THE UNSEEN VEIN-EDGAR

CHAPTER 1 B — THE MOMENT HE SHOULD HAVE DIED

Edgar stared at Master Shin, the words clinging to the inside of his skull like frost. “Abilities that should have died… centuries ago?” Edgar repeated. “What does that even, I don’t… I’m not”

Shin lifted a hand. “Breathe.”

“I am breathing!” Edgar snapped, voice shaking. “Barely, but I’m, none of this makes sense!”

“It isn’t meant to. Not yet.”

Edgar’s heartbeat pounded hard enough to make his fingers tingle. “Start explaining before I pass out again.”

Shin’s expression didn’t change, but his eyes softened by a fraction. “Very well.”

He stepped back, giving Edgar a moment to stand on his own. Edgar wobbled but remained upright.

“The world you know,” Shin began, “is only one layer of reality. Beneath it is a society of awakened individuals, people who discover dormant abilities tied to their mind, body, and life force.”

Edgar blinked at him. “You mean superheroes.”

“No,” Shin replied calmly. “Superheroes are fiction. Awakening is… survival.”

“That… that doesn’t help.”

Shin continued unfazed. “Most awakened gain one ability. A specialized skill. Some fight. Some heal. Some manipulate energy.”

Edgar rubbed his arms, suddenly cold. “And me?”

Shin exhaled slowly. “You did something that violates every rule we understand. You used two schools of awakening, simultaneously.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your healing was instantaneous. That is the domain of medical awakening. Yet the force you emitted when I touched your hand…” Shin paused. “That was martial.”

Edgar’s face twisted. “That doesn’t explain why any of this happened to me.”

Shin studied him for a long moment. The rain had softened around them, but the alley still felt like a cage. “You unlocked your power by accident,”

Shin said. “Near-death experiences often trigger awakenings. But what you accessed, something long lost, something that should be impossible, that was chance… and fate.”

Edgar snorted. “Fate hates me.”

“Perhaps,” Shin said. “But it also chose you.”

Edgar shook his head. “No. You’re wrong. I’m not special. I’m not important. I’m just”

“Stop,” Shin said sharply.

Edgar flinched. Shin’s voice lowered. “You survived fatal trauma. You repaired broken bone. You manifested two disciplines at once. That does not happen to someone who is ‘just anything.’”

Edgar stared at the ground. “I don’t even know how I’m still standing.”

“Because your body remembers.”

Edgar’s head snapped up. “You keep saying that. What does it mean? How can a body remember something it never learned?”

Shin hesitated, an unusual crack in his composure. “That,” he said quietly, “is what I intend to find out.”

Before Edgar could respond, the street behind them creaked. A shadow blocked the alley’s entrance, large, shifting, wrong. Edgar tensed. “Please tell me that’s a friendly giant.”

“It is not,” Shin said.

A deep voice rolled across the alley. “Step away from him, Shin.”

Edgar’s stomach twisted. “You, you know him?”

Shin’s jaw clenched. “Unfortunately.”

The figure stepped forward, massive, broad-shouldered, raincoat dripping. His face was hidden behind a metal mask with three vertical slits. Edgar whispered, “Who is that?”

“A collector.”

“Collector of what?”

Shin didn’t answer. The masked figure’s voice was cold metal scraping stone. “The boy is marked. You know the rules. He belongs to the Syndicate now.”

Edgar’s blood ran cold. “Belongs to? Excuse me, I’m right here! I belong to nobody!”

The collector laughed, a chilling, hollow sound. “Your awakening registered a spike. You’re valuable. Highly valuable.”

Edgar’s skin crawled. “That sounds like a threat.”

“It is,” Shin said.

The collector raised a hand the size of a brick. “Step aside, Shin. You don’t need to die for him.”

Shin didn’t move. “He is under my protection.”

“That protection ends tonight.”

Edgar’s panic surged. “Okay, I know I’m new to all this, but can we not play tug-of-war with my life?!”

Shin spoke without looking at him. “Edgar. Get behind me.”

“What? Why?”

“Because the next few seconds will be unpleasant.”

The collector lunged. The alley exploded. Not literally, but Edgar felt something erupt: a pressure wave, invisible but crushing, slamming against the walls hard enough to crack brick.

Rain spiraled backward as if the air itself recoiled. Shin hadn’t moved. He simply existed differently, like the space around him bent out of respect.

The collector skidded to a halt mid-charge, boots grinding against the pavement. “You improved,” the collector said. “Barely.”

“You stagnated,” Shin replied. “Completely.”

Edgar gaped. “Are, are you guys about to fight?!”

“Yes,” Shin said.

“Yes,” the collector echoed.

Edgar threw his hands up. “Great. Cool. Love that for me.”

Shin lowered his umbrella, letting the rain finally touch him. “Edgar,” he said calmly, “close your eyes.”

“W–why?!”

“Because you are not ready to see this.”

The collector surged forward. Shin exhaled. And the world vanished in motion. Edgar didn’t see the strike, only the aftermath: the collector slamming into a dumpster so hard it dented like aluminum foil.

Steam rose from his mask, sparks flickering. Edgar whispered, “What… what are you?”

Shin didn’t answer. The collector pushed to his feet, cracked his neck, and growled, “Fine. If you want to protect the boy… die with him.”

Edgar’s breath froze. Shin stepped forward, but paused. “…Edgar.”

“Y-yes?”

“Run.”

“What?! NO!”

But Shin was already moving, intercepting the giant. Edgar stood frozen between instinct and fear, until the collector’s fist struck the ground where Edgar had been standing a second ago, pavement exploding.

Pure terror ripped through Edgar’s spine. He ran. He didn’t look back. He didn’t breathe. He just ran, past garbage bins, through puddles, slipping on wet asphalt, until the sounds of the battle behind him warped into impossible echoes: thunder that wasn’t thunder, metal shrieks, pulses of force.

Edgar gasped, stumbling into the open street, chest heaving. “What is happening to my life…?”

He backed against a wall, trembling as adrenaline burned through him. Then a hand clamped onto his shoulder. Edgar screamed. “Stop shouting,” a voice said sharply.

He turned, It wasn’t Shin. It was a woman in a black hood, eyes sharp, rain dripping off her lashes. A badge glinted against her belt, one he’d never seen before. “You’re Edgar Holman,” she said.

Edgar’s mouth went dry. “Who… are you?”

“Aria Vale. Awakened Enforcement.”

“Awakened… what?”

She tightened her grip. “You’re coming with me. Now.”

He yanked back. “Why?!”

Her eyes locked onto his, cold, focused, dangerous. “Because you just became the most valuable target in this city. And if Shin didn’t already tell you…”

She leaned in. “…your death might be worth more than your life.”