Aston stared long at the letter, the words blurring behind unshed tears. His fingers tightened, the edges of the paper crumpled a bit. His mind refused to process what he had just read.

  For years, he had convinced himself otherwise, that his parents were faceless shadows in the past, that they did not care or love him to the point of abandoning him. It was easier to accept being alone than to hope for something that had never been there. But now… the letter - their words, their love…

  His eyes darted across the paper, pausing at certain phrases.

  We are sorry for leaving you… We never want to leave you… Know that we love you…

  He gasped for air. He wanted to believe the words written on the letter. Desperately. But a part of him resisted. The part where he lived alone for two years, without comfort and love. The part with unanswered questions, the part where he stared at the cracked ceiling countless times wondering… why? Why had they left him? Why did they get to love him from afar but he had to live and suffer alone?

  A shaky inhale filled his lungs. His grip on the letter loosened, afraid that he would further damage the paper.

  A sudden jolt was felt on his lap, waking him up in his reverie. The kitten stirred, letting out a soft meow, as it nuzzled into him. The small gesture grounded him. Aston released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

  A bitter chuckle let his mouth. “Guess I’m not alone after all, huh.”

  The kitten only purred in response.

  Aston looked back at the letter, forcing himself to read the last lines again.

  No matter what happens… you are not alone… you are loved…

  He let those words settle, let them weigh down on his heart. And for the first time, he wasn’t sure if the ache in his heart was from the pain, or from hope.

  Aston exhaled slowly, his grip on the letter tightening before carefully folding it and setting it aside. His gaze drifted back to the open box, to the objects his parents had left behind.

  He then emptied the contents of the box one by one, the egg, the crystal, the vials, then the card. Upon the card’s removal, the screen that once retreated onto the sides of the box, once again came to life and formed the smooth surface.

  Then, it lit up, and the mechanical voice was heard in the air once more.

  “Items removed… Authentication confirmed… Initiating protocol.”

  Aston tensed as the screen’s glow intensified, lines of text flashing across its surface before settling into a single line.

  [Subject is requested to ingest the silver vial.]

  His fingers instinctively tightened around the silver glass vial. He stared at it, the swirling liquid exuded a metallic sheen under the dim light. His breath felt uneven as he rolled the vial between his palm and fingers.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Drink it? Just like that?

  The screen had requested him to drink the contents of the vial. Did it mean he had a choice? He doesn’t even have that much of a choice. He’s a clear, a person with almost no potential.

  With a twist, he unscrewed the vial and tipped it against his lips.

  The moment the liquid touched his tongue, a strange sensation spread through his mouth - cool, yet oddly viscous and metallic. It’s like drinking cooled blood, but much thicker.

  Aston can feel the liquid flowing down unnaturally smooth into his esophagus. The cool sensation traveled through his chest, then his stomach, then back to the chest, climbing its way to his neck, then the head, then…

  A sharp, piercing pain exploded inside his skull.

  He barely managed to brace himself as his body convulsed. The pain wasn’t just a headache. It was something invading him. Something foreign. It felt as if something was digging in the area between his eyes. His palm flew to it as he doubled over, a strangled sound escaping his throat.

  The kitten woke instantly. Its ear flipped as it let out a distressed meow, its tiny claws gripping his shirt as it scrambled up to his chest.

  Aston then felt something happening. Something coalesced into his head. Then, he realized. The silver liquid was not just some chemical to be swallowed - it was embedding a device inside him.

  The kitten butted its head against his jaw, meowing loudly with frantic urgency. As if trying to soothe him, Aston tried gritting his teeth, barely holding back a groan as his head pulsated.

  And then… silence.

  The pain slowly washed away, leaving only a dull, lingering throb. His vision, blurred at the edges, sharpened once more.

  Seeing its human feeling okay, the kitten let out a soft meow. Still pressed against him, it kneaded its tiny paws into his chest. Aston exhaled shakily, lifting his hand to scratch its head.

  “I’m okay…,” he muttered.

  The kitten let out one last meow before settling down, still keeping its ear perked as if standing guard.

  A faint hum resonated from his skull, like a distant buzz of an active machine. A moment later, the screen in the box then flashed a few texts different from the first one.

  [Neurological connection detected. Transmitting main interface via wireless across neural pathways. Uploading… 3%... 12%... 27%...]

  The kitten, sensing the shift in the atmosphere, perked up once more. Its tail flicked anxiously as it peered between Aston and the glowing box.

  Aston could feel something pulsating inside his head, as the text and numbers on the screen changed, seemingly counting down to a hundred.

  [...86%... 98%... 100%... Transmission complete. Detecting spatial instrument core. Initializing spatial conversion.]

  Before Aston reacted, a sudden pulse radiated from the box. The air around it warped, a faint shimmer distorting the edges. Then, the entire box collapsed on itself. Its sturdy frame folded inward, condensing like metal being compacted by an invisible force. It shrank at an alarming pace, its structure folded, twisted and turned with seamless precision - until it became a tiny, red gem the size of a pebble.

  He instinctively reached out to the gem, but before his fingers could touch it, the gem shot forward, streaking through the air - straight toward his pendant. The moment it made contact, a surge of light flared from the unadorned metal, The, as quickly as it came, the glow receded.

  What was once a simple, featureless, and metallic now gleamed with new details. Its smooth surface is embedded with the same gemstone he saw on the floor, at the once hollowed sockets of the dragon.

  The kitten, startled by the development, let out a small chirp of alarm before cautiously inching forward. It sniffed at the pendant, then at Aston, before settling down, seemingly satisfied that its human wasn’t in danger.