CHAPTER 13
[Searching…]
A small glowing light appeared in front of the stirring rock as it began illuminating the humans one by one.
Until the light landed on Ray, who was still determined to get his book.
[Search Complete]
The next moment, the rock suddenly grew a pair of teeny tiny legs and began scurrying forward at tremendous speed, almost like a centipede but far faster.
The next instant, it leaped off the ground, hovering above Ray for a brief moment.
Van's eyes widened.
"Ray, look out!"
Ray quickly glanced up to see the rock.
Before he could react, the stony creature suddenly crashed into his hand, forcing his limb down onto his ability book.
His bleeding palm pressed tightly on the cover, unable to even move an inch.
The next second, a searing burning pain erupted around his wrist as the stone thing buried all its teeny tiny legs into his flesh.
He gripped his ability book hard as he roared in pain.
Nobody could move for a moment as they watched in stunned silence while the young boy endured the agony.
The stone thing did not just sink its legs into his wrist. It began tearing through his skin, pushing deeper with every passing second.
The white hot pain was not only from the thing forcing its way inside him.
It also came from the way it started dissolving the further it went, as if it was melting and burning at the same time.
Burning and melting into his skin and bones, the sensation sent unbearable torment through his body, far worse than anything he had ever experienced before.
"Ra… Ray…" Van took a step forward, reaching toward his friend.
But the next second, his collar was yanked backward by a frantic woman as she dragged him several metres away.
Everybody cleared back from Ray, forming a wide circle around him with the young boy at the center.
"Let me go to my friend. He is in so much pain!" Van shouted.
The woman refused to let go, her eyes fixed on Ray.
"If you go closer, there is no telling what might happen to you."
Her voice cracked as she spoke.
"... I watched my children get reduced to bloody pulp. Seeing you rush forward awakened the mother in me. I cannot watch two more kids die."
Van glared at her in fury.
"So you will watch one kid get destroyed instead? He is suffering right now."
She tightened her grip.
"... One child dying is better than losing two."
'How does that make sense?!'
Ray's scream drew all attention back to him.
The stone creature was now halfway into his wrist as blood poured from his palm and forearm, splashing down onto the book in heavy drops.
The rough brown cover became unrecognisable, turning deep red as if it had been soaked in fresh crimson paint.
Tears mixed with blood as they streamed down Ray's face.
Then, the stone finally melted into his bones, fusing with him as if it had always been part of his body.
From the torn flesh of his wrist, a strange silver liquid mixed with his blood and dripped onto the book.
The next second, the entire book began glowing with an ethereal blue light, lifting slightly into the air as Ray gasped for breath.
He was still conscious, his wide eyes watching as the book floated.
Its pages flipped rapidly as if turned by an invisible hand.
Then, in a sudden flash, it began to crumble.
The pages ripped free one by one, drifting all around the teenager as everyone stared in horrified silence at the impossible phenomenon unfolding before them.
The pages of the ability book suddenly formed a circle around his head while still glowing brightly, and the young boy could do nothing but stare at the strange occurrence.
A split second later, the pages began burning as if they had caught fire.
But this fire was different. It was a mixture of white, blue, and black, consuming the pages as Ray's eyes widened in horror.
"My book! No, no, no! Stop. Please stop. I spent three years working to get it pl…"
He dropped to his knees, pleading into the air as tears cascaded down his face in waves while he watched everything he had suffered for over three years being devoured by the strange flames.
But no amount of begging could stop it.
The pages finally turned to ash.
Ray's breath hitched in his throat as his mind spun and his vision blurred from crying.
Years and years of labour.
Years of secret jobs, working his ass off every single day after school.
His palms had peeled. His fingers had darkened. He had even grown lean from constant work.
His mother had worried back then, but he always waved her off with excuses, believing it would all pay off when he finally obtained the ability book.
Yet right in front of him, in a single day, he lost everything.
His family.
His ability book.
And now, even his resolve.
He stared blankly at the ashes of the pages floating in the air as if held by an unseen force.
The next second, the ashes stirred in unison and lunged at him like living entities, while Ray simply watched, broken.
His fingers curled into fists, his teeth grating against each other as boiling rage surged through him.
The ashes closed the distance at blazing speed.
Then.
WAM—!
As if they suddenly weighed a ton, they slammed into Ray's body, lifting him off the ground and hurling him across the cabin.
He crashed into the wall of the train so hard that blood sprayed from his mouth.
His eyes dimmed, unable to clearly see what was happening next as the ashes began forcing themselves into his body.
No part of him was left untouched.
By then, he could neither feel nor see nor hear anything as his senses dulled completely.
Everyone inside the train watched in stunned silence as the phenomenon continued, powerless to intervene, while Ray slid down the wall and collapsed onto the floor with a low thud.
Van screamed his lungs out.
"RAY!"
But it was already too late.
Ray could hear nothing.
The only thing that reached him was a loud ding, like the chime of a bell, echoing deep within his mind as a soft mechanical voice spoke.
[Ding! Trial completed]
[All forms of pain endured by specimen.]
[Soul and body compatible with the system]
'Sy… system?' Ray's thoughts slurred as darkness crept over his vision.
The final message echoed in his fading consciousness.
[Congratulations Host: You have now successfully awakened the Tri…]
No matter how hard he tried to hold on, exhaustion overwhelmed him.
His consciousness slipped away before he could hear the rest of the announcement.