Complete Freedom

'Benson.'

Dorian muttered, lying upright on his bed, holding the book to his chest while staring up. He remembered they would be leaving by morning, and it was already 5 a.m., yet he was still wide awake.

So all he could do was lay there and think until he got tired. Yet, for some reason, more questions kept forming.

The collar around his neck was still holding on with so much strength that even when he had used the thorns to try to break it, like he did with Yvonne, it still didn't budge. It was like his had been made with a different material entirely.

He was still anxious that they might be tracking him, but he was sure it would be easier to escape from here if necessary.

"Wolfhart," Dorian repeated the name slowly, wondering why it felt strangely familiar.

He searched his memories for a man who had ever been called that name in his presence, but all he could pick out was the face of a lifeless child… and then something being held over his eyes.

A white glove to be precise.

"Arg," he groaned, tossing the book aside onto the bed, then he raised both hands to his face. "If those people hadn't messed with my head, it'd be so easy remembering little details."

Dorian's eyes slowly clamped shut. The low hum of the air conditioning sank into his skin, soothing him, reminding him of the cold baths he'd grown to love after realizing they helped ease his tension.

He opened his eyes again and raised his right hand to look at it, tracing every vein. The faint scent of blood seeped from the wound on his wrist, the one that still refused to heal completely.

It had only managed to close up a bit. One poke and it would open again.

He thought back to the incident at the lab, and how he had felt back then.

The sweet feeling of something cool moving from his feet, up to his heart and mind, right before the system activated.

The warm sensation from the thorns that he had oddly felt comfort in. He was still confused about how he was able to control them, but he could.

That thought alone got him sitting up, his brows furrowed. He checked the small clock, in the shelf built into the soft cushioned headboard.

"Shit," he cussed lowly.

It was 5:25 a.m., and he knew Rose would be awake in the next 35 minutes. Which meant cooking and then when Benson arrived, she'd have to feed him before they left.

He made a quick mental note to finish what he was doing before 6, then take a bath, and search for more books in the house's small library to take on the road.

Dorian moved to the center of the room and got on both knees. He kept his hands on his lap, resting his weight on his legs.

He took a deep breath, inhaling the cool air. Rose's scent clung to everything in the room, her conditioner still in his hair… until he picked up the scent of his own blood.

Without thinking twice, he dragged his thumb across his left wrist, tearing the wound open again. Thick red blood slowly flowed out of the cut, moving toward the edge of his wrist.

The liquid gathered, and just before it could drop off, it instead formed a needle-sharp head. Then it grew, like a bean plant, using all the blood until it reached the length of Dorian's arm.

He broke off the thorn from its source.

He gripped it tight, expecting it to shatter just as easily as it had the first time. But this time, it didn't even crack.

He raised the thorn to his face and narrowed his eyes at the red stick. He expected it to be thick and opaque. Instead, the thorn was almost see-through.

"Woah," Dorian breathed, noticing how the color shifted from light to dark and back again.

'Can I attach it back?' he asked in his head. But there wasn't an answer to that. He assumed if he tried, it would just keep growing instead.

Then he thought of the other thorny tendrils he had created before. He gently placed the thorn beside him and set both hands on his lap.

He closed his eyes and focused on that same feeling from before, the way the thorns had burst from him in the lab.

He focused on the sensation in his head, the strange silence that came the second they emerged, how everything had felt clearer, like the thorns were a part of him.

He clenched his left hand around the broken piece and tried to find that feeling again, breathing slowly.

At first, nothing happened, then the air shifted.

Am uncomfortable heat moved through his body, even though the air outside was still cold.

Then that same cool air became extremely cold and heavy, so much that it made breathing hard.

A soft pulse moved through his chest, down his back, and along his spine until it stopped at the middle, then spread through his body. His heart began to race.

Suddenly, the floor beneath him lit up, illuminating his dim room with a brilliant red light.

Thick red lines appeared, drawing a glowing circle around him. It looked like it was drawn with blood, but also like any regular line. Strange symbols appeared across it, moving and reshaping themselves.

Dorian leaned back, startled. He knew he had seen it before, but he could barely focus on the lines. His instinct to escape was stronger.

Once the lines stopped moving and he tried to shift, a loud, painful sound rang in his ears.

Ding!

The white holographic panel appeared in front of him.

『Warning: Please refrain from summoning external parts. Your body has not adjusted or regained stamina. Further trials could result in internal bleeding, severe migraines, and possible paralysis.』

Dorian froze. He looked down at the red circle beneath him, still glowing faintly.

"What… exactly is this thing? A summoning circle?" he whispered.

The screen changed.

『This is your Mutation and Ability Field. Accessible to only you.』

『Do you wish to customise?』

He stared at it, his heart was still racing, but curiosity took over. He carefully placed his fingers on one of the glowing lines, half-expecting it to sting or draw blood.

Instead, it responded to his touch by glowing brighter, and a small smile tugged at his lips.

'Customise…'

He thought about what to choose. He didn't really like the plain, bright red. If anything, he would've preferred white and blue, but that felt too clean? It just reminded him of the lab.

He took a deep breath and decided.

'Add black to the outer circle, black sigils and symbols, red writings and a red center.'

Just like that, it started to change.

The red lines darkened.

Black slowly spread across the edges, the glowing circle shifted, thorn-like symbols curved around it.

In the middle, a steady red glow remained.

The room felt colder now, but the air was no longer as heavy.

The thorn in his hand reacted too, It pulsed violently, and a frown formed on his face, but he didn't move.

He watched it carefully as it changed in his grip.The outer layer turned black, and the inner part, still translucent, remained red, slowly shifting from light to dark.

The screen flickered again.

『Customisation complete. About time you picked something.』

Still confused about many things, Dorian was at least certain of one thing, the ability was actually his. No matter how strange it looked or felt.

Suddenly, the collar around his neck gave off a small spark.

His body tensed immediately.

The collar buzzed for a second, then went completely silent.

Dorian reached up slowly, unsure what was happening. But when his fingers brushed against the edge of the collar—

Click.

It cracked open with a soft sound and fell into his lap.

He blinked, and slowly reached up to his neck, The weight was gone, no pain, just a faint mark that would fade later.

For the first time since he could remember, he could breathe freely.

A slow breath escaped his lips.

"…Finally."

He looked down at the red-and-black circle beneath him. Then gently placed the thorn beside him and watched as it turned into liquid again and was absorbed by the glowing lines.

He shifted his gaze to the clock again. There were still a few minutes left before Rose would wake.

"…Guess I'll make breakfast then," he muttered.

The light on the floor began to fade as straightened up, quietly retreating into the ground like it had never been there at all.

Dorian didn't bother to let his eyes linger. He just sat there for a moment longer, wondering what the system meant.

Was he supposed to be in a certain condition to activate the other thorns?

If so… then what kind of state had his body been in last time?