Full Moon

"His bloodline had grown even more restless." Adam sat on the bed, yet he felt as though he had arrived in another world.

A computer by the bed was playing music. Listening closely, he realized it was actually people he had known in his previous life talking. In the distance, the television was broadcasting news of cars vanishing into thin air on the main road.

He threw back the covers and sat at the bedside to put on his clothes and shoes. "Adam" crawled out from beneath the bed, shouting that it was his bed.

Human figures crawled all over the skylight, all peering at him through the window. When Adam opened the door, the corpses of bandits lay strewn across the stairs, blood flowing down like a waterfall.

He stepped down through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, ignoring the inappropriate scene beside him. He picked up the soup on the table and ate pickled-vegetable flatbread with it, while behind him a white-furred werewolf and a monk fought like madmen.

Adam greeted Yalis and Maggie naturally, while doing his utmost not to recall certain things he should not be recalling.

"Yesterday, I found a place with some nice scenery. I'm planning to go there to paint from life—painting while looking at the scenery." Adam brought out the excuse he had long prepared.

"I'll practice a little more. Tomorrow, I should be able to go study with Master Alva again." Adam tried to sound as relaxed as possible.

After waiting a moment, Adam added, "It's rather remote there. I might not be able to come back tonight. I may find a nearby household and ask to stay the night, so don't worry."

"Is that so? Do you want to take some food with you? I'll make you some cured meat." Maggie nodded, though she still asked with concern in her expression.

"I'll just take some pickled-vegetable flatbread." Adam smiled and shook his head. "I haven't been much help to the family lately."

"We're family. Don't say things like that."

"Here, Adam, take this." Yalis, never much of a talker, pulled a small cloth bag from his waist and took out some money. Then, making his tone lighter, he said, "You need tools for painting, and if you're staying at someone's home, you should offer something in return."

"Thank you, Uncle." Adam fell silent for a moment before accepting the money.

"Is Brother Adam going out?" Lina, still bleary-eyed, came downstairs from the second floor and hurried over. She threw herself onto Adam's legs and rolled around. "Adam hasn't played with me in ages."

"Next time." Adam rubbed Lina's head and helped her up. "Brother has important things to do."

"Mm, then good luck, Adam!" Lina pressed her head against Adam's hand and spoke with great reluctance.

Adam got up and took several pickled-vegetable flatbreads. In Yalis's carpentry workshop, he found a large wooden board and shaved it flat before heading out. He glanced back at the Kubo Family home, then paid it no further mind.

Suppressing the restlessness of his bloodline and the many hallucinations, Adam bought brushes and paints, then some fine cloth, and made his way to the river.

Although people came here to fetch water, there were not actually many of them. It was also not far from the slums, and following the river would quickly lead to the forest.

Though he suspected the forest contained an aristocratic smuggling route, the forest was so vast that even if he caused some commotion, those smugglers might not bother with it. They might even help conceal the disturbance.

Adam carried a stone to the riverbank and sat on it. He placed the wooden board on his lap and laid the canvas over it. To his surprise, he truly felt like painting.

The area around him was filled with hallucinations, and all sorts of memories surged back without end. Adam no longer resisted those memories and visions. Instead, he merged them with his intention to paint.

As his brush fell upon the canvas, he followed no painting techniques whatsoever. Even Adam himself had no idea what he would produce.

The world became bizarre in Adam's eyes, until the image of a person emerged.

"Nesser, are you going to forsake God's glory?" The man's features were indistinct. He held a sword and stood some distance away, silently watching Adam.

Adam's brush stopped. He raised his head and looked at the man, then answered with certainty, "Yes!"

With Adam's answer, even the man's features became much clearer. He raised his sword toward Adam's head, and his voice became tangible in an instant. "I will come find you."

Then the hallucination vanished completely. Adam moved his hand, but did not put down his brush. He continued painting on the canvas.

Yet Adam's heart was far from as calm as he had imagined. Even the hallucinations formed by my perception can be influenced by him?

