Some people say that a miracle is when something impossible suddenly becomes real.
But I think a miracle is when you survive something that should have killed you.
My name is Kit Navajo. And I don't believe in coincidences.
Because on April 27, I accidentally took a wrong turn and became cursed.
I wasn't special.
I didn't have a dream.
I didn't rescue kittens from trees or win school competitions.
An ordinary seventeen-year-old boy. Kyoto, Tozai High School, second year of high school. I lived with my father, a former temple restorer, and my younger sister, who yelled at me every morning.
That day, everything was as usual. The spring sun was too hot, making the asphalt look wet. I was standing at the intersection with a bag of buns, about to turn in my history essay.
Suddenly, there was a click.
Not in my ears, but in my skin.
It was as if the space around me had shifted, like a mirror with a scratch.
At first, I thought I was overheating.
But then I saw it.
Right on the sidewalk, twenty meters away, the air was trembling. No, it was pulsating.
The space was folding in on itself like wet glass. Out of nothing, a semitransparent dome had grown, like a soap bubble.
Through it, there were distorted buildings, crooked shadows, and a dark ooze on the pavement.
The people around me didn't seem to notice. They walked past without reacting.
Then I blinked.
And I was inside.
My body shrank. It felt like my lungs were wrapped in plastic. Everything became too quiet.
It was like being in a silent room, where you could hear your blood pounding in your ears.
There was a creature in front of me. It was impossible.
Its skin shimmers like oil, but it doesn't reflect light. It stands on four limbs that resemble human hands. Instead of a head, it has a mask-like structure with elongated teeth. Eyes are scattered across its body. They are real. All of them are open.
And they're looking at me.
There are three people in front of him.
They're wearing black uniforms with symbols that look like ancient writing. One of them has a knife in their hand, another has a fan, and the third is holding an amulet that's pulsating red.
— Is he inside?! — The girl shouted.
— The dome reacted incorrectly! — The guy echoed. — It's an outsider!
I recoiled. My heart was trying to jump out of my chest. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't.
Then something fell next to me.
A small, dirty piece of debris. It looked like part of a mask, with one eye socket and teeth like a skull.
I didn't think. I reached out instinctively and touched it.
I was wrong.
The voice inside me wasn't a voice.
It was a pressure - like someone had placed a thousand years on my head.
[You touched...]
[You touch the border between flesh and symbol...]
[You are a vessel.]
Something entered me.
Like a gaze.
Like someone was looking through me from the depths.
My left hand flared. Pain. No - burning. As if snakes of red-hot metal were crawling over the skin.
I saw it: a tattoo emerging right on the wrist. Four eyes, enclosed in rings, wrapped in a ribbon with patterns. The eyes... they were moving.
—He was supposed to transform! — The girl shouted. —Why is he...
—He's not broken, he's holding on!
I didn't understand anything.
The monster howled. Its roar cut through the air, and everything inside me wanted to run away.
But I stood.
And I clenched the artifact in my hand.
It was... light. And alive. It seemed to vibrate with my blood.
When the creature lunged at me, I didn't even think.
I just raised my hand.
And the darkness flared.
Not fire, not light — something else. The mask in my hand cracked, releasing a black energy ball like a hand that shot forward and tore the monster apart. It didn't even scream. It just disappeared. Like a soap bubble.
The dome dissipated.
The world became normal again.
People walked past as if nothing had happened. Cars drove by. Birds sang.
And I was on my knees. I was breathing.
And I could feel the eyes on my wrist blinking.
[You survived, vessel…
You accepted the first seal…
You are cursed.]
I stood up, swaying.
There was only a fragment on the pavement. It no longer glowed.
And then I realized: the world is no longer the same.
And I - no longer me.
***
I woke up before the alarm clock.
The light had not yet broken through the blinds, but I already felt: something is not right.
The dream was torn, like paper, torn to shreds. In my head pounded, but not pain - but something else. Obsessive. Internal.
I sat up in bed. The palm of my left hand, the one with the tattoo, was burning.
It was still there.
Four eyes, elongated and serpentine, stared up at me. They didn't blink or move, but they seemed... alive.
I touched it with my right hand.
The skin was cold. But there was a warm пульсация inside the tattoo.
[You are not asleep, vessel...]
I pulled my hand away, my heart racing.
—Who are you? — I asked aloud.
There was no answer. Just a dull hum, as if someone were tracing a finger on glass, far, far away.
I had barely eaten my breakfast.
My sister muttered something about my "sullen face," and my father nodded in silence, as he always did.
But I didn't care.
Every object I touched with my left hand seemed to resonate.
The cup made a ringing sound.
The old book felt warm under my fingers.
Even the doorknob seemed to twitch.
And I could feel it all through the mark.
It was worse at school.
I could feel people staring at me. Not people — objects.
A poster on the wall. A rubber ball in the gym. A chalkboard.
They… seemed to recognize me.
As if I had become part of a system that I had not seen before.
And then the first thing happened.
During the break, while I was sitting alone in the classroom, my hand reached out for something.
It was the teacher's locker.
I didn't know why. I just felt it was there.
I opened it.
It was an old compass. A large, brass compass with a worn-out cover. I had never seen it before. On the cover, there was an engraving of a snake biting its own tail.
As soon as I touched it with my fingers, the world changed.
The floor suddenly disappeared. I fell, not with my body, but with my mind. Into the black water. Deep.
[You touched the second key...
You bear the seal... You are doomed.]
Images. Masks. People with empty eyes. Kyoto covered with domes. Foreign languages written in the sky. And I am in the center.
The compass lit up.
For a moment, there was a flash.
I stood still. But my shadow was moving.
And there were five eyes on the shadow.
—A Kit Navajo?
I was startled. There was a girl standing behind me. Black hair, glasses, stern look. The shape is not like the others.
—I'm Misaki Sunada. — Relict Control Association...
She nodded at the compass in my hands.
— Congratulations. You've activated the second object.
— Object? I asked.
She looked at my arm.
— It seems you're indeed the first compatible one in two decades.
I could feel the tattoo moving. The eyes on it were opening.
[It's starting...]