Reality of WORLD'S

Two days had passed since Rai returned.

In that time, he barely spoke to anyone. He wasn't cold—just distant. Always studying something. Always lost in notes and diagrams the others hadn't seen. When asked questions, he answered with quiet nods or vague lines like "I'm still piecing it together."

But he wasn't piecing it together.

He was trying to stop it from consuming him.

Emma watched from a distance, worried, but unsure how to reach him again. Marin stayed nearby. Owen gave space. Even Iris, newly rejoined with the group, kept her eyes on him like she was waiting for something more.

But it was Cyrus who acted.

He showed up at Rai's door just before sunset.

Rai opened it, eyebrows raised. "Did something happen?"

"You tell me," Cyrus said. "You've been locked in here like you're building a time machine."

"I'm studying."

"You're hiding."

Rai hesitated. "I have a shift at the MMA center."

"Good," Cyrus said. "Let's go."

"I didn't ask—"

"I'm not asking," Cyrus cut in. "Let's go hit something."

The Mustang rumbled low through the streets, sunlight flickering through tree branches as the two sat in silence.

Cyrus finally broke it. "You know, for someone who disappears without warning, you have a hell of a dramatic ride."

Rai glanced over. "My father's car."

Cyrus nodded slowly. "Yeah… that fits."

"Fits?"

"You—quiet, old soul, drives a beast that sounds like thunder."

They reached the gym. Rai wrapped his hands while Cyrus stretched. They didn't speak much—but they didn't have to. Punches. Grapples. Takedowns. They moved in rhythm, two parts of a rhythm neither had practiced.

Cyrus could hold his own—but Rai?

Sharper. Faster. Focused.

It wasn't flashy.

It was lethal.

Coach Vik leaned on the edge of the cage, watching.

"You've got a fighter's flow, Rai," he said. "You ever tried weapons?"

Rai looked up, breathing steady. "No."

"Try one. You might surprise yourself."

Rai walked to the wall.

His hand hovered over blades, sticks, practice swords.

But it stopped on a long chain—cold, heavy, balanced.

When he picked it up, something clicked.

Cyrus watched from the sidelines, eyes narrowed. There's something changing in him, he thought. And it's not just his form.

Later that night, they drove without direction—windows down, streetlights flickering past. Rai pulled up to a roadside stall glowing under pale neon.

They got tea and sat on the hood of the Mustang.

Steam drifted into the air.

"You gonna tell me what's going on?" Cyrus asked.

Rai stared into his cup for a long time.

"I found something," he said finally. "Or maybe... it found me."

He told Cyrus about the lab. The spiral. The journal entries. The forgotten deity the elemental gods once followed—not feared, not worshipped, but loved.

"They gave him everything," Rai said. "Their power. Their memories. Then they disappeared."

"Because he chose silence."

Cyrus was quiet for a moment. Then: "So you think all this… our powers, the shrines, the dreams… it's just echoes of him?"

"I don't think," Rai said. "I feel it. Like it's under my skin."

Cyrus looked at him carefully. "Why tell me? Why not Emma? Or the whole group?"

Rai didn't look away. "Because you wouldn't try to fix me. You'd just walk with me."

Cyrus nodded slowly. "That's real."

A silence settled between them—not awkward, but earned.

"I haven't slept," Rai said quietly. "Every time I close my eyes, it's like... something's pulling me back. Like I'm remembering things that aren't mine."

"What if they are?" Cyrus asked. "What if you were never just meant to remember him—but become him?"

That hit Rai harder than he expected.

He didn't respond.

From across the street, a deliveryman stepped away from a shadowed alley. He lifted a device to his mouth and muttered:

"Target's progressing faster than expected. Emotional stabilization through peer bonding. Possible activation risk. Monitor further."

A spiral tattoo, inverted, coiled around his wrist—barely visible beneath his sleeve.

He turned and vanished into the dark.

Back at the Mustang, Cyrus leaned against the hood, arms folded.

"So... what now?"

"We wait," Rai said. "And we watch."

"And when things get crazy?"

Rai smirked faintly. "Then we go together."

Cyrus grinned. "Sounds like a plan, brother."