It had been five minutes since that strange boy appeared, spoke those cryptic words, and vanished without a trace. As if some magical door had swallowed him whole. But the impact of his arrival didn't fade so easily.

The young man was still sitting in the same spot, elbows resting on his knees, fingers laced together, while his thoughts spun wildly in every direction.

"How am I supposed to... fight back or retaliate like he said?" he muttered, eyes fixed on the dusty ground beneath him, barely visible in the dark of night.

The boy's words kept echoing in his mind, unsettling the unrest he had tried to suppress.

"You should be able to fight back... to bring justice to those who've been wronged."

He let out a long breath, then glanced at the shark-shaped pendant he still held in his hand, considering whether he should use it.

"As if it's that easy. If all it took was courage, I've got that. I could destroy them right now if I really wanted to, even without a plan. But what matters most is... success and safety. There's no point in acting recklessly if it only gets me caught."

He paused. A crooked smile formed on his lips. Not one of joy, but more like mockery, aimed at himself.

He shook his head. The conflict inside him was getting more tangled. One part of him thirsted for justice, while the other was simply too tired to care. He didn't know which side to follow.

The sounds of street vendors packing up their stalls drifted through the air. Night was falling fast, and people were heading home. But the young man. Alaric... remained. Mixed in with the creak of cart wheels scraping the uneven asphalt, the city's life was gradually fading into silence.

"Should I just go home?" he asked himself, eyes lifting toward the sky that was slowly turning grey. "And forget about what that kid said? He didn't even say where he came from."

He looked around to make sure no one else was nearby.

"What does he even know about what just happened?"

Alaric stood up and pulled his hood over his head. Every step he took carried the weight of unfinished thoughts. He walked along a narrow street on the edge of the city. Where the food stalls had been, and where he himself had bought something earlier. But now, they were all packing up.

One by one, the street lamps flickered to life, casting a dim glow on the cracked and uneven pavement. Alaric walked on without a clear direction, just following where his feet took him. Eventually, he found himself in a narrow alleyway. Run-down, silent, and cluttered with rusted metal barrels. The smell of rust mixed with the stench of stagnant rainwater.

It wasn't a comfortable place, but strangely, this was where Alaric felt safe. No one was watching. No prying eyes. He just wanted to walk through and find his way home.

Then suddenly, one of his shoelaces came undone.

"Damn it," he muttered, kneeling onto a damp stone to tie it back up.

That's when he saw it.

A faint light pulsed from the pendant in his hand and within seconds, that glow began to grow.

Alaric froze. His hands stopped moving. His eyes locked on the source of the light. The shark-shaped pendant the boy had given him… was glowing.

Not just a glimmer, but a full, radiant light. A pale green shimmer pulsed like a heartbeat. Matching the rhythm of Alaric's own pulse.

His brow furrowed. "What the hell is this..." he whispered.

The light danced across his skin, casting soft reflections on the damp alley walls. Everything around him seemed to hold its breath. Even the buzzing insects of the night had gone silent. A chill slowly crawled up his spine.

He stared at the pendant, eyes narrowing.

But before he could make sense of anything, the light began to pulse faster, responding to his awareness. On instinct, Alaric gripped the pendant tightly.

The green flickers still glowed between his fingers, like embers that refused to die out. He moved cautiously through the alley as the city's lights dimmed behind him. This part of the road, narrow and almost forgotten, had no real traffic, no people passing through.

Alaric pulled his hood tighter around his face. Partly to shield himself from the cold, partly to stay unnoticed. He scanned the street ahead, alert to every shadow, every corner. He knew that any alley he passed could hide someone. A guard from the estate, or something worse.

He didn't stop. He knew better. Stopping would mean giving whatever might be tracking him a chance to catch up.

"No... I can't risk it. They might still be monitoring me through the system. They could've already spread out across this entire area."

His hand trembled around the pendant. Not out of fear, but from muscle fatigue. In his other hand, he carried a small, thin metal case. It held the items he'd taken from that mansion-like building earlier. It wasn't heavy, but after walking so long without rest, his arm began to feel stiff, weighed down by something more than just metal.

He crouched beneath the shadow of a large tree by the side of the road, next to a pile of discarded plastic barrels. His breath came faster now.

"I can't keep carrying this. If they find this case, they'll be able to track me through residue sensors... maybe even with a material recognition scan."

He tapped the case lightly with his finger, listening to the metallic ring it made.

"What if... I leave it here?" he muttered, glancing toward a darker side alley. "If they find this, they'll think I'm still close. That might buy me time."

He nodded slightly. The idea was starting to feel solid. Carefully, Alaric opened the metal case. Inside were a few small, purple-tinged stones. There were also pieces of irregularly-shaped metal, covered in intricate patterns like circuitry.

Alaric narrowed his eyes. "These... They're like the traps from earlier," he said, suspicion creeping into his voice. "Or maybe... some kind of tracker?"

He gently touched the surface. He could feel a faint vibration, some kind of unstable energy. He didn't know exactly what it was, but one thing was certain: he couldn't let anyone else get their hands on it.

Without hesitation, Alaric took everything out of the box and tucked it into the inner pocket of his jacket. He left the case open on purpose, pushing it slightly to the edge of the road so it would be visible in the dim streetlight.

"Alright," he said as he stood up. "At least now, they won't find any real trace of me."

He resumed walking quickly, alert to every sound around him. Now there was only one thing still in his hand. The shark pendant, still warm and pulsing with energy.

"And now it's just you," he said, looking at the pendant, his tone half-annoyed, half-curious. Even now, the thing hadn't revealed anything certain. "Am I supposed to finish all of this tonight?"

No answer, of course.

Alaric stopped at the end of the street, took a deep breath, and spoke again.

"Fine. Then how exactly are you supposed to help me?"

Suddenly, the pendant pulsed again. At first, Alaric thought it was just the reflection of a streetlamp... but no. The pulse came from within the pendant itself. The light spread out, vibrating, like a fog rising from its silver surface.

Alaric stepped back instinctively, eyes widening. "What's happening?"

The glow expanded into the air, swirling like a miniature vortex. It began to stretch, forming a shape like a living shadow. Then, it rose... detaching from the pendant, and quickly shot forward.

"Hey!" Alaric shouted, chasing after it. It moved like a tiny creature, darting through the dark alleyways, leaving a faint green trail in the air.

"Why are you running from your own source?!" he shouted again, unable to believe what he was seeing.

But the glowing shape kept going, ignoring his voice, or perhaps moving by its own will.

Alaric continued down the wide street, which was growing quieter, lit only by a dancing green light ahead of him. It was small, but bright. Like an overexcited firefly darting around, searching for the rest of its scattered swarm. The young man ran after it, not knowing exactly why, only that something about the glowing object compelled him. It pushed him to keep running, racing against the wind.

The night had started to bring in a thin layer of fog, making everything feel colder and his view slightly blurred. But the light remained visible, shining clearly through the mist. It was the only color in a world that had turned grey and muted under the night sky.

"Where are you taking me, huh?" he shouted, picking up his pace. His voice bounced off the walls of the narrow alley, echoing strangely, almost mockingly. But the light only danced on. Diving, darting forward... as if laughing at him.

Alaric was starting to lose his patience. He sprinted to the end of the street, hoping the light would finally stop. But instead, just as he got close, it made a sharp turn and shot back the other way.

"You've got to be kidding me! You think this is a game?" he shouted, still chasing.

He glared at the glowing orb as it spun again, returning to where they had started, looping him around like a cruel joke. His forehead was soaked in sweat now, and the cold air only made the sting sharper. He wiped his brow roughly and slapped his side, trying to steady his breath.