Path of the Unmentioned: The Missing Piece-Chapter 177: The One Who Started It All [1]

[Elderemere Hospital]

Outside Kyle’s door.

Seraphina leaned against the cold hospital wall. Her arms crossed tight over her chest, shoulders slumped.

Kyle was awake.

Alive.

Okay.

The thought sank deep into her, and she let out a breath she didn’t even realize she’d been holding.

It was long and slow, easing out the tension that had wrapped around her like chains. The fear. The helplessness. The anger.

She closed her eyes for a moment.

The image was still there. Burned behind her lids.

Kyle. His skin pale, body limp, blood soaking into the stone floor outside the Black Gate. Barely breathing.

She could still feel the moment she saw him like that. The sharp twist in her stomach. The way her legs almost gave out.

She should’ve stopped it. Should’ve seen something was wrong.

’If something had happened to him—’

Her nails dug into her arms. Hard. She forced herself to stop the thought before it finished.

But now...

He was sitting up, grumbling as she spoon-fed him porridge. Arguing with Mochi like nothing had happened.

Like he hadn’t been dead to the world for a week.

A soft snort escaped her lips.

’Idiot.’

Still... the weight on her chest lifted. Even if just a little.

———

The hospital hallway was quiet.

Too quiet.

The kind of silence that made your ears ring. Most of the staff had turned in for the night.

A few late-shift healers still whispered in distant corners, and the soft blue glow of mana-lights lit the halls in a calm, pale haze.

Seraphina leaned her head back against the wall, eyes drifting toward the closed door to Kyle’s room.

There was some lingering unease crawling under her skin.

She frowned, scanning the hallway...

Rustle.

Her eyes snapped open.

At the far end of the corridor, near the lifts—

A shadow shifted.

She straightened instantly, every sense on edge.

It was a man. Tall. Lean. Unhurried.

And watching her.

Not a nurse. Not a patient. Not anyone who belonged there.

Her heart skipped.

The dim overhead lights caught the edges of his face. The slight curve of his lips.

Familiar. Mocking.

Her stomach dropped.

No.

Her breath caught in her throat.

It was him.

The man from the dungeon hub. The one who turned the normal dungeon gate into black dungeon. The one who started all of this.

The one who trapped Kyle and others.

"Y-you are..."

The man didn’t answer.

His smile deepened.

Then—

Ding.

The lift doors opened behind him.

He stepped back, slow and easy.

And vanished into the darkness beyond the el evator.

Her instincts screamed.

Her boots hit the floor in fast, echoing steps.

"Stop!"

She ran.

The hallway blurred as she sprinted toward the lift. Her cloak snapped behind her, mana pulsing faintly at her fingertips.

The doors were already closing.

She lunged—

The doors sealed shut with a soft click.

Her hand slammed against the metal.

He was gone.

She stood there, knuckles white against the cold elevator door.

’No.’

Not again.

She turned and dashed toward the stairwell.

The stairwell spiraled down into shadow.

Her boots hit the steps two at a time, hands brushing the rail only for balance as she pushed herself faster.

She couldn’t let him slip away.

Not this time.

At the bottom. She shoved open the stairwell door—

And skidded to a stop.

The hospital lobby was nearly empty. The soft blue light of mana lamps flickered over polished floors.

One receptionist chatted quietly with a healer near the desk.

No sign of him.

No footsteps.

No figure.

Her eyes scanned everything. Her pulse thundered in her ears.

’Where—?’

Then she saw it.

The glass front doors.

Swinging shut.

She broke into another sprint.

———

[Elderemere Hospital — Parking Area]

Cold night air bit at her cheeks as she burst outside.

Her eyes darted, scanning—

There.

A figure.

He turned the corner, calm as ever, like he was out for a stroll.

She chased him.

Her boots struck the cobblestone with sharp cracks. Her breath came fast and hot in the cold.

"STOP!" she yelled again.

Still, he didn’t look back.

She followed him around the corner—

And stopped.

The parking area of hospital was empty.

Silent.

Not even a footprint in the dirt.

No footsteps. No sound. No movement.

’Where—’

There was nowhere else he could’ve gone.

Her fists clenched at her sides.

Then—

A low chuckle.

Smooth. Quiet. Amused.

Her spine stiffened.

The sound came from behind her.

Slowly, she turned.

The man was there.

Leaning casually against a brick pillar. Arms crossed.

That same infuriating smile on his face.

"Looking for me?"

———

[Elderemere Hospital — Kyle’s Room]

Kyle scratched behind the black cat’s ears, smiling as she leaned into his hand with a soft purr.

"Thanks, Zalrielle," he murmured.

