Liu Xian coughed—hard—choking on air that smelled nothing like the mountain cave they had just escaped. His lungs burned, chest rising and falling in sharp, ragged bursts as he scrambled to sit upright. His body was still buzzing from the portal, his skin tingling like a thousand ants had marched across it. He blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the harsh fluorescent lights.
White walls. Bleached floors. The faint hum of electricity in the air.
It was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of sterile silence that screamed in your ears.
He turned, heart still pounding against his ribs like a drum gone mad, and behind him was some kind of sleek enclosure. A machine, maybe? It was shaped like an archway, wires running in thick bundles from its base into the floor, vanishing beneath metallic panels. A few of them still glowed faint blue, flickering as though the device had just finished a long, draining task.
Which it had, he guessed.
"Were we… transported?" he whispered to himself, voice hoarse.
Then his heart did another flip.
"Koro," he croaked. Panic crept into his voice as he spun toward the limp figure lying a few feet away. "Koro!"
The dog lay sprawled on the white tile, unmoving, his normally sharp ears drooping. His chest rose and fell, barely. His fur was patchy in some places—burned or singed from whatever happened back there. Liu Xian crawled toward him, wincing as his knee scraped across the cold floor.
He gave the pup a gentle nudge. "Hey. Wake up…"
Nothing.
The fear returned like a weight, heavy and cold, sitting right on his shoulders. His hands hovered over Koro's body, unsure of what to do. Could a talking dog even be healed like a normal one? What if something vital was broken? What if—
Koro groaned, faintly.
Liu Xian's breath hitched in his throat. "Oh thank God."
The dog's eyes cracked open, glassy and unfocused. "Ugh," Koro grunted, "If I wake up and see your ugly mug one more time, I swear I'll vomit."
Liu Xian exhaled, a laugh bubbling out of him—half relieved, half exasperated. "You're still alive."
"Why would I die from that," Koro muttered, letting his head fall back against the floor. "Just… give me a second."
"Take five," Liu Xian said, sitting beside him and rubbing his face. "Hell, take ten. I'm not even sure where we are."
He looked around again, now with a calmer gaze. The hallway stretched on in both directions, illuminated with those clinical white lights overhead. Smooth, almost seamless walls—like the entire place had been printed out of one massive machine. There were a few doors lining one side of the hall, all closed, none marked. A faint beeping came from somewhere deeper in.
This wasn't some rickety hideout.
This place was advanced.
Liu Xian sat there a moment longer before slowly standing. His legs trembled a bit, still remembering the desperate run through the forest, the screams of the Hollow, the way the light had consumed him. But he was upright. Breathing. Alive.
And Koro, though barely, was too.
Then, without warning, a voice crackled from somewhere above. It came through hidden speakers in the ceiling, distorted slightly.
"Subject arrival confirmed. Initiating retrieval protocol."
Liu Xian flinched.
"What the—"
A soft whoosh echoed from one of the doors, and it slid open with a hiss. From the other side stepped two figures, both in white coats, their expressions unreadable. One was V96, a tall man with sharp cheekbones and a clipboard. The other was V79, a woman with her black hair tied in a strict bun, eyes scanning him like he was a puzzle piece that didn't quite fit.
"Subject 46B," the woman said. "We've been expecting you."
Liu Xian blinked. "Subject wha—no, wait. I... have a name."
"Name is irrelevant," said V96 without even looking up from his clipboard. "At least until evaluation is complete."
Koro groaned. "Ugh. Forgot how cheery the welcoming committee is."
V79 eyes shifted to the dog. She didn't even flinch. "Koro. You're late."
"Yeah, well, try fighting off a Hollow while babysitting a lightning rod."
"You were only authorized to escort him through the gate. Engaging a Hollow was outside protocol."
"Yeah, well," Koro said, panting, "you're welcome."
Liu Xian narrowed his eyes. "Who are you people?"
The man finally looked up. "We are representatives of the Ascendant Academy. And if you're lucky, this might just be the last place you ever feel like an outcast."
A pause.
"Come," V96 said. "We need to get you processed.
Liu Xian rubbed his hands together nervously as they led him deeper down the hallway. He could hear the soft echo of his own footsteps, and the sound bounced off the polished white walls like whispers. Every corridor looked like something out of a sci-fi movie—glass panels glowing with soft blue light, sleek doors that opened with a hiss, and quiet murmurs from rooms beyond that sounded... Off.
Koro, who had only just regained enough strength to walk, padded beside him, quiet for once. That made Xian even more nervous.
"Where exactly are we going again?" he asked, glancing down at the mutt who had turned his life upside down in less than twenty-four hours.
"To test your mana," Koro mumbled, his voice unusually low and gruff. "Every recruit's gotta go through it. Think of it like... orientation. Except it'll tell us whether you're worth the academy's time or not."
"Oh. Okay," Liu Xian muttered, already feeling like he was walking to his execution.
They stopped in front of a tall, metallic door. Two men stood by it. One of them scanned a card against the wall, and with a soft click, the door hissed open, revealing a wide, circular room.