---
The wind carried voices now.
Soft ones. Angry ones. Voices that didn't belong to the forest.
They didn't come from within me… but from the ridge beyond the valley, where the old trail cut behind the cliffs. The voices weren't shouting. But they weren't whispering either.
They were looking for me.
I didn't run.
I sat on a crumbling pillar with my back to the cave wall, watching the light shift through the trees. A single candle flickered beside me. I hadn't lit it for warmth or guidance.
I had lit it to be seen.
If they wanted to find me… they wouldn't need to look hard.
---
Two days had passed since I saw the scouts burn the shrine.
One since the girl with the green robe pretended she hadn't seen me.
And yet… word had spread faster than fire in dry grass.
Now they came with blades.
Not drawn.
But not sheathed, either.
I heard them before I saw them... five this time. Three older boys. Two girls. Each carried a talisman marked with sect scripture. All five wore layered robes and bracers with the same inked crest, jagged at the edges. Minor sect. Valley-ranked. Known for purging outliers.
They didn't hide their steps.
They wanted me to hear them coming.
I didn't move.
---
They reached the edge of the broken stone path and halted.
The one in front stepped forward.
He looked maybe nineteen. Confident. Too clean for this part of the woods. His boots had no scratches. His hands had no scars. But his eyes carried the arrogance of someone who'd only ever been praised.
He tilted his head slightly when he saw me.
"So it's true," he said.
I didn't answer.
"The mark… the contract. The rumors are everywhere now. You've become a little legend."
Still, I said nothing.
He stepped closer.
"Your name is Jin, right?"
The others flanked him, forming a loose semicircle around the clearing.
"You were supposed to fade away," he said, almost with a smile. "A failed test. No root. No cultivation. Nothing to offer. And yet… here you are. Still breathing."
His gaze flicked toward my palm.
"You made a deal with something you shouldn't have, didn't you?"
I finally looked at him.
"I didn't ask your opinion."
That wiped the smile off his face.
"You're unregistered," he said coolly. "You carry a power not sanctioned by any sect. No permit. No license. That alone is enough to brand you."
"Then brand me," I said quietly.
---
He hesitated.
The others watched me with unease now. Not because I'd raised a hand. I hadn't. But because I hadn't lowered my gaze either.
I wasn't challenging them.
But I wasn't yielding.
"You think you're something now," he said, taking another step forward. "Because the forest hasn't eaten you. Because you survived what should have killed you. But surviving doesn't make you special."
"No," I replied.
"But neither does following orders."
---
He raised a hand.
And for a moment, I thought he'd strike.
But instead, he gestured toward me... and a glyph lit up in the air between us. A sealing mark. Crude. Premature.
It cracked before it finished forming.
His eyes widened.
"What…?"
The lines of the glyph warped… and then burned out in a puff of black smoke.
I didn't move.
But the mark on my palm flared softly… just once.
The girl beside him took a step back.
"This isn't just a rumor," she whispered. "He's really… tethered."
Another boy raised a warding charm, fingers trembling slightly.
"What if it's true?" he muttered. "What if that thing inside him… what if it listens?"
"It doesn't matter," the leader snapped. "It's still illegal."
"But he hasn't—"
"He exists," he spat. "That's enough."
He pointed at me.
"This is your only warning," he said. "Leave this place. Surrender your body to the cleansing rites. Or we'll force compliance."
My eyes never left his.
"You think I'm afraid of your compliance?" I asked.
He didn't respond.
"You call me evil… because I survived something you can't name," I said. "You fear what didn't ask for your permission."
The wind picked up.
The trees bent inward.
The shadows lengthened behind me, curling across the broken stones like smoke.
Not violent.
Not loud.
But seen.
They all saw it.
And they all stepped back.
---
"You think I want this?" I continued.
I stood slowly, letting the candle beside me go dark.
"You think I asked to be cursed? To walk without a root? To be cast aside by Heaven and forgotten by the very people I grew up beside?"
No one answered.
I took a single step forward.
"But I did survive. I kept walking. I listened to the silence when no one else would."
I raised my marked hand.
"And now… something listens to me."
---
The glow wasn't bright.
It didn't need to be.
Just enough to turn the stones beneath me black.
Just enough to make the grass shrivel.
Just enough to leave no doubt.
This power was not theirs.
It was mine.
---
They ran.
Not with shouts. Not with grace.
With panic.
Even the leader didn't look back.
Only the youngest one hesitated, glancing over his shoulder with wide eyes before vanishing down the trail.
---
I stood there for a long time.
Not triumphant.
Not shaken.
Just quiet.
Let them run.
Let them whisper.
Let them call me a monster.
---
That night, the voice returned.
Not loud.
Not laughing.
But pleased.
> "You did not beg."
"I never will," I murmured.
> "You did not hide."
"I never should have."
> "And they feared you."
"They should."
---
The ruins were quiet again.
The forest didn't press as close.
Even the stars seemed clearer.
I sat by the old shrine and closed my eyes.
I didn't want to fight.
But I wasn't going to flee.
And I wasn't going to convince anyone I was harmless.
---
Let them fear me.
Let the name spread.
Let the mark become more than a curse.
I would carry it.
Own it.
Make it the reason they remembered me.
---
Because I wasn't going to be erased.
Not again.
---