“Do those ugly shoes belong to your mother, Arka? Or did you steal them from a dumpster?”
Reno laughed loudly. His voice echoed through the elite school corridor filled with neatly dressed students. Several people joined in. Arka stood still, his hands clenched at his sides. The worn shoes his mother had given him looked even dirtier beneath the midday sunlight.
Reno stepped forward. “Your mother must be ashamed to have a poor son like you. Just look at them—the toes are already torn. Perfect for a beggar.”
Arka lowered his head. The jade pendant around his neck felt warm. He tried to ignore it. Every day was the same. The taunts. The ridicule. He always chose to stay silent.
Until today.
Reno kicked Arka’s shoe. “Just throw them away. Don’t bring cheap junk to our school.”
Something in Arka’s chest exploded.
“Don’t touch my mother’s shoes.”
Arka’s voice was low but clear. Reno fell silent for a moment, then laughed even harder. “Oh, the poor kid finally found his voice?”
Reno’s hand rose, ready to slap him. Arka didn’t move. He stared straight ahead. The pendant around his neck suddenly gave off a pale green light. It slipped beneath the collar of his uniform, invisible to everyone else.
Arka’s chest grew hot. The blood in his veins pulsed fiercely. The wind that had been calm on the school grounds suddenly began to blow hard. Leaves flew everywhere. Reno’s hair was tousled by the strange wind.
Arka felt something flow from the pendant through his entire body. His muscles tensed. A power he had never known filled his chest. Wind swirled around his feet, as if waiting for his command.
Reno was still laughing. “You want to fight me? With that scrawny body?”
Arka raised his head. His eyes changed. Something inside them lit up.
The wind exploded.
It wasn’t an ordinary wind. It was powerful, sharp, and obedient. Reno was shoved back several steps. His bag fell to the ground. The students nearby were startled. Several of them screamed.
Arka himself was shocked. He stared at his hands. His fingers trembled. The power was real. He could feel the air around him moving according to his will. Only a little, but enough to shove Reno back.
Reno got to his feet, his face red. “What did you do?!”
Arka didn’t answer. He was afraid. Afraid of himself. The pendant was still warm against his neck. Its green light had dimmed, but the power remained inside his body.
He turned and ran.
His legs moved faster than usual. The wind seemed to push him from behind. He raced through the corridor and across the grounds before making it out of the school gate. No one chased him. Reno was still standing there, bewildered.
Arka ran until he was gasping for breath. He stopped in the narrow alley behind the school. Dull brick walls surrounded him. He leaned against one, clutching the pendant.
“What… what is this?” he whispered.
The pendant was cold again. There was no light. But his body still felt strange. Stronger. Lighter. The wind in the alley moved slowly, as if it were still waiting.
He remembered his mother’s face. His mother, always smiling when she gave him the pendant. “Keep it safe, Arka. It’s an inheritance.”
An inheritance of what?
Arka shook his head. He didn’t want to think about that now. He just wanted to go home. Home to the small house on the outskirts of the city, where his mother was waiting with a simple meal.
But as he stepped out of the alley, the wind suddenly changed.
It wasn’t an ordinary wind. It was cold. It carried the smell of wet earth and something unfamiliar. A scent he had never smelled in this world.
Arka turned.
At the end of the alley, a shadow moved. It wasn’t human. Its shape was indistinct, like black mist standing upright. Two small red eyes glowed within it.
The pendant around Arka’s neck grew warm again. This time, it happened faster. And more intensely.
The shadow stepped forward.
Arka froze.
The wind around him churned violently. The power that had begun to fade rose again, as if reacting to the threat. But Arka had no idea how to control it. All he could do was stand there, breathing hard as he stared at the creature that clearly didn’t belong to the human world.
The shadow stopped. A hoarse voice rang out, like a whisper from far away.
“Heir… at last, you’ve appeared.”
Arka’s eyes widened.
The pendant around his neck blazed brightly. Green light illuminated the dark alley. Wind spun fiercely around him, lifting dust and dead leaves.
The shadow smiled—if it could be called a smile.
“We’ve been waiting for you for a long time, Arka.”
And before Arka could run again, the shadow vanished in a gust of black wind.
Only silence remained. And the pounding of Arka’s heart, beating far too fast.