The tension in the apartment lingered like a thick fog.While Kael and Aurora argued behind closed doors about what to do with Elior,Seraphine could no longer bear to hear another word.
Her breathing trembled.Her mind burned.Her chest ached as if it were being crushed from the inside.
Without saying anything, she stood up and walked toward her room.Aurora barely managed to notice the lost expression in her daughter's eyes.
"Seraphine, sweetheart… are you okay?"
There was no answer.
The young woman closed the door softly, but inside she felt as if everything were breaking apart.
She slid down until she was sitting on the floor beside the bed.The room was silent, yet her mind was nothing but noise.
"The archangels are loyal to the Council.""They won't hesitate to eliminate him.""Elior could die again."
Seraphine dug her nails into her arms.She had never seen Elior fight seriously.She had seen him nearly die from demon poison, had seen him suffer, had seen him break.
Could he really face the archangels?Could he defend himself?Could he… survive?
And above all—why did it hurt so much just to imagine losing him?
Why did every cell in her body react when his name was spoken?Why did her chest burn when he was in danger?Why did her emotions overflow without control?
She had no answers.Only fear.
A fear so deep it was tearing her apart.
Images of Elior dying before her…his breath stopping…the flower…the blood…
The shadows of those memories blended with the shadows inside her.
"Why…?" she whispered, eyes wide open. "Why do I feel you like this…?"
Her power reacted before she did.
Seraphine's eyes shone intensely in blue and white,as if two skies were merging within her pupils.
And then the scream burst out.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
The shockwave exploded from her body like an inverted heartbeat.Curtains were torn away, furniture slammed into the walls.The windows vibrated as if they were about to shatter.
Kael and Aurora felt the impact from the hallway.
It was impossible not to feel it—this wasn't a simple emotional outburst.It was Seraphine's power responding to collapse.
Aurora burst the door open.
"Seraphine!"
The room was chaos. Dust floated in the air, cushions were scattered everywhere, the bed had been pushed several meters back.
At the center, Seraphine was still sitting on the floor.Her hair floated as if caught in an invisible wind.Her eyes still glowed, trembling.
Kael stepped in behind Aurora, and when he saw her, his pupils contracted.
That glow… that pulse… this is the true power of the Soul reacting to her.
Aurora knelt in front of Seraphine, holding her hands.
"Daughter… look at me. Are you okay? Breathe with me, alright?"
Seraphine blinked several times.The glow slowly faded.Her breathing steadied, though she was still shaking.
"I'm… I'm fine," she lied without meeting her gaze. "I just… I just need to rest."
Kael immediately understood he needed to leave. Mother and daughter needed a moment, and Seraphine needed calm.But he also knew what he had just witnessed was not normal.
If she can release a pulse like that… and contain it enough not to destroy everything…she's not far from Helena.And that means… she's connecting to her power far more than she realizes.
Aurora helped Seraphine to her feet.
"I'm going to Aetheris, mother," she said weakly. "I just want to… breathe for a while."
Aurora wanted to stop her, but she saw the trembling in her hands and understood.Seraphine wasn't running from training or the situation.She was running from what she felt.
The young woman spread her wings and flew out the window, vanishing into the clear sky.
Kael and Aurora remained alone in the ruined room.Aurora rubbed her face, exhausted.
"I'll contact you as soon as I can. But Kael… we need to resolve this quickly."
"I know," he replied. "I'll find a way. There has to be one."
Aurora stood quickly and opened a portal, disappearing among golden symbols.
Kael, on the other hand, left the apartment.The walk home felt endless, and when he arrived, he found Elior awake, sitting on the couch.His brow was furrowed, an empty cup of coffee in his hand.
"Kael… did you feel that earlier?"
Kael swallowed.
"'That'? What do you mean?"
"A huge force. Like the air tore apart. It was too much to be an ordinary demon. It had to be an angel."
Kael forced a smile.
"It was just another demon. That's why I took so long. It's handled now.For now… rest, son. You still can't fight."
Elior watched him with doubt. He didn't believe him.What he had felt wasn't a demon.It was something else… something that made his chest burn faintly.
But he didn't insist.
"Must be true… why would he lie? Maybe I'm just being paranoid," he murmured as he stood up.
Kael disappeared into his room, exhausted.Elior did the same.
Unsure of what to do, Elior opened his book and read the chapter titled "The Portal to Heaven."His interest was immediately sparked.There were things that maybe—just maybe—he could try someday.
Without realizing it, hours passed, and he read until dawn.
And when the first ray of sunlight touched his window, he got dressed to go running, as always.
Meanwhile, Seraphine was already on her feet, training in Aetheris.
Swords clashed, sending up white sparks.The young ones' wings trembled with every blow.The training ground vibrated beneath their swift steps.
Seraphine and Naor moved like two opposing lightning bolts.
Their weapons collided in rapid repetitions, almost invisible to the human eye.The other students watched in silence.
Naor was stronger.Seraphine was more agile.
One wrong step, and either of them could be taken out.
In an instant, Naor spun and disarmed her.Seraphine's sword flew through the air, crashing against the wall.
She was left exposed.
