Prodigy

The cold moon still shone intensely outside, its shadows carving dancing patterns across the kitchen floor as Sophie leaned back in her chair, her heterochromatic eyes locked on Indra. The hologram from her smartwatch had faded, but the Dimensional Ring on her finger gleamed as if calling for the next step.

"All right," Sophie said, her voice low but brimming with excitement. "Let's test your ability to use your Energy. I want you to retrieve the items I stored in your ring."

Indra's eyes widened in surprise. "How do I do that?"

Sophie smiled, leaning forward slightly, her robe slipping open just enough as her eyes—one grayish blue, the other emerald green—sparkled with interest. "Focus on the ring," she explained. "Feel the Energy flowing inside you. Direct it toward the ring and try to connect with the space inside."

Indra took a deep breath and closed his eyes, searching for calm. The silence of the house seemed to amplify his heartbeat. Soon, a faint warmth began to blossom in his chest, like a tiny flame. He realized it was his Energy: white, weak, but alive. He concentrated on guiding it through his arm to his right middle finger—where the ring shimmered in response, as if recognizing his touch.

Within seconds, something shifted in his mind. He felt like his eyes had opened in another place: he was staring into the Dimensional Ring's inner space. It felt like a square room stretching out before him, but with an unsettling spatial distortion—a place that clearly did not belong to ordinary reality. It made perfect sense to call it a separate dimension.

Indra began to examine what was stored there. The first thing that caught his eye was a metallic gleam: a chrome .38 revolver—his own gun, the one he'd used to kill the creature that attacked him at the campsite. His heart pounded at the sight.

The second item he noticed was a small, translucent white pill. He recognized it instantly as the Soul Nutrition Pill Sophie had purchased at the Night Market.

Finally, he saw a neat stack of paper notes that looked like money—probably resources for immediate needs.

When he opened his eyes, returning to reality, Sophie was still watching him intently with those mesmerizing eyes.

"Did you see anything?" she asked, her voice tinged with eager anticipation.

Indra nodded, thrilled. "Yes! I saw everything—the revolver, the pill, the money…"

Sophie smiled in satisfaction. "Now I want you to take them out. Focus again, visualize what you want to bring out, and pull it with your Energy. It'll feel strange at first, but you'll get the hang of it."

Indra took another deep breath, closed his eyes, and dove back into the isolated space of the ring. This time, it took him far less effort to connect—something inside him seemed to instinctively understand the mechanism already. He focused on the revolver first, picturing it appearing in his hand.

His first attempts were frustrating: he could feel his Energy stirring, but he couldn't stabilize it. Still, his determination kept him trying. After a few minutes, he sensed something shift: the revolver disappeared from the dimensional space.

Indra's eyes flew open, and he looked at his right hand. There it was—the chrome .38 revolver, heavy and real. His eyes widened in pure awe, and he immediately turned to Sophie, hoping she would be proud of his success.

But Sophie looked more than surprised. Her heterochromatic eyes were wide, her mouth slightly agape in utter shock. The silence hung for a few seconds before she finally blurted out, voice low and incredulous:

"Holy shit…"

Indra blinked, confused. "Did I… do something wrong?"

Her reaction seemed so out of place that it left him completely disoriented. Sophie shook her head, snapping back to reality, adjusting the robe that had nearly slipped off her shoulders, visibly flustered.

"No…" she said, her voice regaining a serious tone, though it still trembled slightly. "It's just… I didn't think you'd actually pull it off. Even though the device is easy to use, kids in the Esoteric Society get their first Dimensional Rings when they're very young, but even then it takes them a day or two to access the inner space." She took a deep breath, her cheeks flushed. "That's for the ones considered talented. The average takes a week."

She stood up, pacing back and forth like she needed to convince herself of what she'd just seen.

"I…" she continued, looking at him with a mix of fascination and disbelief, "I took five hours, and they called me a genius for it. You took… what, half an hour?" Sophie ran a hand through her still slightly damp black hair, breathing heavily. "You're… a monster." A smile curled on her lips, and despite the word, there was unmistakable admiration in her voice. "And I mean that in the best possible way. I can't believe what I'm seeing."

