Part 1
I jerked my eyes open, gasping for breath. A white, almost harsh light forced me to squint. The ceiling was smooth, bland. My heart was beating too fast. My hands trembled. Where was I?
I sat up slowly. Every movement was painful, as if my body had been crushed. The smell of medicinal alcohol wafted through the air. A machine beeped slowly beside me.
A hospital.
But... why?
I searched my memory. A name. An image. A memory. But nothing. My mind was a fog.
- You're awake," said a gentle voice. A nurse entered, a relieved smile on her lips. You lost consciousness after being struck by... lightning, according to a witness. But anyway, you were very lucky.
Lightning? Fragments appeared. Trees. A forest. A voice... Onizuke.
I tried to remember, but it slipped through my fingers. Then, that night, I couldn't sleep. I lay there in the dark, my mind in turmoil. A deep insomnia, filled with strange sensations, distant heartbeats, and shadows that moved on the walls as if they were watching me.
And, as the hours passed, a few images began to return.
My name.
Leo Kael.
I'm a high school student in the general stream. I was about to enter premiere. I'd just finished my year in the countryside, in a small village tucked away between fields and hills in the south-east of France. It was to be a quiet summer. It was to be my last vacation before the big adventure: going off to boarding school with my two best friends - Naël and Yuna. We were to move to a big city, to a general high school far from here.
The more I concentrated, the more memories came flooding back. Walks in the forest. The laughter. Our silly threesome. The wind in the wheat. The smell of burning tar in summer. It was a blur, but it was coming back. Slowly, slowly.
And then there was this other thing.
That voice in the forest. That figure - me, but not me. Onizuki. The shadow. The Awakening. Adaptation.
I still didn't know if it was a dream brought on by the accident... or the beginning of something much bigger.
But I was sure of one thing.
I'm not quite the same as I was before.
Part 2
Two weeks had passed since the accident.
Strangely enough, I had no injuries whatsoever. My body was in perfect health, which puzzled the nurse. According to a witness, I'd been struck by lightning, literally. Yet examinations had revealed no damage, no burns, nothing. In the end, it was simply a case of malaise. A violent one, of course, but nothing more. Officially.
I'd spent a week in hospital, then another resting at home. Two weeks without sport was torture.
Tomorrow, I'm finally getting back into my routine. Back to jogging, and above all, back to my Thai boxing training - the only combat sport available in this remote corner of the world.
Shortly after waking up, I noticed a strange object on my wrist: a thin black bracelet adorned with unfamiliar symbols. I'd never seen it before. It was there, as if it had always been part of me. I was convinced that this being - Onizuke - had left it to me. A gift? A seal? A bond? A curse? I didn't know.
One of the symbols represented precisely the dagger with which he had pierced me in that vision - or reality, I didn't know.
It was light, almost imperceptible, but I could feel an energy vibrating within it... and within me. It was as if this link nourished me. Once, I took it off, just to see. Immediately, a feeling of emptiness came over me, as if all my strength was slipping away.
I put it back on immediately. This thing never leaves me.
I've got a month's vacation left.
A month to understand what I've become. To explore these... powers. To discover the truth about the shadow.
I haven't told Nael and Yuna yet.
But it's a good thing I'm seeing them tomorrow.
The next day, as planned, I went through my routine.
6h30. Rude awakening, cold shower, quick breakfast: two slices of toast, a hard-boiled egg, a banana. I put on my shorts, black T-shirt and worn-out sneakers. The bracelet was still there, black as night, its symbols more visible than ever. It seemed to vibrate gently, as if in response to my agitation.
I ran out the door, heading for the forest, my usual route. The morning air was fresh, heavy with dew. Every step pounded the damp ground, every breath anchored me a little more in reality. And yet, everything inside me screamed that something had changed.
I felt lighter. Faster. My bearings were more precise. My body was reacting like never before, as if it knew every move in advance. It was exhilarating - and slightly unsettling.
After twenty minutes, I stopped, panting but feeling great. It was there, in that clearing, that everything had changed. I recognized her, despite the differences. There was a kind of tension in the air, as if the place held the memory of what had happened.
I stood there for a moment, motionless. The wind played softly through the foliage, but I had the strange sensation of being watched. I felt a diffuse presence, more discreet, almost imperceptible... but present.
I crouched down, putting my hand on the ground. The grass was cold, and there, in the center of the clearing, where I'd seen that silhouette the day before... nothing. No sign of burning, no trace, not even a footprint. Yet I knew. What I'd seen was no dream.
Then I looked across to where he had appeared. A bird suddenly flew away, as if chased by an invisible presence. And for a moment, I thought I saw, just between two trees, a silhouette. Or an illusion. But when I blinked, it was gone.
I went to the library to find out more about this Onizuke, or Onizuki... I don't even know anymore.
