Arius exited the hall with balanced steps as was his habit, as if the chaos behind him was none of his concern.
Ramin followed him with tense paces, his voice carrying more anxiety than he was trying to hide:
"Arius, are you truly confident that you will find them? Lady Nahira is very furious… If you make a mistake, she will make you pay the price herself."
Arius turned his head toward him slowly, a calm smile splitting his face—that kind of smile where you cannot discern whether it is reassurance or mockery:
"There is no need to worry, my friend, I have a good plan."
Ramin raised an eyebrow, like someone trying to catch a thread of mystery:
"A plan? Really? And what is it?"
Arius laughed softly, looked up at the grey sky above the palace towers, and said:
"Not now, Ramin. When the time comes… you will know it. All you have to do is wait for the news, and I guarantee it will be worth the wait."
Ramin breathed deeply, then said in a tone of quiet surrender:
"As you wish, my brother, you always do what is in your head anyway."
Arius turned his head toward him with a side smile and said, contemplating the palace courtyard where the soldiers were running around lawlessly:
"Look at them, what absurdity! The soldiers are searching like blind men… that fool, for example, is searching behind a stone pillar! My God, it is as if the spies are hiding in the shadows waiting for a tea invitation."
Ramin couldn't help but laugh despite his tension:
"You are too calm, man, as if you are absent from reality. Where were you during all this chaos anyway?"
Arius turned to him, raised his eyebrow slightly, and said in a cunning tone:
"What is wrong with you? I was asleep! Didn't we go out together at noon? You said you were going to your work, and I was going to rest a little."
Ramin backed away slightly and said, embarrassed:
"Ah, true… I completely forgot."
Ramin laughed with an amused whisper and said:
"Don't tell me you think I am one of the spies?"
Arius's eyes locked onto him, then he burst into laughter:
"Me? No, impossible! What nonsense are you talking about?"
The two laughed for a moment, a light laughter that broke the tension filling the air. Then Arius returned to his slightly serious tone:
"Well, I will go now. I have a lot of work ahead of me."
And before Ramin could respond, Arius suddenly disappeared amidst a faint flash of blue light, leaving behind him vibrating air and a faint echo of his last laugh.
Ramin froze in his place, staring at the empty space where his friend stood just a moment ago, and muttered to himself:
"How does he remain this calm in the midst of a storm like this?… This man is a walking riddle."
The mountains were swallowing the moon behind their thick shadows when Rouge descended with cautious steps among the rocks, as if she were a ghost breathing among the breaths of the wind. The leaves of the trees trembled above her, swaying to the tune of the cold wind that carried with it the scent of smoke and iron.
She passed between the hidden tents in the middle of the forest, and the rebel soldiers raised their heads in silence when they saw her. Some whispered her name, and others bowed their heads in respect. She made her way until she reached a large tent inside of which glowed the light of a small fire, and near it sat a masked man, with still glances, staring into the flames as if he were reading in them the faces of the dead.
Rouge knelt before him softly:
"Master, I have returned."
He did not turn, his voice came out deep and balanced:
"What happened?"
She breathed slowly, then began to narrate:
"Our presence was partially discovered… our spies inside Governor Nahira's palace may be in danger. But until now, none of them has been completely exposed. The Governor ordered a comprehensive search, and chaos fills the palace."
He raised his head slightly, the glow of the fire reflected in his grey eyes beneath the mask:
"Continue."
"I was on the verge of being captured… had it not been for an unexpected person who saved me."
"Who?"
She hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice:
"Nahira's deputy himself... Lord Arius."
The fire trembled for a moment, and the light reflected on the features of the masked man, so his body leaned forward like someone stung by surprise.
"Arius... did you say Arius?"
"Yes, my lord, he is the one who helped me get out of the palace. But... I was forced to tell him the names of all the spies, I found no other way. I fear that this will cause a disaster for them if more investigation is conducted."
The man remained silent for a long time, until she thought he was angry. Then he said in a low voice but full of certainty:
"Do not worry... Arius is not one of those who sell secrets. He is a man who knows when to speak and when to be silent."
Rouge looked at him with slight astonishment:
"Do you know him personally, my lord?"
The masked man smiled a smile barely visible under the shadows, and said:
"Let's say... that between him and me is an unforgettable past."
A spark of the fire suddenly went out, and stillness pervaded the tent except for the sound of the wind outside.
The masked man stood up quietly, the sound of the fire dancing on his mysterious features. He extended his hand slightly toward the light as if he were touching a name from the past, then murmured:
"So… Arius, you are still alive. What a surprise."
Rouge raised her head toward him and said:
"Master, he told me something before he freed me."
