Deep existed in a placid void, untethered from time and space, possessing only the sensation of flight with an unbelievable, effortless grace. It granted him a boundless sense of freedom he had never experienced before in his waking life. Strangely enough, the act of soaring through the open air did not feel alien to him at all; it carried a profound, haunting familiarity. It was as though, ages and lifetimes ago, traversing the skies at a whim had been as natural as breathing.
Eventually, this weightless dream reached its end as he descended, hurtling downward toward a distant presence that called out to him with magnetic urgency. It felt precisely like returning home. He offered no panic, nor did he resist the pull, welcoming the embrace entirely. He seemed to burrow seamlessly through a soft membrane, instantly regaining the physical mass and heaviness that had been absent during his celestial flight.
Deep's eyelashes fluttered, and he opened his eyes.
When consciousness fully returned, he braced himself for blinding agony. The harrowing memory of the hunting knife tearing relentlessly through his heart remained vivid, untouched by the fantastic dream he had just experienced. To his utter shock, however, no agonizing pain wracked his frame. Even more startlingly, he was not sprawled upon the harsh, unforgiving stones of the alleyway when he came to. Instead, he was resting comfortably on a familiar mattress. He was right back in his own flat.
How did I get here? More importantly, why am I not dead?
As those chaotic questions swirled through his spinning head, a heavy sigh broke the quiet—one that clearly did not belong to him. Startled, he snapped his gaze sideways, only to find his eccentric boss, Velis, seated casually on his modest sofa. Velis was dressed in weathered leather trousers, scuffed old boots, and a faded rock band T-shirt. He possessed the lean, lithe physique of a long-distance runner, appearing tall without being imposing.
Seeing that Deep was finally awake, Velis spoke up, his tone dry. "I remember having a conversation with you when you first started working for me. Something about leaving all the mysterious antiques strictly inside the shop whenever your shift ended."
Deep did not answer immediately, distracted and speechless.
Instead, he stared down at his bare chest in profound astonishment. He had naturally expected to find a grievous, fatal injury, yet his skin was entirely unblemished, smooth as silk. Furthermore, his pectoral and abdominal muscles were sharply defined. Though he remained slender, his entire physical frame seemed to have undergone a profound metamorphosis while he was unconscious.
He had always been physically weaker than his peers growing up, yet now he felt a surge of vitality and power that far exceeded anything he had ever thought possible. Testing his newfound strength, Deep swung his legs over the edge of the bed until his bare feet landed firmly on the creaky wooden floorboards. He stood up slowly, carefully gauging his balance. Discovering no trace of dizziness or weakness, he tentatively flexed his arms and legs. Everything functioned with terrifying perfection. Completely ignoring Velis, who sat watching him from the sofa, Deep walked over to the full-length mirror leaning against the wall.
Indeed, it was no mere illusion. The unblemished skin, the lean and rock-solid musculature—all of it was real. Yet none of these dramatic physical changes were quite as arresting as his eyes. In the dark, inky pools of his irises, his pupils had transformed into brilliant, vertical silver gaps cutting through the void.
"This kid, you really are something else..." Velis murmured, looking thoroughly exasperated.
"Yes, I remember that conversation. My bad. Did you save me?" Deep finally spoke, his gaze still locked onto the striking reflection in the mirror.
"Saved? Well, you could certainly put it that way," Velis replied, eyeing him with a strange, contemplative expression.
As expected of that notoriously bellicose clan, what terrifying battle instincts, Velis thought inwardly, recalling the uncanny scene he had stumbled upon.
He still vividly remembered shifting into the dark alleyway. Deep had been completely unconscious, his eyes glazed and unseeing, yet his body had been moving with lethal precision, absolutely demolishing a reanimated corpse. The narrow alley had been thoroughly smeared with shredded flesh and putrid, dark blood. Even as the adversary was systematically reduced to a pulp of meat and bone, the lingering look of utter confusion frozen on the corpse's face had almost evoked a strange sense of pity.
