‘Wh-Where am I…?’

  Leo was suspended in a dark space, as if he was floating in water. There was nothing but darkness surrounding him. The bloody arena, the frenzied crowd, the unconscious Anthony—nothing was there.

  A barrage of thoughts rushed to Leo’s mind as he began to lose himself in thoughts.

  ‘Did I win?’

  ‘What’s happening right now?’

  ‘Am I dead?’

  “Hello?”

  Leo tried calling out to the void. But the silence persisted.

  ‘Great…’

  All Leo could do was float around. But after a few minutes, he felt a change occur. Information he hadn’t known before surged into his mind. Not just any information either, information about his Refraction. It felt like his mind had unlocked a forgotten memory as it naturally seeped into his head.

  According to the information, his Refraction was based on creating shockwaves. That would explain the quakes in the arena before. His limitation was that he could only create shockwaves in places he had touched.

  The only issue was, the information that was given to him hadn’t exactly explained how to use this Refraction. Was it a feeling? Did it come naturally? Additionally, he was limited to just close-range so far. Maybe mid-range fights with what he did to the floor, but that didn’t do much damage to enemies.

  ‘How should I deal with this…What the?!’

  Leo felt a tug as his vision blurred, his body disappearing from the dark space.

  He opened his eyes to see a bright light shining above him. He groaned, trying to move but felt a huge surge of pain as he moved his waist. He lowered his head to see bandages covering his waist and some medicine rubbed above his ribcage.

  His ribs had been healed, but the bruises and cuts he had gotten remained.

  He moved his head around to see the familiar scenery of the MedBay. Other contestants could be seen in other beds either groaning in pain or fast asleep. The bed Amanda had been on was replaced with a bloody contestant being treated by the healers. It seemed Amanda had departed to the actual city.

  The thought brought a warm smile to Leo’s face.

  “How thoughtful.”

  Leo looked to his side with a flustered expression to see Teddy beside him resting his head on his arm, a grin painted on his face.

  Leo coughed in embarrassment. “Wh-What are you doing here?”

  “To see you of course. You caused quite the damage to the arena, you know?”

  “Ah, I’m sorry.”

  Leo tried to bow in apology but stopped as his body screamed in pain, lowering himself back to laying on the bed.

  “Don’t worry about it, yours wasn’t the worst damage today.”

  ‘Someone else destroyed that giant arena…? Even more than I did?’

  Leo shuddered at the thought. What the hell happened in that fight?

  “But that’s besides the point. Congratulations on becoming a Smogborn, my little Unchained!”

  ‘Little!? Wait, that’s besides the point.’

  “Unchained?”

  “Ah, an Unchained is what we call people who recently awakened their Refractions. You’ll be briefed about that weird thing later. But how do you feel?”

  Leo’s eyes just scanned his own body before looking at Teddy with a blank stare. He made a sarcastic smile. “Better than ever!”

  Teddy awkwardly smiled. “Ahahah, yeah…Don’t worry you’ll be as good as new by tomorrow. I could only get the healer to recover your ribs, but everything else was basically non-fatal.”

  “Thanks…” Leo looked at Teddy to see his bare right arm with the sleeves shredded, the bronze skin exposed. “Um, what happened to you?”

  Teddy looked down at his torn sleeve. “Oh it’s nothing, just a minor disagreement with somebody. But I must say, quite the Refraction you’ve got. You wouldn’t mind telling me would you?” His eyes filled with pure curiosity.

  Leo slightly shook his head, careful not to hurt himself. “No can do, I’m not too sure about it myself anyway…”

  Teddy’s head drooped in disappointment, his mouth curving slightly downward. “Alright…”

  He was sorry, but he couldn’t exactly trust Teddy completely. Not yet. Leo believed that the less information they had on his Refraction, the better. Plus, had Teddy told him of his Refraction?

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Leo suddenly tensed up. “Wait, how did the match go?! Did we pass!?”

  Teddy looked up, his mouth curved into a calm smile but his eyes shone brightly. “Oh, you passed with flying colors. I’m more shocked you actually won, Thane isn’t a very easy opponent, you know?”

  A question popped into his head. “Um, just a quick question. What had happened to Thane? What did he even do?”

  Teddy thought for a bit. “I’m not sure of what he did. But if you’re referring to his scars, all I know was that he was put in as a war-drone. Maybe he got it from his battles outside.”

  “And before you ask, war-drones are basically just people sent into the reprocessing facilities and made into what you would call shock troops. The first guys into a battle and the last out, assaulting the enemy before any other. I’m more shocked he’s survived this long considering his strength.”

  He was weak…That’s reassuring…

  “What happens now…?” Leo worriedly looked at Teddy, hoping nothing bad would come to him.

