Click.
Kai shut the door behind him.
Marking a boundary between an actor on set and at home.
He didn't reach for the light switch. Taking his time standing in the dark hallway.
His face—which had held careful blankness several minutes ago. Neutrality from the office—went completely still.
The mask dropped. Not a physical one, but a mental one.
"Hmm…it was a long day."
He removed his shoes with mechanical movements. Turned lights on.
He gulped down R.O. water—cold, tasteless.
He swept his gaze outside the window, observing the silent night for any traces of thunder.
"It's over?"
The apartment was small. One bedroom, a kitchen corner, a bathroom.
The same for the past few years—never changing. At least after his mother's death.
He didn't turn on the bedroom light. Just moved to the bed.
No shower. Not even dinner. Not because he didn't need them—he simply forgot things, even to eat. It was making him thinner. But it wasn't a matter of concern three years ago; someone was there to remind him.
"Sigh…it's really hard to keep promises." Kai looked at the faint stars visible from his room window. His right arm moved to cover his eyes, adjusting its position. Getting ready to sink into the only thing he cared about—sleep.
The only place other than his den where he could be himself. Just the luxury of silence and nothingness.
"Hmm… the Earth has changed a lot."
The voice came from the corner. Deep. Amused.
Kai opened his eyes to focus on the spot.
A figure sat in the corner. On the chair that belonged to Kai.
Seven feet tall. Maybe eight or nine. Hard to tell sitting down.
Glowing faintly. Enough to light the corner of the room.
The eyes—not human. Layered. Rings within rings.
Three white lines ran vertically down its forehead.
Not scars. But markings that echoed divinity.
Hair fell past his shoulders. Black. Unbound. Old.
Lower half draped in unstitched clothes. Bare torso.
A chain around his neck—unfamiliar. Strange, in a way that couldn't be explained.
The chair groaned under his weight. Metal bending.
Kai sat up slowly on his bed.
He blinked once.
"You are not a thief?"
The figure smiled.
"Observant."
"Thieves don't glow after wearing gold."
"True."
Kai's heart should have been racing. It wasn't. He was just arranging the information.
"Then what are you?"
The figure leaned back. The chair protested under his weight.
"Azhim," it replied. "Sura… of knowledge."
Kai's gaze froze.
"Sura? It isn't something I'm familiar with."
"It isn't something you would be."
The grammar was off. Not broken—just misaligned.
"Then what brings you here?" Kai asked.
"I am Davan. The one you summoned or released."
Everything paused for a moment.
Davan? I released…?The box. A sudden thought struck Kai's mind.
"What's a Davan?" Kai asked. "You came from the box?"
"A Davan is a kind of spirit." With this, a strange, mischievous smile crossed his face. "A guardian spirit."
Without waiting for a reply, he added, "Indeed, from the box. You chanted. Didn't you?"
"Maybe. What do you want?"
Azhim's smile deepened, but it still failed to reach his eyes.
"We have a contract to complete."
Kai stared at him without responding.
"I will help you with your one goal. Maybe I can help with your 'Promise'," Azhim said, giving Kai a strange look. His words gave hints of greed.
Kai didn't react outwardly. But inside, the word landed.
"What will you get?"
"Payment."
"What kind?"
Azhim tilted his head, studying him. "Not your soul, if that's your guess."
Azhim chuckled—low, controlled.
"I have no use for it."
Kai leaned back slightly, still watching.
"Bad news. I no longer own that box. Lost it. I guess you are at the wrong door."
"Hahaha…You still have it." Azhim cast his gaze toward Kai's chest.
Pointed. Directly at Kai's chest.
"You didn't lose it," he said. "It's inside you."
For the first time, Kai moved without calculation, pressing his hand lightly against his chest.
Cold. Heartbeats steady.
Normal.
"Explain," he said.
"It fused," Azhim replied. "Merged. Became part of your being. You cannot give it away or lose it. It—and I—are bound to you now."
"Permanently?"
"No. Until the contract is completed. And who would like to be bound to a human permanently."
"And the consequences?"
"Not bad, but neither good."
Kai exhaled quietly, lifting his gaze toward Azhim.
