I open my eyes again.
The dragon is still there.
Massive. Majestic. Dominant.
But so am I.
I stand straight. I overflow with energy.
I have never felt so alive.
A monstrous voice rumbles, tears at my eardrums.
— Are you done with your little tricks…?
She pauses.
Her breath scorches the air.
— What did you do? Why do you have so much energy?
I understand why they ran.
That power is insane. Unreal.
I would never have imagined she could take on such a form.
Such a weight.
But it doesn't matter.
I lock my gaze on her.
— I made a choice, I say.
The choice to kill you.
She growls.
A low thunder of annoyance and… surprise.
— We'll see about that.
Her left paw shoots toward me.
Sharp. Violent. Ready to crush me.
I don't move.
I'm not afraid.
I observe.
I feel.
I overflow.
The energy of Words courses through my whole body.
Not in trickles.
Not in controlled flows.
In a tidal wave.
I hold nothing back.
I measure nothing.
No need to regulate.
No need to be careful.
I am Unbound.
I put everything in.
All the way.
Every muscle. Every nerve. Every beat.
Her paw closes in.
I strike.
My fist rises.
A band of light follows the motion, like a scream that was denied for far too long.
The impact is brutal.
Clean.
Titanic.
Not just for its force.
But for what it means.
I hit her.
And the world felt it.
The ground vibrates beneath my feet.
A breath of dust explodes around me.
The air ripples with chaotic waves, a shock too fast to be seen, too heavy to go unnoticed.
The dragon's arm moved.
No— it bent.
A violent twist. The grind of flesh on bone.
She growls. Staggers back.
That's when I understand:
I am no longer late to the fight.
I am inside it.
And between us, there is no hierarchy left.
Only a naked truth:
I can hurt this monster.
I feel the resonance of my own strike down through my vertebrae.
It was too strong. Too pure.
And yet…
I want more.
I clench my fists.
No panic.
No doubt.
Just this energy boiling inside me.
Not controlled. Not channeled.
Unbound.
A smile tears at my lips.
Heat climbs my chest.
Pride rises.
I bounce on my toes. Light.
I feel warm.
No…
I feel alive.
It's strange.
The dragon's paw… shrinks.
Her head too.
Her whole body, in fact.
She diminishes.
She changes.
And I understand: she is taking a new shape.
I tighten my fists.
No matter what she's preparing.
I'm ready.
I watch her emerge from the cloud of light, different, but still… dangerous.
Correction—far more dangerous.
A draconic armor covers her body, red plates locking into her skin, blazing bright like living catalysts. Her scales burn under the light of the flames, rough, thick, etched with incandescent sigils that throb with each breath. This isn't mere protection: it's an extension of herself, a second skin born for war.
Behind her, two vast wings open, membranous and dark, gleaming with ember-red reflections. Each beat raises burning gusts, bending ash and crackle around her. The world seems to shrink back to make room.
Her legs are no longer human. They're feline limbs, cheetah legs magnified, muscled, veined with glowing heat, built for inhuman speed. With each step, the ground fissures, unable to hold that predatory force.
Her left arm hangs a moment, dislocated, grotesque.
But already a flame coils around the wound. Blue, hissing, almost too bright to look at.
It burns and heals at once, sealing flesh, knitting bone with a dry crack that rings through the air. In moments, the arm is new—stronger, more terrible than before.
I grit my teeth. My throat knots.
And yet a nervous smile crosses my face.
Because I understand.
Évra has never fought seriously.
And the true battle… begins only now.
She laughs.
— Well played, kid.
It's been a while since I took a hit like that.
Her gaze sharpens.
— Unfortunately for you… you've doomed yourself.
The girl with glasses draws near. She leans in, whispers something in Évra's ear.
I react immediately.
— Now that I have a chance… you're getting scared?
Évra looks at me.
Her gaze is bored. Almost… empty.
— Sadly, I would have liked to keep having fun. But you can't.
I don't understand.
But I don't care.
I advance.
And then…
I feel it.
The heat.
The rise.
My energy skids.
It spills over.
It burns me.
I lose control.
I… I'm no longer holding anything.
⸻
(Five minutes earlier, in my inner world)
I'm alone.
Again.
Facing the mountain I know.
My inner world.
My mental cage.
The only place I can breathe… without truly living.
And there, in the heart of that silence, something changes.
A tablet of light appears.
I look at my passive ability.
"Unbound… free to choose my passive ability."
I freeze.
But it's there. In front of me.
Offered.
A choice.
My heart hammers.
My throat tightens.
I should think.
Measure my Words.
Ask for advice.
