It was still dark.
The darkness continued to surround Kael.
It had become an inseparable part of his daily life now.
And yet…
He still couldn't adapt to it.
After taking a turn, he noticed a thin ray of light in the distance.
Under normal circumstances, it would have gone unnoticed.
But this darkness was so deep that this simple ray shone like a sun in an abyssal night.
The screams tearing through his soul.
The blood flowing from his orifices.
Despite having slightly calmed earlier…
When Kael saw this glimmer of hope, they returned stronger than before.
With every step he took.
With every foot sinking into the stone.
The intensity of his suffering rose another level.
I have to endure.
I'm almost there.
Just a few more steps.
Almost.
At that moment…
The quiet voice whispered into Kael's ear.
— Do you really think the pain will stop once you get out of here?
— Do you really think this suffering is temporary?
— I chose you.
— You are mine.
— And no matter your choices.
— No matter your thoughts.
— No matter your actions.
— What will be, will not change.
— Because what is done is done.
After those words, Kael felt a pinch in his heart.
No.
A pinch wasn't the right word.
His heart being crushed was closer to the truth.
That glimmer of hope slowly began to shrink.
Like a small flame beneath the wind.
Standing before the wall where the light came from, his arm reached toward it.
His fingers brushed against the stone.
And at that moment…
His life.
Or at least, certain fragments of memories came back to him.
A girl with white hair.
Plunged into a deep sleep.
Inside some kind of stasis cocoon.
Other fragments.
A man.
Sometimes a friend.
Sometimes a brother.
Sometimes an enemy.
Again and again.
Fragments raged inside his mind.
He no longer knew what was real.
What wasn't.
What was imaginary.
And what belonged to dreams.
He was on the verge of collapsing.
At his limit…
— STOOOOOP!
That scream echoed throughout the entire crypt.
At that moment, all the energy scattered throughout his body gathered into a single point:
His heart.
That energy exploded into a shockwave that pulverized the stone slab in front of him.
The walls on both sides were partially destroyed.
Then only one thing remained.
Kael.
Standing.
Staring straight ahead.
Empty eyes.
As if he had lost his soul.
No more screams.
No more blood.
No more pain.
No more voice.
Nothing.
Nothing but a red veil covering everything.
...
Morphéas narrowed his eyes, trying to see through the cloud of dust.
Despite this dense and suffocating wave of bloodlust, it was not alone.
It flowed like a river overflowing from its banks.
But through it, he could perceive other emotions.
Fear.
Dread.
Sadness.
Hope.
And another one he couldn't identify.
Morphéas tried to approach carefully, but stopped.
I should probably avoid doing that.
I don't know how he'll react.
It's been a while since I last saw him.
— Kael.
— It's me, Morphéas.
— Do you remember me?
— Kael, I don't want to hurt you.
— I'm here for you.
— For your own good.
— You can trust me.
— Please… give me a sign.
— Something that shows me you understand what I'm saying.
— A reaction.
— Anything.
— Because I'm worried.
— I just want to make sure you're okay.
Nothing.
No reaction.
No movement.
Only a silhouette.
Two red eyes.
And a cloud of dust that slowly began to settle back onto the ground.
Meanwhile, Halmir, both panicked and intrigued, stared intensely at that silhouette, trying to make out the person Morphéas had been talking to from the beginning.
Torn between fear and curiosity.
Despite everything, his instincts were screaming at him to run.
To leave.
As far away as possible.
But he did nothing.
When Halmir stared at those two red eyes visible through the dust cloud, it brought back an old memory.
Back when he was still climbing the Tower.
It was during a battle.
A demonic entity had taken the life of his friend right before his eyes.
A memory that still hurt him to this day.
But he made his biggest mistake.
Morphéas noticed it.
For a fraction of a second.
Halmir, during that brief moment of nostalgia, felt a flicker of hostility.
And in a single fraction of a second…
Morphéas didn't have time to warn Halmir.
Nor to pull him away.
Nor to push him.
The only thing he could do was kick him as fast as he possibly could.
It all lasted less than a second.
Halmir bent over in pain.
At that moment, he didn't understand why.
Because his brain hadn't followed.
His eyes hadn't followed either.
But as he turned his gaze to the left…
He realized three things.
Morphéas' leg, the one that had kicked him, was broken.
Hanging without strength.
Where he had been standing only moments earlier…
Kael was there.
Standing.
Motionless.
And the wall behind his original position had been completely pulverized.
Nothing remained.
Halmir was terrified.
He understood.
Morphéas' kick had pushed him out of the trajectory.
And if Morphéas had reacted a fraction of a second later…
Halmir would have died.
...
Morphéas, despite how little time had passed, raised his head toward Halmir.
