a hint of amusement. "You surely get distracted easily," he remarked, his voice light but carrying an undertone of something sharper. As he spoke, he reached down to open the drawer beneath his desk with a smooth motion, the sound of the drawer sliding open echoing in the otherwise silent room. He pulled out a file, flipping it open with casual indifference.

His gaze remained on the papers in front of him, but his next words came without hesitation. "Are you always this scared?"

The question was simple, but the way he asked it....calm, almost friendly....made the air feel heavier. It wasn't just an observation; it was a challenge wrapped in kindness, like he was waiting for a response he already knew the answer to. And for some reason, the way he said it made the unease in my chest grow, rather than fade.

He then slid the file across the desk, his fingers lingering for a moment before he looked up at me. The file was thick, but it wasn't the size that caught my attention—it was the contents. As I opened it, my eyes scanned the pages, and my breath hitched in my throat. The file contained details about me—everything. My past, my upbringing, things I had long forgotten or never wanted to remember. But what really made my heart race was a specific note: my mana core was at the Awakened stage.

The words blurred before my eyes for a moment, but I couldn't tear my gaze away. Awakened stage.

A chill crept down my spine, and something clicked in my mind. The same thing Scarlet had said to me back at Zehen's apartment. She had mentioned something about my mana core too, but I hadn't understood it at the time.

"What is a mana core?" I asked before I could stop myself, the question slipping out before I could think better of it.

Adrien didn't seem surprised. He simply looked at me, his expression still calm, his voice steady. "We'll get to that soon enough," he said, his words almost dismissive, like the answer didn't really matter just yet.

And yet, something about the way he said it made me feel like I was about to learn a whole lot more than I wanted to.

Just as I parted my lips to speak, Adrien silenced me with a mere wave of his finger. It wasn't harsh, but it was enough—my voice caught in my throat, suffocated by the weight of his presence. His gaze was fixed on me, unblinking, like he could read every thought before I even had the chance to voice it.

"I believe you were informed about what the Divine Blessing and Celestials are," he said, the words slipping from his lips so smoothly, they felt rehearsed. There was no question—just an assumption that I knew, or at least should have known.

I nodded, but the unease in my chest tightened.

Adrien leaned back, hands clasped in front of him, his fingers tracing the edge of his desk like he was savoring some private thought. "Do you know your father did everything in his power to stop us from bringing you here?" His tone was casual, almost amused, but there was a razor-sharp edge underneath, and I could feel it in my gut.

I opened my mouth, ready to ask more, but the words died on my tongue as Adrien held up his hand, silencing me without a second thought. "Either way," he continued, as if the effort of stopping my father was of little consequence, "I don't really care to think about it."

A sense of powerlessness washed over me. He didn't care about my father's resistance. He didn't care about me. He was already past the point of explanations.

His fingers laced tighter together, the finality in his movements sending an almost imperceptible chill down my spine. "We know exactly who you are. You're one of us."

Adrien exhaled slowly, as if savoring the moment. Then, with a slight tilt of his head, he spoke, his voice smooth, deliberate—final.

"Say goodbye to your old life. The girl you were before you stepped into this room? She doesn't exist anymore. Your past, your choices, your father's desperate struggle to keep you away from this? All of it is meaningless now. From this moment on, you belong to something greater. And whether you accept it or not… it makes no difference."

"Oh, and don't even think about running away." His gaze locked onto mine, sharp and unyielding, a quiet menace lurking beneath his calm demeanor. "No matter how much you struggle, how much you resist, it won't change anything. You're already bound to this fate." His voice was steady, almost indifferent, yet it carried the weight of an unbreakable truth. "It's far too late to turn back now."

I wanted to deny it, to say anything, but the words felt hollow in my mind. I had no choice. He had already claimed my destiny, and I was nothing more than a pawn in his game.

Just as the air seemed to press in around me, suffocating me with the weight of his words, an earth-shattering explosion shook the room. The sound ripped through the silence, shaking the very foundation beneath us.

Adrien didn't flinch. His expression didn't change, still that unnerving calm. He leaned back in his chair, as if nothing in the world could disrupt his control.

"Your training begins soon," he said, his voice barely rising above the noise. But this time, there was a hint of something darker, something more dangerous. "But first... it seems we have an interruption."