The evening felt colder than usual, but it wasn't the weather. It was the house.
Akshay sat at the far end of the dinner table, untouched plate in front of him. The clinking of cutlery was loud in the silence, every sound sharper than it should've been.
His mother sighed, loud and theatrical.
"Are you just going to sit there again? Like some... statue?"
Aryan, his younger brother, snorted. "Maybe he's meditating. Gaining energy. Oh wait, right—he has none."
The words didn't cut. They didn't need to. The tone was enough. That familiar blend of contempt and superiority wrapped in a smirk.
Akshay said nothing. He never did these days.
"Say something, dammit!" his mother snapped, slamming her hand on the table.
Akshay looked up slowly, eyes dull but steady. "What do you want me to say?"
His father, Rakesh, who had been watching silently with growing fury, stood up so quickly his chair screeched backward.
"Enough! I won't have this disrespect in my house! Always acting like you're the victim. Like the world owes you something!"
Akshay clenched his fists under the table.
"You lash out at your brother, insult your mother, isolate yourself from everyone—and now you want to play innocent?"
"I never—" Akshay started, but Rakesh was already moving.
A fist crashed into Akshay's jaw. The chair toppled. The world tilted. And then came the words that would stick deeper than the bruise.
> "Get out. You're no son of mine."
Minutes later, the door slammed behind him. The rain began.
---
He walked aimlessly through the city, streets blurred by neon lights and the water in his eyes. He wasn't sure if it was rain or tears anymore.
People passed by, busy, hurried, uncaring. No one looked twice at a soaked teenager walking alone at night with blood on his lip and silence in his throat.
Akshay eventually stopped behind an old temple near Sector 9—abandoned, overgrown, forgotten by time. The kind of place stray animals slept and addicts died.
He collapsed against the wall. His legs gave out. Everything did.
"I'm tired," he whispered to no one. "I didn't even do anything…"
His vision blurred. His thoughts grew distant. His body trembled in the cold.
Then… he heard it.
Soft footsteps. Not human. Not heavy.
A cat.
Black as shadow. Eyes glowing faintly gold in the darkness. It walked slowly, gracefully, until it sat in front of him—staring.
Akshay blinked.
The air grew still.
Behind the cat… something vast. Ancient. Unseen, but undeniable.
A chill crawled up his spine as the sky rumbled, not with thunder—but with something else.
Then, for the briefest moment, Akshay felt it.
A presence. A creature. A… dragon?
Massive. Silent. Watching him.
The cat's head lowered slightly.
The presence did the same.
And just like that—they were gone.
The alley was empty. Rain fell. Neon flickered.
Akshay, shivering, stared at the spot where the cat had been.
"…What the hell was that?"
No answer.
Only silence.
But somehow, that silence wasn't empty anymore.