Torn threads

Sartor's body hit the dojo floor with a dull thud, the sound echoing like a drum in an abandoned temple. Tian didn't move at first. He simply stared, as if measuring the fragility of the puppet before him.

Soft footsteps, nearly inaudible, approached the wooden door, which opened without a sound.

Yasmin entered like a cold cloud slipping through a crack in the wall.

She walked up to Sartor without hesitation, knelt on one knee, and reached for him like someone touching a fragile treasure. In that same moment, Tian unsheathed his sword with a sharp hiss that sliced through the silence, intercepting two needles flying toward him.

The clash of metal was enough to freeze time.

But Yasmin didn't flinch. Calm and composed, she lifted Sartor in her arms as if nothing had happened.

She turned toward the door and bowed slightly to Tian with chilly, precise politeness.

"We'll be together for a long time, servant girl... Try not to kill me every time your young master passes out," he said with a tone blending warning and sarcasm as he slowly slid his blade back into its sheath.

Yasmin left the dojo, carrying Sartor in her arms.

As her aura faded into the distance, Tian finally allowed himself to take out a small box and tend to his sword.

*"That boy... he reminds me of someone I met on a rainy day, five years ago. They share the same aura."*

Five years ago, in a strange incident I witnessed:

There was a girl—black hair, hazel eyes—probably a student. But the smile expected on a girl her age was missing. Her face was painted in despair, bearing an empty—no, a surrendered—expression.

She stood before the train tracks as if offering herself to them.

Just as she was about to step forward, her attempt failed.

A man appeared—dark-skinned, blond-haired, thin-framed. He wore a long black coat and a hunting cap that shadowed his eyes, though his unkempt beard only made his odd appearance stranger.

He grabbed the girl before she could jump, whispered something in her ear, and disappeared into the crowd with her.

He was one of us. I still don't know why he interfered in such a "normal" human incident…

But that aura…

The same one surrounding Sartor.

Is it… the curse?