My location has probably been exposed. Adam added the final stroke. The painting only needed to dry before it was complete.

At first glance, the painting's colors did not seem complex, but a closer look revealed that they shifted in gradients. Its overall palette was absurd and eerie. The outlines of the sky, river, trees, and wild grass all seemed strange, yet one could still recognize what they were.

And, to Adam's satisfaction, the subject of the painting was himself. He had always known himself well: he was an extremely selfish person. If he painted something without any concern for profit, then it would most likely be himself.

The Adam in the painting stood beneath the shadow of a tree, one hand resting on its trunk. White was the dominant color, yet the shadow behind him was filled with more colors than any other part of the painting.

The longer one looked at the painting, the more wrong it seemed. Stare at it too long, and fear would rise in one's heart.

Adam smiled. The painting had been created while his bloodline was restless and he was suffering many hallucinations. Naturally, it would look increasingly abnormal to an ordinary person.

He stood and placed the painting atop the stone. The sun was slowly setting, and beneath the sunset-lit clouds, the moon had already appeared in the sky on the other side.

Adam took his pickled-vegetable flatbread to the riverbank, removed his shoes, and soaked his feet in the river, gently stirring the water.

As he ate, his body began to tremble faintly. The bloodline within him roared as if it had gone berserk.

There was almost no one around now. No one would come to fetch water at this hour, though some came for other reasons.

Still dressed in those loose clothes, Jin bent over and picked up the painting from the stone. Curling his lip, he said, "What the hell is this supposed to be?"

"Wow, isn't this Mr. Nather Riggs?" Jin put on an infuriatingly smug look, as though he had only just noticed Adam, and spoke in exaggerated surprise.

Adam's face darkened. The worst-case scenario had still happened. As he desperately suppressed his violent emotions and tried to think of a solution, his body trembled beneath the agitation of his bloodline.

"All right, that was a bit exaggerated." Jin scratched his cheek.

Then he completely gave up on mocking him. His scarlet pupils stared at Adam, and his tone became more serious than ever. "Show me your talent, or I'll kill you!"

Astonishing killing intent combined with the vast black smoke rising behind him, and Jin's aura seemed to reach its peak.

Adam, who had still been searching for a solution, stopped trembling. His body moved before his thoughts did, and he threw a punch straight at Jin's face.

"Awoo~~~" Adam's massive fist struck Jin's face. He raised his other fist as his body rapidly grew taller, his shirt bursting apart as great quantities of white fur erupted from him. His muzzle lengthened, and he let out an enraged roar.

His other raised fist transformed into an enormous claw and swung down at Jin's stunned body, but it only tore great amounts of black smoke from between its claws.

Jin had already appeared on the other side of the river. One hand loosened the sash of his clothes while the other rubbed his face. Speaking somewhat unclearly, he said, "Your transformation isn't smooth, and the way you exert force is wrong. That punch was at least eighty percent weaker than it should have been."

Adam leaped forward and crossed the river. With a wild howl, he landed without losing speed, instead becoming even faster as he pounced toward Jin, both hands closing in on him.

"You're using too much force." Jin lowered his body and slipped beneath Adam's armpit, criticizing him as he did so. Then, in the blink of an eye, his body transformed into a werewolf.

"Come chase me!" Jin turned and sprinted toward the forest, like a mass of leaping black smoke. Beneath the bright moonlight, his figure was so fast it blurred, leaving only a spindle-shaped black shadow before he leaped into the forest.

A white figure flashed after him. Several claw marks, sunk deep into the heartwood, appeared on the trees left standing in place.

Adam's id had never been more active, then gradually joined with his ego. At that moment, they shared only one goal: defeat Jin.

Driven by that single thought, Adam felt the divide between his ego and id nearly vanish. There was no longer any barrier in his control over his body.

Thus, his perception state activated. Adam read vast amounts of information, and the forest, dappled with moonlight, became a battlefield in that instant.