Zayne breathed heavily as he forced his eyes open, the weight on his chest making it hard to draw in air. Was it guilt? No—he was past that. He’d long buried those shallow feelings of remorse. Regret over the lives he'd taken, drowning in self-pity... it was pointless. He had a mission. And right now, that mission was to kill the monsters that plagued this godforsaken world.

To his surprise, the weight pressing down on his chest wasn’t metaphorical—it was real. When he tried to move, he realized he was lying in an unfamiliar bed, pinned by an absurdly heavy weighted blanket. In his weakened state, even that was too much to lift. His eyes grew colder as he scanned his surroundings, though the blanket severely limited his view.

He knew immediately—this wasn’t his home. Everything was unfamiliar. A snowman figurine perched on the windowsill. A jar of candies on the table. Two icy seal trinkets arranged neatly on the desk. He’d never seen any of it before. How did he even get here?

Then it came back to him, fast and sharp. He’d been hunting a boy, late teens, at most. One look was enough to tell the kid was on the edge, struggling to hold onto his humanity. Black crystal growth had already consumed his right arm. There was no cure. Soon, he would become a monster. The only mercy Zayne could offer was a swift death.

He would have done it too—if not for the stranger who’d intervened, claiming to know him. After the boy fled, Zayne had retreated to somewhere vaguely familiar, the stranger still tailing him. Maybe that’s when his body gave out. The black frost had crept from his neck to the back of his hand, draining his strength.

The sound of the bedroom door opening broke his thoughts. Zayne’s eyes widened slightly when he recognized the person entering. "You," he said coldly, his gaze narrowing at the tray they held—a glass of water and a box of cold medicine. Was it for him?

"...That’s medicine. It's bitter. I'm not consuming it." His voice was flat, lips pressed into a thin line as he leveled the stranger with a defiant stare, as if daring them to try.