The wind in the world of "Nimura" was different today, as if it was breathing slowly, carrying faint sounds like whispers of souls that had not found peace. "Zira" was walking silently beside Adam, her hands clasped behind her back, her eyes searching for an answer in the sky that showed only a faint, hesitant light.
Adam felt something inside him changing, something he no longer knew if it belonged to him alone. The power he had gained, the doubts that began to multiply, and even Zira... she was no longer just the mysterious girl, but had become closer to a mirror of his soul that was cracking little by little.
Zira said in a low voice:
"Have you ever felt that the world is not looking for a savior... but a witness?"
He turned to her and found a slight tremor in her eyes, as if she was trying to say something else. But what disturbed him more was his reflection in those eyes... he was not himself.
They stopped at the edge of a glass bridge connecting two foggy banks. The bridge was transparent as if it had not yet been made, and beneath it was an abyss with no visible bottom. Adam stepped forward, but Zira suddenly grabbed his hand tightly:
"Adam... there is something you need to see before we continue."
She reached toward her neck and pulled out a small green pendant he had never seen before. As soon as she placed it on the bridge, the glass ground cracked as if it had been waiting for this permission. Under the bridge appeared a blurry image, like a clip from a distant dream. And in it... a young Adam, no older than ten, but he was not in his grandmother's house. He was somewhere else... a place he did not know at all.
Zira whispered:
"I lied to you about something important... and I am sorry."
The air trembled around him. He said nothing, just looked at the image, then at her. His heart was split between shock and curiosity, between fear and the need for truth.
She finally said:
"You are not your grandmother's grandson, Adam... but something greater. You were placed there to guard something that humans do not understand."
He slowly raised his eyes, not angry... but feeling that he had been waiting for this from the beginning. One question loomed inside him:
"Then who am I?"
Before she could answer, the ground suddenly shook. From the fog appeared a black shadow, denser than the night itself. It was not a monster, but an entity resembling a human made of reversed glass, in which Adam saw his own face, but with expressions he did not recognize.
The entity shouted:
"You have come too close, Adam... the time for truth or the end has come."
Zira grabbed Adam's hand tightly and said:
"Run... now is not the time for confrontation."
But he did not move. For the first time, he chose to stay. He said in a steady voice:
"I am tired of running. I want to open this door, no matter what is behind it."
The air around him changed. The bridge began to collapse, the glass shattered, but the image of the child turned into a circular gate, emitting a pulsating green light, similar to the light of the pendant he was holding.
Adam realized he was approaching the moment of destiny.
✦ Reader Test (Human Test):
Before you continue to the next part of the novel, make sure you are a "real person" by copying the following link into your browser and answering the simple test:
https://unlockcontent.net/cp/i/q8320?preview=1#
Are you ready for the confrontation as Adam was?