He turned to her with narrowed eyes behind the mask:
"What did he say?"
She hesitated for a moment then replied:
"He said he wants to help us by every possible means, and that he is no longer satisfied with Governor Nahira's rule. He also said that he intends to end her authority himself, because... he hates this world. He does not want to live bound, but circumstances forced him to return to it."
The man remained silent for seconds, the fire reflecting his long shadow on the wall of the tent. Then he sighed calmly, and said in a tone that carried a slight sadness:
"Ah... if only you knew what he went through, my daughter. That young man carried what no human could bear."
He approached her a step and said:
"Well, tomorrow go to him, and tell him that I want to meet him personally. And that I... will agree to what he requests."
"Are you sure, my lord?"
"Yes. Rest now, and tomorrow go without anyone seeing you."
Rouge bowed with respect and left the tent.
And with the passing of the hours, the light began to creep between the mountains, awakening the exhausted soldiers.
And when the sun rose, Rouge had put on light civilian clothes, covered her face, and set off toward the capital with confident steps.
She sneaked through the alleys until she reached the high rooftops of the city. She sat on the edge of one of the buildings, contemplating Nahira's luxurious palace in the center of the city, her eyes burning with anticipation.
And suddenly...
A calm voice behind her, as if it came from the void itself:
"Who would have thought that the palace looks this small from this height?"
Rouge froze in her place, her heart leaping inside her chest.
"Ah! Since when have you been here?!"
He answered her with a light smile not devoid of sarcasm:
"Since the moment you said you wished for a palace like it."
She sighed in confusion:
"You are truly strange, Arius."
"Perhaps. So, have you spoken with your commander?"
She nodded in agreement:
"Yes, and he agreed to meet you personally. But… you must come with me blindfolded."
He let out a short laugh and said:
"No problem, do as you wish."
She covered his eyes with a piece of cloth, then took his arm, and they rose into the air heading toward the mountains.
The wind whistled around them, and the sound of magical wings pierced the silence, until Arius suddenly cut the journey with his calm words:
"Stop."
Rouge looked at him with anxiety:
"What is the matter?"
He smiled a slight side smile:
"There is someone following us."
Before she could utter a word, he vanished completely. In a single moment he appeared behind them, gripped the neck of the shadow that was tracking them, and struck him lightly on his neck, so he fell unconscious.
Rouge stepped back stunned, staring at him with wide eyes:
"How did he do that while blindfolded?!"
She looked at him as he stood quietly, the dust flying around him, and the wind messing with his hair, as if he hadn't moved at all.
She murmured to herself:
"This man… is not normal at all."
The two stood in the middle of the cold wind wrapping around the mountains, Rouge holding Arius's arm and pulling him along, while he scanned every direction like a hunter who knows the forest is full of eyes.
Though blindfolded, he felt pulses of energy scattering around him like innumerable ants, thousands of tiny points glowing in his consciousness. He muttered to himself with a cynical breath:
"This is not a rebel army… this is an entire army waiting for a spark."
After a period of flying and running, they finally landed in the shaded valley. Rouge removed the blindfold from his eyes, and his eyes opened slowly…
And the scene before him was larger than any rumor.
Tents stretching without end, a river of wood and black leather. Thousands of masked soldiers, kneeling, standing, guarding, training. Energies clashing and leaking from every corner.
Arius breathed slowly… as if trying not to laugh.
"Wow, Nahira thought they were ten teenagers with three swords… this is an army equipped to crush an entire world."
Rouge said nothing, only gestured for him to follow her. He walked behind her through the dirt paths, the soldiers turning toward him with intense curiosity, as if watching a legend walking on earth.
Finally, she reached a large tent, larger than the rest, surrounded by heavily armed guards.
She stood before the curtain:
"Master… I have brought him."
She entered first, and after moments she came out:
"Please come in. The Commander is waiting for you."
Arius entered.
The first thing he saw were maps… dozens of maps, stretched on the walls, over the tables, with lines, attacks, and secret passages.
A war plan on a global scale.
Then he lowered his eyes.
A man wearing a black robe and a crimson red mask stood firmly… and with strange respect.
The man approached a step, and extended his hand for a handshake.
Arius extended his hand warily… and they shook hands.
The man's voice came out steady but loaded with clear emotion:
"I did not believe the news. You… Arius. You are truly standing before me, alive…"
Arius froze, his eyebrows lowering slowly.
"Who are you? And how do you even know me?"
The man laughed softly, then raised his hands to the mask…
And… removed the mask.
Arius's features dropped for a moment.
His eyes widened in sharp shock, as if an entire memory exploded in his head.
The man stood before him with his true face… a face Arius knew very well.
