Show Yourself

*Are you serious right now?!*

Since he had to use the restroom, Hyeon left his trolley containing cleaning supplies for a mere two minutes in the hallway. Upon returning, the bottles containing various soaps, chemicals, and cleaners spilled on the floor. It was a petty move, but it was an even bigger problem since whoever emptied them did it on the freaking carpet. Carpet that he will have to scrub spotlessly before he could go on his break!

When Imoogi and his followers discovered that his insignia summoning responded like an animal's heat, they spread the news around the castle. Now, the other servants look at him like he was a freak. Normally, spirits will feel different levels of pain depending on their past sins.

If Master Fenrir calls for Shika, his insignia imitates a knife slicing through the skin. Another spirit whom Hyeon recently talks to on a friendly level was Blue, the newer pitbull driver who hasn't gained any human characteristics yet. According to him, he mentioned how the mark mirrors the agony of his arm getting shocked with electricity.

Perhaps it was because Hyeon was still alive. The idea of the ᛓᛖᚾ wrist tattoo, now understood to translate as 'Fen' or 'Fenrir' in Old Norse, was bothersome. Sani uses a cell phone, so why can't the notable Festr Castle's Master send a quick text instead?

*This whole place can just go to hell.*

Technically, it was.

After Hyeon rolled his cart to the nearest supply closet to restock, he squatted on his hands and knees to soak and rub out the substances. The position made it painfully aware of his increasing upper back discomfort. Coty said the rhomboid muscles between his shoulder blades were somewhat swollen, so he recommended more rest and less strenuous activities.

*Easier said than done.*

As he was about to finish up wiping the last contamination remnants, Hyeon felt something tug his hips up with a SNAP sound. Immediately, his pants' waistline loosened. He stood up, realizing the back of his belt snapped apart. Since Master wasn't responsible for destroying it, Hyeon would have to pay for a dang replacement.

Feeling like the world was turning against him again, Hyeon was greeted with a large, shiny black scorpion stinger aiming at his face. Since it was only an arm's length away, intimidating beads of venom were clearly visible from the tip. At the end of this arched tail was the woman who velcros herself to Imoogi. Surprise surprise, he was next to her as well. Eli wasn't with them.

"Be gentle, Marcia. You don't want to hurt my friend," Imoogi said with fake concern.

"É uma pena que foi tudo o que consegui destruir," the e-girl replied in Portuguese. (It's a shame that's all I could rip apart.)

Marcia's wavy, dark brown hair was cut above her shoulders and her bangs were pinned back with a sky blue hair clip. That with the combination of a pink hair extension, thick grey eye shadow, black eyeliner with wings, and maroon matte lip stain made her look like a species of a 2008 scene queen that'd give their soul to see a My Chemical Romance concert.

Hyeon experienced similar bullying when he was younger. Most of his bullies have already apologized through Facebook Messenger after graduation. They did it because he either seemed weak, they wanted to belong to a group, or were simply trying to compensate for something they didn't have.

*Now that I think about it, Imoogi always uses his devotees against me.*

"I'm not your friend," Hyeon retorted.

Imoogi pretended to be sad. "Aw, don't be like that. How are your meetings with Master? Have you gone all the way yet?"

For some unknown reason, his chest panged when this dragon tyrant said 'Master.' He remembered begging or crying for Master during those few intimate times. To hear someone as vile as Imoogi say the name made him...agitated. What is this feeling?

"It's not your concern."

The scorpion tail moved closer to his eyes. Hyeon stepped back, but his cleaning cart was in the way, preventing any further escape.

Imoogi examined his fingernails. "Well, it kind of is. It's annoying to see you get cozy with Haruma and Shika, but now you're making dirty thunder under Master's covers."

"It's-it's not like that."

Imoogi returned his attention to him. "Come on. No one has ever been that close with Master since this program started. You don't even know what you are. The only conclusion I can see is that...you must be AMAZING in bed."

*That was uncalled for.*

"You don't know the truth, but at least I have a good excuse," Hyeon responded with anger rising through his belly. "But you always need those two to fight for you against someone like me. The only conclusion I can see is that...maybe you're weaker than me?" Bullseye.

That did it. Imoogi threw a flying fist, intending for it to strike Hyeon's nose. Since he started practicing bo-staff again, his reflexes returned. Ready for the attack, he sharply moved to the right.

Imoogi missed. He swung aimlessly through the air and tumbled into the cart. Folded towels fell over.

He wished he had a pole to use for defense. Imoogi tried punching again. Although Hyeon could throw in some blows, Haruma's advice to never fight flashed warning signs in his brain. When Clem and Hearne were sent to the basement and returned later, their faces were lifeless. He didn't want to be sent there for something as stupid as this.

"Hold still, you little shi-" sputtered his foe.

Marcia, whom he had forgotten about, did a martial arts foot sweeping kick with her tail at his ankles. For a few brief seconds while falling, he felt mad at the unfairness of this situation. Of course, he couldn't win without a weapon against a six-foot-tall scorpion tail!

His backside landed harshly and the wind knocked out of his lungs. He rolled to his side while gasping for breath.

Imoogi's shoe punted at the exact spot with the swollen spine discomfort.

