CBS Chapter 1

The First Wish

 

It had existed for an unfathomably long time. Born as a species lacking even sharp claws, long before the emergence of the arrogant race called humanity—who dare to speak of being rulers of this land.

 

They built factories on the ground, floated ships on the sea, and flew airplanes in the sky. Humans claim they have conquered the earth. They even boast of challenging the realm of gods. Yet the Earth itself, not even a speck in the vast universe, remained a mass of the unknown—something humans hadn’t even begun to comprehend.

 

It was one of those unknowns, beyond the reach of the ignorant.

 

If someone had picked it up and grasped its boundlessness, which could not be unraveled even by modern science, who knows how far its potential might have reached.

 

But the first human to discover it was just a little kid who had fallen and was bleeding.

 

“Ugh, that hurts!”

 

After the last great extinction, It had been buried deep in the dark abyss of the sea. Following the flow of time, It had rolled down a slope. Having recently escaped from a suffocating mass of dirt due to a landslide, a few drops of bright red blood from the girl’s torn palm seeped into It.

 

In that moment, It awakened from its long slumber. Its mind, dulled by a prolonged seal, wasn’t fully clear. It questioned its own existence.

 

Who am I? Why am I here?

 

Soon, its questions extended to the being it was now in contact with.

 

What is that small thing?

 

Lost in thought, It greedily absorbed the life it had come into contact with. Not because it had been a long time since it had tasted energy, but because the girl’s aura was excessively sweet. It was tastier than anything it had ever consumed. It decided to consider this energy special.

 

Realizing that the girl’s aura wasn’t abundant, it didn’t just devour it roughly. Instead, it meticulously rooted itself deep into her soul and savored every bit. It was like quenching a parched, burning tongue with sweet water. Its body trembled from the sweet relief, but instead of being satisfied, it only whetted its appetite—leaving It both feeble and craving more.

 

“I feel dizzy…”

 

Though she hadn’t hit her head, the girl fainted where she had fallen. She had simply lost too much energy.

 

I want more.

 

It would’ve been easy to devour her life entirely right then. But thanks to having eaten its fill the last time it had awakened, it wasn’t terribly hungry, and it didn’t want this sweetness to end as a one-time experience. Smacking its lips, It stopped absorbing the girl’s energy for the moment.

 

“Oh no, Dami!”

 

A female, clearly larger and likely an adult, came running over, shouting. Shaped bizarrely like a fossilized snake curled up in its egg, unable to hatch, It transformed to resemble the surrounding stones and clung tightly to the girl’s clenched palm.

 

It was taken into a building along with the girl.

 

“What’s this rock?”

 

The six-year-old girl, Dami, thought nothing of the stone-shaped object. She shoved it into a pocket and forgot about it.

 

She only truly noticed It when, after a wash, it was found not in the pants it had gone into the machine with, but in a different pair.

 

Puzzled by how it got there, Dami stared uneasily at the rock and shoved it deep into a drawer. But the rock returned to her pocket again.

 

The problem was that, after tasting the girl’s aura, It couldn’t eat anything else properly.

 

Even after awakening, its memory returned slowly due to the lack of sustenance. At the time, it was desperate in its own way. The only thing it could do was to fixate on the only presence that had been with it when it opened its eyes. Especially since it liked her aura.

 

But this strange phenomenon only instilled fear in a six-year-old child. Dami tried every way she could to get rid of it, but the rock kept coming back. She even wore clothes without pockets, yet somehow, at some point, it would be in her hand again.

 

“Kyaaaa!”

 

Screaming, Dami threw it away. Gripped by fear, she turned to an adult for help.

 

“This rock keeps following me! I throw it away again and again, but it’s always in my pocket!”

 

“A rock?”

 

“This one, right here!”

 

“Dami… what are you talking about…?”

 

As Da-mi continued to insist that there was a stone on her palm, the adults’ gazes changed. It was the kind of gaze one would give a problematic child—awkward and troubled.

 

Da-mi realized that the stone could only be seen by her. And she was seized by an even greater fear.

 

It was a trick played by It, who had quickly absorbed knowledge of the changed world by following Da-mi around. It was because It was wary of the trouble that might arise if its existence were revealed in human society.

 

“I really hate you. Because of you, everyone thinks I’m weird. I’m scared… Just disappear!”

 

Da-mi hurled all the harsh words a six-year-old could muster and threw it away. Then she hid tightly under the covers and burst into tears. It, having gotten used to resting on the girl’s soft palm, only wriggled its way back into her loosely clenched palm after she had fallen asleep.

 

In the meantime, It pondered what to do so that it wouldn’t be thrown away like today. It wasn’t something that could be discarded just because Da-mi tried, but there was no need to be hated for no reason when there were other ways.

 

That night, It appeared in the six-year-old girl’s dream, flicking its sly tongue.

 

“M-Monster…!”

 

Da-mi ran away the moment she saw it, calling it a monster, and It was slightly disappointed.

 

As befits a cunning species, It was beautiful. Its eyes sparkled like jewels, and its scales gleamed with a glossy sheen as if oiled. Its body was sleek and graceful.

 

But it was so large that Da-mi couldn’t take it all in at a glance. With no other choice, It shrank its body down to the size of a small baby snake and approached the trembling Da-mi. As it nestled against the familiar palm, Da-mi’s eyes widened. It couldn’t fit snugly like it did in the form of a stone, but the slithering movements across her palm felt familiar.

 

“I’m sorry for scaring you all this time. As an apology, I’ll grant you a wish.”

 

Its language skills were on par with Da-mi’s at the time, but It was clever and knew what children at the orphanage like Da-mi wanted the most.

 

“You wanted a family, right? Not the teachers at the orphanage—your own parents. I’ll give you that.”

 

“A mom…?”

 

“Yes. And a dad too. So please don’t throw me away anymore.”

 

“……”

 

This was the first deal between six-year-old Da-mi and It.

 

A couple who had been volunteering at the orphanage for a long time expressed their intention to adopt Da-mi.