Awakening Grip

"Ughhhh, I'm coming, baby," the guy groaned.

"Huh? We're just getting started, and you're already going? It hasn't even been a minute!" the woman replied with confusion.

"I'm sorry, but I can't hold it any longer…!"

Then, without warning, the guy suddenly lifted off the bed, floating inches above the ground.

"What the fck is happening?!"* he screamed in terror.

Meanwhile, inside Amir's cramped bathroom…

The small green crystal on the bathroom floor began to glow, its dark green light flickering ominously, casting eerie shadows on the walls.

Then—it activated.

The crystal pulsed, releasing a sudden surge of arcane energy. Strange, glowing symbols materialized in the air, forming a spinning magic circle. The entire bathroom trembled.

Everything around Amir began to levitate.

Soap bottles, tissue rolls, even the damn toilet plunger floated into the air.

Then—so did Amir.

His hefty body lifted off the toilet seat. Panic gripped him as he flailed in midair.

"What the hell?! What's going on?!"

But before he could process it, the crystal's glow intensified—shifting and twisting until it morphed into a disembodied hand.

A severed, floating hand.

It twitched. Then, it moved.

Amir's breath hitched. His pupils shrank.

"WHAT THE FCK IS THAT?!"* he screamed, scrambling in sheer terror.

In his desperate attempt to escape, he kicked the floating toilet brush aside and lunged toward the door—

But his foot slipped.

With a loud THUD, his head collided with the floor.

Hours later…

A dull, pounding headache greeted Amir as he slowly regained consciousness. His vision blurred, his body felt heavy.

Then—he felt something on his chest.

A moving hand.

A severed, twitching hand was gripping his chest.

"HUHHHHH? HOOOOO HOLY SHT!"* he shrieked, violently thrashing, desperately trying to slap the cursed thing away.

The hand fell motionless.

Breathing hard, Amir cautiously crept closer. He eyed it warily, watching as its faint green glow pulsated like a dying ember.

"What… the hell is this thing?" he whispered, voice shaking.

Then—before he could react—

The hand jumped.

It lunged at his right arm and latched onto him.

A shockwave of pure energy surged through his veins.

"AAAHHHHHH!" Amir screamed, instinctively slamming his arm against the wall, trying to shake it off.

But it was fusing with him.

Dark energy crawled into his skin, seeping into his very being. His vision blurred. His body convulsed.

Then—

Everything went black.

After Amir slowly regained his senses, his head throbbed as if it had been split in two.

He stared blankly at his hands, as though expecting something to appear—some sort of sign that the strange events weren't just a hallucination. But there was nothing. He flexed his fingers, still unsure of what had happened.

"Amirrrrr!" a voice called out from outside his door. It was his cousin, Intang, and she sounded concerned.

Amir muttered under his breath,

"Now I'm fvcked up…"

----------

After Amir's father's death, he locked himself in his room, his world shrinking to those four walls. He was supposed to be a high-energy child, full of dreams and ambitions, but that all shattered the moment his father was gone. The weight of the loss, the crushing sense of failure, overwhelmed him. He coped with stress by eating, consuming food mindlessly, day after day, drowning out the pain. And then, there were the tears—endless tears, as he cried for the life he once knew, for the dreams that slipped away with his father.

In the present, Amir had somehow moved on. Or at least, he tried to. His aunt, never once abandoning him, had stepped in when everything else seemed to fall apart. She took care of him, provided for his needs, and helped him find a semblance of stability. Despite the brokenness, Amir's family remained by his side.

But despite all that support, Amir lived in a small apartment, hiding away from the world. He was ashamed of himself, ashamed that his aunt had to raise him now, especially when he remembered how his father had treated her. When her business was on the brink of bankruptcy, Amir's father had refused to offer any help. He had turned his back on her when she needed it most. Now, Amir carried that weight of guilt and embarrassment. It felt like he was living in the shadow of his father's actions, and no matter how much his aunt loved him, the shame never left him.

There was also his cousin, Intang, who had recently moved to Korea to attend college. Intang had always been the one who pushed Amir to keep going, to face the world and take control of his future, no matter how difficult. Now, in a new country and still finding his way through the challenges of college life, Intang had made it his mission to check in on Amir—his constant reminder that family, despite everything, always stood together.

