The forest swallowed him whole.
Kaito ran blind beneath the towering pines, bare feet slick with mud, lungs on fire. Behind him, the village burned. Flames licked the night sky. Smoke and lightning painted the trees in flickering gold and shadow.
Boom. Another thunderclap. he heard another scream.
He forced himself to keep running.
Raijin-ke scouts hunted the survivors. Kaito had seen them with his own eyes—tall figures wrapped in armour that shimmered with blue arcs of power, lightning spears flashing in the dark.
Tamayōgu weapons.
Real ones.
The stories hadn't lied. With a twist of their wrists, the Raijin warriors had hurled spears of pure lightning across streets. Flame-katanas cut through timber and flesh alike, leaving trails of molten ruin.
Kaito could still smell the burning wood. The burning people.
Uncle Hajime…
A sick knot formed in his gut. He had no idea if his uncle was still alive.
All that mattered now was getting away. Staying alive.
The ground beneath him blurred. Branches tore at his arms. Blood ran down his side from a shallow spear graze. His body ached with every step, exhaustion clawing at his bones.
Then came the voices.
"Over here!""Tracks, he's heading north!""Fan out!"
Kaito's breath caught.
He turned sharply, slipping down a slope slick with moss and rain. Stones tumbled in his wake. He didn't dare stop.
The storm broke overhead sheets of icy rain hammering the forest. The downpour hissed against the leaves, masking his steps. A small mercy.
But the scouts were relentless.
Crack. A bolt of lightning split a tree nearby. The scent of ozone filled the air.
Kaito stumbled on a root and crashed to his knees.
Get up. Move.
Every instinct screamed at him to keep going, but his limbs barely obeyed. His vision blurred at the edges. Blood loss. Fatigue. Cold.
He pushed on, half-crawling now.
A jagged ridge rose ahead, sheer stone and slick moss. Kaito scrambled upward, fingers clawing for holds. His breath came in shallow gasps.
Voices echoed below.
Closer.
One more step, one more desperate pull, and then cursedly
The ground gave way.
Kaito shouted as the earth beneath him crumbled. The world tilted. He tumbled backward into darkness, a shower of rocks following him.
Down. Down.
His body slammed into stone and earth. A sharp crack at his shoulder. The world spun.
Then all he saw a black.
Total darkness.
Drip. Drip.
Cold water on his face.
Kaito groaned, forcing his eyes open.
Darkness surrounded him. A faint, flickering glow came from moss on the walls. He was lying at the bottom of what looked like an ancient, abandoned mineshaft. It looked forgotten and sealed long ago.
Pain lanced through his ribs. His left shoulder was half-numb.
Above, the collapsed earth showed no path back. The forest and the hunters might as well have been a world away.
Alone.
His throat was raw. His stomach ached with gnawing hunger.
He coughed, spitting blood. "Damn it…"
Shivering, Kaito dragged himself upright. His torch was gone. Only the faint bioluminescence gave any light.
As he crawled deeper into the shaft, something caught his eye. there was a faint glint among the rubble.
A stone chest, cracked and half-buried.
Curiosity warred with exhaustion. But something inside him urged him forward.
With trembling fingers, he brushed away the dirt and pried the lid open.
Inside lay a single object:
A chunk of raw Soulstone but not like the others. This one pulsed faintly, alive. Its colour was wrong deep crimson threaded with black-blue veins, like muscle and blood.
Organic.
Kaito's breath caught.
An Organic Soulstone? He'd heard drunken tales in the mine—stones that weren't forged, but somehow alive. Stones that bonded deeper than armour or blade.
Body. Blood. Bone.
Impossible. But there it was.
And gods, he was starving. Feverish. His head throbbed with every beat of his heart. The air felt thick, too thick.
I need strength.
The stone seemed to pulse in response, as if hearing his thoughts.
Fingers shaking, Kaito lifted it from the chest. It was warm almost alive in his grasp.
A voice—his own, or something deeper—whispered:
Consume. Become.
He was too far gone to resist.
Bringing the stone to his lips, Kaito bit down.
It shattered like brittle glass—releasing a wave of liquid fire. The taste of blood and iron and ash filled his mouth.
Pain followed.
White-hot agony tore through him. His veins burned. His body convulsed.
He screamed—but no sound escaped. The stone's essence flowed through him, claiming him.
Visions swirled:
A serpent of smoke coiling around his spine. A heart of flame beating beneath his ribs. His skin cracking, glowing faintly beneath.
Bond.
Kaito's last thought before darkness claimed him:
I'm going to die.