I went there without much expectation, because the whole thing, frankly, sounds like something out of a novel.
My last hope was an old woman who worked there, who was completely crazy at the time. When we were kids, she used to make us laugh with her weird stories. She talked about spirits, parallel worlds and ancient powers. We laughed, but somehow... I think we liked listening to her.
And now, of course, the one time I come to learn in this damn library, she's not there. It's boring...
I did come away with a few fantasy books, though. At this point, I might as well pick up anything that might enlighten me a bit.
Back home, I had lunch, then headed off to the gym. It was the vacations, so boxing classes started early.
I arrived late. Everyone was already there. I made a quick dash to the changing rooms to change.
- So you dry out for two weeks, and on top of that, when you come back you're late?" said the Coach.
I scratched the back of my head, a little embarrassed.
- I didn't really skip...
- It's the same thing! Now beat it!
Coach is an imposing man, with the build of a mastodon. Demanding, sometimes harsh, but always benevolent. When we were kids - and even now - he'd give us advice on life, talk to us frankly, like a gruff uncle, but always there for us. We always called him Le Coach, without a first name. It was our way of showing him respect and affection.
Our club is known as a gathering place in the area. Thanks to the career of Le Coach - a renowned former boxer - the gym has gained in prestige. Neighboring clubs sometimes come here to train.
I'm one of his small group of favorites. And among us, Naël, he's one of the best.
I saw him, alone in the ring, working on his personal session. He waved me over to join him in sparring.
Naël is a blond-haired, blue-eyed man with fine features. He's the kind of guy who girls like without trying too hard. He's very diligent, almost manic, and always the first to react against injustice. This doesn't quite fit in with his provocative side, but there you go. He doesn't provoke to crush, but to force others to surpass themselves.
- So, how's the slacker doing?
I almost told him there was no need to make a big deal of it for us to give it our all.
We slapped on the gloves, and the sparring began.
As always, Naël led the sparring. His footwork was precise, his sequences clean, almost mechanical. He controlled the rhythm, dictating the pace, forcing me to stay on the defensive.
But the more the minutes passed, the more something changed in me.
My senses sharpened. My breath steadied. Every blink of her eyelids, every micro-movement of her shoulders, every shift of weight became clear. It was as if her body was speaking to me - and for the first time, I understood everything.
The world around me seemed muffled. The sound of the blows, Coach's cries, everything became distant. My gaze was no longer following, but anticipating. It was as if my eyes and muscles were dancing to music that Naël hadn't yet heard.
His jab arrived, and without thinking about it, my hand went up. Perfectly placed. Parry. Counter. Dodge. Flank.
He stepped back in surprise.
I'd never felt so fluid. It was as if my body knew what to do before I even decided to do it. As if another, faster, more instinctive me was taking control.
Nael frowned. He accelerated. But so did I. And this time, he wasn't in the lead.
Minutes passed, and little by little, it was no longer Naël standing in front of me. Something had changed. The person in front of me was no longer my friend, but... a shadow.
I could see it. A black, floating silhouette, pressed up against him like a deformed double. It had his height, his gestures, his posture - but it wasn't a simple imitation. No. It wasn't copying. It preceded.
The shadow executed movements before Nael even made them.
An uppercut? The shadow threw it a fraction of a second earlier. A side-step? It took it before he did. It was disconcerting. Hypnotizing. I should have panicked, but at the time, it seemed... natural.
Too natural.
When I finally realized the strangeness, the horror of what I was seeing, my legs gave way. I fell, as if mowed down by a fear of myself. And the shadow - as if it had existed only in my mind - vanished.
- Leo? Are you all right?
Nael's voice came to me as if through glass. Distant. Garbled.
- Yeah... well done for throwing me to the ground, you'll have to teach me that one day," I breathed, looking away.
He held out his hand. I hesitated for a moment, then took it. Ashamed. Not for losing.
But of having cheated.
- You've really improved, Léo!" exclaimed Le Coach. Come on, let's take our final bow. Let's pack it up.
The other boxers had gathered, sweating but smiling. Me, I just wanted to get out of there.
We took our bows. Gloves to the heart. A tradition. A form of respect.
But deep down, I didn't really respect myself anymore.
I wasn't the one who had boxed,
not only.
And that's how the training ended.
Bonus - Character sheet: Léo Kael
Full name: Léo Kael
Age: 15
Date of birth: December 10, 2001
Status: Lycéen en première générale, spécialité scientifique
Physical description :
Height : 1m78
Hair: Dark brown, slightly wavy
Eyes: Gray-blue, with light-changing reflections
Distinctive features: Lightning-bolt-shaped birthmark under the left collarbone, which is quite remarkable.
Mysterious black bracelet appeared after the accident, adorned with moving symbols
Power:
Mastery of the Shadow Element - Leo has developed the ability to adapt to the elements of the shadow.