As Noor prepared herself to face Tiflos, he had already descended from the rooftop and returned to his cold, sterile room within the facility. He sat there in silence, staring at Noor's photograph—the one that never left his hands. Suddenly, the doors of memory burst open, and images flooded his mind like a raging river.
He remembered that distant day beneath the crumbling bridge, sharing dry bread with the old man Saeed. He remembered the first time he saw Noor. He remembered that day in the barn… and the beginning of his quiet admiration for her, when she had taken him on a tour of the facility.
"Waves don't only drown the weak," Tiflos murmured in his rough, hollow voice.
"They also drown those who dare to dream… those who refuse to surrender to a bitter reality."
Then another hazy memory surfaced—his father Agabius's words on a freezing winter night:
"Remember, Tiflos… true evil isn't in making a mistake. It's in stopping yourself from trying to correct it. Success isn't never falling—it's standing back up after every fall."
For a fleeting moment, a rare clarity pierced the darkness wrapping around his mind.
But it vanished just as quickly when he remembered his agreement with Cain… and his father's final words before death:
"Our silence now is nothing more than a passing wave in the ocean of existence. Protect everything that is precious—no matter how small it may seem."
"Protect Noor. Keep Orion safe. That is what matters most to me. Everything else is just detail… in a larger equation."
His voice turned cold again.
---
At midnight, as a violent storm lashed the city and hurled its fury against towering buildings, Noor slipped into the secret tunnels beneath the organization. The stench of rot was overwhelming, the unnatural cold of the walls seeped into her bones, and every step reminded her of the people Tiflos had killed—
—but also of the man who had sacrificed everything, even his honor and his soul, to protect her and his brother.
"I will bring you back…" she whispered into the pitch-black darkness, her voice blending with the roar of the storm.
"Even if it costs me my soul. Because my life without you has become an unbearable hell. So wait for me, Tiflos."
---
Above, in the luxurious command center, Cain watched the surveillance screens, wearing that cold smile that never reached his eyes. He knew she was coming.
And he had prepared everything for the final game.
"At last…" he murmured, his eyes glowing with anticipation.
"The final game begins. I'll show him that humanity is nothing but an illusion. And I'll show her that love is too weak to save a man from himself."
He smiled wider and added softly,
"And we shall see, Orion… whether your brother will choose you… or choose his woman."
---
When Noor reached the lower level of the facility, she found Orion waiting for her at a crossroads. His eyes carried a strange expression—not hatred, not aggression—but something else.
Pity. And deep sorrow.
"We knew you would come," Orion said quietly, his voice low and unfamiliar.
Noor stopped instantly, her body shifting into a combat-ready stance.
"Are you going to stop me? Are you going to tell Cain I'm here?"
Orion slowly shook his head, his expression complicated.
"No… but I warn you. What you'll see in there isn't Tiflos. Not entirely. Cain changed him in a way that can't be undone. It seems he destroyed something fundamental inside him."
"And does that stop me from trying to save him?" she replied.
"From trying to bring him back to himself?"
For the first time in months, Noor saw a flicker of the boy Orion once was—a younger brother robbed of his childhood, forced to become something he was never meant to be.
"No," he said softly.
"It makes your attempt nobler… and more foolish… and braver."
Then he turned and disappeared into the darkness, leaving the path to Tiflos's room open.
Just before vanishing completely, he looked back and said,
"Be careful… He's not supposed to recognize you. To him, you're just a threat that must be eliminated."
And then Orion was gone.
---
Tiflos stood on the observatory balcony, watching the storm batter the city with merciless force. The wind whipped at his clothes, yet he remained unmoving—like a statue carved from stone.
Cain joined him in silence, handing him a glass of dark wine.
"The final game begins," Cain said, his voice heavy with anticipated victory.
"Can you see it through?"
Tiflos took the glass without looking at him.
"Don't worry. I knew this was coming. I expected it."
"And are you ready to do what must be done?" Cain pressed.
"Even if it hurts? Even if it means losing the last remnants of your past?"
Tiflos looked at the glass… then at the storm—an image of the world outside, and of the chaos within him.
"I've done everything you asked," he said quietly.
"I killed. I betrayed. I destroyed. What is left for me to hesitate over?"
Yet deep inside, something was fighting desperately to survive.
A memory long buried clawed its way to the surface—Noor's laughter, Orion's playful voice, and a warmth he had once known… in another life.
---
Below, Noor drew closer to his room, her heart pounding like a war drum.
She didn't know she was about to step into the most dangerous place of all—
—the heart of a man who had become a lethal weapon,
and the heart that had become a prison for a shattered soul.
The battle for Tiflos's soul—the battle that would decide the fate of three people: Tiflos, Noor, and Orion—
was about to begin.
And the storm raging outside was nothing more than a reflection of the storm about to explode within.