Chapter 15 Danger
His danger.
"There's much you don't know," Cristal continued, her tone shifting from sweetness to authority so fluidly it made his chest tighten. "And you'll learn, little by little. But for now… you must prepare."
Prepare. The word hit him like a command. His body responded before his mind did.
"Alright, Cristal," Titus said. His pulse quickened. "I'm ready… I think."
"No," she said softly, and he froze.
"No?" he echoed.
"You're not ready." Her voice lowered to a whisper—warm, intimate, confident. "But you will be."
Titus felt heat coil in his stomach. Cristal always spoke like that—like she knew him better than he knew himself. Like she could see the parts of him he tried to hide from everyone else… and wanted to expose them.
"Tomorrow," she said, "I'll come for you. Don't fail me."
Titus nodded even though she couldn't see him. "Okay."
"Goodbye, my lord."
The line clicked off. But the echo of her words didn't. It pulsed behind his ribs, steady and deep, like a heartbeat that didn't belong to him.
He stared at his phone long after the call ended. His reflection hovered faintly in the black screen—the new him, the sharper him, the him who no longer needed glasses, who no longer limped, who no longer broke so easily. The him who shouldn't exist.
Yet here he was, alive and humming with something powerful and ancient inside him.
For the first time since the rooftop, Titus wasn't afraid. He welcomed what was coming. Maybe too much. Maybe dangerously so.
Disobedience
The next day, Titus put on his best athletic clothes. He wasn't even sure why—Bruno and Cristal never cared about what he wore—but something inside him wanted to look presentable, as if this day mattered. His stomach churned with a mix of fear, excitement, and that strange electric tension that crawled up his fingers every time he remembered the blue spark that had burst from his skin.
He didn't have to wait long. A sleek black SUV stopped in front of his house with a deep engine roar that rattled the window glass.
Bruno was behind the wheel. His presence alone was overwhelming. His massive frame filled the driver's seat, and his expression—sharp, focused, almost carved from stone—made Titus's chest tighten. When Titus opened the door, Bruno glanced at him, scanning him with a silent, clinical precision.
Titus climbed in, and the moment he shut the door, the SUV shot forward. The smell of hot asphalt and burning rubber faded as the city shrank in the rear‑view mirror.
Titus tried to breathe slowly to calm himself, but every time he looked at Bruno, his pulse spiked. Something important was going to happen today—something big, something that he wouldn't be able to stop or fully understand.
Cristal was waiting for them.
The place Bruno chose was a hidden clearing surrounded by rolling hills, tall trees, and an eerie, heavy silence. Morning light slipped between branches, painting long cold shadows over the ground. Dry leaves cracked softly under Titus's shoes.
Cristal stood beside a wide, flat boulder—like an ancient altar.
"Welcome, my lord," she greeted, her voice sweet yet carrying a strange, commanding tone. "I'll go first. I'll teach you how to use your blue power—that energy you used to burn the lock's circuit."
She gestured toward her twin. "After that, Bruno will teach you martial arts. He's the best. Black belt in Sambo. A combat expert since age five. The champion."
Cristal bent down, picked up a handful of dry leaves, and placed them on the rough surface of the rock.
"Focus, Titus. Clear your mind. Think about the blue energy—the spark. Make these leaves float."
Titus sat cross‑legged on the ground and closed his eyes. He tried—really tried. His mind strained, pushing for something he didn't understand. Cold sweat formed on his forehead from the mental effort. Again and again, the spark slipped through his grasp, refusing to obey.
But his persistence, combined with the deep and mysterious link to the golden blood, finally paid off.
A faint crackle. A cold, familiar blue energy seeped out from his palms, wrapping around him like a glowing aura. The leaves on the rock trembled… then lifted slowly, weightless, dancing in the air.
It worked.
The energy vanished abruptly. Exhausted, Titus fell backward and let out a breathless, triumphant laugh. Bruno handed him some water, and Titus drank as if it were a trophy. Pride and amazement washed through him; he felt accomplished, ready for a long rest.
But the rest never came.
Bruno stepped forward, his enormous shadow swallowing Titus completely. "My turn," he said. "Get ready."
Despite the fatigue from the mental strain, Titus stood up, smiling with genuine excitement. Something inside him—something fierce and new—pushed him forward beyond exhaustion.
He turned his head to stretch his neck… and froze.
The sunset.
7:30 PM.
"Nooooo!" Titus yelled, panic crushing all the pride from moments before. "We need to go! My parents are going to kill me! Bruno, Cristal—we're really late!"
All three of them sprinted toward the SUV. Bruno drove like a storm, pushing the vehicle to its limits, burning down the road and breaking personal speed records to get Titus home.
They screeched to a stop in front of his house at 7:55 PM. Titus's face was pale with stress as he jumped out of the SUV. He could already imagine the lecture, the disappointment, the anger.
Bruno and Cristal watched him from inside with a mix of pity and amusement. Before climbing back into the vehicle, Cristal stepped toward Titus. She leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his cheek.
"Good luck, Titus," she whispered with a tiny smile.
Then she returned to the SUV. The black vehicle drove away, leaving him alone in front of his house.
Titus walked to the door with his head down, bracing himself for the inevitable: the scolding, the arguments, the punishment. His heart thudded loudly as he reached for the doorknob—
But then he stopped.
A small, almost defiant smile crept across his lips. Because when he thought about it… even if his parents would be furious… it was worth it.
He had been with his friends. He had awakened a new power. He had felt, even just for a moment, like he belonged to something bigger.
And for Titus, that was everything.
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Hook: But something in the darkness was already moving, ready to change everything…