"Aargh!" he cried and curled in a ball.

He didn't notice whoever said, "This human is only useful being under people." The duo went over to his trolley and re-dumped the chemical liquids on the same area Hyeon had just cleaned.

*Screw the basement.*

As they were draining everything into a wet mess, he slowly gathered himself up. His shoulder muscles were telling him no, but his pride disagreed.

He shuffled towards them like a limping zombie.

*I don't care anymore.*

The rage circulated in his body.

The two tormentors realized he was coming their way. They wickedly grinned at each other, thinking they can use him as a punching bag again.

Until they saw Hyeon's face, that is.

Marcia's scorpion tail curled high above her in a defensive stance. Imoogi took a few unsteady strides to the exit.

"You don't know what animal he can change into, correct?" The Brazilian woman falteringly asked her partner. He didn't answer and could only gawk.

In their eyes, they saw a threat. Hyeon's hazel brown irises were glowing. A grey substance emitted from his upper spine, but it wasn't smoke like when the other spirits shifted. Actually, living half-humans who can shift shouldn't emit anything from their bodies at all, so how could his skin secrete this unknown essence?

His hands were burning. Not like the female heat, but an actual burning from touching something too hot.

Intuition told him to lift his hand. Doing so, all three couldn't look away from the white glimmers trickling from his palm. It was like he was holding a sparkler. Hyeon felt he could release more, but his energy felt...plugged up in a way?

*What's happening to me?*

Imoogi tried to usher Marcia closer to Hyeon. "Um, you first."

"No way! Why don't you shift into a dragon and take him down?"

"I would but I'm not allowed. Mr. Sani said I'm way too powerful and could kill everyone."

"When did he say that?!"

They kept bickering. In the meantime, Hyeon wanted to be in awe that his powers were getting somewhere, but his stomach was getting queasy and a headache formed behind his temple. The ashy material emanating from him was thickening and gathering in clouds at the ceiling. Black and white spots danced in his vision.

He laid back down haphazardly in case he passed out. A light pressure appeared on his abdomen. His tiny cat floof, Nammi, once again found him when he was in danger. While she stared at him with her large golden eyes, she began to make biscuits around his bellybutton with a deafening purr. Her fuzzy pink toes converted into danger beans. Untrimmed claws poked and prodded at his skin. Hyeon always had to tell her to stop when doing the uncomfortable action.

He ran a hand from her head down to her thin tail. "Please don't do that."

He realized the sparks darting from his palms had extinguished. The calming effect Nammi gave him had also ceased the ashy residue flowing out of his back. It seemed he was his ordinary self.

"We don't know, sir! The three of us were talking when he went crazy. He started blasting sparks everywhere and it really scared us. We didn't want to fight back because it's forbidden."

They were pretending to be upset and explaining what had happened to Haruma who must've thought a fire had started. It wasn't surprising since the air now had a hazy tint.

His fuzzy mind was still recouping. *You liars.*

"And then his Fylgja was going to attack us before you appeared," Imoogi stated.

*That's it. Get it together, then I'm gonna...wait, did he say Fylgja?*

Where has he heard that word before? The contract?

*I think that's part of the soul that can have a follower spirit. I have a familiar?*

Before he could continue with this thought process, Haruma loomed over him. His face was indifferent, but his voice sounded otherwise. "Can you stand?"

"Y-yes."

Aiding him back on his feet, Hyeon noted that his body was slightly weaker but overall okay. The place where Imoogi had kicked earlier wasn't bruised like it never happened.

Haruma patted him down thoroughly and said to himself, "I don't see any burns. The belt can't be saved."

Speaking of his belt, they were alone in the hall.

"Did they leave?" referring to Imoogi and Marcia.

"I sent them to retrieve more supplies to clean up the floor."

"Isn't that my responsibility, sir?"

"Are you the one who did it?"

"No..."

"Then that's their punishment. I can already assume what occurred here. Is there anything else you want to tell me?" Haruma wanted to hear how they started the dispute.

But Hyeon didn't want to be a snitch. Dealing with those few spirits was already hard enough without the others joining in, too. "No, sir. There's nothing else to say."

The fox was skeptical. "Are you sure? Since no one else witnessed it, there won't be any further consequences unless you tell me your side of the story. Quite frankly, I'm more inclined to believe yours."

"I'm sure."

"Hmm. If that's your final word, then you can take your break until it's Master's dinnertime."

"Thanks, Haru—sir. I'm also looking forward to our walk later."

Haruma shyly averted his gaze. If he wasn't an insanely strong fox demon, Hyeon would've thought it was cute.

As he left to go to his apartment with Nammi following him, his supervisor called after him, "If I were you, you should discuss with Master or Sani when he returns about what happened. I don't know what blood you possess, but it could be harmful to others when it matures. Perhaps disastrous if you don't know how to handle it."

_______________

[Fenrir]

There was a growing power in his castle. It came out of nowhere, but he knew the energy was arising from Hyeon Falken.

The presence was familiar, but since Fenrir lost his memories from long ago, he couldn't recall from where.

*It's a good thing he's ours to devour when his contract expires,* his wolf toxically conversed. *We'll never find one like it afterward.*