She looked like an ordinary cat. Sleek black fur, golden eyes that shimmered in the light.

But Kyle knew better. She wasn’t just a cat.

She was Zalrielle, his spirit, his tachi. The one who had awakened by absorbing the unstable mana within him, the same power that had nearly torn his body apart.

A desperate act to save his life.

When Kyle first realized she had awakened from her dormant state. He’d stared at her in disbelief

’Why a cat?’ he had asked through their mental link, unsure if he was hallucinating.

Zalrielle had paused before answering, her voice quiet in his mind.

’I... didn’t really have a choice. And... your sister likes cats.’

Kyle had blinked. ’Aurelia?’

She didn’t respond. Just curled up beside him and closed her eyes, tail twitching slightly.

Later, it made more sense. She needed Aurelia’s permission to remain close.

Maybe taking the form of a cat. One Aurelia had once said she wanted as a pet cat, was her way of staying nearby without raising suspicion.

The hospital staff had taken the odd black bracelet Kyle was wearing. Her original forms she had taken.

That’s why she’d shifted into a cat, to stay close to him unnoticed.

Now, she stayed by his side in this feline form. Watching over him with those unnervingly intelligent golden eyes.

And though she rarely spoke aloud. Kyle felt her thoughts, her emotions.

Their connection ran deeper than words, ever since the day he passed her trial. Their souls were linked.

He’d tried asking her about her past. About where she came from. About the other spirits.

But she had no memories before him. Before the moment he’d claimed her.

Not a single thing.

His eyes shifted toward the door Seraphina had just walked out of.

’You didn’t have to attack her,’ Kyle said in his mind, a wry smile on his face.

Zalrielle’s tail flicked, her reply sharp. ’She was being annoying.’

’She was trying to help.’

’She was touching you.’

Kyle chuckled. ’Jealousy doesn’t suit you.’

She didn’t respond. Just turned her head away and laid her ears flat.

He smiled. Her silence said more than words.

’So... Mochi,’ he teased, thinking the nickname would get a reaction, ’can you take other forms? Like monsters?’

Zalrielle froze.

’Don’t call me that. It’s embarrassing.’

’What? It’s cute.’

’Your sister has no naming sense.’

Kyle laughed. ’Come on. Mochi is adorable.’

She gave him a long, judging stare with her golden eyes, unimpressed.

Still grinning, he asked aloud, ’So, Zal, can you transform into anything else? Like... a giant monster?’

She narrowed her eyes. ’Why would I want to?’

’Curiosity.’

’It takes too much mana. A cat was easier.’

’But... it’s possible?’

’I don’t know. I’ve never tried.’

Kyle leaned back. ’So, technically... you could?’

Zalrielle growled softly, her voice grumbling in his mind. ’Stop thinking about me turning into a dragon.’

’I wasn’t—’

’You were.’

Before he could reply. Zalrielle suddenly went still.

Her fur bristled. Her ears perked. Her golden eyes locked on the door.

Kyle immediately tensed.

"What’s wrong?" he asked under his breath.

Zalrielle’s voice came sharp and clear. ’Kyle—’

She didn’t get to finish.

His instincts roared.

MOVE.

Kyle leapt off the bed a split-second before—

BOOM.

The bed exploded.

Wood shattered. Splinters tore through the air. The mattress was torn apart like paper, flames and force ripping through where he’d just been.

Kyle landed in a crouch. The shockwave slamming into the walls behind him. Cracks spiderwebbed across the plaster as dust filled the air.

But he didn’t hesitate.

Zalrielle, already melting from her cat form into a swirl of black mist, flowed into his grip, reshaping into her true form.

A polished, deadly blade. Her hilt pulsed faintly with light. A quiet hum vibrating in Kyle’s palm.

He stood quickly, heart pounding in his chest. Eyes sharp.

But everything had changed.

No more hospital.

No more walls.

No more moonlight streaming through the windows.

Instead, Kyle found himself standing in a place he didn’t recognize.

The air shimmered with strange colors.

Reds, purples, blues, shattered light that danced across the sky like broken glass. The ground beneath him was soft, blanketed with flowers.

Red spider lilies.

Endless.

Their crimson petals gleamed like fresh blood.

They stretched in every direction, swaying gently, as if breathing.

And then—

Someone stepped forward.

A figure, emerging through the smoke and glittering haze.

Wrapped in a long black coat that seemed to swallow the light. The space around them bent unnaturally. Like reality itself didn’t want them there.

Kyle’s breath hitched.

He didn’t know who it was. But every part of him screamed the same thing—

Danger.

Zalrielle’s voice echoed in his mind. Her usual calm was gone.

Tense. Cold. Almost afraid.

’Kyle... this is a domain.’

———