2025-12-01 23:19:48The ambulance doors slammed shut, drowning out the storm outside. Spencer lay strapped to the stretcher, chest burning, breath shallow.
Every bump in the road vibrated through him like a heartbeat he didn’t fully control. He hated that feeling. The medic sitting beside him checked the monitor. “Your vitals are unstable again. You’re”
“I’m fine,” Spencer whispered.
“No, you’re not. You went into cardiac arrest. You were struck by a vehicle. You”
“I said I’m fine.”
The medic froze. Spencer’s voice wasn’t aggressive… but something in it was sharper, heavier, almost commanding. The medic swallowed. “O–okay. Just don’t move.”
Spencer didn’t respond. His gaze drifted to his trembling fingers. They moved unconsciously in small patterns, circles, arcs, angles, like they were practicing something without his permission.
“What are you doing?” the medic asked.
“I don’t know.”
His fingers twisted again, forming a shape like a blade, then a fist, then something far more complex, movements so fluid and precise they didn’t feel human.
The medic stared. “That’s… that’s an advanced combat form.”
Spencer stiffened. “How do you know?”
“I served three years in a military awakener unit.” The medic’s voice lowered. “Those movements take elite soldiers years to learn, even with guidance.”
Spencer’s throat tightened. “I’ve never trained in anything. I don’t even know how to throw a proper punch.”
His hand moved again, this time faster, slicing the air like a knife. The medic flinched back. “Stop! You’re going to hurt yourself.”
Spencer grabbed his own wrist with his other hand, forcing it down. “I’m trying!”
But the instinct didn’t stop. It pushed. The ambulance hit a pothole. Spencer’s body reacted instantly, rolling off the stretcher, bracing for impact, stabilizing his balance like a trained acrobat.
He didn’t think. He just moved. The medic shouted, “How did you? You’re still strapped down!”
Spencer looked down. The straps had snapped. He stared at the torn restraints in horror. “No… no, no, no”
The medic backed away. “Sir, stay calm”
“I am calm!”
The broken metal buckle clattered to the floor. The medic whispered, “What are you?”
Spencer’s voice cracked. “I don’t know!”
The ambulance screeched to a stop. Hospital staff rushed in as the rear doors swung open. “Patient is unstable!”
“Get him inside!”
Spencer was lifted out, wheeled across bright hallways. Every fluorescent light stabbed his senses. Every heartbeat in the room echoed in his ears. He covered his head. “Everything is too loud…”
A nurse leaned close. “It’s the concussion. You’ll”
“It’s not a concussion,” Spencer muttered.
The nurse’s smile faltered. “How do you know?”
“I just do.”
He sensed her heartbeat, her breathing pattern, the tension in her wrist where she held the stretcher. He sensed a faint scar beneath her collarbone.
He sensed, Spencer grabbed the sides of his head. “What’s happening to me?”
No one answered They wheeled him into an examination room and closed the door. A doctor entered, clipboard in hand. “Spencer Ford?”
“Yes.”
The doctor looked him up and down with a strange, too-knowing expression. “So you survived.”
Spencer tensed. “What does that mean?”
The doctor pulled the curtain shut. “You were hit at 72 miles per hour. Your heart stopped. Your ribs fractured. You lost blood.”
He leaned close. “Humans don’t recover from that.”
Spencer swallowed hard. “I told you, I don’t understand any of this.”
The doctor asked quietly, “Did you see anything when your heart stopped?”
“I… heard voices.”
“Good. That means the process completed.”
“What process?!” Spencer snapped.
The doctor smirked. “Awakening.”
Spencer’s pulse spiked. “You know something. Tell me.”
The doctor reached for a syringe. “You’ll understand soon. Just relax”
“Don’t touch me with that.”
“It’s only a sedative.”
“No.”
“You need to sleep.”
Spencer sat up. “I said no.”
The doctor’s smile twisted. “You have no idea what you are now… but others do.”
He pressed the syringe. Spencer’s hand shot out, seized the doctor’s wrist, and twisted sharply. The syringe flew from the doctor’s hand and shattered against the wall.
The doctor screamed. Spencer’s eyes widened. “I—I didn’t mean, I just”
Footsteps thundered in the hallway. “Security! Get security!”
The doctor backed away. “You’re dangerous, Spencer Ford!”
“I’m not, I didn’t”
But even his protests sounded unnatural now. Security burst into the room. “Hands where we can see them!”
Spencer lifted his hands slowly. He didn’t want to fight. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. The closest guard lunged. Spencer flinched, and something inside him snapped open like a blade.
His vision sharpened. His heartbeat slowed. His instincts surged. The guard’s baton swung toward him, and Spencer twisted around it, grabbed the guard’s arm, and pinned him to the floor with effortless precision.
