Delivery boy

Asha woke with a sharp inhale, her body trembling as cold sweat drenched her skin. Her breath came in shallow gasps, her golden eyes darting around in frantic confusion. She was still here—still in her private suite at the den—but something was terribly wrong.

The nightmare hadn't ended.

Even though Sol was gone, the horrifying vision he had forced upon her still clawed at the edges of her mind. Her body refused to move as flashes of images flooded her senses—her own reflection staring back at her, distorted and wrong. A thousand versions of herself, each whispering in unison, their voices hollow and mocking.

She gritted her teeth, willing the illusion to fade, but it only seemed to strengthen. Shadows twisted unnaturally in the corners of the room, creeping toward her, their shapes vaguely familiar yet grotesquely altered. Her tails twitched in panic as she tried to rationalize what was happening. This wasn't real—this couldn't be real. But her senses screamed otherwise.

Her fingers dug into the plush fabric of her chair as she fought against the paralysis creeping up her limbs. No magic had ever made her feel so helpless, so completely at the mercy of another. Sol had walked into her den, turned her world upside down, and left her drowning in terror with nothing but a flick of his hand.

Her jaw clenched, fury briefly cutting through her fear. She had underestimated him. Badly. And now, she was paying the price.

Asha forced herself to steady her breathing, trying to find a crack in the illusion's hold on her. "Think, damn it..." she whispered hoarsely to herself. She needed to break this—she needed to escape her own mind before she lost herself entirely.

The whispers grew louder, rising into a deafening cacophony. Her own voice turned against her, mocking, accusing, warning.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Sol's starry gaze burned in her memory, as sharp and merciless as the nightmare itself.

A loud bang shattered the silence as the door burst open, her men rushing in with weapons drawn. The sudden intrusion sent a jolt through her system, snapping the illusion's grip on her mind. The whispers vanished, the twisted reflections disappeared, and the creeping shadows melted back into reality. She gasped, air flooding her lungs as if she had been drowning.

Her men skidded to a stop, their expressions shifting from battle-ready to outright confusion as they took in the sight of their leader trembling in her chair, golden eyes wide with lingering terror.

With bated breath, Asha rasped, "Where did the kid go?"

One of the men hesitated before answering, "He disappeared. No one saw him leave... except one guard, but—there's something wrong with him. He won't stop screaming, it's like he's in a nightmare."

At that word, Asha's body shivered involuntarily. Her hands clenched against the armrests of her chair as she forced herself to stay composed. Another of her men stepped forward. "Some of the others have already gone out looking for him—"

"Call them back. Immediately!" Asha snapped, bolting upright from her chair. Her sudden movement startled them, and the urgency in her voice made their blood run cold.

She swallowed hard, recalling Sol's last warning. The chilling promise, followed by that horrifying sneak peek of what he could do. They couldn't afford to provoke him any further.

"Now!" she barked. "Before they make the biggest mistake of their lives."

Her men scrambled, rushing to relay the message. As the last of them hurried out, Asha exhaled shakily, running a hand through her hair before reaching for her communicator.

She had to make a call.

A smooth, almost soothing voice answered on the other end. "Asha. What news do you have for me?"

Asha straightened herself, trying to keep the tremble from her voice. "Madam, I'm sorry, but I failed to gain anything."

The voice remained calm. "Oh? How surprising. Tell me about it."

Asha hesitated only for a second before sending an image from the security cameras—a shot of Sol, standing in the hallway, flashing a wide grin at the camera with a peace sign. Even looking at it now, her stomach twisted. That same grin had haunted her in the nightmare he left behind.

The woman on the other end chuckled softly. "Oh, he's a cute one."

Asha exhaled sharply, then forced herself to recount everything. She described how the new delivery boy had walked into her den with unsettling confidence, how he had silenced her voice with a simple gesture, how the eerie orange flower had appeared out of nowhere and paralyzed her. She told her about the invisible blade at her throat, the star-like eyes that stripped her bare, and finally—the unimaginable nightmare that had left her shaking even now.

She couldn't process how that was just a warning.

Then what was the real deal?

Silence stretched on the other end as the woman listened. Asha could feel the shift in her tone even without words.

"...This is far more than I expected," the voice finally admitted. "I wanted information, but how the hell did you end up crossing paths with a psychopath?"

Asha swallowed, staring at the image of Sol on her screen. That same innocent smile now looked a lot less harmless.

She clenched her fists, bracing herself before asking, "What do you want me to do?"

The woman on the other end of the line was silent for a moment, as if weighing the situation carefully. Then, with a sigh, she finally spoke. "Take a rest, Asha. I'll handle it."

Asha exhaled shakily, relief washing over her like a tidal wave. It felt like she had just been granted a pardon. Whatever Sol was, whatever he was capable of, she wanted no part in provoking him further.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the call, the woman leaned back in her chair, fingers drumming against a sleek console. She replayed the footage Asha had sent her, watching Sol's wide grin and carefree pose. Her lips curled into an amused smirk, but her mind was already at work.

She switched to another screen, her system running rapid queries through various underworld networks. Sol was an unknown. No past records, no notable affiliations—nothing that warranted this level of ability or confidence. Yet, in mere days, he had single-handedly crushed Asha's control and walked away untouched.

"Interesting," she murmured to herself. "Very interesting."

She pressed a command, sending encrypted requests to her most trusted informants. If Sol was just another rogue traveler, she needed to know. If he was something more… then he might be worth keeping an eye on.

Her fingers stopped tapping as she studied the screen again, eyes narrowing. Lover's Bar. The old man there never took in people randomly. His presence in this was an anomaly, and anomalies had a way of disrupting carefully laid plans.

A slow exhale left her lips before she picked up her communicator again, this time dialing a different contact.

"Find out everything you can about Lover's Bar's new delivery boy," she said smoothly. "And be discreet. I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of him soon."