Naor didn't waste time:he advanced like a roar and struck her in the stomach, forcing her back.
Seraphine fell to her knees, breathing in short gasps.But she didn't give up.
She dug her hands into the ground, pushed herself up, and dodged the next slash by mere centimeters.With a quick spin, she struck his legs.Naor lost his balance, falling backward.
The young woman recovered both swords…and threw them far away to even the fight.
Now it was only strength, speed, and technique.
The blows were precise. Each impact sounded like a small thunderclap.
But Naor was more resilient. With a sudden movement, he grabbed Seraphine by the arm and hurled her against a pillar.
The air was knocked out of her lungs, leaving her with no chance to counterattack.
When she tried to get up, she felt the cold blade against her neck.
"Surrender, Seraphine," Naor said.
She clenched her teeth…but raised her hands.
She had lost.
The others murmured in surprise.Even ending like this, it had been an incredible fight.
Midas, the one in charge of training, approached with a smile.
"Don't worry about that, Seraphine," he encouraged her. "Naor trains all day long.You're on a mission. It's normal for him to be a bit ahead for now.But between us…" —he lowered his voice— "if you focus more on your defense and use your agility together with your strength, you'll surpass him easily.You're better than him with a sword. You just trust yourself too much, and that makes you lose perspective."
Seraphine lowered her gaze, still breathing quickly.
"I'm not very sure about things lately… I made a lot of mistakes today in the first part of training."
"I suppose that's normal," Midas said. "They say the boy you're investigatingcould be a danger to everyone. It must be difficult to be in your position.What do you think? How strong do you believe that human is?"
Seraphine replied almost in a whisper… but with a soft smile.
"Elior is strong."
Midas raised an eyebrow, curious, but didn't insist.
"Well, I won't bother you anymore. Continue with the next part of training—now comes the hard part."
Seraphine took a deep breath, but her heart was still racing.
Elior, the Council, her power.
Everything was beginning to collide. And she, even if she didn't want to admit it, had already chosen which side she would stand on.
Meanwhile, Elior, as he completed his daily routine, almost finishing the twenty-five kilometers he usually ran, reached the waterfall. That was when everything got worse.
First his headphones failed. Then his phone.Both began to distort, as if something invisible was interfering with the signals.
And the whispers…
The whispers intensified with overwhelming violence, sinking into his mind like needles.
Elior staggered.
"What… what's happening to me…?" he murmured, his breathing uneven as he clenched his teeth.
His body grew heavy, almost impossible to move.He fell to his knees.The waterfall in front of him stopped flowing downward…and the water began to rise, reversing as if reality itself were being rewound.
The ground trembled beneath his hands.
And before his forehead touched the ground, reality tore open.
Literally, like a sheet of paper being ripped apart.
Elior returned to that dark place. That place he had been to before—some liked to call it "purgatory."
But this… this was not purgatory.
It was far more sinister.
Elior managed to push himself up just enough to realize he was surrounded by agitated, crazed shadows, as if a storm were tearing them apart and forming them at the same time.
Some approached, trembling, extending hands made of darkness.Others retreated as if they feared him.
Now the whispers were understandable:
"Do not fear, my lord…""Please… return to your kingdom…""Run… run from here…""You are mine…"
Until a figure approached him.At first it was a shadow… but as it touched him, it took the form of a woman covered in darkness.
She placed her hands on Elior's cheeks.
"My lord… is it you…?"
Elior tried to speak, but another shadow struck him with such force that he was sent flying backward.
Then more came.Dozens.
Elior dodged what he could, but he was clearly at a disadvantage—his blows passed through the shadows, unable to touch them, while they could strike him.
Some shadows shouted:
"Stop! He is not an enemy!"
But they weren't listened to.For most of those shadows, Elior was an intruder in a place where no one was welcome.
As he stood up, spitting blood, he saw something that froze him in place.
A child.A small shadow shaped like a child, hiding behind the woman who had touched him before.
But he didn't have time to react. Another shadow struck him directly in the face, sending him rolling through the void.
Elior had completely lost his patience with those shadows.
"…Bastards…" he whispered.
And that rage awakened something.
The veins in his body stood out as if they were burning.His eyes began to glow with an almost divine intensity.
The next shadow that approached him…failed to pass through him.
Elior grabbed it by the neck with a single hand.
The glow in his eyes was so strong that the shadows automatically retreated, and when some tried to rush at him again, Elior lifted the shadow he was holding and shouted:
"ENOUGH!!"
His voice echoed throughout the place, causing it to tremble.
All the shadows froze.
The woman knelt before him.
"My lord… has returned…"
And one by one, all the shadows did the same.
Elior stood frozen.He didn't understand anything.
"If you attack me again," he warned, "I will annihilate you."
The aggressive shadows ignored that…and lunged.
Elior dodged their attacks easily and returned only one—one simple blow.
And that shadow died, dissolving into dark dust.
All the others took a step back.
"I already told you it was enough!" Elior growled, releasing more power.
That power forced all the shadows, without exception, to kneel deeply before him.
Even though he didn't want that.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as he murmured to himself:
"What the hell is this…? Where am I…? And why 'lord'…?"