The second guard froze. “How did he move like that?!”
Spencer didn’t know. He didn’t want to know. “Stop attacking me!” he pleaded.
But his voice cracked with something sharp, something powerful that made the guards step back involuntarily. Fear.
They were afraid of him. Spencer’s breath shook. “Please… I’m not trying to hurt anyone.”
He staggered, leaning against the wall. And then, A whisper brushed his ear. “Not bad… for a first awakening.”
Spencer whipped around. No one was there. But he felt a presence. Like a shadow standing just outside his vision, watching him. Waiting.
The door opened again. This time, it was a woman, early 20s, pale coat, dark eyes that reflected too much understanding. She stepped inside, ignoring the guards trembling behind her.
“Spencer Ford,” she said softly. “We need to talk.”
Spencer backed away. “Who are you?”
“Someone who expected this.”
She approached slowly. “You heard voices when you died. You felt something rise in you. And now your body is moving on its own.”
Spencer’s throat dried. “How do you know that?”
“Because,” she said quietly, “I’ve seen awakenings before.”
Her gaze flicked to the broken restraints on the ambulance stretcher. Then to the shattered syringe. Then to the unconscious guard on the floor. “You awakened the God of War Physique.”
Spencer felt sick. “Stop saying that.”
“It’s the truth.”
He shook his head. “I’m not… whatever that is. I’m just a guy who works at a warehouse and tries not to get fired every week.”
“You survived death,” she said calmly.
“Not many do. Even fewer awaken something like this.”
Spencer collapsed into a chair. “I didn’t ask for any of this.”
“I know,” she said.
Silence filled the room. Then she added softly, “But someone chose you for it.”
Spencer looked up sharply. “Who?”
Instead of answering, she took a step closer. “Your accident wasn’t random, Spencer. Someone set it up.”
He froze. She held his gaze. “You were never supposed to survive. But when you did, you changed. And now everyone who knows the truth is looking for you.”
Spencer’s pulse hammered. “Why me?”
Her eyes darkened. “That’s what I want to find out.”
She extended a hand. “Come with me.”
Spencer hesitated. “Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
She smiled faintly. “But I’m the only one here who won’t kill you.”
Spencer stood slowly. As he stepped toward her, something on her wrist caught his eye. A mark. A faint glowing sigil.
The same symbol he saw on the ground where he almost died. The circle. The blade. The hand over the heart. Spencer’s blood ran cold. He whispered, “You were there… weren’t you?”
The woman’s smile faded. “Spencer,” she said calmly, “you’re asking the wrong question.”
She leaned close, her breath brushing his ear. “You should be asking why the sigil responded to you.”
Spencer’s heart pounded. “What are you saying?”
She stepped back. “I’m saying,” she whispered,
“you awakened something older than any martial art… older than any healer… older than this world’s memory.”
Spencer inhaled sharply. The security lights flickered. The woman tilted her head, studying him like a dangerous, unpredictable relic. “Tell me, Spencer…” she murmured.
“When your heart stopped, did you feel someone else inside your body… trying to take your place?”
Spencer froze. Because the answer was yes. And whatever it was, it was still there.
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CHAPTER 10 — THE BODY THAT DID NOT WAKE ALONE
Spencer slammed back into his body like someone dropped him from the stratosphere. He gasped, air stabbing into his lungs, vision spinning, Concrete above him.Moonlight. The cold loading dock. He was back. But something was wrong. “…Lira?” he croaked.Silence. He blinked hard. The world was unfocused, edges bending like heatwaves. He pushed himself up, trembling.His hands shook violently, silver light flickering under his skin like trapped lightning. “Lira… where are you?”Still nothing. His stomach dropped. She wasn’t here. “LIRA!” he shouted, louder, desperate.A faint echo responded, like his voice bounced off the wrong angles of the building. But no Lira. No shadow. No warlock. Just silence.Spencer whispered, “No. No, nononono, she wouldn’t leave me.”A cold voice answered from behind him: “You’re half-right.”Spencer spun, Lira stumbled out of the darkness. But she didn’t look like herself. Her face was pale. Eyes unfocused. Breaths shallow. Like she’d run for miles through ni
CHAPTER 9 — THE MEMORY THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST
