The white world collapsed without warning.

  For a brief moment, Damien felt like he was falling, but there was no wind, no sense of weight, and no direction. It wasn't like falling through air. It felt more like reality itself had folded inward and let him slip through a crack. Then pain flared behind his eyes, sharp and overwhelming, and light rushed back in all at once. He gasped and squeezed his eyes shut, his head pounding as if his skull had been struck from the inside.

  When the pain eased enough for him to open his eyes, he realized he was sitting down.

  A chair. Solid. Comfortable.

  He lifted his head slowly. He was in an office, an unnervingly normal office. Smooth glass walls stretched around him, broken only by soft lights embedded in the ceiling. A wide desk stood in front of him, separating him from a man seated calmly on the other side.

  Asuna.

  He looked exactly as he had before. As if untouched by exhaustion or time. His posture was relaxed, hands folded neatly on the desk, as if this were just another meeting. A faintly glowing screen hovered beside him, lines of information scrolling past silently.

  Damien's eyes drifted past the desk to the glass walls behind Asuna.People walked by.They laughed. They talked. Some carried drinks. Others gestured casually as they spoke. No one looked afraid. No alarms rang. No signs of panic or urgency existed anywhere in sight.

  It felt wrong.

  Monsters existed. Devils existed. And these people were living their lives as if none of it mattered.

  Hidden in plain sight, Damien thought.

  He looked down at himself, his clothes were different.The blood-stained shirt and jacket were gone. In their place was a plain white shirt, clean and neatly fitted, black shorts, and a pair of slides on his feet. There wasn't a single mark on him, no trace of the chaos from the night before.

  Asuna suddenly spoke without making eye contact . "Level 13A."

  Damien stood slowly, testing his legs. They felt stiff but strong. For a moment, he considered demanding answers, asking why he was here, asking what was going to happen to him. But Asuna knew it wouldn't change anything.

  He turned and walked out of the office.

  The hallway outside was wide and bright, the floor polished and smooth beneath his feet. The lights overhead hummed softly, and the air smelled clean. People passed him without a second glance. No one stared. No one questioned why a child was in an office building.

  He reached the elevator and stepped inside, pressing the button marked 13A.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The doors slid shut.

  The ride felt longer than it should have. The elevator moved smoothly, but the silence pressed down on him. His thoughts wandered despite his efforts to control them. The demon's massive body. Nyx's fists crashing down. The warmth of the purple stone pulsing in his hand.

  Ding.

  The doors opened.

  He stepped out and followed the corridor until he saw her.

  Nyx leaned against the wall, one foot pressed flat against it, scrolling through her phone like she had nothing better to do. When she noticed him, she looked up and smirked.

  "Well, look who decided to wake up."

  Damien stopped a few steps away from her. His chest felt tight, emotions tangled and unresolved. "Explain everything."

  Nyx studied him for a moment, then pushed herself off the wall and slipped her phone into her pocket. Her expression shifted, becoming more serious.

  "Alright," she said. "From the beginning."

  She turned and began walking, and Damien followed. Her voice was steady, almost casual, but every word carried weight.

  "One hundred thousand years ago, the heavens went to war," she said. "A Devil rose against the gods, and the sky itself became a battlefield. Angels and gods fell like burning comets, their wings torn apart as divine blood painted the sky red. Power beyond what the world was meant to endure was unleashed, and the land below shattered under it."

  Damien listened in silence, his breathing slow and controlled.

  "At the center of it all was Xan," Nyx continued. "The youngest of the gods. And the strongest. He faced the Devil alone. His blade was forged to end divinity itself, but even that couldn't pierce the Devil's heart. The thing couldn't be killed."

  She didn't slow or soften her words.

  "With their numbers nearly wiped out, the gods made a seal. They tore the Devil's existence apart and divided it into seven gems. Each gem holds a fragment of what the Devil was. As long as the seven remain separate, the Devil can never return. But if they're brought together, the seal breaks."

  Damien's fingers curled slightly at his side. The stone felt heavier in his pocket now.

  "The Devils very being is in those stones the colors represent what part of the Devil each stone holds" Nyx said. "Purple is pride. Yellow is greed. Pink is lust. Green is envy. Orange is gluttony. Red is wrath. Grey is sloth."

  She stopped walking and turned to face him, her eyes sharp and focused.

  "The reason you feel the way you do is because the stone isn't yet attached to you," she said. "It's merging with you. Your body, your mind, your soul, and your affinity are becoming one with it."

  Damien swallowed.

  "That's why your body is changing," she continued. "Why your head hurts. Why you burn up with fever. And why demons can sense you. You're just carrying the stone You're still becoming part of it."

  Images flashed through his mind. His height changing. His strength feeling different. His thoughts sharpening in strange ways.

  "And once the merging is complete," Nyx added calmly, "the only way to take the stone from you will be to kill you."

  The words settled heavily between them.

  Damien stared at the floor, breathing shallowly, trying to process it all. The hallway felt distant, unreal.

  "And August?"he asked

  "We already debriefed him," she said. "He's in a secure dorm inside the facility."

  Damien let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

  "Unlike you," Nyx continued, "he woke up faster and his condition stabilized earlier. So we didn't waste time."

  "Didn't waste time doing what?" Damien asked quietly.

  Her lips curved into a faint smile. "Training."

  That was not what he had expected.

  Nyx met his gaze. "He's already started learning how to survive in this mess. And if you don't want to be left behind, you'll be joining him soon."

  She turned and began walking again. "Get some rest while you can."

  Damien stood there for a moment, heart pounding.

  August was already moving forward.And now, he had no choice but to follow.