CHAPTER 7: Strangers

For a second, Liu Xian thought he imagined it.

The sheer force of impact. The shatter of glass. The way he was suddenly yanked off his feet and flung sideways like a rag doll.

One moment, he was sitting there.

The next?

BOOM.

Something—someone—crashed through his goddamn window.

The explosion of sound was so violent, so sudden, that his brain barely processed what was happening before he was already slamming into the wall.

Pain. Sharp. Blinding. Bone-deep.

The impact knocked the wind out of him, a choked gasp escaping his lips as his body crumbled to the floor.

What… the fuck… was that?

His instincts screamed at him to get up, but his limbs wouldn't cooperate.

Everything was hazy. The room was blurry. His mind struggled to make sense of the chaos happening around him.

Through the daze, he could vaguely make out the figure standing in the wreckage of his now shattered window, glass crunching beneath their boots.

They were tall. Dressed in all black. Their posture filled with authority, like they belonged in places Liu Xian could only dream of.

And—was that a goddamn sword?

His stomach twisted. Who the hell—

"Found you," the stranger muttered, their voice low.

Liu Xian tried to sit up, his body protesting violently. He barely moved an inch before his arms gave out, sending him collapsing back onto the floor.

The stranger took a step forward.

"Stay back!" The dog snarled, stepping protectively in front of him, fur bristling. "I met him first—"

"Doesn't matter." The stranger raised their weapon—a sleek, curved blade that gleamed under the light. "He's not contracted yet."

Liu Xian's heart plummeted.

Contracted?

What does that even mean?!

Before he could even begin to process what that meant, the stranger lunged.

Everything happened too fast.

The dog moved, it's muscles coiling before it launched itself forward. A flash of fangs. A blur of motion.

Then—impact.

The force of the attack sent both figures crashing into the wall, the dog snarling as it sank its teeth into the stranger's arm.

The man hissed, swinging his blade, but the dog was already moving, dodging with unnatural speed.

Liu Xian just lay there, helpless, his head still spinning from the earlier blow.

What's going on?

"Dammit, kid," the dog growled, dodging another swing. "I told you to come with me."

The stranger shifted his grip. "He's not going anywhere."

"Like hell he's not!"

Liu Xian's chest tightened, breath coming in ragged, uneven gasps. The clash of steel, the snarl of the dog, the sickening crunch of boots over broken glass—it was too much. Too loud. Too fast.

His hands shot up to his ears, fingers pressing in as if that could muffle the chaos around him. His vision swam, colors bleeding into each other, his brain struggling to keep up. The weight of everything—the fear, the pain, the sheer unrealness of it all—crashed down on him, pressing against his ribs like a vice.

"Stop," he gasped, barely recognizing his own voice. His throat felt raw, like he'd been screaming for hours. "Stop, stop, stop—just stop!"

But nothing did.

The dog lunged again, the stranger barely dodging in time. The blade swung. The growls deepened. The walls seemed to close in.

Liu Xian squeezed his eyes shut, nails digging into his scalp.

Make it stop.

Make it stop.

Make it stop.

Liu Xian felt it before he saw it.

A shift in the air. A spark of electricity. The hairs on his arms stood on end.

Then—

Lightning.

It erupted from his hands in a sudden, uncontrollable burst, wild and untamed. The entire room illuminated with blinding white light, and for a split second, he thought he saw the stranger's face filled with surprise.

Then, just as quickly as it came, the light vanished.

And so did the pain.

Liu Xian gasped, his body suddenly feeling light.

The stranger, now standing several feet away, lowered his blade, eyes narrowed.

"…Interesting."

The dog, panting from exertion, shot Liu Xian a look. "Hey, kid."

Liu Xian barely had time to breathe before the dog's voice cut through the haze.

The room was a mess—glass shards everywhere, furniture knocked over, the walls scorched from the sudden burst of lightning he'd somehow unleashed. His chest still heaved from the shock, his limbs weak and trembling, but there was no time to process any of it.

The dog, standing firm in front of him, lifted its paw. "It's either you come with me," the dog said, voice steady, serious, "or you're stuck with these freaks."

Liu Xian's heart pounded in his ears.

Behind the dog, the armed men—the ones who had come crashing through his goddamn window like something out of a nightmare—were tense. Their leader, the one with the sword and the cold gaze, took a step forward, muscles coiled like a predator ready to strike.

He wasn't going to wait.

Liu Xian had seconds to decide.

"Yes or no?" The dog's voice was impatient now, his paw still stretched out toward him.

Liu Xian swallowed hard, his breath shaky. Every instinct screamed at him that this was insane.

A talking dog?

Weird powers?

A bunch of deadly strangers trying to kill him?

But… what other choice did he have?

"…Yes," Liu Xian mumbled.

"Don't let him touch that fucking dog!" one of the men shouted, panic lacing his voice.

The leader moved. Fast.

But not fast enough.

Liu Xian's fingers brushed against the dog's paw.

There was a sudden blinding, searing light.

It swallowed the entire room, expanding outward in a shockwave of crackling energy, burning white-hot like the heart of a storm.

The force was enough to send the men stumbling back, cursing and shielding their eyes.

And then, when the light finally died down.

Liu Xian was gone.