I was broken, waiting for Mr. Park to come and rescue me. Life itself seemed to stall, time dragging forward at a painfully slow pace.
The only interactions I had were with the guard who brought my food, and occasionally No. 7, who never stopped trying to persuade me to join GID.
I thought of the 'GID' dogs as nothing more than brutes who lived only for fighting, yet, to my surprise, they carried themselves with a kind of twisted civility.
Still, in my heart, I knew one thing: no matter what these GID dogs did, I would never join their organization. But one question kept bothering me, why me? If they already had warriors stronger than I was, and more resources than I could imagine, what need did they have for someone like me?
To survive the endless days, I turned to training. My routine became everything: mornings to nights spent in practice, short hours of rest after eating, and then back to it again.
Mr. Park had once taught me the foundation, concentrate and condense the ether in one place, then force it through the body to open the pathways. Each pathway opened meant more ether could flow.
The pathways were like highways. Ether seeped into my body through special pores in the skin, invisible yet always present. It coursed through the pathways, reached the brain, and became the fuel for powers not of this world.
The more pathways I opened, the more I felt the ether pulsing within me. Slowly, I could endure larger flows of energy, and even shape it.
Zero guided me through it all. Unlike Mr. Park, who only knew ether in theory, Zero had lived it. His instructions were more practical. He corrected every mistake, pushed me when I faltered, and reminded me of my limits only so I could break past them.
Day after day, I felt myself growing stronger. Ether no longer felt foreign. For the first time since being trapped here, I felt a spark of control.
Meanwhile, No. 7's visits became less frequent. Weeks passed, and eventually, he stopped coming altogether.
To be continued...