"The contract," he said. "What is it?"
"A Davan's contract," Azhim corrected.
After a brief pause, Azhim added, "It is a divine and long contract. It's an agreement between Master and Davan. Master states a goal and Davan will help to full-fill it.
"After the contract is completed, the Davan will take his payment, which should be mentioned prior to the time of the contract."
"That's quite a contract for a genie."
"Davan, not a genie," Azhim refuted Kai quickly.
Kai rubbed his temples. After some thought, he asked, "What if I refuse?"
A small smile returned. "Death. Within a week."
Kai smiled. For the time being, it was a real one. Revealing teeth—a smile he had long lost.
"I refuse," he said, teeth showing. "I have options," Kai answered in a sharp tone.
Getting this reaction, Azhim added, "Hmm… no need to rush. We have a full week. You will agree."
"Yes. If my dead body counts." Kai then collapsed on the bed, ready to sleep again.
Azhim laughed. Loud enough to echo in the building.
"Yo! If you got jokes that good, share them with the rest of us! We want to laugh too!" an angry voice yelled from the neighboring apartment. "Go to sleep, asshole!"
"Yeah. Let me sleep too," Kai said, settling back into his bed.
He closed his eyes.
Silence.
After a while, Azhim's voice came again, quiet now.
"You know… you are lucky that you got an offer from me."
Kai didn't open his eyes.
"And you are unlucky."
"Hmph… You don't realise you are halfway through it. When you realize it, you will be the one asking for it."
Kai didn't respond. After some moments of silence.
Kai felt sleep pulling him down.
…
In the Forest
"I never expected it to be an Adhipati…"
The words came out in disbelief.
The forest that had thrived some thunderclaps ago now lay in ruin.
Trees—once standing like ancient pillars—now stood splintered, torn from their trunks like fallen giants.
The ground bathed in blood. Dark. Fresh.
Blood seeped through mud, becoming one with soil. Shattered bark bathed in blood. Leaving a metallic stench, strong enough to choke on.
Among the wreckage lay the bodies of animals—deer, wild dogs, monkeys, some cut open, many split into three, charred corpses of monkeys beneath the burned trunks.
Amid all of this chaos, a man sat.
Sole survivor.
Barely getting hold of his body.
A deep gash across his chest. Clean enough to seem made by a sharp metal claw. Flesh and bones peeking from the gashes.
Blood streamed from his mouth in slow, uneven drips.
Breaths shallow and strained, fighting a battle with every inhale.
He sat atop the corpse of the creature.
Even after death radiating a faint demonic aura. Faint but beyond any other beast.
A Half Adhipati.
The man's gaze lowered to stare at the motionless corpse beneath him.
"…Managed to kill it."
A pause.
A dead, humourless exhale escaped his mouth.
"…but at what cost?"
His eyes shifted—to his shoulders.
Once embracing the luxury of mechanical arms, intricate, powerful, almost divine—now nothing more than metal scraps.
Lay in the soil.
Both of them.
His four-armed figure is now reduced to remnants.
A violent cough seized him. Spitting blood, his body trembling.
"…Tch."
His expression changed from pain to frustration.
"I don't have enough strength left… to face that old man now."
The man who had lured three beasts, alone. Now his eyes flickering with unease.
Not fear. But a mix of hesitation and shame.
Shame in standing before his guru after all of this. Not following orders, being arrogant. And above all losing a sealed item.
"The Maya-Kosa…"
His voice dropped, almost a whisper now.
Something he was entrusted with.
Something he failed to protect.
A silence fell.
Heavy.
As if something restricted the forest's movements. Similar to holding its breath.
"…Damn it."
With sheer will, he forced his body to move.
His legs shook violently as he tried to stand. Muscles screamed. Bones protested. For a moment, it seemed like he would collapse right back onto the corpse—
—but he didn't.
He rose.
Barely.
With each step feeling the pain caused by arrogance. Every unstable, uneven step reminded him of his guru's voice.
"I have to find it…"
Long shadows across the shattered forest floor swallowed the last fragment of light, cast by the canopy.
As he stumbled deeper into the darkness—
then began to fade into the shade beneath the trees.