The face of a man who always stood behind him in his past life. The man he used to call "my son."
The man who stood by his side and supported him in the hardest times of his life, and was with him always through thick and thin.
Uncle Keen.
Uncle Keen smiled a warm smile, as if seeing his son returning from the dead:
"Many years have passed, Arius… I missed seeing you."
And at that moment…
And for the first time in a long time…
Arius's heart stopped broadcasting sarcasm.
And he froze in his place, not knowing whether he should smile, get angry, scream, or collapse.
Did he follow from the moment of the collapse of Arius's internal feelings and his response to Uncle Keen? The scene was like opening an old grave filled with memories, for when Arius stood before Uncle Keen, his eyes looked like a child who saw a ghost he knew all too well, but he was ignorant of how it returned to existence.
He stepped closer, tilting his head, his voice faltering between amazement and nostalgia:
Arius: "Un... Uncle Keen? Is this really you?"
Keen breathed slowly, as if his chest was emptying a knot he had carried for ten years, then smiled a warm smile dominated by the wrinkles of fatigue:
Keen: "Yes, my old friend... it is I, no more, no less."
Arius's eyes cast down for a moment, his eyelids trembled, then Keen opened his arms saying:
Keen: "What? Is there no embrace after all this long absence?"
Arius could not resist the light sarcasm that came out as a short laugh:
Arius: "Heh... I didn't expect you to say it this way, old man."
And he stepped toward him, and the two embraced... an embrace that carried a weight greater than any power or system. Arius's embrace was steady, while on Keen's shoulders appeared the weight of years of waiting, losses, and dreams that were not buried.
The two sat after that in the tent, the maps fluttering with the wind through the openings in the fabric, striking the sides of the place with the light of the torches. Keen sat on a worn wooden chair, while Arius sat opposite him, and the conversation began to flow between them as if it had never been interrupted.
Arius spoke about everything he lived… about falling into the dark pit, about his life, about the worlds, about the torment, the loss, and the return. And Keen did not interrupt, he was only listening… listening as if he had not heard Arius's voice for a century.
And when Arius finished, Keen looked at the ground, then raised his head:
Keen: "Do you remember when Ramin... used to cry when we used to call him the little coward? Do you remember how we used to lie to him to let him win the challenges so he wouldn't cry? We were naive, boy, more naive than we should have been."
The two laughed a little before the atmosphere changed when Arius asked:
Arius: "But tell me… how did you become the leader of this army? And where did all these soldiers, these masks, and this organization come from? What happened to you after... my death?"
A short silence prevailed. The fire outside the tent was burning and casting Keen's shadows on the walls. Then he breathed and said:
Keen: "After your disappearance… I left Nahira's army. I was a man without a goal. Ten years, Arius… ten whole years I spent in front of the door of my house, drinking and staring into space… no companion, no family, no meaning. I felt that my life died with you."
He shrugged his shoulders, as if the guilt was heavy:
Keen: "And one day a letter reached me… no sender, no seal, nothing. Just a letter. Saying there is an offer for me… to lead a secret group that opposes the Queen's rule. I sat for two days thinking… then I said to myself: What is the business of an old man like me? But after long thinking, and because of what happened to you, your refusal to be bound, and your dream to be free, I accepted immediately because I felt that this was the right thing, and my conscience did not allow me to stay still. It is enough that I did nothing for you on the day of that incident."
He smiled faintly:
Keen: "I faked my death before everyone so that my family would stay safe… I considered them safe without me, or so I convinced myself. Then I joined them. They were a small group, scattered… but I forged the system anew. New sons... men without identity, without a future... I made an army out of them."
He reached out his hand and gripped the cup of water as if he remembered something:
Keen: "And after years… I became their leader. Not because of my strength, for I have indeed become an old man… but because of experience. And because of one thing only: I had nothing left to lose."
He raised his eyes toward Arius:
Keen: "But you… you are the last person I expected to see here, out of millions, out of corpses, names, and maps… yours is the last name that should have returned."
His voice tightened suddenly, not in anger… but out of pure emotion:
Keen: "Where were you, boy? And why did you return now?"
The atmosphere was charged, the torches shook, and Keen's eyes were trying to read what lay behind Arius's gaze.
Arius was looking at Keen with the look of a young man trying to understand what had accumulated inside him for years, as if the words were stuck in his throat, searching for an exit. His shoulders relaxed slightly, and his eyes looked empty as if searching for a meaning in the face of the old man before him.
He spoke finally, in a low but steady voice:
Arius: "In fact… I thought that my staying away would protect them. My mother… my sister… everyone I love. My presence always brought danger. Even if nothing happened, I am… just a being that drags misfortunes behind him. That's why I decided to leave… so that they would stay safe."
