Thud. Thud. Thud.

Axel's heart was pounding in his chest. The moment his hand swung the knife, every ounce of strength in his body surged to its peak. It felt like his very cells were igniting with energy.

Thud. Thud.

The sound of his heart echoed in his ears. Blood splattered across his face, still warm, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

The moment the scarred man collapsed, Axel heard something—a subtle snap, almost like something breaking inside him.

Crack.

But there was no time to dwell on the sensation. Axel moved quickly to the kitchen, turning off the gas. He held his breath as he opened the window, letting the stale air escape before walking to the door, gasping for fresh air.

Looking down at his bloodstained hands, he fell silent.

Though Axel and Annabelle had fought off their share of slum thugs over the years, this… this was the first time he had ever taken a life.

"Annabelle…"

He turned to wake his sister, but she was already awake, her large, doe-like eyes staring at him.

More precisely, she was staring at the blood on his hands.

She swallowed, her gaze unwavering.

"Brother, I'm really hungry... If you take any longer, I might just go crazy."

Axel wiped the blood off his hands with a steady, practiced motion and stepped into the room.

The bodies of the four men were sprawled across the floor, lifeless. Axel could hear Annabelle's breath growing more uneven behind him, a slight tremor to it.

"Hold on. Just wait for me."

He moved to cover the bodies with a large cloth, and Annabelle seemed to relax just a little, the tension easing from her small shoulders.

He entered the kitchen again, taking out a needle. With a practiced hand, he inserted it into a vein in his arm, the blood quickly flowing into the small bowl in front of him.

........

Axel watched in silence as Annabelle drank the blood in small, careful sips.

Yes… Annabelle was infected, too.

But Axel still didn't know why it had happened. In fact, the change in her began three years ago, after their father led a team out of the city. Since then, she could no longer eat normal food—only his blood could sustain her.

But she was different from the others. She wasn't afraid of the sun, and she didn't lose control, turning into a mindless, ravenous monster like the others.

Yet Axel knew the official stance on the infected. They were to be executed on sight—no questions asked, no chances to explain. It was a secret only the two of them shared.

Annabelle drank half the bowl, but her stomach still gurgled with hunger. She looked at Axel with faintly reddened cheeks, her eyes pleading.

Axel stayed silent, his thoughts drifting.

He couldn't bleed any more. He hadn't eaten anything all day, and his energy had been drained by the recent violence. His head was starting to spin.

In the past, Axel had tried buying blood from livestock at the market, but one sip was enough for Annabelle to turn red all over, her body burning up as if she were losing control like the other infected. Only her own blood could keep her stable.

And so, Axel had bled for her over the years. It was for this reason that he, who was once gifted, is now far from the standard of awakening in the Force.

Looking at his little sister, frail and vulnerable, Axel stood up. "I'll get more blood."

In the last three years, Annabelle's strength had grown, although Axel didn't know how it compared to true awakened individuals. What he did know was that she could've easily taken care of the thugs—if only they weren't afraid of drawing attention, of attracting law enforcement or other infected.

But her hunger was growing.

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Axel grabbed a few mouthfuls of food and drank a large gulp of water before heading back to the kitchen to prepare more blood.

"No, you're in no shape. Eat something first." Annabelle's cold little hand gripped his arm, her eyes firm with determination.

"It's fine… I'm okay." Axel tried to reassure her, but as his eyes flickered to the white cloth on the floor, something in him stilled.

"This…"

He froze, staring at the cloth. Four faint, green orbs of light hovered above it, flickering like will-o'-the-wisps.

Annabelle looked back, confused. In her eyes, the cloth was just a cloth, normal, no different than before.

"What's wrong?" she asked, not understanding Axel's sudden unease.

"This is… strange."

Axel couldn't look away. The closer he got to the floating lights, the more his skin prickled. As he moved about half a meter away, the lights seemed to sense him—almost like they had a mind of their own—and they attached themselves to his hands.

A faint, cool sensation brushed against Axel's hand. The green light balls gradually faded, and in their place, four small light-green crystals—no bigger than a fingernail—appeared in his palm.

"What is this?" Axel muttered, turning the tiny crystals over in his fingers.

Before he could make sense of it, he heard Annabelle's breathing grow heavier behind him. Her wide eyes were locked on the crystals, and she stared at them like they were the only thing in the world.

"You want to eat them?" Axel asked, surprised by her action.

Annabelle nodded, her eyes shining. She instinctively reached out but stopped herself, glancing at Axel as she bit her lip in restraint.

Axel was taken aback. For three years, he'd tried everything to find a substitute for blood, but nothing had worked. This was the first time Annabelle had shown any interest in something other than blood.

"Then go ahead, try it. But hey, don't eat them all," Axel teased, handing her two of the crystals.

Annabelle quickly popped them into her mouth and then—burped.

"This?!"

Axel's jaw dropped. Two tiny crystals, the size of a fingernail, had filled her up?

"Brother, where did you find this? Why didn't you tell me about it earlier?" Annabelle said excitedly, her voice filled with genuine delight. She hadn't felt full in so long.

Axel stared at the two remaining green crystals, lost in thought. These had come from the bodies of the men he'd killed earlier, but Annabelle hadn't been able to see the green light balls before. Could it be…?

Maybe this was connected to his awakening?

Every awakened individual had a special skill, but Axel was still far from becoming one. He thought back to the burning sensation in his body and the strange cracking sound he'd heard when he killed the scarred man. Could that have been when the change started?

Though doubts lingered in his mind, Axel pushed them aside. The important thing right now was figuring out how to use this. If he could keep extracting these crystals from the corpses, he wouldn't have to keep bleeding for Annabelle.

He picked up one of the green crystals and stared at it, focusing all his attention on it.

Axel instinctively channeled the Force, his body responding to the pull of the raw energy. The crystal began to glow faintly, and in the next moment, it seemed to melt away, merging into his skin.

"Huh?" Axel exhaled sharply as a warm current coursed through his body.

It was a sensation he knew well—this was the unmistakable feeling of his Force improving.

For a moment, Axel stood still, his mind racing. For the past three years, Axel had struggled with his abilities, relying only on scraps from other awakened people. But it was barely enough to keep him going. He had almost given up hope of ever truly awakening, his dreams reduced to just surviving with Annabelle and trying to find their missing father.

But now, for the first time in a long while, there was a glimmer of hope - the crystal.