The moon hung low over a quiet field behind the city infirmary. Old brick walls and a rusted maintenance shed surrounded a small stretch of grass and dirt.
It smelled of disinfectant and rain-soaked earth. Familiar. Almost too familiar.
No one came here at night.
I stood in the middle of the field with sleeves rolled up with calm and measured breath. Everything about this moment was planned—right down to the silence.
The golden grimoire floated at my side, humming gently with restrained power.
Nyx lounged on a weathered bench nearby, grooming his paw with all the urgency of a retired war general who had seen too much and now preferred naps over battles.
"We're starting," I said.
He paused mid-lick. "Didn't we just finish eating?"
"Training," I corrected.
He flicked a lazy glance at me. "Count me out."
I didn't bother replying. I was too focused on letting the mana flow into the grimoire.
The golden card shimmered in front of my eyes. The chains emerged slowly, curling around my wrist like curious serpents.
"Try not to obliterate anything valuable," Nyx muttered as he hopped down silently. "Including your limbs."
"How considerate of you."
I extended my hand, and the golden chains responded.
They lashed out, sharp and swift but clumsy.
The chains struck a crumbling piece of tree trunk, which I had set earlier across the field, slicing through it like butter.
But the chains didn't stop there. They coiled tighter around a tree, tugging it free from the soil.
The tree snapped at its roots and crashed down with a heavy thud.
Nyx whistled. "Cool."
'Yeah, thanks for the support,' I thought while taking in a deep breath.
The chains returned, slithering back into the form of a card hovering above my palm with faint reluctance.
I could feel them, willful and rebellious. Not like Nyx, who mocked with affection.
This time, I imagined the chain not as a weapon, but as an extension of my own bone and blood.
The strike was sharper. More controlled. It pierced through the second dummy's chest and stopped in the air halfway.
With a simple flick of my finger, the chains vanished like they never existed in the first place.
Nyx hummed, watching me as if I was his student. "You're getting better. Still fighting like a half-dead oracle with arthritis, but better."
"I'll take that as encouragement."
"You should. It's the nicest thing I've said since my traumatic birth."
"Ugh, don't remind me of that."
His joke hit a nerve. It reminded me of that cursed day and the cracked egg I smashed my head against.
For the past two weeks, every night I had slipped out to this forgotten field to train. Quietly. Obsessively.
In the day, I stitched wounds. Washed blood. Laughed at jokes I didn't hear. Played the part.
In exchange, the nurses at the infirmary gave me a cot to live in and didn't ask too many questions.
At night, I pushed myself till my fingers bled.
Until the cold bit through my bones and sweat stung my eyes. Until I couldn't stand anymore. Because standing still meant being consumed.
And I would never allow this world to consume me.
Without breaking the rhythm, I raised my other hand. The summoning grimoire flickered in front of me with practiced ease.
"Your turn," I said while looking at Nyx, tone flat.
He groaned. "Fine, fine..."
The black grimoire opened itself at my command, turning precisely to his page. No need for me to even touch it. My intent was enough.
I tapped the empty spirit card slot gently.
Nyx melted into the shadows before reforming in my hands in the form of a card.
'This bastard eats mana like it's fine wine.'
I didn't know why, but he refused to be in the card form. Before, he didn't come out, and now he refused to go back.
He ate my mana all day like a leech before I had to forcibly send him back.
But it trained my recovery speed. Forced my body to adapt.
Was passing out daily due to mana exhaustion smart?
I wasn't here to play games; I needed to reach the epilogue, and I didn't even have the whole seven years to do so.
If I failed to become one of the supernovas, which was placing in the top ten of the entrance exam, I would lose another year of my time.
I couldn't afford that.
I tossed Nyx's card out again, calling him.
His body shimmered into place, lean and sleek, and then—
A pulse of psychic energy exploded from his mouth as he stood in the center of the field. A sonic attack.
I could feel the pressure against my eardrums. It rang with a loud echo, but nothing severe.
Then the real trick began.
From my peripheral vision, I saw the shadows around me twitch, lengthen, and move.
"Illusions?" I asked.
"Decoys," Nyx whispered.
They came not from one place, but five.
Suddenly, five Nyx surrounded me, all identical, all smirking.
"Which one's real?" they asked in chorus.
I didn't answer. I simply raised my hand again with a smirk and muttered, "Chains bind."
A single link from my chains snapped forward, not toward any one illusion, but into the ground beneath them.
Chains exploded from the earth like golden roots, capturing four of the five figures, disintegrating them into purple mist.
Only one remained, perched smugly on my shoulder.
He clapped. "Not bad. You're learning."
I gave him a calculating glance.
He tilted his head. "What?"
"I'm calculating how many times I can strangle you before you turn into smoke."
We continued for hours.
Each round, the chains grew faster, more responsive.
Each time, Nyx pushed harder, and his illusions grew smarter.
We were sharpening each other.
And by the time dawn kissed the horizon, I was soaked in sweat, hands trembling... but smiling.
Not because I had won. Far from it.
But because, for the first time in this world...
I wasn't completely alone.
I glanced at Nyx. "Why don't you like going back into the card?"
He didn't answer at first. Just stared at the cracked dirt beneath him.
"...Because when I'm in there... it's just dark. And quiet."
Something heavy curled in my chest.
"...That's the life I lived for twenty-four years, every day, every passing second," I murmured.
He turned to me but didn't respond immediately. Instead, he gently bumped his head against my arm.
"I'm not going back in unless I have to," he muttered. "So deal with it."
I smirked faintly. "Leech."
I let out a breath that felt too close to a laugh and leaned back against a tree, closing my eyes just for a moment.
Small and unintended.
He curled beside me, warm and oddly comforting.
In another world, in another time, I might've had a friend .
In this one... maybe I still had.
"Don't get all mushy on me, Loki. I'll start charging fish."
"...You already eat my mana like it's a buffet."
"Then I'm doing charity work. Count yourself lucky."
For once, I didn't feel like mocking him back.
We sat like that until the sun peeked fully over the edge of the city.
Just two broken things...
Choosing not to be alone.