X01: MY PERFECTLY ABNORMAL LIFE

FARTHER

X01: My Perfectly Abnormal Life

The far room wasn't enough anymore.

After Gaiz's arrow nearly took his shoulder off, Xyan knew — if he tested Summoning in that rusted depot, the pulse might trip a city sensor. He needed farther. Quieter.

He waited until the scouting cheers died down, re-wrapped his burned shoulder, blacked the gem again, and took the last transit line past the depot.

End of the line. Then he walked.

Into the wild forest belt — the unmapped zone between the school district and the old Phantom ruins. No paths. No drones. The trees got taller, the air got heavier.

That's when the encounters started.

*First:* A razor-boar burst from the brush, tusks glowing faint red. Xyan didn't think — his hand shot up on instinct. Gravity bent. The boar's charge dipped, its front legs suddenly too heavy, faceplanting into dirt. Xyan ran.

His heart hammered. I did that without the katana. Just my hand.

Second: Three hiss-wolves circled him in a clearing. One lunged. Xyan drew — just a whisper of blue from the gem — and cut sideways. The thread was thin, precise. It sliced a branch above the wolf, dropping it on its head. The pack scattered, confused.

He was panting, shoulder burning, necklace cold-sweating against his chest.

Deeper, he thought. I need deeper where no one hears.

He pushed into a ravine choked with black vines. The air hummed wrong here — Phantom residue.

Then it came.

A stalker — tall, skin like cracked stone, eyes like coals. Not a hologram. Real. It had been feeding on leftover Phantom energy.

It screamed and swiped.

Xyan had no choice.

He ripped the necklace out from under his shirt and gripped his katana.

"Summoning — Grade One!"

The words came out before he knew he knew them.

The gem flared. The necklace stone pulsed. The air tore —

A shape pulled itself out of the tear. Small, barely dog-sized, made of smoky blue-black armor with his katana's faint glow in its eyes. Grade One. Weak. Shaking. But real.

It was his level because he'd just unlocked it. It looked up at him, waiting.

The stalker swiped again —

And then something else triggered.

*NEW FEATURE UNLOCKED: Ripple Counter*

Xyan felt it like a second heartbeat. Time stuttered. He saw the attack coming — not to block it, but to _catchit.

He thrust his left hand out. Gravity twisted around his palm, and the stalker's claw stuck — caught in a slow, ticking ripple of blue light hovering just above his skin.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

He could feel the force building inside the ripple, getting more dangerous the longer he held it. Like a ticking time bomb.

"Oh no, oh no, oh— redirect!"

He flung his hand sideways. The ripple detonated outward — the stalker's own swipe blasted back into its chest. It was thrown into the ravine wall and didn't get up.

Silence.

Xyan stared at his trembling hand. Then at the little Grade One summon, which was now sitting proudly on a rock like it had done everything.

He was excited. He was scared. Mostly scared.

"How... how am I going to keep this secret in school?" he whispered. "In my dorm? Theo sleeps three feet above me! Kitarah already— no, she stopped noticing, but—"

The summon nudged his leg and dissolved into smoke, returning to the necklace.

His legs were shaking. The burn on his shoulder throbbed. The gravity use had drained him more than he'd realized.

He tried to stand to head back —

His legs gave out in the forest.

He fell unconscious into the leaves.

---

He dreamed warm.

Something wet and rough licked his cheek.

"Mom, stop it... it tickles," Xyan mumbled, half-asleep, smiling.

The licking continued.

"Mom... I said stop."

He slowly opened his eyes to a buzzing sound. Closed them. Opened them again —

To see a HUGE NOSTRIL directly above him.

He sprang up in an instant.

_THUNK._ His head hit a tree branch nearby. "Ow!"

His blue eyes — now seeing very clearly without his glasses (where _were_ his glasses?) — focused.

It wasn't a monster. It was a big, scruffy forest dog, tail wagging furiously, buzzing flies around its ears — that was the buzzing sound.

Xyan gasped a little. For a second there he thought it was something else. Something from the ravine.

He found his cracked glasses in the leaves, shoved them on, and looked up at the sky through the canopy.

Orange. Evening.

"Damn, I gotta get out of here. It's almost time for dorm inspection."

His shoulder screamed. His necklace was dull again. His katana's gem was dark.

The dog barked and started following him as he limped toward the distant transit lights.

X01: My Perfectly Abnormal Life

Xyan thought he'd left the dog at the treeline.

He was wrong.

At 1:47 AM, something scratched at his dorm window.

Xyan froze in his bottom bunk. Theo was snoring above him. The dorm was dark for inspection hours — any noise could bring the supervisor.

Scratch. Scratch. Whine.

He slid the window open an inch.

The big scruffy forest dog from the ravine shoved its huge nostril through the gap, tail wagging so hard the whole frame rattled. Buzzing flies still around its ears.

"No," Xyan whispered. "No, no, no. Go back."

The dog whined louder and squeezed its head in.

Xyan looked at the door, looked at Theo, looked at the dog. He made a terrible decision.

He pulled the window open and the dog tumbled in, muddy paws on his clean dorm floor.

"Shhh!" Xyan caught it, wincing as his burned shoulder flared. He'd re-wrapped it that evening after the far forest, but Gaiz's red-hot graze still throbbed.

The dog immediately started licking his face.

"Mom— I mean, stop, it tickles," Xyan mumbled, pushing the huge head away. He froze — did he just say mom again? He hadn't thought about her in months.

He dragged the dog under his blanket. It was too big. Its tail stuck out.

Theo mumbled in his sleep, "Bro... why's your bed... breathing?"

Xyan went rigid. "It's... my stomach. I'm hungry."

Theo snored again.

Xyan exhaled, adjusting his cracked glasses. The dog curled against his side, warm. Under his shirt, the black cord necklace pulsed once — faint — and the little Grade One summon smoke stirred inside it, as if sniffing the dog.

Great,Xyan thought. I'm hiding a gravity hand, a Summoning upgrade, a Ripple Counter bomb, a magic necklace, a glowing gem under marker... and now a forest dog.

The dog sighed and put its head on his burned arm, gentle, like it knew.

Xyan stared at the ceiling. His blue eyes were still seeing too clearly even in the dark since the forest — another side effect he didn't understand.

How am I going to keep this secret in school? In my dorm?

The dog's buzzing flies finally settled. It fell asleep.

Xyan didn't. He just lay there, listening to Theo snore and the dog breathe, his katana hidden under the mattress with its marker-blacked gem, and whispered to no one:

"...stay dark.".