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It started with a whisper.

No... not even that. It was more like a hum. A sensation that ran just under my skin whenever I closed my eyes.

It had been a while since the Hollow King's blood entered me.

And I hadn't been the same since.

At first, I thought it was just paranoia. I kept checking my reflection in the mirror, half-expecting horns to sprout or my skin to turn grey.

But...my face stayed the same.

My body looked as it always did.

Except it didn't feel like mine anymore, I don't know how to explain it but there seemed to have a fundamental change in my body.

No matter how many times Venus grandpa ran tests on me, mana scans, or rune readings, nothing abnormal showed.

No curses.

No bindings.

No awakening sequence.

Nothing.

But every time I slept, it was like I was slipping into someone else's memory.

The first dream was of a battlefield, but not one I recognized.

The sky was a deep crimson, not from blood, but from the very atmosphere itself—thick, cloudy, charged with energy.

I stood on a cliffside overlooking a strange world: twisted trees made of crystal, cities floating in the air, and an army below.

But they weren't human.

Their silhouettes were tall, their bodies lean, but the most distinct part was that each of them had horns.

Some small and spiral-like.

Others long and jagged like blades.

Hollows, I realised soon, thousands of them.

And they weren't preparing for war.

They were preparing for defence.

A council stood gathered around a throne made of obsidian stone. A voice echoed in the air—deep and commanding.

I couldn't see his face, but I felt his words burn into my bones:

"The humans come not for peace. They come with fire in their hearts and greed in their eyes."

The council murmured. There were mentions of preemptive strike, retaliation, and invasion.

And somewhere behind it all, a whisper of divination seemed to be echoing in my mind softly.

Then I woke up in a cold sweat.

The second dream was worse.

This time, I was in a chamber. Smaller. Intimate.

There was a child curled in a corner—barely ten. Her horns were short, like nubs and black hair tumbled across her pale shoulders as she held a glowing orb.

She wasn't scared.

She was confused.

And above her, that same deep voice spoke again—not angry this time, but broken.

"Forgive me."

He raised a blade.

I remember screaming in the dream— running forward to stop him.

But he didn't strike her.

Instead, he sliced a mark into the air and drew something out of her. A long strand of mana, thick like liquid light, which twisted into a small vial—similar to the one I found.

The child blinked, dazed. Her horns faded. Her eyes dulled and she suddenly started looked more...human.

He sealed the vial, kissed her forehead, and whispered again.

"You'll be safe now. One day, you'll come back to us."

That's when I woke up again—this time gasping for breath, the blanket twisted around me like a noose.

I didn't tell Venus.

Not yet.

Because how the hell was I supposed to explain that I was dreaming about memories that didn't belong to me?

Dreams that felt older than me?

I didn't want to believe what they hinted at. That maybe this wasn't an accident. That the blood hadn't "chosen" me out of instinct—but because it was meant to.

Because it had always been mine.

Even now, sitting on the bed, I could feel it pulsing quietly beneath my skin like a second heartbeat. It wasn't alive, not in a sentient way, but... it knew me.

And worse—I was starting to know it.

A part of me kept drifting into thoughts that weren't mine. Strange words would slip into my mind, like names I'd never heard before. Places that didn't exist on Earth.

Rituals I didn't understand but somehow remembered.

What if I wasn't going crazy?

What if this was just a reawakening?

I hugged my knees tighter to my chest.

Was that what the Hollow King had done? Removed all those parts of himself from his daughter and sealed them in blood, only to have them returned someday?

Had he known the humans would never spare her if they found out what she really was?

And was I...that girl?

The thought terrified me.

Not because of the truth.

But because of what it meant.

I stood up and quietly walked outside the house.

It was early in the morning, I remember grandpa Venus telling me he wouldn't be available today as he had some Auction to attend as a guest of honour.

Even Noah had long left the place, getting ready as if he was going out in a date or something...

In the past few days, I realised that it had become harder and harder to open up to him...

To talk to him and spend time with him like we used to.

I did not even realise when my eyes turned moist.

I missed him.

...I missed us.

Promising myself to talk to him about everything happening to me and how grandpa was acting weirdly, I realised that I could not help but subconsciously walk towards the treasury again.

Since everyone was already familiar with me and knew I frequently visited his place, no one interfered as I wandered through the aisles again.

I did not know why, but when I reached the place downstairs, the doors to the treasury were already opened.

Swords made of stardust.

Preserved wings from ancient beasts.

Time-shifting hourglasses.

I didn't even pause this time.

None of it called to me anymore.

Not after what I'd seen.

But I still found myself standing in front of that empty display pedestal—the one where the blood flask had once been.

Its surface was still slightly warm.

There was a plaque there now. Newly added. Written in Venus's careful script:

Specimen Removed: Hollow King's Residual Blood.

Status: Unknown.

Do not replicate.

Integration risk extreme.

I traced my fingers over the engraved words.

And for the first time, I noticed something behind the pedestal—a faint scratch on the stone floor.

Almost like...claw marks. Or writing. I leaned down, squinting.

It wasn't random.

It was a symbol.

A language I didn't understand with my eyes, but somehow knew in my bones.

I mouthed the words without thinking, my voice barely audible:

"Kry'alith... Ves'taron..."

My lips froze.

I didn't know what it meant. But I felt it.

Like a name.

Or maybe...a command.

The blood inside me pulsed, and the room suddenly grew colder.

I stood up sharply.

That was enough for one night.

I didn't know what the hell was happening to me, or why those memories felt so real. I didn't even know if they were memories or hallucinations.

But one thing was certain:

I was changing.

Not just in strength or mana.

But in identity.

And deep down, I knew something was coming.

Something big.

Not just for me.

But for everyone.

***