Seeing him safe and unharmed, he let out a sigh of relief.
Happy that his longtime friend was still in one piece.
Then he turned his head toward Kael.
He expected two possibilities.
A long and difficult fight.
Or a discussion to try and reason with him.
He was ready for either.
But the moment Morphéas saw Kael…
His expression changed.
On his face, two emotions could be seen.
Surprise.
And sadness.
Only one sentence came out.
— I understand now…
— Since the beginning…
— You were never there.
Yes.
He understood.
From the moment he had sensed him inside that cloud of dust…
Kael was no longer conscious.
Morphéas straightened himself.
He carefully approached Kael.
He gently placed his hand on his face.
Then slowly slid his fingers over his eyes.
Gradually closing his eyelids.
The moment they closed…
The pressure disappeared.
That bloodlust stopped.
And Kael fell backward.
Like a lifeless body.
Morphéas caught him.
And only one thing came to his mind.
A single reaction.
Heavy.
He wasn't the one who had carried Kael the first time, so he hadn't expected it.
But the density of his body was such that he would need help moving him.
— Halmir, what are you staring at? Come help me, he's not going to move by himself.
— You take the legs, I'll take the upper body, and we go.
Halmir stared for a few moments at Kael's unconscious body.
— Are you sure he won't wake up? Not that I'm scared of him, but I don't want to die helping you carry him!
Morphéas sighed lightly.
— Stop talking like that. I remember you being much braver. Did all those years behind a desk really make you so different from the one I knew back then? You, who were once feared on the battlefield. You almost make me feel sorry for you.
— Stop, that's in the past. Now I'm just a paper pusher, and I'm fine with that. I don't risk my life anymore. Well… until today.
Halmir glanced at Kael.
— I haven't seen you in a very long time. What has it been? Around thirty years? And the one time I finally see you again, I end up risking my life.
— Alright, let's move him. We'll continue this conversation later.
Later, Halmir finally decided to return to the guild.
As for Morphéas, he didn't stay by Kael's side.
Not immediately.
Before that, he had a responsibility.
His men.
He spent part of the day checking the condition of every person present during the incident.
And in the end…
The report reassured him.
No deaths.
A few injuries.
Some material damage.
And soldiers still shaken by what they had just felt.
But nothing irreversible.
More fear than damage.
However, one thing surprised him.
One of the soldiers present during training that morning, one of those who had taken that aura head-on, had awakened.
He couldn't control it yet.
Far from it.
But he had crossed that limit.
A limit that, for many, remained unreachable their entire lives.
Morphéas remained silent after hearing this news.
That aura had almost broken his men.
But for one of them…
It had also opened a door.
Morphéas headed toward the infirmary to check on Lucan's condition, as well as the other soldiers and instructors.
After a few minutes of walking, he arrived in front of the infirmary door, greeted by the nurse Cecilia.
— Chief, you're back. I was actually about to come see you to give you an update.
— No need. I don't have much to do right now, and you already have plenty of work, so I could at least come myself. So tell me, how is everything going?
— For the soldiers, it's a little more complicated. Nothing serious, they'll need quite a bit of rest, but that's all. As for the instructors, it's different. Most of them handled the shock better. Some are having a harder time, but the majority should recover within a few hours.
— So overall, good news. Then what's worrying you? Because judging by how pale you look, there's a problem somewhere, isn't there?
— Is it that obvious?
— Sorry to say this, it's not very polite, but you're really not acting like yourself. What's going on? Are you hiding something from me?
— It's not that… it's Lucan.
She paused.
— He has moments of agitation. He's often covered in sweat. That, we can handle. The agitation too, we can restrain him, that's what we usually do. But sometimes he says things that are almost impossible to understand.
— Continue.
— Most of the time, he calls out to someone. Someone we don't know. We don't know what's happening. We don't know if he's injured, if he's possessed… We don't know anything. We've never seen anything like this. That's why I was planning to come find you, to see if you could do something. Or if you knew what was happening to him.
— Alright, calm down. Start by telling me exactly what he was talking about. What's the name of the person he was calling?
— I didn't understand it very well. It sounded like a girl, I think…
She hesitated.
— Tatiana… or Thana… I don't know.
Morphéas froze.
— Wait.
He stared at Cecilia.
— Repeat what you just said.
— Huh? It sounded like a girl.
— Cecilia. Just repeat what you said after that. What name did he say?
— I'm not sure… I'm hesitating. I think I heard Tatiana… or Thana.
A silence passed.
Throughout his life, Morphéas had experienced many things.
But at that moment…
An instinct he had learned to listen to long ago whispered only one thing to him.
Move carefully.
Because the slightest mistake could have disastrous and irreversible consequences.