My First Pet Is a Nightmare God

Chapter 4: Cast Aside

The heavy silence that followed me through the corridors felt far more oppressive than any laughter had been. I walked straight to the residential wing without stopping, my steps measured and deliberate. My assigned room sat on the lowest level standard treatment for F-rank students. The space was small and dimly lit, with thin walls that carried every distant sound from the upper floors and a faint smell of mildew that the maintenance crews never fully eliminated. It suited my new reality perfectly. No one wanted to live near failure.

I pushed open the door and stepped inside to find Lina already waiting.

She sat on the edge of my bed with her knees drawn up and her fingers twisting the hem of her uniform jacket. Her usual bright energy had vanished, replaced by something fragile and uncertain. Lina Crest had been my only real friend since the first year, the one person who had stayed even when others drifted away. Cheerful and talkative, she had always dragged me into pointless conversations just to pull me out of my own head.

Today she looked as though she might cry at any moment.

“Lucien…” Her voice cracked slightly. “I saw the feed. The whole academy is talking about what happened.”

I closed the door behind me and leaned against it for a moment. “Then you already know everything.”

She stood up slowly, her eyes searching my face for any sign that this might all be some terrible mistake. “An F-rank cracked egg? That is almost unheard of. They are saying your beast did not even form properly. Some people think you received a dud on purpose, like some kind of punishment”

“It hatched,” I cut in quietly.

Lina blinked in surprise. “What?”

“It hatched tonight in one of the lower annexes.”

Hope flickered across her expression. “Really? What is it? Can I see it? Maybe it is late-blooming or something rare that the scanners missed ”

“No.” The word came out sharper than I intended. The presence inside me stirred with clear displeasure at the idea of being put on display. “You cannot see it. Not yet.”

She stepped closer, reaching out as though she wanted to touch my arm but stopping halfway. “Lucien, talk to me. You have trained so hard for this. This cannot be the end. We can appeal to the instructors, or perhaps Master Orion knows something about unusual eggs”

The door burst open without a knock.

Two more figures entered the room. Selene, the girl who had called herself my girlfriend for the last four months, stepped in first. Tall and sharp-featured, she carried the confident air of someone whose wind hawk bond already showed strong potential. Her brother Jace followed close behind, arms crossed and looking bored and superior.

Selene wasted no time on pleasantries.

“It is over, Lucien.”

The words dropped into the room like stones into still water.

Lina spun around. “Selene, what are you”

“Stay out of this, Crest. This does not concern you.” Selene’s eyes stayed locked on mine, cold and calculating. The same eyes that had once looked at me with something approaching affection when I still seemed like someone worth climbing the ranks with. “I saw the ceremony. F-rank. A cracked and dying egg. My family has expectations, and I cannot be tied to failure. Not when my wind hawk is already showing clear S-rank potential.”

I watched her without expression while the new darkness inside me coiled tighter, quietly amused by the performance. She had once looked at me with something approaching affection when I still seemed worth the climb. Now she discarded me without hesitation or remorse.

“You are ending things because of an egg,” I said flatly.

“Not ending things. We were never serious to begin with.” She gave a short, brittle laugh. “Come on, Lucien. You knew this was coming. Everyone did. The strong pair with the strong. The weak get left behind. That is simply how our world works.”

Jace snorted from the doorway. “She is doing you a favor. Save yourself the embarrassment of getting dumped publicly later.”

Lina’s face flushed with anger. “You cannot just”

“I can, and I am,” Selene snapped. “Lucien, do not make this harder than it needs to be. Stay away from me. Stay away from my circle. If anyone asks, we were never together.”

She turned to leave, then paused at the door and threw one last look over her shoulder.

“Oh, and good luck with whatever finally crawled out of that broken shell. Try not to die too quickly.”

The door slammed shut behind them with terrible finality.

The room suddenly felt smaller and colder.

Lina stood frozen for a moment before she whirled toward me, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “Lucien… I am so sorry. She is awful. You do not deserve any of this. I will talk to her, or”

“Do not.” I moved past her and sat on the edge of the bed, staring down at the floor. “It does not matter anymore.”

“But it does!” Her voice rose, cracking with emotion. “You are not nothing. You have always been quiet and strong in your own way. This egg situation is only a setback. We can figure it out together. I am not leaving you like she did. I am your friend”

The presence inside my mind spoke then, its voice smooth and certain. She will leave too. They always do. But I will not. You belong to me now.

A sharp knock sounded at the door.

Before either of us could respond, an academy official stepped inside, stern-faced and holding a clipboard. “Drax, Lucien. Effective immediately, your housing has been reassigned to the outer dorms under F-rank protocol. Your training privileges are suspended pending review. Report to logistics tomorrow for reassignment to support duties.”

He placed a new keycard on the small table and left without waiting for any reply.

Lina’s face crumpled completely. “This is not fair…”

I picked up the keycard. It felt cheap and final in my palm.

Everything from my old life was being stripped away piece by piece friends, status, future. All because one egg had cracked the wrong way. Yet beneath the sting, a cold spark of detachment settled in. They had shown their true colors quickly. That knowledge carried its own quiet satisfaction, a small victory in the midst of defeat.

Lina reached for my hand, but I pulled away gently.

“Go home, Lina. It is late.”

She hesitated, tears finally spilling over, then nodded and slipped out of the room. The door clicked shut behind her with quiet finality.

I sat alone in the dim room, the new keycard still cold against my skin.

They had all cast me aside without hesitation.

Yet in the quiet that followed, the presence inside me swelled and wrapped around my thoughts like possessive shadows. Good. Now there is only us. And soon they will all regret throwing away what is mine.

A faint smile touched my lips, cold and unfamiliar, carrying traces of something that no longer felt entirely my own.

The door to my old life had slammed shut.

And something far darker had already stepped through the crack.