---------------

He tried to shake off the grogginess, but his head still ached as he dragged himself to the door.

He opened it slightly, only to be met with the worried look on Intang's face, but that momentary concern was quickly replaced by a visible disgust.

"What is that smell?" she gagged, stepping back as her nose crinkled.

"You're 18 already and you don't know what proper hygiene is? How do you expect to get a girlfriend like that?" she scoffed.

Amir didn't have the energy to respond. Instead, he turned and trudged into the bathroom, desperate to wash off the mess—both physical and mental.

After a while, Intang walked into his room, intending to check on him, but froze in shock at the sight. The room was a disaster—things were scattered everywhere, and in the middle of it all, Amir was on his hands and knees, mopping the floor.

Intang's eyes widened in disbelief.

"What the fvck happened here?" she asked, genuinely horrified.

Amir rubbed the back of his neck, an awkward laugh escaping his lips. "Ahhh, haha," he muttered, not daring to look up. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you..."

"I'd believe it if the cause is you pooping all over the floor and smashing things around. It's like a goddamn disaster zone in here," Intang shot back, clearly trying to mask her concern with sarcasm.

Amir paused for a moment, his face slightly flushed, before finally speaking up.

"It was... it was the crystal. It glowed green and floated. Then it turned into this... hand. A hand made of energy. It was floating and it attached itself to my right hand."

Intang raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. "Are you fvcking taking drugs? Amir, you know how miserable your life is. Why would you pop something like that?" she scolded.

"No, I swear. It was real. I saw it—this green hand—it merged into me," Amir replied, his voice shaky with the uncertainty of his own words.

Intang just shook her head, her skepticism evident. "How many months have you been doing those drugs? Maybe you're just imagining things."

"I'm not! Please, just understand me!" Amir snapped back, frustration creeping into his voice.

Sighing, Intang seemed to soften a bit. "Fine," she muttered. "Let's just get you something to eat. Maybe you're just delirious because you haven't been eating properly. That could explain your hallucinations."

Amir reluctantly agreed. He was too tired to argue anymore. After a while, Intang prepared a simple dinner for him, placing the plate in front of him.

"Here, eat this. Maybe it'll help. But if you're imagining things, you really need to take better care of yourself," she said with a sigh.

Amir couldn't bring himself to ignore the events of earlier, but he did his best to push them aside for the moment. He dug into the food, trying to distract himself.

Before leaving, Intang gave him a stern look. "Take care of yourself. Don't do anything stupid. And if I find out you're on something, I'll call the cops. Got it?"

Amir nodded silently, watching her leave. When the door clicked shut behind her, he turned his focus back to the silence of the room. He slapped his face a few times, trying to shake off the unease gnawing at him.

Maybe I'm just imagining things... he thought. It couldn't have been real. Could it?

"Oh, right, the phone," he muttered.

He grabbed his phone and quickly scrolled through the video he had recorded earlier, only to freeze in shock as he watched.

The crystal was glowing a dark green, but just as he was about to fully absorb the moment, something suddenly covered the entire scene.

"Come on, tskkkkk," he cursed under his breath.

His thumb had unknowingly covered the screen, as in that instant, he was too terrified by the glowing crystal to notice.

As he adjusted his grip, his attention shifted to his hand. To his shock, the movements from earlier seemed to have merged with his hand itself. Confused, he stepped out of his room and made his way to the upper floor of the apartment.

"Maybe I can become some kind of hero... or transform into something greater,"

he thought aloud.

He tried everything—making gestures with his hands, muttering incantations, or commanding the air like some sort of magician, all in an attempt to unleash any kind of energy. But after countless attempts, nothing happened.

Frustrated, he sank down, staring up at the sky, contemplating just how messed up his life had become.

But then, without warning, a surge of green energy shot into his hand, stunning him. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"What the fvckkk?" he whispered in awe.

The energy coursed through his body, filling him with an overwhelming sensation. A voice echoed in his mind

"Zennar'kai Volkris Ahtara."

In a distant land, a dark force awakened, disturbed by the surge of energy it had sensed.

A demon-like creature, its face twisted in terrifying horror, suddenly opened its eyes.