Seres and Uriel walked in silence through the corridor. Seres looked curiously at the walls, not seeing many decorations—just a smooth wall with wide windows offering a view of a courtyard with some plants.
"Those plants… did you plant them?" asked Seres.
Uriel looked through the glass windows at the well-tended flowers in the garden.
"No, but I like taking care of them. I feel they reflect a part of me."
"Your reflection?"
"Yes. There are only corrupted creatures in this city. No people, no life…" Uriel paused, and then a trembling sigh escaped his lips.
"I have been alone for so long, with only the evil specter's voice whispering things to me, making me more and more insane. For a while, I got angry, I got sad, I went mad, and I reflected. I remembered every painful failure I had to endure, those I couldn't protect, how I could have done better," he murmured, stopping to observe the white flowers.
"But in the end, nothing mattered. Time wouldn't turn back. I could only live in the present, no matter how fearful it was, no matter how horrible it turned out… I thought I would die alone, but it seems that won't be the case."
"Why do you say that?" asked Seres, stopping in front of the stone saint.
"I don't have much time left to live," he revealed, making Seres's eyes widen.
"What? You're going to die?"
"Yes. The idea of dying scares me, but what scares me more is dying alone. Loneliness… is terrifying." Uriel continued walking.
Finally, they reached a large door, which Uriel opened, letting a cold breeze escape from inside.
Seres observed curiously how there was a large amount of meat, cut and arranged in an orderly manner. The room was undoubtedly large, but it contained only meat.
Uriel entered, took several pieces of meat, placed them on the tray, and then left the room, closing the door. They went to another door, which Uriel opened, leading to the cathedral's rear courtyard. He walked to a pool of fresh water, filling the clay jug with cool water.
Seres observed the flowers. There were many of them, each with four long, pale blue petals bathed in moonlight. A relaxing scent filled the place, making Seres visibly relax.
"If you want, you can take one," said Uriel, staying a few meters away.
"Can I really?"
"Yes." Uriel looked at the sea of flowers.
"But they're yours. You spent a lot of time taking care of them."
"Yes, but that doesn't mean they are mine. I take care of them for something I must have forgotten, but it would make me happy if at least someone had something to remember, even when I'm gone."
Seres looked at the white flower and picked it. She could feel essence in the flower, which entered her body.
"Does it have a name?"
"Luna," Uriel replied.
"Luna?"
"Yes, they are always under the moonlight, so I decided to give them that name."
"It's a good name," said Seres. The wind blew through the blonde girl's hair under Uriel's watchful gaze.
Uriel froze in place.
Images of vague memories crossed his mind like incomplete, chaotic fragments.
"Isis," he murmured suddenly.
"Isis?" asked Seres.
The stone saint refocused on Seres.
"What did you say?"
"You mentioned the name Isis. Who was that?"
"Who is Isis?" asked Uriel, confused.
Seres said nothing.
"Let's go back. Your companions must be worried about you," said Uriel, returning inside and leaving the flower field. Seres followed a moment later.
Both returned to the main hall, where Uriel placed the tray with meat and water in the same spot and then sat on the floor, looking at the fire.
"Don't you eat?" asked Gaellum, biting a piece of meat.
"I don't need to, really," he replied.
"Is it because of your stone physiology?" asked Lycor.
"I don't know," he responded.
"Do you remember your past?" asked Seres.
"Sometimes I remember things from long ago. I remember a group of people—I don't remember their faces or names, but they were important to me. They accepted me into their group. We played, talked, fought together, and had our differences," the stone saint's voice was filled with joy before turning melancholic.
"Then I see fragments of screams, destruction… then darkness. I wonder, who were they? What was I? Why am I the only one left in this city?"
"From what I see, your life is very lonely."
"Yes, the life of the solitary stone saint… I'm sorry for not having better stories. I don't know many things, and I only know how to fight."
"Uriel, tell us something. Do you know what's in the castle on the sun side?"
Uriel shuddered visibly. This was noticed by everyone, making it clear he knew something.
"That… that…" Uriel began to hyperventilate. His hands left cracks on the floor from the pressure he exerted.
"No. Shut up, get… get out of my head," Uriel growled in a terrified voice. "I… I don't… I don't… I don't…" he whispered over and over.
Seres stood up and approached the panicking stone saint. She placed her hands on his head. A moment later, the stone saint's trembling stopped. His fragmented mind began to unite small, scattered pieces across his condemned psyche.
After a minute, the stone saint recomposed himself.
"What were we talking about?" he asked curiously, as if he didn't remember anything from a few moments ago.
"Uriel, can you stay here?" requested Seres.
"Sure," he said in his calm tone.
Seres looked at her companions before signaling for them to gather and talk.
The five gathered far from Uriel, who was paying attention to the fire, touching it with his stone finger.
….
"It wasn't just an attack… it was how it happened."
Gretel crossed her arms, watching Uriel from afar.
"It wasn't a simple panic attack," she added. "Something pushed him. As if someone had touched a wound that never closed."
Gaellum nodded slowly.
"I've seen soldiers break before," he said. "I've seen minds collapse on the battlefield. But this…" He shook his head. "This is different."
Seres took a deep breath before speaking.
"Uriel isn't just damaged," she said gravely. "His mind is broken into countless fragments."
Lycor frowned.
"Fragments?"
"Yes," Seres continued. "It's not common amnesia. It's not ordinary trauma. It's as if something deliberately shattered his psyche, separating memories, emotions, identity… everything."
Gretel clicked her tongue.
"And what kind of thing can do that?" she asked. "That boy isn't weak. He's a stone saint. His body is practically indestructible."
"Exactly," said Gaellum. "If his mind ended up like this… then whatever did it had to be something terrifying."
Silence fell over the group again.
Seres clenched the "Luna" flower between her fingers.
"When I touched his head…" she said cautiously, "I felt something. Not an active presence, but a mark. Like a deep scar on his mind."
"The specter?" asked Lycor.
"Shade isn't the cause," she replied. "He's a symptom."
The three looked at her attentively.
"Shade exists because Uriel's mind couldn't bear what happened," she explained. "It fragmented… and one of those parts took form. It's not an external demon. It's his despair, his guilt, his self-hatred."
"So…" murmured Gretel, "Shade was born after."
Seres nodded.
"But something had to break him first."
Gaellum closed his eyes for a moment.
"Lycor asked him about the castle on the sun side," he recalled. "That's when he lost control."
"I noticed," said Seres. "His reaction wasn't ordinary fear. It was absolute terror."
Lycor clenched his fists.
"Then the answer is there."
"I believe so," affirmed Seres. "Whatever is hidden in that castle… is what shattered Uriel."
Gretel frowned.
"Are you saying that something there was capable of breaking a stone saint's mind?"
"Yes," Seres replied without hesitation. "Something so powerful that it not only defeated him… but left him like this."
Lycor let out a dry laugh.
"Great. Just what we needed."
Gaellum looked toward the darkness, in the direction of the area illuminated by the eternal sun—invisible from there but omnipresent.
"If that thing is still there…" he said, "then it's not just a threat to us."
"But to the entire kingdom," Seres completed.
Gretel sighed.
"And we're talking about facing something that even now continues to affect him… from kilometers away."
Seres lowered her gaze.
"Do you think if we go to the castle, we'll find out what happened?" asked Lycor.
"It's too dangerous to go now. Not as we are. We need to prepare."
"I agree with Gaellum. Whatever shattered a stone saint's mind could shatter us in an instant."
"We'll have to go out and refine our essence," said Gaellum.
"Agreed," said Gretel.