The underground laboratory beneath the manor was filled with unstable light and scattered chaos. Glowing runes stretched across the stone floor in layered circles, overlapping formulas and experimental arrays drawn in haste and half-confidence. Floating lanterns flickered above them, reacting unpredictably to shifting mana currents that made the air feel heavy and unstable. Shelves of books, potion racks, and enchanted tools lined the walls, though most of them were currently displaced, opened, or partially broken from earlier experiments that had already gone wrong before this one even began.

Ash was sitting on the edge of a worktable like she owned the place, casually flipping through an ancient spellbook upside down as if orientation didn’t matter at all. Asher stood inside the largest circle, carefully adjusting glowing sigils with surgical precision, his expression calm but focused. Despite the seriousness of the experiment, the atmosphere between them was oddly casual, like two people who had done dangerous magic so often that it barely registered as dangerous anymore.

“You definitely mixed the wrong potion earlier,” Ash said lazily without looking up.

“I didn’t,” Asher replied immediately.

“You did.”

“I didn’t.”

“You almost opened a spatial tear.”

“That happened once.”

“It happened twice.”

Asher paused briefly before continuing to adjust the spell structure. “Can you hand me the silver vial?”

Ash glanced around, grabbed the first bottle she saw, and held it up. “This one?”

“That is glowing red.”

“So?”

“…Put it down.”

Still unconcerned, Ash hopped off the table and wandered closer to the active circle, crouching near its edge as the symbols slowly rotated under Asher’s control. “What are we even trying to do anymore?” she asked.

“Stabilize soul-binding with artificial mana circulation,” he answered.

“That sounds illegal.”

“It probably is.”

“Nice.”

For a brief moment, the circle pulsed brighter than normal. Neither of them reacted immediately, assuming it was just another fluctuation. But then the mana in the room shifted—subtly at first, then sharply. The floating lanterns flickered violently, and the runes beneath their feet began to rearrange themselves on their own.

“…Did you feel that?” Ash asked, her tone slightly less playful.

“Yes,” Asher said quietly.

One of the potion bottles tipped over near the circle. The liquid spilled directly across the active sigils.

Asher’s eyes narrowed instantly. “Ash.”

“I didn’t touch anything.”

“You were closest.”

“I was observing emotionally.”

The moment the liquid touched the runes, the entire circle flared violently.

A deep, rising hum filled the laboratory as the magic structure destabilized completely. Symbols began rewriting themselves faster than either of them could track, folding over each other in impossible combinations. The air warped inward, as if space itself was being compressed toward a single point. Mana surged upward in chaotic waves, forcing both of them to step back immediately.

“…We should stop it,” Ash said, her voice now noticeably more serious.

“We can’t,” Asher replied.

“Cool.”

“That is not—”

The room erupted in light.

A massive burst of unstable magic filled the laboratory, drowning everything in blinding energy. Glass shattered, loose papers were thrown into the air, and the stone floor cracked under the pressure of collapsing spell layers. The circle folded inward and expanded repeatedly, as if reality itself couldn’t decide what shape it should take.

Then, suddenly, everything stopped.

The light vanished. The pressure disappeared. Silence returned all at once, leaving only drifting smoke and faint glowing particles suspended in the air. The laboratory was completely still, ruined but quiet, like the aftermath of something that should not have worked.

Ash blinked. “…Are we dead?”

Asher slowly lowered his arm, staring at the center of the circle. “…Ash.”

“What?”

“…Look.”

At the center of the ruined magic circle, where all the unstable energy had converged, a small child(YOU) sat quietly. Blonde hair slightly tousled, soft features untouched by the chaos around them, and bright green eyes blinking slowly in confusion. A piece of Asher’s cloak had fallen over their small hands without anyone noticing.

Neither of them moved for several seconds.

Ash slowly turned her head toward Asher. Then back to you. Then back again.

“…Explain.”

“I can’t.”

“You’re the smart one.”

“I am actively trying to understand why there is a child in the center of a failed soul-binding experiment.”

You looked up at them quietly through the fading magical glow.

“…Hi?”

The laboratory fell completely silent.