Indra didn't know whether to laugh or be embarrassed, but his chest swelled with excitement. The feeling of discovering something incredible—something that could redefine his entire new life—was overwhelming. The silence that followed crackled with electric tension, a promise of adventures just beginning to unfold under the cold moonlight, as the shadows outside twisted and writhed, as if watching their every move.

Sophie, still in a daze, walked over to the sink for a glass of water. She drank it in large gulps, trying to calm the tremor in her hands. When she finished, she returned to the table and sat across from Indra, crossing her legs under the black robe that stubbornly slipped open at the edges.

"Indra…" she said, staring at him intensely. "I want you to take out the other items from the ring. Just to make sure this wasn't a fluke."

Though he still didn't fully grasp the significance of what he had just done, Indra nodded. He closed his eyes once more and sank into the now-familiar sensation becoming a part of him: that gentle, vibrant current of white Energy. In less than a minute, he visualized the ring's space again—only this time, the connection felt natural, almost instinctive. He focused first on the Soul Nutrition Pill, picturing it in his hand.

In a soft flash, the pill materialized between his fingers. He opened his eyes and held it up for Sophie to see. Her eyes grew even wider. "Again…" she whispered.

Without hesitation, Indra focused once more and pulled the stack of money. When he returned to reality, the notes were already in his hand. By the third attempt, it all happened so quickly that he felt as if he'd been doing it his whole life—as if he'd finally found something he'd always been searching for without realizing it.

Sophie looked so stunned she nearly fell off her chair. Her body was visibly trembling as she spoke in a breathless, incredulous voice:

"Fuck… Are you kidding me? This can't be real… On your third try, you're already…"

She trailed off, letting out a heavy sigh and shaking her head as if fighting off the wave of shock crashing over her. She took a deep breath, her expression a blend of awe and reverence. "Indra… I didn't make a mistake saving you," she said, her voice firm but still a bit shaky. "Deciding to take you under my wing was the right choice. You… you really could shake the very foundation of the Esoteric Society." Her eyes gleamed under the kitchen light. "No… the entire Other Side."

Indra flushed. He was used to praise for his composure and discipline in tough situations, but never anything this grandiose. Still, he couldn't deny a fierce spark of pride igniting inside him.

Sophie closed her eyes for a moment, took a steadying breath, and when she opened them again, her gaze was more composed. She straightened up and pointed to the notes in Indra's hand.

"All right. You need to understand how money works here," she said, her tone back to a more explanatory cadence, though a thread of emotion lingered. "What you're holding are esoteric bills. In the Esoteric Society, we use three main currencies."

She raised a finger, starting to count them off: "First, Esocoins. They're like cryptocurrencies, created by the Society for large or remote transactions. You keep them in the Esoteric Bank and access them through your smartwatch. They're very convenient, but you don't have a bank account yet, so you won't be using them for now."

She raised a second finger: "Second, esoteric bills, like the ones you're holding. They work like cash in the Mortal Plane but are numbered with Roman numerals. They can be stored physically at the bank or converted into Esocoins if you have an account." Sophie gestured toward his smartwatch. "Once you do, you'll just place the bills over your watch to convert them."

Finally, she raised a third finger: "And arcane coins. They're old gold coins you might've seen in use at the Royal Borough. They were common until a few decades ago and still circulate, especially in traditional deals or among communities that don't trust banks."

Indra looked down at the notes in his hand. They were beautiful: gray bills with white edges. In the center was the portrait of a man who looked like a king or ruler, wearing clothes that blended elements of many cultures and eras. Behind him, three black stalks of wheat gave the design an almost ceremonial feel. The red Roman numeral "M" painted over the wheat signified a value of a thousand units. In the lower right corner, a red stamp bearing the Esoteric Society's insignia confirmed the bills' authenticity.

He ran his fingers across the paper's texture, admiring the details. The touch was soft but firm, strangely reassuring.

Sophie watched him, a small smile lingering on her lips. "You'll get used to it soon enough," she said softly, though her heterochromatic eyes still sparkled with unspoken thoughts. "You'll need to know how to handle money here. And if you keep this up… you'll have to learn to manage it very quickly."

The kitchen fell silent for a moment, lit only by the soft glow of moonlight streaming through the window. It felt as if the entire night was holding its breath, waiting for the next move of the one who might change the fate of the Other Side forever.