He paused for a moment, blinked slowly, as if his mind was returning to a decision he hadn't comprehended until this moment.
Arius: "And I don't know… why I returned. It's like a reflex reaction… a moment of recklessness. I myself didn't think. And if I said I returned for revenge… that would be a lie. Nahira is on a completely different level, and I am… just an insect before her. And if I tried to act clever… everything would turn against me. There is no one I trust here. No one loves me. Everyone… hates me."
He closed his eyes for a bit, smiling a light, sarcastic smile full of bitterness:
Arius: "When Nahira gave me that position… the haters increased. The eyes watching me increased. The distance between me and everything increased. That's why… I no longer know why I really returned."
Arius's voice was calm, but it was bleeding. Keen kept listening without interrupting, staring at him as if his heart was reading beyond the words. Then he raised his head and spoke with the firmness of a man who knew loss and then lived after it a thousand times:
Keen: "Listen to me, boy… I understand. I understand more than you imagine. But believe me… nothing stays the same. Look at yourself now… did you expect to get out alive from that predicament? From everything you went through? Certainly not."
Keen pointed his finger at him, not in a tone of rebuke, but of emphasis:
Keen: "And yet… you are here. Standing before me. Completely different from your old self by one hundred and eighty degrees. And this alone… is proof. As long as you are standing on your feet… the matter is not over yet, and it will not end."
Arius raised his gaze to him, as if the words had pierced something inside him that had been petrified for a long time. A short silence ensued, before he spoke:
Arius: "…Thank you. Really… this helped me, my friend."
Keen smiled a small smile, half sarcastic, half tender:
Keen: "Don't thank me… just try to understand that you are not alone as you think."
Here, the atmosphere inside the tent changed… it became heavier, warmer, and closer to a moment where a completely new phase begins for Arius. The seriousness came out of Arius's voice like a sword finally placed on the table. There was no longer room for evasion, nor for playing with words. He leaned slightly forward, placed his palms over his knees, and stared directly into Keen's eyes.
Arius: "The important thing now… we leave emotion aside. I want to talk about what's important."
Keen straightened his back, as if preparing to receive a slap or a miracle. He looked with concentration, his eyebrows furrowed, waiting.
Arius raised his head, and the atmosphere shifted. The warmth vanished. The nostalgia vanished. In its place came a harsh, straight honesty, sharp as the edge of a blade.
Arius: "Listen to me well, Keen… I will be clear with you.
Your chance of winning against Nahira… is zero percent. Literally zero."
Keen gasped lightly, his eyes widening. He did not understand at first whether Arius was joking or skinning him with words.
Keen: "And why? We possess determination. We possess resolve. We are ready to die to be liberated from her injustice!"
Keen's words were blazing, while Arius's look was cold, harsh, as if throwing freezing water over the fire.
Arius: "And do you think that determination is enough to face a creature considered one of the strongest creatures in this world? You think yourself a warrior… while you, compared to her, are just a child hitting a stone with a wooden stick."
He paused for a bit, then completed in a low voice but like a dagger:
Arius: "Be realistic for just one minute.
You might possess 60 to 70% against her army… her forces… her commanders.
But against her herself? You are… nothing.
Mountains of corpses will be made of you before you even touch her."
Arius caught his breath, then uttered what sounded like a judgment:
Arius: "It is better for you to stop the idea of rebellion completely. Leave this place. Abandon it. And I… will help you as much as I can."
Keen laughed, a short laugh, filled with shock more than humor.
Keen: "Are you really the Arius I know? The Arius I know… did not surrender before the impossible."
Arius smiled a small, sad smile, carrying no pride.
Arius: "That Arius… died a long time ago.
As for your location… do not worry, I will not expose you. I will not tell Nahira about you.
But… please… do not disappoint me.
Leave. You and everyone. Before everything here is wiped out."
Keen's face was turning gradually from amazement to stubbornness, then to solidity. He raised his head and said in a sentence like a straight knife:
Keen: "I prefer to die hanging on a metal skewer, humiliated…
Rather than run away from what we built here."
Arius closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them with a decisive look:
Arius: "Then… bear whatever will befall you.
I am sorry… I will not interfere in anything."
Then he stood up, without an extra word, without a backward glance, and exited the tent.
The moment he stepped outside, his energy exploded around him like a sharp wave of air. He rose into the sky… then vanished with insane speed, leaving behind lines of dust and the faint sounds of the tents colliding with the wind.
Keen remained standing in the middle of the tent, his mouth half open, his hands trembling… not knowing whether to get angry, to fear, or to believe.
He knew only one thing:
The Arius he met just now… was not the boy he knew years ago.