No Strings Attached

Ling Xi stared out the airplane window, the world below shrinking into a blur of clouds and ocean, the land of America finally behind her.

She sighed with quiet relief, her fingers curled gently around a warm paper cup of airline coffee she wasn't really drinking. Her journey had been anything but smooth—especially that last week in L.A. It was there that she'd encountered them. Not just ordinary men in black suits with sunglasses and suspicious earpieces but dangerous ones.

She remembered the way her spine had gone stiff as she felt their auras—dark, probing, aggressive. If it weren't for Marcus, the charming athlete who saved her from the bad guys by escorting her out of the hotel with an army of reporters.

He'd introduced her to his friend, Dustin. Tall, pale, with frizzy hair tied in a bun and the kind of eyes that told stories even when his lips didn't move. A street musician with a beaten violin case slung over his shoulder and socks that never matched. He was awakened too, but unlike the rest, he chose to be a Bard.

He could heal wounds with music, boost a fighter's morale with a single sonata, and make enemies hallucinate terrifying illusions by playing a haunting lullaby. He'd once played in a subway station and accidentally knocked out four gangsters with an impromptu rendition of Ave Maria.

"Healing through harmony," he'd said with a wink. "And also—personal space invasion through violin solos."

Ling Xi had laughed. He was eccentric, yes, but surprisingly clever. Kind-hearted, too. He didn't want fame or recognition. Like her, he valued freedom—and that made him trustworthy.

He'd helped smuggle her out of the U.S.

"Have a safe trip," Dustin had said as he hugged her at the gate. "And remember—don't trust anyone in a black suit."

At first, she considered fleeing to Europe. Paris, perhaps. Maybe Switzerland, where the mountains were high and the politics low. But Europe, she quickly discovered, was just as infested with agencies and secret organizations, all trying to hoard awakened individuals like Pokémon.

She needed something else. Somewhere calmer.

So she turned her eyes east—back to Asia.

Not China, of course. That would be too predictable. She has no intention of going back now to her complicated family.

Singapore crossed her mind next. But it was too small, too neat, and too polished. She needed a place with wild forests and long shadows. A place she could hunt and train—where the creatures weren't wearing suits or hiding in skyscrapers but prowling in mountains and forests.

The sentient, ever-present, whispering consciousness in her mind suggested a less sophisticated land. One with more kindness than surveillance. One where smiles were genuine and people didn't question strangers with backpacks.

And that's how she found herself flying to Cebu, Philippines.

Her mobile app had recommended a hotel in the city—basic, cheap, and with decent Wi-Fi. But her true destination was far from the urban bustle. Her sentient had shown her something far more intriguing: a forested mountain range crawling with dark entities disguised as animals.

She'd smiled at the image. Training dummies, she thought. Perfect.

She was shaken from her thoughts when the old lady beside her leaned in with a kind smile and asked, "Are you excited? Is this your first tour in the Philippines?"

Ling Xi blinked, adjusting her posture politely. "Yes, first time."

The old woman nodded, her eyes crinkling with warmth. They'd been chatting on and off for the past twelve hours. She had the tired but calm air of someone who'd lived through many storms. A Filipino-Chinese woman who worked as a nurse for thirty years in the U.S. said she was coming home for good.

"All these strange things happening around the world," she had said, shaking her head. "I don't want to be away from my family if the world is ending. Better to be with those you love."

She had no idea she was talking to one of them. One of the awakened. Ling Xi had smiled politely, pretending to be a travel blogger. Or a lost art student. It worked well, most days.

"You should come visit us," the lady said cheerfully. "We live near the beach. It's beautiful there. The air is clean, and the people are kinder than you'll believe. You might decide not to leave."

Ling Xi offered a sincere smile. "Thank you. I look forward to it."

They'd exchanged numbers earlier in the flight. It felt good to have at least one contact in this unfamiliar country. When the plane landed, they parted casually.

"I'll see you in a week!" the old lady called.

As she disappeared into the crowd at the arrival gate, Ling Xi pulled her hoodie over her head, shouldered her bag, and slipped away into the thick stream of arriving passengers like a shadow.

She made her way to the hotel, checked in, and flopped onto the bed with a sigh. The mattress was slightly lumpy, the air conditioner was a bit too cold, and the city buzzed outside like a distant beehive. But none of that mattered.