He quickly approached the woman who had defended him.
"Please… explain this to me."
She lifted her gaze.
"My lord…"
"Again with that…" Elior sighed.
"We have been waiting for you. Almost one hundred and fifty years."
Elior blinked.
"I think you're mistaken. I don't know how I got here, but I'm not who you think I am. I'm… sixteen or seventeen years old. Well, I don't remember exactly… but it's impossible for it to be me. My name is Elior Blackwood. What's your name?"
The woman opened her eyes, surprised.
"Elior… Blackwood? And you say you are sixteen years old?The dead have no age, my lord."
"The dead?" Elior took a step back. "Are all these shadows dead people?"
"Yes, my lord. People… and beings who were trapped in limbo. They didn't belong in Gehenna or in Aetheris."
"But I haven't died," Elior replied.
The woman's expression changed completely.
"What do you mean you haven't died…? You must leave this place, my lord! If you stay… you will attract someone you do not want to see."
"Who?"
"Death," she whispered. "The Angel of Death will come."
Elior didn't feel any nearby presence.That calmed him, a little.
"I don't feel anyone besides you. We're fine… for now. But I need to know how to get out of here. I have no idea how I arrived."
The woman muttered something under her breath.
"Death doesn't come here often… unless she gets bored and wants to play with the children."
Elior raised an eyebrow.
"That doesn't sound… particularly good."
"By the way," he said, "your name?"
The woman studied him carefully before answering.
"Alice, my lord."
"Nice to meet you, Alice. But can you explain this to me? What place is this?"
"Long ago it was called the Kingdom of Shadows. A name our former king gave it. But he disappeared, and the kingdom with him."
"King?" Elior looked around. "I don't see a kingdom."
"Because he died. Without a king… everything falls apart and turns into nothing. That's why we wandered."
Elior processed that. He had read something similar in mythology books:when a king of a domain dies, his kingdom dies with him.
"And why did you call me 'lord'?"
"Your eyes," Alice said without hesitation."They are the same as the king's.And the power you released—only he could do that."
Elior rubbed his face.
"I don't understand anything… I don't know what's happening, I'm not him."
"And I believe you—that perhaps you are not the king we once had," Alice said, leaning toward him.
"But perhaps, somehow, his power ended up within you, Elior. Perhaps, just perhaps, it is a sign."
"I don't know, but I really would like to help you. I don't like that those children have nowhere to go," Elior murmured as he brushed the dust from his clothes.
"I think I'll try something. You said the former king created the kingdom, right?"
"Yes, that's right. I don't remember exactly how he did it, but yes, he did," Alice said.
After finishing dusting himself off, Elior stepped toward the nothingness, hoping that what he had read and what Alice had told him might work.
So he extended his hand toward the void, gathering his strength into it, and that was when his eyes began to glow more and more.
The intense glow and the overload he was experiencing made blood flow from both his eyes.
"What are you doing?" Alice asked, alarmed.
The darkness of the place responded to Elior.
And before all the shadows present, an entire kingdom began to form.Towers, walls, roads, lights made of twilight…Everything materialized from Elior's imagination, guided by his power.
A shadow slid across his skin, as if it were part of him.
Alice was left speechless.
"I suppose… this is your new kingdom," Elior murmured, collapsing to his knees.
The shadows still did not move, as if they were waiting for an order.Elior noticed.
"You can enter," he said. "Don't keep wandering outside."
And then they began to walk, one by one, toward what was now their home.
Elior and Alice remained seated together, watching it.
"It's strange," Elior admitted. "But I don't feel uncomfortable here. I was always taught that shadows are bad… but I don't feel that way."
Alice smiled sadly.
"People always prefer what is colorful, what shines. They forget that everyone carries a shadow. It's the only one that never abandons them."
"Yeah… I suppose you're right, Alice."
She looked at him gently.
"My lord… as much as I would like you to stay, you should return. The former king focused on the place he wanted to go or where he was, tried to relax his body to a level where nothing disturbed him, so breathe as if you were meditating. With some luck, that will work. You must leave before Death arrives. She has most likely already sensed your presence."
"And the kingdom?" Elior asked. "I don't want them to wander again. There were many children… I want them to be able to play peacefully."
"You have a great heart, my lord.Believe it or not… you are the new king.This kingdom exists as long as you exist."
Elior took a deep breath.
"Then… I'll have to become stronger. For what's to come."
He sat down, closed his eyes, and focused on remembering the waterfall.
"Until next time, Elior," Alice whispered.
And then everything disappeared.
Elior opened his eyes in the forest and quickly checked his phone.
"Thank goodness… only two hours passed…"
He struggled to get up, his body still feeling far too heavy, approached the waterfall, and washed the blood from his face.
This had not been a dream.
"Just what I needed…" he scoffed. "A so-called kingdom I don't understand… How the hell am I supposed to be a king if I don't even understand my own power?"
He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.
"It's horrible… now my existence will also carry a kingdom.The shadows and I…A union…? I don't know whether to laugh or cry, but I should go back home now. They must be worried… if they're awake."