Darkness. Complete, absolute darkness.
Sai no longer felt alive. His body seemed to no longer belong to this world—it had been discarded, crushed, and left on a dump, among thousands of dead bodies. The demons who had tortured him had lost their minds, frightened by his nature, and abandoned him, deeming it pointless to continue. They hadn't even tried to understand what he was.
Sai lay there, feeling the cold, the void, and in this void, there was no pain, no fear, no joy. He was a dead body—and yet, something more. But somewhere deep in his consciousness, something began to stir.
At first, it felt like a faint tingling in his fingertips. Then it spread throughout his body, flooding him with cold and a strange, alien, yet familiar strength. Sai couldn't understand what was happening, couldn't move, but the sensation of his own existence was gradually returning.
He tried to open his eyes. Nothing. Blackness, emptiness, as if the entire world had vanished. But within this void, in the dark abyss, something moved. He heard Nox's quiet, almost inaudible voice in his head:
'Master... you are alive.'
Sai tried to move, and weak impulses of energy ran through his body. He understood: he was dead, but his consciousness, his soul, somehow still lived.
He remembered the taste of blood, the pain of torture, the horror that had gripped his body for hours. He remembered how the demons had tried to eat him, played with him like a toy, cut him open and stitched him back up, injected unknown substances, trying to figure out what he was. And how they had ultimately become afraid of him, paling, retreating: 'This... this is not human!'
Sai felt a new entity awakening inside him. Black, cold, ready to defend. This wasn't just darkness. It was something more—his own will, fused with a power that belonged neither to the human world nor the demon world.
He tried to say something aloud, but his voice wouldn't obey. The words were stuck somewhere between life and death.
'What... what is this?' he muttered in his thoughts, though he couldn't hear himself.
Nox responded instantly, with an inner whisper in Sai's consciousness:
'Error... unclear... request unavailable...'
Sai frowned mentally, trying to understand what Nox meant. He concentrated, remembered the word he had once spoken aloud, holding the revolver: 'Nox.'
At that moment, the darkness around him fluttered, as if responding to the command. The power inside Sai exploded, spreading through his dead body, and he felt—he could move.
A dim light appeared from within him, as if the breath of life was returning through the chaos of pain and memories. The revolver, which he had held for so long and never let go, transformed into a form he had never seen—a small, black dragonet with horns that shone like dark crystals.
Sai stirred, and a new impulse of energy rushed through his body, returning the sensation of his arms, legs, heart, though the heartbeat still felt alien and unfamiliar. He slowly raised his head, feeling the darkness leaving him and a new entity, as if severed from the human world, merging with his mind.
He looked at the dragonet that had emerged from Nox: 'You... is that you?'
Nox responded quietly in his thoughts: 'I am a part of you... and I have been here all this time. You are no longer human, Sai... but your will remains.'
Sai clenched his teeth, trying to stand. Every movement was agony. His body felt fragile as clay, yet unyielding. He understood: he was alive now, but this was not the life he had known. It was a new existence, a new form, uniting his human essence and the dark power that had given him a chance to survive.
He remembered the demons who had tortured him to exhaustion, their attempts to devour him, their terror and flight. Each memory fueled his inner rage.
'Never again!' he whispered mentally, and the dragonet inside his body responded with a quiet, resonant sound, as if confirming: 'Never again.'
Sai rose to his feet. The darkness around him began to dissipate, his vision restored, and before his eyes lay the dump of bodies—the very one where he had been left. He looked around. The demons were gone, leaving only corpses, blood, and ruin.
He walked forward, stepping on the rotten, damp earth, his body both fragile and strong, each movement painful, but the dragonet's power helped him maintain balance. He pushed through the debris, feeling the inner energy that was more than just his human strength—it was darkness and light, intertwined.
In his thoughts, he heard Nox again:
'Master... you see? You survived, despite everything. No one has ever dared to go through such a thing... and remain alive.'
Sai stopped, breathing heavily, and for the first time in many hours, he could feel his own "self." He was no longer just a human, and certainly not an object of torture. He was a being of a new order, a new form. His mind was gradually clearing of pain, leaving only cold clarity.
He looked at the dragonet: a small black silhouette with sharp horns and shimmering eyes.
'So... this is my essence? You are my strength?'
Nox replied:
'A part of you. The strength that remained after the world tried to destroy you. Now you can move. But remember, Master, this path is only beginning.'
Sai took his first step. His legs trembled, but each movement felt easier than the last. He was alive. He was breathing. He was ready.
Ahead stretched a dark, ruined land, full of dangers, memories, and shadows of the past. But now Sai knew one thing: he would not be weak. He would not be a victim.
'It's a pity we couldn't be together longer,' he murmured mentally, addressing those left in the human world, his grandfather, his friends, the world he had left behind. 'But... I will return. And everything will be different.'
Sai stepped into the unknown.