I just finished my usual breakfast.
Then the door slid open.
He stepped inside. Movements exact, expression neutral.
In his hands. Something folded. A garment. Dark, unfamiliar.
He held it out to me without explanation. I sat up slowly, taking it from him.
The fabric was smooth and weighty. Black with deep green undertones that shimmered faintly under the artificial lights. The shape was sharp, deliberate. A high collar. Angled shoulders. A single asymmetrical sleeve. Some parts of it were patterned in a way that almost mimicked scales. Too subtle to name, but impossible to ignore.
This wasn't clothing.
It was a statement.
On the chest, a metal badge caught the light. Cold silver, which oddly reminded me of his eyes. Circular. Two engraved letters.
DM.
"What is this?" I asked.
"Your attire," he said. "You must wear it before coming outside."
I hesitated. My fingers curled slightly around the fabric, the emblem pressing against my palm. It felt heavy for something so small.
"I didn't ask to wear any kind of attire."
"You chose the pairing," he said, calm as ever. "This is the requirement."
I clenched my jaw. "And DM? What does that even stand for?"
He didn't answer.
But I could feel it, the faint ripple between us. He heard the question. Felt my resistance. He just didn't care to ease it.
"Fine."
I turned away, teeth gritted.
When I slipped into the outfit in the bathroom, the material molded to my shape with unnerving precision. It didn't feel like clothes, it felt like armor. Like something meant to restrain rather than protect. Every thread seemed to whisper. You belong to someone now.
I stared at myself in the wall's reflective surface.
And I didn't recognize the girl looking back.
I touched the emblem. DM. My mind caught on the letters like splinters.
Department of something?
Division of what?
Dominion... Master?
No answer settled.
I came out of the bathroom. Glanced at him and his attire. Now, we looked like a pair, even though his looked worn.
"This DM? Does it stand for you? Is this yours?" I noticed his attire also had DM in it.
He said nothing, just looked stunned, like he hadn't expected me to wear it.
Just slightly, the air between us tightened.
Is there something wrong?
Then, he blinked. Tuned in. "You are ready."
"Yes, I have worn it. Are there any other requirements?"
As usual, he never reacted to my jab, "No."
"When will we go?"
"Come," he extended his hand.
Now?
I looked at his hanging, gloved hand, hesitated to take it. "Why should-"
Then, without a warning, the world blurred again. The same sharp haze over my eyes, the way it had the first time.
"Why did you do that?" I asked, blinking hard.
"For your safety."
"That's the only thing you ever say."
He didn't reply. But suddenly I felt his gloved hand holding my hand. Resigning, I just let him show the direction.
We walked in silence through rooms... or halls, I wasn't sure. But the scent was familiar. Circuitry and metal polish.
"Is this a maintenance sector?"
He paused just a beat before answering. "A version of it."
"Are you a mechanic or something?"
"A Sentinel."
What kind of Sentinel who doesn't obey his Master?
I was waiting. If there's any answer. Or just a reaction.
But I couldn't read him. Until the veil lifted from my eyes, and his hand slipped away from mine.
The Upperworld came into view.
This time, it didn't feel like being dragged behind someone else's mind. I walked. My own pace. My own direction.
"Why does it feel different?" I asked quietly.
"You've synchronized," he said. "You are still tethered. But now, you can move freely. Within limits."
"Limits?"
"There are restricted zones. You cannot enter them."
"What happens if I do?"
No answer.
I turned to him. "Would you help me if I did?"
That hum again. But this time, louder. Lower. Like it had a voice of its own, and it was trying not to speak.
He looked at me. Really looked. The force of it made my chest tighten.
And then, like a power shut off, his expression emptied.
"I have duties," he said. "You may roam."
He turned away.
I stepped forward. "How do I find Ron here?"
His back stayed to me.
"Later," he said.
And then he was gone. Watching him walk away like that made me feel something strange. Was it because of the pairing? Because this was my first time in the Upperworld without him watching me?
But no. It wasn't just that.
We were tethered. Physically, he wasn't here. But he was still inside me.
Don't you feel that?
I waited, just for a second, hoping he might turn and look back.
He didn't.
What am I expecting? Why should he do that?
I'm free to roam now. This is my opportunity to find Ron.
I walked through the city like I didn't belong.
And maybe I didn't.
Everything around me gleamed. Silver glass walls, smooth floors that glowed faintly with built-in circuits, machines humming so softly it felt like the air itself breathed. There was no scent. No dust. No heat. Just silence, broken only by the quiet sound of my own footsteps.
They let me walk alone. For now.
People, if I could even call them that, passed me without stopping. Dressed in seamless clothing, their eyes vacant and polite. They didn't smile. Didn't speak. But every single one of them noticed.
They looked at the badge.
Not at my face. Not my eyes.
Just a flick of their gaze. Downward. Lingering on the silver mark over my heart.
And then they moved on.
Their pace never changed. Their expressions never shifted. But I felt it. Each glance was like a quiet calculation. A silent recognition. An understanding I wasn't part of.
They see it. They know what it means.
DM.
I brushed my fingers over it, without thinking. The cool metal felt colder than before.
Not a name. Not an organization.
A claim.
I'd said yes. Not to this walking brand, but to the Sentinel. I had let him bind me. I had let him in.
Now they saw that.
And they kept their distance.
Not because I was unwelcome.
Because I was already taken.
I looked up at the skyline. Towers reaching like spears into a false sky. Roads were too perfect to be real. No stars. No wind. Just that mechanical stillness.
I was here. Really here.
In the Upperworld.
And I was marked.
No longer from below. No longer unbound. No longer… just me.
I had crossed the threshold.
And now, I belonged to a Sentinel. I belonged to the Master's world. I belonged to them.
No.
The voice came. Low, quiet, closer than breath.
You are not. You belong to yourself.
My heart leapt at his words.
It was so soft I could've imagined it. But I didn't.
I stood still, surrounded by strangers who wouldn't meet my eye, machines that moved without pause. And yet, there it was. That quiet ripple inside me. Warm and sudden.
The bond hadn't loosened. He was still tethered. Still listening.
But for the first time, his voice didn't feel like control.
It felt like… defiance.
Like a secret meant only for me.