Falling wasn’t the right word. Spencer wasn’t falling. He was dropping through himself.Blackness tore apart into shards of blinding white, flashing like broken mirrors, each reflecting pieces of him he didn’t recognize.A voice echoed, layered and ancient: “Remember.”Spencer shouted into the void, “No! I don’t want to remember anything!”Another voice, his own, whispered directly behind his ear: “You don’t have a choice.”He spun, His shadow stood inches from him in the empty void, more solid than before—bone structure forming beneath the darkness, faint muscles shaping. “Stay away from me,” Spencer breathed.The shadow stepped closer. “You called me.”“I DID NOT!”“You awakened. That is a call.”Spencer clenched his fists. “Where am I? What did you do to me?”“This is inside your remnant. Inside us.”Spencer’s heartbeat thundered. Inside them. Inside a past he didn’t want. Inside a truth he wasn’t ready for. “Let me out,” he said. “Now.”The shadow smiled slightly. “Escape requires
CHAPTER 8 — THE SHADOW THAT BREATHES
Darkness wasn’t absence. It was presence. It pressed against Spencer’s skin, cold, aware, predatory. A voice echoed in the void: “Breathe, vessel.”Spencer flinched. “Stop calling me that!”“Then stop behaving like one.”Light ripped open the darkness, He stumbled backward into a half-collapsed rooftop, heart hammering.Lira stood across from him, blade drawn, panting, eyes wild with panic. “Spencer, DON’T MOVE!”He froze. “What, what happened? Where’s the warlock?”“Forget him!” She pointed past Spencer.“Look behind you.”Slowly, dreading it, Spencer turned. His shadow was still there. Standing upright. Detached from his feet. Breathing in slow, unnatural rises. “Spencer,” Lira whispered, “it followed you through the shift.”Spencer backed away. “How?! Shadows don’t teleport!”“That’s not your shadow. That’s your remnant’s… shape.”The shadow tilted its head, perfectly matching the motion Spencer had just made. Except… slower. More deliberate. Hungrier. “Stop copying me!” Spencer sn
CHAPTER 7 — WHEN THE VESSEL OPENS ITS EYES
Spencer woke to the taste of metal. Blood? Power? Both?The world was a blur, shattered concrete, twisting fog, the faint echo of his own heartbeat returning in slow, brutal thumps. Lira’s voice cut through the haze: “Spencer, answer me. Spencer!”He groaned. “D-did I… die again?”“No. But something inside you woke up in your place.”“That’s… terrible news.”“Yes,” she said quickly. “That’s why we need to move, NOW.”But Spencer couldn’t move. His limbs trembled like electricity was still crawling through them. “What happened to the warlock?” he whispered.Lira stiffened. “I don’t know. You, your remnant, repelled him. Violently.”“Repelled him how?”She swallowed. “It screamed.”“That’s… disturbing.”“You’re telling me.”Spencer tried to sit up. “We need to check if he’s gone.”Lira grabbed his arm instantly. “No. Absolutely not.”“Why?”“Because if he’s still conscious, he’ll finish the extraction.”“And if he’s NOT conscious”“Then that’s even worse.”Spencer blinked. “…Why worse?”
CHAPTER 6 — THE WARLOCK WHO SPEAKS WITHOUT SPEAKING
The shadow at the end of the ruined road didn’t move. It didn’t breathe. It didn’t even sway in the wind. But Spencer felt it, in his bones, in the back of his skull, in the thing pulsing inside his chest.Lira whispered, “Spencer… don’t blink.”“I’m not even breathing,” Spencer whispered back.“Good. Don’t. Any movement might”The warlock’s voice suddenly slid between their thoughts: “Move. Don’t move. It makes no difference.”Spencer flinched. “Lira, he’s inside my head again”“He’s not,” she said.“Then what is he doing?”“He’s inside your remnant.”Spencer’s throat tightened. “Is… is it talking back?”Lira’s silence answered for her. The warlock lifted one hand, slowly, precisely, as if raising a curtain. All the fog around them tightened inward, spiraling like a slow-turning whirlpool.Lira stepped in front of Spencer. “Don’t respond,” she hissed.“I’m not!”“I meant the remnant.”Spencer swallowed. “Can you stop it?”“No. I can only delay it.”“How long?”“Minutes,” she said. “M
CHAPTER 5 — THE HEART THAT ISN’T HIS
The symbols on the ground glowed faintly, pulsing like a heartbeat. Spencer stumbled backward as the message dissolved into dust. “Lira… what does it mean? Awakening too fast? How fast is too fast?”Lira didn’t answer. She didn’t breathe. She stared at the dust as if it were something alive. “Lira?” Spencer whispered. “Talk to me.”Finally, she spoke, soft, strained, terrified. “It means your remnant isn’t dormant anymore. It’s… accelerating.”“Isn’t that good?” Spencer asked desperately. “Doesn’t that mean I’m getting stronger?”“No,” Lira said sharply. “Awakening doesn’t mean strength. It means instability.”“Lira”She grabbed his wrist. “Spencer, listen to me carefully. If the remnant wakes too fast, it won’t merge with you.”“Then what does it do?”“It replaces you.”Spencer’s breath froze. “You’re joking.”“I wish I were.”He stepped away from her, chest tightening. “No, no, this can’t be happening. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want any of this!”Lira followed him slowly. “No
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