Something was growing inside Hajin.
It started small, a faint warmth blooming somewhere deep in his chest that had nothing to do with the light pouring out of his body.
He couldn't explain it, couldn't trace it back to any mana pathway or system function, but it was there and it was spreading, moving through him like water soaking through dry cloth until it reached every corner of his body.
'What is this?' he thought, his hands trembling slightly as he looked down at the glowing tattoos winding up his arms.
This was the complete opposite of pain, it was warmth, overwhelming and suffocating in the best possible way, and beneath it was something even stranger that felt disturbingly close to love.
