****
The ground they stood on was nothing more than a translucent extension of blue light, as if they were floating in the heart of the sky. Around them, a silence penetrated the very souls, and a mirage of distant stars hung in the air, as though time itself had ceased to flow.
*"Adam... do you feel it?"* whispered Zira, her hand resting on his chest, just over his heart.
He looked at her, and the lights of the world around them seemed to fade, as if her presence alone had become the center of existence. Her eyes glimmered with mystery, her hair dancing in a wind that didn't exist. She stepped closer to him, and he could feel the warmth of her breath on his face.
He spoke softly, his voice trembling, *"I feel... like I'm about to fall, either into you... or into madness."*
Zira smiled, but said nothing. Instead, she placed her finger to his lips, then whispered, *"There is a secret no one has told you... not your grandmother, not Laboubo, and not even Nimora itself."*
He stared at her face. She wasn't an ordinary girl. She was something different, something too complex to be described in words. Her slender figure exuded femininity, yet her eyes carried something dark, something that resembled a harsh truth.
*"Move forward, Adam. I'll show you what cannot be seen."*
Moments passed before everything began to change. The ground beneath their feet started to crack, as though it were a living being awakening. Behind Zira, a dark circle opened, woven from ink and ash, nearly swallowing the light around them.
Without hesitation, he followed her in.
...
The new place was like a nightmare made of shattered mirrors. Reflections of faces, some monstrous, some resembling him, others like his grandmother, but all smiling mockingly. He walked through the shadows, with Zira by his side, holding his hand, but her touch was as cold as the night's frost.
*"Do you want to know who you really are?"* she asked.
*"I know who I am... the grandson of a woman who saved the world."*
She laughed softly, and replied, *"No, you're not her grandson. At least... not the way you think."*
He froze in place. It felt like a lightning strike coursing through his body. *"What do you mean?"*
*"Adam, your grandmother never gave birth. The only child who entered her life... came from the gate of Nimora."*
He stepped back, *"I... came from this world?"*
*"You were born here, and transported to Earth to be raised as a human. But your blood... is not entirely human. That's why you see what others cannot. And that's why... you cannot die easily."*
A hum filled his ears. His pulse quickened, and something dark stirred within him, as if the truth had awakened a sleeping beast.
*"And you? Who are you?"*
She approached him slowly, her eyes gleaming with a deep violet hue. She placed her hands on his face and whispered, *"I am the thing created to guard you... or to break you, depending on what you choose."*
She looked at his lips, and drew closer. Her scent was a mixture of blackberries and ash. She whispered, *"Choose me, and I'll show you your true power."*
He didn't know how, but his lips met hers in an unforgettable kiss. It felt like a cosmic explosion, as though the entire energy of Nimora had surged into his veins.
But at the same moment… he saw a vision.
He was a small child, screaming amidst a city of glass burning in flames. In the sky, a woman resembling his grandmother wept as she held him, whispering, *"Forgive me... it was beyond my control."*
Then, emptiness.
He pulled away from Zira's kiss, gasping for breath, his face pale. *"Did you show me that?"*
*"Yes... because now you're ready."*
*"Why?"*
*"Because someone is waiting to kill you. And it's not a monster, but someone... of your own blood."*
*"But... I have no family..."*
She interrupted him, *"Because you thought that. But the truth will shatter your life. Your father... is still alive, and he is the one who unleashed the incarnate shadow."*
He collapsed to his knees.
What had started as a journey to uncover his grandmother's secret was now too vast to comprehend.
That night, he sat with Zira near a black river flowing from nowhere. She rested her head on his shoulder, breathing quietly.
*"I feel like I'm in a beautiful nightmare,"* he said.
*"No... you're in a necessary nightmare. Sometimes, we are not born until the past has burned to the ground."*
*"And what now?"*
She lifted her head, and said, *"Now begins the final stage. Either you accept your truth and face your father... or you run and let Nimora collapse."*
...
**Message to the Reader:**
The truth is painful, but it has the power to set you free. Do not fear the darkness, for within it, you may find a strength that cannot be broken. The world only reveals its secrets to those brave enough to ask the questions everyone else is afraid to ask.
---
🔒 **The Step:**
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