The night came faster than it should have.
Darkness settled over the forest, thick and suffocating. Even the sky felt distant, as if it refused to look down.
Kashikari didn't stop moving.
Not because he had somewhere to go.
Because stopping meant thinking.
And thinking meant remembering.
His steps slowed as the temperature dropped. The cold didn't bother him much, but the silence did. It pressed against his mind, leaving too much space.
Too much room.
Jinwi filled it.
A faint pulse echoed through him, slower than before. Watching. Waiting.
Kashikari exhaled, his breath visible now in the cold air.
"You're quieter."
No response.
But he felt it.
Jinwi wasn't weaker.
It was observing.
Learning.
That realization didn't comfort him.
It made things worse.
He stopped walking.
A small clearing opened ahead, surrounded by dead trees that barely stood. The ground was uneven, cracked in places, like something had once broken through it.
Kashikari stepped into it.
The moment his foot touched the center—
A reaction.
Sharp.
Instant.
The air shifted violently.
Jinwi surged.
Not outward.
Inward.
Kashikari's body tensed as something pulled at his mind. Not gently. Not slowly.
Forced.
His vision distorted.
The clearing vanished.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Then—
Voices.
Not one.
Many.
Layered.
Whispers overlapping whispers.
Unintelligible.
Until one became clear.
"Bitir."
Kashikari froze.
That word…
It didn't come from outside.
It came from within.
Jinwi.
His breathing broke.
"No…"
The pressure increased. His thoughts twisted, pulled in different directions. Images flashed again—faces he didn't know, pain he hadn't lived.
Yet he felt it.
All of it.
He dropped to one knee, gripping the ground.
"Stop—"
The voices grew louder.
Not chaotic.
Focused.
Commanding.
"Bitir."
Kashikari's eyes widened.
For a moment, he almost obeyed.
His fingers tightened.
Energy gathered—
Then—
It stopped.
Abruptly.
Like something had been cut off.
The voices vanished.
The pressure disappeared.
Silence returned.
Kashikari stayed there, breathing heavily, his body refusing to move.
Sweat mixed with cold air.
"…What was that?"
No answer.
Only the quiet pulse of Jinwi.
Calm again.
Too calm.
Kashikari slowly lifted his head.
This wasn't just power.
It was control.
And he didn't have it.
Not yet.
Not even close.
He pushed himself up, unsteady but standing.
The forest remained silent.
But now he knew.
The real threat…
Wasn't outside.
It was waiting inside him.