  “Just heal and prepare for the next trial. Don’t worry, this trial is still ongoing so you’ll have time to rest. The next trial will probably be in two days I believe?”

  Leo exhaled in relief, his body relaxing. “Where’s Anthony, by the way? I don’t see him here.”

  “Anthony? Ah, your teammate. He’s probably in your room. From what I heard from the nurse, he was completely fine with little to no damage on his body.”

  Leo’s eyes shot to Teddy, filled with confusion. “What? That’s impossible, he took a lot of his attacks head-on! He was knocked unconscious for goodness sake.”

  Teddy simply shrugged. “Ask the others, they’ll tell you the same. Get plenty of rest, though. You deserve it.”

  Patting his good shoulder, Teddy left the room, leaving Leo to the screams of other patients and his own thoughts.

  Anthony was fine? But he was exhausted in that fight, unconscious even! Something doesn’t add up…Unless…

  Did he pretend?

  Leo’s mind scrambled, thinking of the possibility. With his current behavior, it’s possible…But he had been sure Anthony had broken a rib, and his skull should’ve taken some damage from the last attack Thane threw at him…

  ‘I’ll talk to him when I recover…’

  As for Thane, he wanted to look into Thane and see what exactly he had done and what had happened to him. For some reason it left a bitter feeling not knowing the full story of Thane. Something just didn’t add up with Thane’s actions, why did he smile at him towards the end of the fight?

  Shaking those thoughts away, Leo blankly looked up at the white, dotted ceiling.

  ‘What do I even do…’

  He couldn’t move. And everyone around him was either asleep or in too much pain to talk to.

  Maybe he should’ve asked Teddy to stay.

  Huffing in regret, Leo closed his eyes, deciding he might as well just sleep it through. The screams made it hard to sleep, but eventually, the noise dulled as his mind drifted to a dream.

  He dreamed of an unfamiliar family in a small wooden house. A man and woman, probably a couple, towered over him as they picked him up. He thought they were giants until he realized he was the baby.

  Why was he a baby…?

  He struggled out, but the mother just laughed, patting his back causing a burp to come out of his little mouth.

  ‘My god, it does work.’

  Then, Leo’s eyes widened as he saw the man was…perfect?

  Too perfect

  His features were as if it had been crafted by a master sculptor. His white hair cascaded down his head like freshly fallen snow, untouched and soft. His skin was flawless—smooth and pale, like an unpainted canvas. His eyes were a rich, earthy brown, like polished mahogany under a candlelight—depe and warm, yet impossibly ancient, as if entire lifetimes were resting behind them.

  ‘Wait…’

  Upon closer inspection, Leo saw small stubs on the man’s forehead. No, not stubs, they were horns!

  In a panic, Leo pointed at him, trying to get the mother’s attention. All it did was bring a laugh out of her.

  The mother spoke to the man, no, the demon. But Leo couldn’t understand. Damn this baby’s mind! But he could guess what she had said as she handed him over to the demon.

  ‘Uh, mother?!’

  Leo struggled as the demon embraced him, careful not to hurt Leo, or in this case the baby.

  Though his infant mind couldn’t grasp the words from the woman, the demon’s voice cut through like sunlight through a morning fog—clear, warm, and impossible to ignore.

  In a soothing voice, the demon said, “Shhh. Don’t be too anxious, my child. You are a very special child from a very special couple. Be calm, no, be proud!”

  Leo, struggling to break free, pinched the demon’s nose.

  This seemed to have surprised the demon as he tossed his head back laughing.

  “A fighter, very good. As expected of my blood.”

  He nustled his nose into Leo’s face. Causing Leo to shake his head, tickled by this act.

  “Ahahaha! Just try and escape, my little demon.” Now the demon tickled his stomach, careful to not let his nails cut him.

  Unable to hold it in, Leo burst into laughter as the onslaught continued.

  Suddenly, the demon stopped as he looked towards the door. His expression wore a much more grave look, his eyes annoyed at whatever he was looking at.

  “Sorry, honey. I need to go.”

  He looked down at Leo, giving a pat to his head. “I’ll be back, little one, take care of your mother now!”

  After hugging the mother, he phased out of the home.

  Unconsciously, Leo, or the baby, reached for where the demon had been. Seeing him disappear, he burst into tears.

  At that moment, the world swirled into darkness once again. Opening his eyes, he had returned to the Medbay, the sunlight peeking in from the open slits in the wall.

  Curiously, he felt something wet running down his face. He raised his hand to feel some liquid on his face.

  He touched his face to see where it had come from and to his dismay…

  Tears were falling down his cheeks.