The fog was creeping once more over the land of Nimora, but this time, it was not just fog—it was a suppressed scream, torn human voices echoing among the trees and ruins, as if the souls that had fallen here had never found their way to peace.
Adam stood amidst the swirling air, his hair flying, his clothes soaked in blood whose origin he did not yet know. His heart was pounding so hard he could almost hear it in his ears. In his right hand, the sword was no longer just a weapon but an extension of his will.
Zera, beside him, was panting, her face scratched by shrapnel from the previous explosion. She looked at him and said in a broken voice:
"Adam... that sound... it's not ordinary... this is... the weeping of those who have been trapped in this land for centuries..."
Adam replied, staring into the void before him:
"They are not entirely dead... they are stuck between us and what lies beyond the truth."
Suddenly, the ground shook beneath their feet. The soil cracked, and a thick black liquid, like poisoned ink, gushed out. From it emerged a creature never seen before—half-human, half-beast, its eyes glowing with a bloody red.
Zera screamed:
"This is one of the cursed guardians! Created from the blood of those who betrayed Nimora!"
The creature attacked with unbelievable speed. It struck Adam in the shoulder, sending his body flying through the air until he crashed against a giant tree. Bones cracked, but he rose.
He said to himself as he advanced toward the creature:
*"I am no longer the weak human who entered this world crying for his grandmother. I am something else now."*
He opened his palm, and the magical locket that connected him to Laboubo appeared. But this time, Laboubo was not there. Instead, a vague shadow of a woman stood behind the creature—her eyes resembled Grandmother's... but her features were distorted, as if from another dimension.
She whispered in a voice only he could hear:
"Adam... what you see is not the enemy... but the truth we fled from."
The creature attacked again, but Adam, using a strange energy flowing from the depths of the earth, leaped over it and plunged his sword into its spine. A horrific scream shook the sky. The creature did not die immediately but exploded into a sea of blood.
Adam knelt, panting, blood covering his hands and face.
Zera approached him and said:
"This creature... wasn't in Nimora's records. It's new. As if some force is rewriting the rules of this world."
Adam lifted his head and said:
"I think Grandmother wasn't just fighting monsters... she was trying to hide something deeper... something we still don't understand."
Then, they heard a familiar scream from behind the trees...
The voice of *Laboubo*.
But this time, his voice was not cheerful or mocking—it was screaming:
"Adam! Do not approach the truth! You will pay the full price!"
The part ends.
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### ⚡️ Motivational Quote from the Part:
*"Sometimes, the battle is not with the monster before you, but with the truth you were afraid to face."*