But I don't have that luxury.
I'm tired.
Tired of running.
Tired of being the object passed from hand to hand, the kid they hunt, the Word they want to seal.
Tired of being afraid, of surviving without existing, of hoping without ever touching anything.
And now…
They give me an option.
No test.
No judgment.
No constraint.
Just me. And the power.
But I don't really have a choice, do I?
I'm at the foot of a dragon.
I'm alone.
And if I do nothing, I die.
I don't have time to imagine the "right" thing.
To be wise. Balanced. Reasonable.
So I spit what I feel.
— I want… infinite energy of Words.
The words leave by themselves.
Unfiltered.
Illogical.
Just… raw will.
And at once, the world gives.
The sky splits.
The mountain collapses.
Air becomes light.
Light becomes a scream.
The ground opens under my feet, and everything is carried away.
A single force devours all.
The Infinite.
A sentence writes itself in the sky.
By the shape of the clouds.
And also in my memory.
In my bones.
In what I am.
Infinite energy of Words.
And in that instant… I know I have said yes
to something
I don't understand.
And that I will never be able to take back.
Everything becomes a storm in my inner world.
⸻
(Present)
And everything explodes.
My body won't keep up.
It twists, breaks, folds under something that exceeds it.
A surge of raw energy erupts from me, thunderous, unstoppable, inexhaustible, as if every cell were trying to escape.
I become a cracked core.
A rupture point.
A scream given shape.
The air itself vibrates and warps.
The ground shudders beneath my feet, groans under an invisible strike.
Arcs of energy burst around me in white sheaves, tearing the space.
Earth splits.
Air burns.
The world roars.
I'm no longer a bearer.
I am borne.
My Word tears me out of myself and drags me.
My power does not calm.
It no longer listens.
It no longer obeys.
I scream.
Not a scream for courage.
A scream that rips my throat.
Of pain. Of vertigo. Of panic.
My skin fissures in shining lines.
White veins appear beneath my flesh, captive lightning seeking a way out.
My eyes burn, my mouth bleeds, my bones rasp with every motion.
Every breath devours me.
Every heartbeat is an explosion.
I feel everything: the rage that holds me up, the fear that tightens around me, the thrill that crushes me, the guilt that carves me open.
I asked for infinity.
And now it arrives. Whole. Unrestrained.
I replay my words.
"I'm going to kill you."
But what am I doing, right now?
I'm losing control.
I'm losing everything.
At the first opening, I crack. I explode.
Me who spoke of freedom… here I am destroying everything.
I am not free.
I am dangerous.
I have become a bomb.
A will-less detonation.
A widening void fed by my desire, my anger, my fear.
I feel the energy leave me like a silent scream.
My body splits from within.
I control nothing.
And maybe… maybe I'll destroy the city.
Or the world. Or worse.
Maybe what I called down can devour the universe.
Will I destroy the universe?
Not bad, as an ending.
Ironic. Almost poetic.
They hunted me. Chased me. Labeled me an anomaly.
Sold me. Sealed me. Erased me.
And me… I'm touching the impossible.
A singularity.
Something with no form, no boundary.
Not even a name.
I've become what they feared.
A bomb of Word energy. Infinite. Unstable. Inhuman.
And I suffer.
My body howls.
My veins burn.
My bones melt, crack, rasp.
My throat bleeds without sound.
My breath turns to ash.
That's the price.
But I regret nothing.
I focus.
I hold.
A little longer.
One more instant.
I want to see.
To the end.
I turn my head. Évra.
There. Steady. Silent. Razor-sharp.
She has chosen too.
She will attack.
She will kill me.
And deep down… she's right.
She is the last line.
The wall between what I've become… and everything else.
I finally understand why she wanted to seal me.
My Word is not a gift.
It is a flaw.
I no longer see her. She's gone.
I am left alone, with this power spilling over, consuming me, scattering me.
My breath is ragged.
My heart pounds as if it wanted to run.
And then— I feel her.
Her body against mine. Cold. Precise. Already there.
Something pierces me.
My chest opens.
My heart explodes.
Or stops. I don't know.
A blade, I suppose.
She has stabbed me.
And I feel… relief.
I didn't destroy the world.
But I am sad.
Not from pain.
Not from death.
From that bitter taste: it ended too fast.
My life… strange. Incomplete. Unfinished.
I learned nothing. Understood nothing. Lived nothing fully.
And already… it's over.
I wanted to do better.
I only wanted something else.
I whisper.
Last breath. Last Word.
Not a prayer. Not a farewell.
Just a truth.
— Thank you for killing me.
I am Unbound.