Tasteless Determination

Lami was back with a newfound resolve.

"Haaaa- haaa!"

Breathing heavily, he took his phone out of his pocket, struggling to stop his hands from shaking.

"18:38. I was out cold for almost an hour."

Lami's mind was fully awake, thanks to the pain from his shattered collarbone sending jolts through his whole body.

Under high stress, he hadn't realized the extent of the pain engulfing him

Entering the passcode on the cracked screen of the phone, hoping to find some good news of his mom somehow escaping. 

However, there was no signal. 

"Tch!"

Lami clicked his tongue, regretting his choice of venturing too deep into the forest.

He let out a quiet sigh.

He was feeling frustrated but had no energy to show his emotions. Still, it was better to be safe than dead.

Even the thought of death made him uneasy. He couldn't die yet.

Thinking he needed to get out of the forest, he tried to stand up with his right arm supporting his body.

But.

Thud!

He failed miserably. Slightly bumping his back against the ancient trunk of the gigantic tree made his already pained body twitch.

"I need to get used to this," he hissed through his teeth. 

If he wanted to reach the height he needed to save his mother, he had to get used to the pain.

"Wait!"

A certain thought crossed his mind, making his eyes wide open.

'There are no beasts in this forest, right?'

He suddenly pulled his phone out of his pocket. The sudden movement once again pained him, but unlike the last time, Lami forced himself to not give any reactions.

"Let's see, let's see."

Opening the gallery of the phone, he checked a certain photo that depicted the safe zones around the city. Lami's eyes darted around the map.

"Ah, yes, here!"

It took him a few moments to pinpoint his location. His tone was somewhat anxious as not being in the safe zone could mean death.

"So," he whispered. "It looks like I got lucky for once."

He was in a safe zone. 

However, going deeper in could be problematic. Lami decided to stay there until he could move again, afterward visiting the hospital.

Having his stay planned, Lami dove deep into his thoughts.

Swoosh- Swoosh-

The warm evening breeze brushed past the leaves, making comforting noises. Lami tilted his head slowly upward to look at the orange sky.

'26th of July. I still have around a month for the Academy enrollment. I will think about it later; my mind is so cloudy at the moment.'

Lami didn't want to think about the academy; he never wanted to go there to begin with. He was only considering enrolling because it was her mother's wish.

Spinning his phone with his hand, Lami recalled the past events.

He concluded that the illusion was the consequence of his awakening, running amok due to the trauma he experienced.

Such situations were not unheard of, even without the trauma-triggered awakening.

Lami checked his surroundings once again, making sure no one was creeping up on him.

He started muttering again.

"I heard that the princess destroyed the whole section of the palace during her awakening." 

Throwing his phone aside, Lami clenched and unclenched his fist. He felt weak and tired. He decided to let his mana replenish.

"I can't feel any mana or demonic energy right now; I probably overexerted my core for the illusion."

There was the ordeal of the tattoo too. He had a lot to do.

Lami's fingers brushed against the frayed edge of his worn-out trench coat; it had seen better days. It was his dad's, from his younger days.

'I should be able to fix it later.' 

Lami slowly took his coat off, instantly feeling better. Wearing a trench coat in July was madness, and Lami knew it. 

He was always getting weird looks from people outside, but he wasn't sure if it was because of his eyes or eccentric clothing style.

He thought looking cooler was more important than comfort. If he ever got muscular, he would walk around in a tank top even in winter.

Lami was a lunatic when it came to fashion; even in their hard situation, he always made sure to look the best he could, even if it was overkill. 

He would rather die than not have a good fit.

Well, not anymore.

Rolling up the sleeve of his oversized beige t-shirt, Lami started to study his tattoo. Calling it a tattoo was hard as it looked too realistic to be inked by a human.

He noted the chain links going up to his shoulder, spiraling around his arm. Each link was almost half the size of his hand, having a metallic look to them.

The chain was connected to the hourglass. Consisting of two golden rings floating around the hourglass, it seemed like both rings could move in different directions, and they worked as the spinning mechanism. 

The golden color gave the rings a divine feeling.

The sight of the hourglass, on the other hand, was jarring; it looked like two water droplets separating from each other. 

