"James, that scar suits you. Makes you look handsome, really."
From the shadows the moonlight couldn't banish, someone emerged.
The first thing that appeared were two strange eyes.
One was vivid red—so bright it seemed to glow in the dark. The other was vivid yellow. Together, they painted a threatening scene.
James felt the dampness of his sword's hilt against his palm—he was gripping it so hard.
The wind carried the stench of the corpse toward Karl's nose. It made him feel sick. The stranger passed it without a glance.
Then he approached them.
James pushed the boy back slightly, then retreated himself.
Karl's gaze darted between the two.
One was a massive man, sword in hand. The other was young—maybe twenty—with his hands in his pockets, completely at ease.
It might have been funny, if it weren't so terrifying.
Then, a moment later: chaos.
James caught the stranger's fist mid-swing—the one aimed at his face.
The sword should have cut through the man's hand.
But Karl saw it: what looked like an invisible barrier, bending around the stranger's clenched fist.
Moments later...
It was as if the two men had shifted to another dimension.
Karl couldn't even see what was happening.
Only the sounds of striking blows and clashing swords confirmed they were still fighting.
Karl stepped back several paces.
Then, moments later, Karl felt a surge of terror as a gust of wind ruffled his hair.
The wind was caused by the movement of a blade that had come so close to his face it almost cut him.
It was James's sword—but he wasn't attacking Karl. He had stopped the stranger's fist, which had been about to strike the boy.
That was when the stranger smiled.
His hand pierced through James's torso. Karl, onto whose face a few drops of James's blood had fallen, trembled.
The stranger withdrew. "Interesting," he said, licking the blood from his hand.
James winced, then fell to one knee.
He kept his eyes fixed on the stranger.
But the stranger—one of his eyes gleamed, and then his left pupil shifted, becoming slit-shaped and sharp.
"That boy," the man asked. "Who is he?"
James glanced at Karl.
"He has nothing to do with you."
"On the contrary. He has everything to do with us." A pause. "The fact that he hasn't changed... makes him very important to us."
Karl's heart skipped a beat. He wanted to say something, but the words died in his throat.
"To us?" James questioned, his voice low. Then his eyes widened slightly. "If you're here... does that mean you're the reason for all of this?"
The stranger gazed into the darkness behind James.
"Well... I wanted to stay and talk, but..." A thin smile. "Let's postpone our conversation."
Then... nothing.
He vanished just as he appeared.
Karl kept staring at the space where he'd been, long after he was gone. It was his first encounter with a world he hadn't even known existed.
---
Elsewhere, two strange eyes gleamed in the darkness.
A light breeze moved through his hair.
"Back already? Thought you'd left."
As if in response, leaves gathered together, swirling—and then a man emerged from them.
"So you were watching," Alex said.
"Of course I was watching. You think I'd miss something this entertaining?" The man paused. "But you ran off quickly."
"I sensed Kael coming." Alex met his companion's eyes. "I don't think I can take him and James together. Not now."
A scoff. "Really? You don't think you can handle both?"
Alex smiled slowly.
"Then why didn't you take the boy?" the stranger asked.
"Not important now." Alex's voice was calm, deliberate. "We achieved our goal. We studied the stone's potential. Gathered significant information about it." A pause. "As for the boy... he'll find us later. We gave them a reason to come looking."
Kael returned to James and Karl, the black stone in his hand.
"Ah, you're back," James said without opening his eyes.
Kael looked at him. James's face was covered with scratches and scars, as if he'd been through a brutal fight.
"What happened?"
James opened his eyes slowly. "Alex."
The name fell like a stone. Everyone fell silent.
"Alex?" Kael repeated.
But James closed his eyes again, as if recalling something.
The scratches on James's face. They were receding.
Slowly. Centimeter by centimeter. The skin was healing before his eyes, as if time was reversing itself.
"What is this..." Karl muttered to himself.
"It's his power."
Karl lifted his head. Kael was looking directly at him, as if he'd heard his silent question.
Kael waited until all the wounds had vanished, then asked:
"So they're here?"
"Yes," James replied. "The bastards. They must be behind all of this."
Karl clenched his fists. He looked confused:
"What? How? Why? We didn't do anything to them?"
James looked at him calmly:
"It's not like you did anything to them. They simply do whatever they want."
"Who are they?" Karl asked, his voice firm.
"You don't need to know that now."
"It's my village!" His voice rose. "I have the right to know."
James paused for a moment, then said:
"Let's bury poor Tom first. Then we'll talk."
They walked to Tom's corpse. They dug a simple grave with their bare hands, then laid him in it.
When they finished, they struck the ground where Tom rested.
"The pain is gone." They said in one voice, touching their chests.
As they did, Karl watched. He felt a breeze. It was slightly cold.
Karl watched everything. From the way they carried their friend with respect, to the way they sprinkled something over him, even the way they dug.
They had no tools, so they used only their hands.
It was hard. Slow. It must have been painful, scraping the earth with their fingernails.
Neither of them complained. They didn't even sigh. They seemed focused.
And in that moment, Karl felt something strange.
They respected him—that much was clear. But that wasn't what surprised him. What surprised him was that they weren't sad to say goodbye.
Not because they wanted this. That's what confused him.
It was as if they were expecting a worse ending.
Not just for Tom. For themselves, too.
What could that be? he wondered. What could be worse than death itself?
Karl lost track of time. The darkness that had covered the world began to recede, slowly.
He shivered when he saw the light welcoming the world.
"It's been a long night," he said.
Then: "So... how do we heal my family?"
He said this unaware that his night had only just begun.