Chapter 42 – The Nameless Envy
Previously… in Chapter 43:
The astral world began to seep out of its boundaries. Enver felt strange auras slipping into the breath of humankind. His steps grew heavier, deeper, as though even the ground refused to be walked upon.
The night wind brushed his cloak with bitterness.
Enver stood in the middle of a nameless street, surrounded by silent buildings and city lights blinking like the eyes of creatures unwilling to sleep. The air carried something else tonight—something more than mere darkness.
He felt their presence. Astral beings, many in number, moving swiftly. He drew one card from beneath his cloak. Its glow was faint, cold, yet enough to erase a shadow sniffing behind a wall. One creature vanished. But others emerged, crawling from the cracks of a reality beginning to shatter.
"Someone has opened a door without permission," Enver murmured.
And he knew, this was no error of the world. This event… bore the hand of someone with great power.
For the first time in ages, he raised two cards at once. Veins strained against his arm, yet his face remained cold, empty, unshaken.
Suddenly, the air split apart like rose petals torn by force.
Someone appeared. Neither enemy nor ally. One of them.
The Hellseer Council.
But not the highest.
Ysera – The Echo of Mercy.
Her form was faint, her voice as soft as the whisper of tears.
"I know it is not yet time," she said, bowing her head politely. "But the world moves too quickly. Enver… allow two Hellseers to accompany your path. Only to lighten the way that has begun to bleed."
Enver gazed at her—neither refusing, nor accepting.
Only a stare sharp enough to say: I do not need them, but I know this game is not yet over.
Ysera bowed deeper, then vanished in a shimmer of blue light.
Two figures appeared behind Enver. Hellseers sent by Ysera. They stood in silence, full of respect, following his steps at a careful distance. They dared not speak. They knew: to walk too close to Enver was to stare into a truth that could burn the soul.
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Elsewhere, in the fractured world, Thadric strode lightly through the Council Hall. His head was high, his shoulders no longer chained by sins of the past. He had proven something. He had restored the power of five council members weakened by Enver's strike. Now, his voice was heard. His steps obeyed. Meetings opened at his gesture.
He was a storm born of ruin, now hailed as a guide.
But not all welcomed that reality with open hearts.
Saelmir – The Mind's Whisper, sat in silence at the corner of the hall. He, who always heard the whispers of others' souls, could no longer hear his own.
Thadric laughed with Elhara, commanded Dorvas, spoke freely even with Miredan. All nodded, all accepted as if Thadric was above them. All… except Saelmir.
Why not me?
The words never left his lips. Yet they echoed like a rotten mantra within his chest. Envy seeped into him, taking root in his body.
But envy was not just a feeling.
It was a wound without blood.
A mirror reflecting only emptiness.
And Saelmir… was lost within it.
In the corridor of memories, he tried to untangle that feeling. But it had no form, no name.
He only felt… broken, suffocated. Like a crystal cracked from within yet still shining beautiful on the outside.
His eyes fixed upon his own shadow on the hall's wall. His lips moved, but no voice emerged.
Why do I feel defeated by one who came later? I was always first. Always ahead.
He knew this was not merely about roles. It was a wound to his pride. A wound that lingered. A wound growing silently for centuries.
The worst part: he could not explain this wound to anyone.
Not to Elhara.
Not to Kavdrin.
Not even to himself.
Meanwhile, Enver walked through a city beginning to tremble softly. The earth hummed as if holding its breath. Two Hellseers followed him in silence. They knew… tonight was far from over. And the world was not ready for the truth that Enver's steps were about to unveil.
In the distance, the sky began to redden. Like an eye that had held back tears for too long.
And beneath that wounded sky, one Seer, two followers, and one nameless envy… awaited the next chapter of a world no longer whole.
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