The night had gone quiet — too quiet. No hum of insects, no echo of the forest that surrounded them. Only the soft hiss of cooling engines and the faint, burnt scent of the Wendigo's remains.
Tyler sat on the cracked asphalt, elbows resting on his knees. The adrenaline had drained from his veins, leaving behind an aching stillness. His heart still beat too fast, but the fear was gone, replaced by something heavier: awareness.
He'd transformed.
In front of someone.
And not just anyone — Toji Zenin.
The man stood a few meters away. The crimson light still shimmered faintly on his fist before fading. He exhaled slowly, shoulders rising and falling as if shedding invisible weight.
Tyler watched him. For all the chaos they'd just endured, Toji looked… unbothered. Maybe even calm. His shirt was a lil dirty, his jacket coated in dust, but his eyes were sharp, alert, calculating — like nothing had changed.
"Do you ever, like," Tyler began, voice cracking slightly, "react to anything?"
Toji looked over his shoulder, one brow raised. "You want me to scream or something?"
Tyler managed a weak laugh. "Would be nice to know you're at least human."
Toji replied. "Depends on your definition."
Tyler tilted his head. "You saying you're not?"
Toji didn't answer right away.He went towards the fallen bikes. "You transformed," he said simply. "You good with that?"
Tyler blinked. "You're… not freaked out?"
"Are you kidding me l just told you a minute ago Fucking NO l am not freaked out" Toji replied calmly, crouching beside his Ducati to inspect the tires. "Besides a Hyde's not new to me.
Just don't lose control near my bike."
Tyler snorted. "Wow. Touching. I pour my guts out — literally — and you're worried about your ride."
Toji glanced up. "It's a Ducati. Priorities."
Tyler laughed harder than he should've. It was shaky, half-hysterical, but real. The tension that had gripped his chest since the transformation started to ease.
For the first time in years, someone hadn't looked at him like a monster.
He pushed himself to his feet, grimacing. His jeans were torn, his jacket slashed. The asphalt had chewed through his skin in places, but he was already healing. The Hyde's regeneration worked faster when his emotions calmed.
Toji noticed the wounds closing. "That's new."
Tyler shrugged. "One of the perks, I guess. Makes me hard to kill."
"Hard," Toji said, standing, "but not impossible."
Tyler shot him a mock glare. "Comforting."
Toji smirked faintly — the closest thing to warmth he ever showed. "You'll live."
He walked over to the wrecked Ninja 300, nudging it with his boot. The front rim was bent nearly in half. "Your bike's done."
Tyler groaned. "It was barely mine. You lent it."
"Then I just saved myself from lending again."
Tyler rubbed the back of his neck. "So what now? We walk?"
Toji turned his gaze toward the horizon. The night sky was beginning to pale at the edges — dawn bleeding through. "We ride. You take the back seat."
Tyler blinked. "You serious?"
Toji swung a leg over the Ducati. "You'd rather run from another one of those things on foot?"
Tyler's jaw dropped. "Another— you mean there's more?"
Toji's silence was answer enough.
Tyler sighed. "Right. Of course there is." He climbed on behind Toji, awkwardly at first. "Just saying, this is weird."
His dick was har–
"Then don't think about it, weirdo" Toji said, starting the engine. The Ducati growled awake, its roar cutting through the dawn.
As they sped off, the forest began to breathe again. The mist thinned, and the trees whispered in the wind. But something lingered in that silence — a pulse, faint yet steady, somewhere deep within the earth.
The Wendigo was dead, yes. But not alone.
---
They reached a small diner an hour later, somewhere on the outskirts of Westford. The sign flickered weakly: Lenny's Breakfast & Brew.
Inside, the smell of coffee and bacon wrapped around them like normalcy trying too hard.
Toji took the booth farthest from the window, back to the wall. Tyler followed, still buzzing with leftover adrenaline.
A waitress approached with tired eyes and a polite smile. "Coffee?"
"Black," Toji said.
"Same," Tyler added. Then paused. "And maybe… six pancakes?"
Toji glanced at him. "You eat that much?"
Tyler smirked. "After turning into a monster and nearly dying? Yeah."
The waitress acted as if she heard nothing , writing it down,Noded, then left.
For a while, silence filled the booth — the good kind. The kind that happens when words can't add anything.
Tyler finally broke it. "So… Wendigo, huh?"
"Yeah."
"You sounded like you knew what it was."
"I do."
"Mind sharing with the class?"
Toji leaned back, eyes narrowing slightly as if watching a memory replay on the diner's walls. "They were once human. Cannibals cursed for their hunger. But this one wasn't natural. It was made."
"Made? Like… science project gone wrong made?"
"No," Toji said. "Something older. You don't make a Wendigo with machines. You make it with despair."
Tyler frowned. "Despair?"
"Every creature born of curse starts with it. Enough pain turns anything human into something not human."
Tyler stared at his coffee, his reflection rippling in it. "Guess that explains me too."
Toji looked at him, expression unreadable. "You're not cursed, Tyler. You're just...unfinished."
Tyler blinked. "That supposed to make me feel better?"
"Should. Means you've got a choice."
The words hung there, heavier than either of them wanted to admit.
Before Tyler could reply, the doorbell chimed. A man walked in — long coat, gloves, pale as winter itself. He moved quietly, his gaze sharp and deliberate.
Toji's body tensed instantly.
The man approached the counter, ordering something in a low tone. But his eyes flicked once, subtly, toward their booth.
Tyler noticed. "You know him?"
Toji's jaw tightened. "No. But he knows me."
"How—"
"Shut up," Toji muttered, sliding a small knife from the restaurant under the table. "He's not human."
Tyler froze, heartbeat spiking again.
The stranger turned his head slightly, meeting Toji's stare across the diner. His lips curved into a thin, knowing smile.
Then he raised his coffee cup — a mock toast — before setting it down and walking out the door.
Tyler let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Okay… what the hell was that?"
Toji didn't answer. He stood, eyes still locked on the doorway.
Tyler frowned. "Toji?"
Finally, Toji spoke, voice low and unreadable. "The Wendigo wasn't hunting us on its own."
Tyler blinked. "You mean—"
"It was sent."
"To kill who?"
Toji's gaze hardened. "Me."
---
Outside, the stranger stepped into the rising dawn. His gloved hand brushed against the air, and the faint outline of frost spread across his sleeve.
He whispered softly, almost to himself —
"Veylar's curse have awaken. The seal weakens."
Behind him, the wind carried a single echo — faint but growing. The sound of claws scraping stone deep beneath the earth.
---
Geez this was interesting wonder who might that gentleman may be.