Awakened in a Realm of Magic and Blood

Cracks in the Cage

Andrew didn’t collapse immediately.

He stood there long after the others fled, chest rising and falling unevenly, eyes fixed on the doorway as if expecting them to return. His fists were clenched so tightly his fingers trembled. The adrenaline that had carried him through the fight still hummed beneath his skin, sharp and restless.

Then it faded.

The pain arrived all at once.

His knees buckled, and he barely caught himself against the wall. A sharp gasp escaped his lips as fire spread through his ribs, his arms, his legs—everywhere at once. His vision blurred, the world tilting dangerously.

“Hey—!” Eli rushed forward and grabbed him. “Don’t you dare fall now!”

Andrew let out a low breath, teeth clenched. “I’m… fine.”

“You’re lying,” Eli said flatly, hauling him toward the wall and forcing him to sit. “You’re always lying.”

Andrew slumped down, the strength draining out of him like water from a cracked cup. His head dropped back against the wood, eyes closing as he focused on breathing.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

The hut felt smaller than before. Quieter. Like it was holding its breath.

Eli finally broke the silence.

“…Since when could you fight like that?”

Andrew opened his eyes slowly. “I don’t know.”

Eli frowned. “You don’t know, or you won’t say?”

“I genuinely don’t know,” Andrew replied.

Eli folded his arms, staring at him. “That wasn’t panic. That wasn’t luck. You moved like you’d done it before.”

Andrew looked down at his hands. They were still shaking slightly.

“That’s the problem,” he said quietly. “It didn’t feel new. It felt… familiar. Like my body already knew what to do, and I was just watching it happen.”

Eli’s expression shifted from suspicion to confusion. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Nothing makes sense,” Andrew replied.

He took a slow breath and leaned his head back again. “When they rushed me, I didn’t think. I reacted. Angles, timing, distance—I didn’t calculate it. I recognized it.”

Eli rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re saying the old you knew how to fight.”

“Maybe,” Andrew said. “Or maybe this body learned how to survive before I ever woke up in it.”

Eli studied him carefully now. “You really don’t remember anything, do you?”

Andrew shook his head. “Just fragments. Feelings. No faces. No events.”

Eli let out a long sigh. “This is bad.”

Andrew glanced at him. “You keep saying that.”

“Because it is,” Eli replied. “You didn’t just beat some random troublemakers.”

Andrew straightened slightly. “Explain.”

Eli hesitated, then lowered his voice. “Ashwake House isn’t just an orphanage.”

Andrew waited.

“It’s where the city throws away what it doesn’t want,” Eli continued. “Kids without talent. Without backing. Without money. People like us.”

Andrew’s jaw tightened.

“The ones you fought?” Eli went on. “They’re not the worst. They’re just the ones closest to us.”

“Backed by who?” Andrew asked.

Eli hesitated again. “Low-tier factions. Talent scouts. Sometimes gangs. They let those guys run things inside Ashwake in exchange for information.”

Andrew’s eyes darkened. “Information.”

“Who’s strong. Who’s desperate. Who might awaken something useful,” Eli said. “And who’s disposable.”

Silence settled between them.

“So when you fought back,” Eli said quietly, “you embarrassed them. That doesn’t end well.”

Andrew let out a humorless chuckle. “It never does.”

Eli glanced at him sharply. “You’re not scared.”

Andrew met his gaze. “I should be.”

“But you’re not,” Eli said.

Andrew didn’t deny it.

He looked around the hut again—the cracked walls, the threadbare mat, the faint smell of mold and sweat. “I’ve lived in cages before,” he said slowly. “This one just looks different.”

Eli snorted. “Trust me, this one bites harder.”

Andrew turned to him. “Then we shouldn’t stay.”

Eli blinked. “What?”

“We should leave,” Andrew repeated. “Ashwake House. Blackmere City. All of it.”

Eli stared at him like he’d lost his mind all over again. “Leave? Just like that?”

“Yes.”

Eli laughed. “You really have lost your senses.”

Andrew remained calm. “Tell me why it’s impossible.”

Eli opened his mouth—then paused.

“…Because no one does,” he said finally. “Because the guards don’t care if you live or die. Because the city outside eats people like us.”

“Those aren’t reasons,” Andrew replied. “Those are fears.”

Eli bristled. “You think I haven’t thought about this? Every night I imagine it. Running. Escaping. And every morning I wake up still here.”

Andrew leaned forward slightly. “Then you haven’t found the right moment.”

Eli shook his head. “There is no right moment.”

Andrew’s lips curved faintly. “There will be.”

Eli stared at him for a long time. “…You’ve changed.”

“I died,” Andrew said simply. “That tends to change people.”

Eli swallowed. “If they report this… if word spreads—”

“Then staying becomes even worse,” Andrew interrupted.

Eli looked away, jaw tight.

Andrew softened his tone. “I’m not saying we run tonight. I’m saying we start preparing.”

“Preparing how?” Eli asked bitterly. “We have no money. No power. No place to go.”

Andrew’s gaze sharpened. “Then we find information.”

Eli hesitated. “About what?”

“About this world,” Andrew said. “Its rules. Its cracks.”

Eli scoffed. “You sound like you already believe you can win.”

Andrew looked at his hands again. “I don’t need to win. I just need to survive long enough to stop being powerless.”

That word hung in the air between them.

Eli exhaled slowly. “…You know,” he said, forcing a grin, “the old you used to say things like that too.”

Andrew glanced up. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Eli said. “Then you’d laugh and say it was stupid to dream.”

Andrew was quiet.

“…Maybe dreaming was the only stupid thing I stopped doing.”

Eli didn’t reply.

They sat in silence for a while, the weight of the conversation settling in.

Then Eli spoke again, voice lower. “There’s a rumor.”

Andrew’s attention snapped to him. “What kind of rumor?”

Eli hesitated, then leaned closer. “They say a caravan is coming. One tied to a minor cultivation sect.”

Andrew felt something stir faintly inside his chest. “When?”

“Soon,” Eli said. “They test people. Aptitude. Talent. Anyone who passes gets taken.”

“And anyone who fails?”

Eli shrugged. “They’re forgotten.”

Andrew’s eyes gleamed.

A test.

A gate.

A crack in the cage.

Eli watched him carefully. “Don’t get ideas.”

Andrew smiled faintly. “Too late.”