"The catalyst that saved you was actually the awakening crystal you inadvertently brought out of the store," Velis elaborated, noticing Deep's dragon-like silver pupils shift toward him.
"There are rare entities in this world born with immense, inherent power. They are known as mystical creatures. On occasion, when those powerful beings perish, they leave behind a remnant of their essence. That remnant frequently takes the form of a crystal. After extensive research, ancient scholars coined a term for them: Awakening Crystals. They grant ordinary mortals the chance to cross the threshold and become mystical beings themselves. That is precisely what happened to you in that alley—you awakened as a mystical entity thanks to my crystal." At that point, Velis pursed his lips in an exaggerated pout, clearly still miffed that his valuable property had been consumed.
Deep fell into a deep silence as he processed every word. The fantastic tale Velis had just spun sounded utterly unreal, straight out of a myth. Yet Deep was not someone prone to stubborn denial or panic. In fact, he possessed a remarkably adaptable mind, allowing him to accept extraordinary new facts with surprising speed.
"So, you're telling me that I somehow awakened and completely neutralized the monster in that alley?" Deep zeroed in on the core of the matter. "Though, I honestly don't remember any of it."
"The fact that your memory of the fight is blank isn't directly linked to the awakening itself," Velis clarified. "The truth is, you already carried a dormant mystical creature bloodline within your veins. It was that latent heritage that got violently stimulated by the crystal's awakening energy, taking over your body and allowing you to utterly wreck that corpse."
"Bloodline? Corpse? That 'man' who ambushed me in the alley was actually a dead body?" Deep felt a sudden, chilling draft sweep down his spine.
"Yes, to be precise, it was a reanimated corpse. Most likely manipulated and driven by someone greedy enough to hunt down the awakening crystal you were carrying. As for your specific bloodline, I only managed to identify the name of the ancient clan you descended from: the VoidBreaker Clan. It's a formidable branch originating from the legendary dragon lineage."
"My parents weren't human, then? I honestly don't remember anything about my life before I was eight years old," Deep said abruptly, a hint of vulnerability coloring his voice. He had always sensed something fundamentally abnormal about his past, but with no memories, he had never been able to investigate. When he had first gained conscious awareness of the world, he had simply been a lone street rat fending for himself in this sprawling city.
"One of your biological parents certainly wasn't human, that much is guaranteed. But you carry distinct human genes as well, which means the other was undoubtedly mortal. As for your missing memories, they must have been intentionally sealed away behind mental barriers for one reason or another. There are plenty of high-level mystic spells capable of achieving that kind of amnesia."
Deep lapsed into silence once more. The sheer volume of revelations crashing over him was overwhelming; he desperately needed a moment to breathe and anchor himself. He exhaled a long, steady breath, slowly bringing his racing thoughts under control.
"Try to reach inward and touch your soul; you should be able to do it now," Velis suggested, gently changing the subject as he sensed the boy's strained emotional state. "Focus your mind on your mystic path and its true designation, and your innate spells will reveal themselves. We need to fully understand your new capabilities."
"How do I do that?" Deep asked, looking toward his mentor.
"You should be able to manage it intuitively. Just try slipping into a meditative state, clear your distractions, and direct your focus completely inward," Velis instructed.
Without hesitation, Deep crossed his legs and settled squarely onto the mattress. He closed his eyes, striving to regulate his breathing as though drifting off into a deep slumber while desperately maintaining a razor-thin thread of conscious awareness. Suddenly, his perception expanded exponentially, rendering him hyper-aware of every minute detail around him. Gathering that vast awareness, he funneled it deep within his own psyche.
For a long, agonizing moment, he sensed nothing out of the ordinary. Just as doubt began to creep in and he was on the verge of giving up, a luminous projection abruptly materialized before his mental eye. It was an intricate series of unknown, archaic characters intricately linked to two distinct chains of symbols.
Despite having no prior knowledge or formal study of the language, Deep found his mind effortlessly deciphering its hidden meaning:
Path: Dragon of Order
Innate spells: Observer of Law; Breaker of Law
Bloodline: VoidBreaker Dragon-eagle Clan