The sand inside the hourglass was blood-red. It radiated a disturbing feeling.

"It isn't sand; it is blood—or at least, it looks like blood," Lami said, slightly puzzled.

He noticed there were no particles; instead, what the hourglass stored was a fluid.

"But what is with the tattoo? I remember Dad having it, then it was passed on to Mom, and it is now in my hands."

Lami started scratching his leg; he was feeling overwhelmed.

He had the fear of people connecting the dots—now that he had the same tattoo.

It could become a big problem in the future, but at the moment, there was nothing he could do about it. Lami couldn't even feel anything from it.

As his fingers were tracing the tattoo, checking for anything abnormal. Lami noticed something peculiar on his left index finger.

An obsidian-black ring. 

"How did I not notice it before?"

Lami was perplexed; not knowing what to do, he decided to check the contents of the ring.

"Mom had to give it to me, but why did it materialize only now?"

There was no explanation other than being given by his mother.

She could simply hide its presence. Despite Lami not knowing her full capabilities, something like this wouldn't be hard for her.

Up until now, Lami knew very little of his parents' past, shrouded in mystery.

Lami respected their decision to not talk about their past a lot, but now it meant death or survival for him. He couldn't afford to get stabbed in a place he wasn't expecting.

He was always interested in diving deep into their mysterious past, but knowing how much they cared for him, Lami had concluded that they lived in the darkness to protect him.

With these thoughts, Lami pushed his mana into the ring, but sadly nothing happened.

Dissatisfaction was the word that explained Lami's feelings.

Since he had only recently awakened, he couldn't focus his mana on the ring.

His mana had already replenished enough to activate the ring, but his lack of proficiency in mana control prevented him from doing so.

"Huaa." 

He yawned, finding it hard to keep his eyes open, his consciousness slipping away.

It was still early to fall asleep, but Lami went through a lot today. Naturally, he was quite tired.

A new life was starting tomorrow.

He would do anything to achieve his goal, the sole reason he still had the will to live. Though he had lost everything, he had found a conviction to keep going.

Lami wasn't afraid of killing; he knew he would have to get his hands dirty to reach his mother.

He wasn't a hypocrite who wanted to save his enemies. 

He hated those kind of people the most.

It was a dog-eat-dog world. 

With these thoughts in mind, Lami's awareness faded, and he fell asleep.

.

..

…

Lami opened his eyes abruptly and jumped up, landing on his feet. He traced his fingers on the tree's ancient and bumpy trunk, ensuring he was still in the forest.

Pitch-black darkness was covering the whole area, making it impossible to see without any light source. Lami put his hand into his pocket to get his phone, but his fingers never reached anything

 It was then he realized—he had thrown it aside yesterday.

"Ah, fuck me!"

Frustrated and angry, he started to look for his phone on all fours.

Pat, pat, pat

Lami patted the ground in the hopes of finding his phone. He couldn't see anything in the darkness; the rays of moonlight were blocked by the thick forest. 

The ground was moistened by high humidity; it was harder to breathe in the forest.

It took him a while to find his phone, a sense of relief making its presence known.

Lami instantly tapped the power button to check the time. What he noticed, at first, on the cracked screen was the remaining battery.

It was midnight and his whole body was numb, a tingly pain radiating from his shattered collarbone.

Growl~

"I haven't eaten for a long time. How long has it been? 20 hours?"

With his phone's flashlight, he noticed something beneath his coat.

He smiled bitterly.

"Yes, I guess I still have that."

It was one of the plastic bags from the takeout. They were supposed to eat it together when it was still hot.

His voice didn't convey any emotions; it wasn't that he came at peace with the situation; he couldn't do anything to change his condition.

Apart from…

'You don't die with the dead… Only I can decide my demise,' Lami reminded himself.

…getting stronger.

He thought that he was the one who could decide everything.

He pulled the package out of the plastic bag and started eating. He started eating the white rice and chicken combo, albeit without much appetite.

"It is cold—"

Lami's words stopped before wiping the corner of his eyes.

"And tasteless."

He ate the remainder of the food in utter silence, each bite reminding him of the good old days.