End of the Prologue
They knew it—
But even so, there was no way to endure what they were about to witness, even if it wasn't the first time.
Their expressions screamed it, louder than fear, louder than the pressure of death.
Helplessness. One that dragged with it an unbearable regret.
They watched as the horrific scene unfolded once more before their eyes.
This time, with Sol.
New stains appeared—like drops.
They merged together, forming larger, darker ones that spread over… no, replaced what was once skin with a darkness that faded into the room's dim light.
It didn't stop. It kept going, replacing part after part: hands, arms, legs, torso, head.
But the last thing to be taken was Sol's face.
During the process, her expression changed—from fear and terror to growing indifference, like she was being emptied, until nothing was left but a hollow shell untouched by anything.
The last thing they saw—Vin and Eilor, the only witnesses—
was an empty face disappearing into that darkness.
Until all that remained was a black figure, fading into the shadows—
barely visible.
And then came the rest.
New translucent blotches, like erasing strokes, followed the same process.
Vin's hand gripped Eilor's wrist.
Eilor turned to him, seeing the pain and helplessness in his eyes.
"She's turning into another Oclusero," Vin whispered.
Luckily—or unluckily—the others didn't hear that part.
Because a sharp, dull thud drowned out the whisper…
Ban had fallen.
---
While Vin and Eilor watched the transformation,
Norlick refused to turn around, forcing himself to take slow, deliberate steps.
He didn't want to look. He wouldn't look.
He kept biting his lip hard—until a trickle of blood slid down his chin.
He tried to catch the droplet before it fell, but the crushing pressure of the growing monster and Sol's transformation overwhelmed his body's ability to respond properly.
He failed.
He shook his hand underneath it, trying to move fast, but also slow enough not to stumble.
The drop slipped through his fingers without touching them… and hit the ground.
A tiny splash—yet in that silence, it sounded like a gunshot.
The sound startled the rest.
Elena trembled, holding Thomas in her arms.
The boy buried his face in her embrace, gripping her tightly.
Tamara lay on the floor, fists clenched so tightly her fingernails broke skin. Blood seeped out, dripping onto the ground.
Saliva and foam escaped from the corner of her mouth.
She was barely conscious under the crushing pressure.
Ban couldn't help but look down—at Tamara, collapsed in front of him.
She hadn't been able to endure.
Even though he was closer to her, Ban's ruined body barely let him stay upright.
Standing, walking—just being awake was already a miracle.
But Sol's final words had shattered him more than anything else.
He understood now.
It was the same thing…
That thing from earlier.
The one that caught him off guard.
The one that had cost him both his hands.
That thought triggered something.
A switch.
The trauma came back—physical and emotional.
He remembered exactly what he had felt.
---
When he raised his arms, and the blue light blinded him for a moment—
He felt two types of pain in his arms.
In the left—fire.
Like his hands had been plunged into flame—worse, into the core of a furnace.
His skin burned on the outside, cooked from within, melted in the fire.
It had only lasted two seconds at most—but it felt eternal.
In the right—
A slimy liquid. Slobber… but not saliva.
A muscle, like a tongue—large, but also hard. Sharp. And many of them.
Like fangs.
And then—
An unbearable stab of pain, like a bite. Piercing fangs.
He barely had time to resist before he heard it—
The tearing of fingers.
Something bit them off.
---
The memory was fleeting—
But the pain came back in full force.
As if he were living it all over again.
It was too much.
He couldn't take it.
The two nightmarish pains shattered his already broken resistance.
Thud.
He dropped to his knees—first from pain, then from the crushing pressure.
His eyes rolled back—
And with a second thud, he collapsed face-first onto the floor.
Both impacts startled the others.
---
Eilor and Vin turned—slowly, but urgently—toward the sound.
The first thing they saw was Thomas in Elena's arms.
Then, as they lowered their gaze—
Tamara and Ban.
Both on the floor.
One unconscious, the other barely holding on.
Before they could react, they felt something behind them.
Hovering.
Leaning over them.
Something that made you want to turn—just a little.
To look from the corner of your eye.
"The Oclusero," both Vin and Eilor thought.
But neither acknowledged the other.
Footsteps.
Footsteps.
For a moment, Eilor thought of turning.
"It's still coming."
As it drew closer, the air became thinner.
The pressure worsened.
And the presence of the Oclusero behind them didn't help.
They were paralyzed.
They knew that if they turned even slightly—
they would end up like Sol.
Footsteps.
Footsteps.
Footsteps.
Footsteps.
"¿…?"
"Misaligned steps," Eilor thought.
But he wasn't the only one who noticed.
Vin, Elena, and Norlick had realized it too.
Still—they didn't dare look.
But none of the four had counted on the fifth…
Despite trembling, Thomas began to slowly raise his head.
Lifting it just enough… until one of his eyes peeked past Elena's shoulder—
And he saw it.
Behind his mother—Norlick.
Behind him—Eilor and Vin.
Nothing was directly above them, yet something seemed to loom over them.
But behind them—
A tall figure.
Thin like a post made of bones.
Faceless.
With extra limbs—bony ones, extending in every direction like antennae.
The monster that had emerged from the corpse.
And behind it—the opened corpse.
But it wasn't alone.
There was something else.
A man of medium height.
A bit shorter than his father.
Brown hair.
A gentle smile.
Still…
No—walking.
Slowly, but firmly.
"Who is that man?"