The sentient displayed in her mind the terrain like a three-dimensional map, highlighting remote regions in glowing red—locations where "dark creatures" had taken root.

According to the sentient, these beings had survived for generations, hiding deep within the forests, disguising themselves as wild animals, and attacking only the weak and unwary. They were predators—but also practice targets.

She smiled.

"Time to hunt."

*********

Alex should have been grateful—he was, mostly—but after weeks of sleeping on damp ground and tree branches with the occasional snake as a bedmate, the sudden plush comfort of the Emerald Monarch Hotel's king-size mattress made him feel like he might sink straight through it and emerge in the lobby below.

He rolled over with a groan, one arm flopping off the edge, eyes squinting at the sun-filtered curtains. The room smelled of clean linen, lavender spray, and the faint scent of coffee from the hallway. Civilization, at long last. No bats screaming in the trees. No night creatures clawing at shadows. No jungle rebels pointing rifles at his face.

He closed his eyes again, trying to recall the events of the past few days. The mission had gone well. Better than expected. Together with Trisha and Callum, they had cleared the mountain of lurking dark creatures—beasts that had disguised themselves for years as wild animals, preying on the innocent and hiding from the sight of ordinary people. No longer. The forest was clean now. One region down…

The creatures they'd hunted down in the jungle weren't just monstrous—they were inconsistent. One had tentacles for legs and fur on its back like a half-drowned boar. Another could shrink to the size of a baby and crawl into crevices, while another had exploded into a ten-foot rage-beast with horns like twisted vines.

What puzzled him most wasn't just their grotesque appearances but the sheer randomness of it all. No unifying species. No evolutionary logic. It was like the ancient boss creatures deep in those caves had just… mated with everything.

"Did they do it on purpose?" Alex asked aloud, recoiling even from the thought. "Ew. Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up."

He sighed, trying to piece together a theory. The ancient creatures—they were hiding. Deep inside caves, in shadows, surrounded by filth and fungus. And yet, they were clearly powerful. Their minions were everywhere. 

So why hide?

"Who are they afraid of?" Alex whispered, his voice nearly lost in the hum of the AC. "They've got power, they've got armies of misfit monsters… Why not rule openly? Build cities? Start a cult or something?"

His brow furrowed. "They're hiding… not from humans. That's for sure. They've been eating humans like peanuts, so it's something else. Something stronger. Maybe something ancient—like them. Or older."

He sat up suddenly, the pieces clicking into place, or at least rattling around like they might.

"Even inside the Dome… there's something they fear."

"I have a feeling," Alex said slowly, "that all these mysteries… the Dome, the ancient creatures, the powers—they will be revealed later on."

He stood up, stretching until his back cracked. Then he walked to the small mirror by the hotel dresser and stared at himself.

"Right now, I need to get stronger," he said firmly. "A lot stronger."

His reflection didn't argue.

"And that goes for those two brats, too," he added, smirking slightly as his thoughts turned to Callum and Trisha.

Their group had quietly packed up, hopped on a motorbike convoy, and ridden back into the noise and neon of the city.

Callum had checked in to the room next to his. The young Scottish ranger had taken a long shower, then collapsed into bed and started making overseas calls.

When Alex passed by his door earlier, he heard muffled conversation through the walls.

"…No, I'm fine… Yes, I'm alive. I told you, I was climbing a mountain in Mindanao, not getting married—what? No, I don't know any nice girls here; stop asking!"

Alex smiled. Callum was calling home to prevent any strained relationship between their countries.

Meanwhile, Trisha had returned to her father's house.

It wasn't Alex's idea. But it was the right one.

"You should at least talk to him," Alex had told her. "Give him a chance. If he accepts you and supports you, great—you'll have options. If not... then I'll help you escape again. No hesitation."

Trisha had agreed. Not easily. But Alex had a way of speaking that broke through her defiant exterior.

And now, somewhere in an enormous mansion filled with political posters and security cameras, Trisha was standing face-to-face with his father.

Good luck, he thought.

Alex finally had a moment alone. No noise. No monsters. No urgent battle plans.

He sat up in bed and stretched, his back cracking audibly like an old oak tree. There was something he hadn't done in days—something he should have done the moment the mountain boss exploded into goo.

"Time to check my stats," he murmured, tapping into his sentient's interface with a simple mental command.