mio_4909

One quiet night in Shanghai, Haoran found a strange cigarette on the wet pavement. Its edges were darkened, but it wasn’t burnt. A thin, silvery mist curled from it, almost like it was alive.

Curious, he lit it and took a slow drag.

The taste was bitter, metallic wrong. A sharp pain spread through his chest, like fire and ice fighting inside him. He coughed hard, but the smoke didn’t leave. Instead, it thickened, twisting into the air like living shadows.

Then, from the swirling smoke, something took shape, a tall figure with glowing ember eyes and skin made of shifting ash. Its voice was deep and heavy, like burning coal.

“You have awakened me,” it said. “Now, your fate is sealed.”

Haoran’s hands shook, the cigarette still between his fingers. He thought he had just found an old cigarette. Instead, he had inhaled something far more dangerous.

Ashen Host

"Sometimes, the only way to get rid of evil is to destroy it completely. It is a necessary sacrifice."

The words drifted through the silence as Haoran slept.

But the spirit was awake. Watching. Thinking.

Haoran's mind was open in sleep, his memories playing like an old movie. The spirit moved through them, studying his past.

Even as a child, he kept to himself. Not because he was weak, but because he chose to be alone. He never needed people the way others did. He didn't care about fitting in. He didn't care about making friends. He preferred his own space, his own thoughts.

Haoran's parents had tried to guide him, lecturing him about life, about his future. But he never listened. Their words were just noise. He wasn't rebellious, he just didn't care.

Friends came and went. No one stayed for long. He never had a real relationship. If he ever felt like something was missing, it wasn't love or friendship.

The spirit saw it in him. Even as a child, Haroan had tested himself. He was fast, faster than most. He ran up hills, climbed trees, jumped to see how high he could reach. Even in his small apartment, he would stretch, leap, push his limits, as if his body knew it was meant for more.

Haoran didn't realize it, but the spirit did.

The spirit settled deeper inside him, a quiet, knowing presence.

"You think you're just surviving, trying to get by in a world that doesn't care about you. But you're wrong. You have something rare, something powerful. You were meant for more than this empty life."

Haoran shifted slightly in his sleep but didn't wake.

The spirit had made the right choice.

As Haoran's memories played on, the spirit wondered, was Haoran alone because he wanted to be, or had life pushed him here?

Burn