The two of them stopped dead in their tracks.
Right in front of them, shrouded in the shadows of the trees, was Miyara. She stood perfectly still, her back turned to them. She didn't move, didn't breathe, didn't even acknowledge their presence.
"Aneki!" Ayelen shouted, his heart leaping with a mix of relief and terror. He took a frantic step forward, desperate to reach her.
Arnold's hand shot out like a bolt of lightning, clamping firmly onto Ayelen's arm. "Don't rush," he commanded. His voice was a low, jagged rasp, filled with a sudden, sharp intensity. "Look at her. Look carefully."
Ayelen faltered, his expression crumbling into confusion. He squinted through the dim light, following Arnold's gaze. Something was wrong. Very wrong. There were faint, shimmering lines tracing over her skin, almost invisible unless you knew what to look for.
Arnold took a cautious step closer, his muscles coiled and ready. Just as he reached out a hand, a voice drifted through the air, sweet and venomous.
"Goodbye."
Nyla. She was watching from the darkness with a thin, cold smile.
Then came the white light.
A massive explosion ripped through the forest, shaking the very foundations of the earth. The roar was deafening, a wall of heat and fire that swallowed everything in its path. Trees were uprooted like toothpicks, and the world dissolved into a blinding, screaming blankness.
Ayelen's eyes fluttered open slowly. The world was spinning. A high-pitched ringing pierced through his ears, and his body felt as heavy as lead, pinned down by the weight of the debris. He coughed, dragging air into his scorched lungs, and forced himself to sit up.
That was when he saw it. The sight hit him harder than the blast ever could.
Miyara was lying only a few feet away. Her body was broken beyond recognition. One leg had been torn away, and an arm was missing from the shoulder down. Blood soaked the earth around her, a deep, dark crimson that seemed to drain the very color from the world. Her face, once so full of life and stern protection, was now still. Silent.
Ayelen's breath hitched and died in his throat. "Aneki..."
His voice was a broken whisper, trembling with a grief too large for his body to hold.
Flashback
He remembered a small, sun-drenched room. It was warm and smelled of lavender. A young girl sat in a rocking chair, cradling a tiny, bundled baby in her arms. It was Miyara. She was much younger then, her face glowing with a soft, radiant smile.
She looked down at the infant, her eyes brimming with a fierce, quiet love. "Ayelen," she whispered. It was the first time she had ever spoken his name. "Ayelen Arakami."
She pulled the blanket tighter, pressing her cheek against his forehead. She held him as if he were the most precious thing in the entire universe. Protected. Loved.
Back to Reality
Ayelen's eyes stung, filling with the heat of unshed tears, but none fell. Instead, something deep inside his soul—the very core of who he was—snapped.
High above in the darkened sky, a massive asteroid appeared, glowing with a terrifying friction as it tore through the atmosphere. It was falling straight toward them, a harbinger of extinction. People in the distant city looked up, their faces pale with the realization that the end had arrived.
"This is it... the end of everything," voices whispered in the streets.
The asteroid slammed into the earth with a terrifying velocity. But the shockwave never came. There was no cataclysm, no mountain-shattering explosion. The impact was silent, causing almost zero damage to the ground.
The world watched in stunned silence. "That should have destroyed the continent," someone muttered.
But it hadn't. Because something had intercepted it. Something had awakened.
MANTINIX.
At the center of the impact zone, a small, jagged scratch formed near Ayelen's eye. Then, it began to glow, spreading across his face like a living circuit. A power that had been dormant for thirty million years finally surged back into the light of day.
The God of the Universe. The Moderator.
Ayelen's eyes shifted, turning a piercing, electric blue. In the next heartbeat, he was gone. He moved with a speed that defied the laws of physics, a streak of blue light heading straight for the spot where Nyla had been standing. But she was gone, vanished into the shadows.
Back on the blood-stained grass, Arnold lay in critical condition. He was barely conscious, his breathing shallow and wet. His mind was a fog of pain, but it held onto one singular thought: Ayelen.
Arnold's hand moved an inch, fingers brushing the dirt. In that moment, something clicked. A silent connection formed. Ayelen understood everything. He knew what had happened, why it had happened, and exactly what he had to do next.
Without wasting another second, Ayelen stood up. He gathered the broken bodies of his family—his mother, his sister, and his father. His hands shook as he touched them for the last time.
Then, their bodies began to dissolve. They didn't rot or fade; they broke apart into millions of tiny, shimmering energy particles. Fragments of light danced in the air before flowing into Ayelen. He absorbed them all, taking their essence into himself.
His eyes changed again. They were no longer just blue; they were filled with an ancient, cold vengeance.
Planet Arkon
Light-years away, Glasen stood before a massive, obsidian throne. "Crown is dead," he reported, his voice echoing in the hollow hall.
Sitting on the throne was Vanzayoree. The King of Arkon. The Destroyer. Disintinix.
The silence in the throne room was absolute. Three names. Three cosmic powers that held the fate of all things.
Altranix. Mantinix. Disintinix.
The balance was shifting. The gears of the universe were grinding into a new, violent shape.
Back on Earth
Ayelen walked through the ruins of the forest. He showed no emotion. No anger, no sadness, no joy. He was simply moving. He reached a quiet river and sat under the shade of a gnarled tree. He looked at his hand, watching the way the light hit his skin.
He stood up and walked to the water's edge. He began to wash his face and his hands, watching as the blood of his enemies and his family swirled away into the current. When he looked at his reflection in the water, he didn't recognize the boy staring back.
His face was empty. Cold. Ruthless. The boy who had loved his family was gone, replaced by something far more dangerous.
Suddenly, a scream shattered the silence. It was a girl's voice, sharp with terror.
Ayelen turned instantly and ran toward the sound. In a small clearing nearby, a group of five men had surrounded a young girl. She was huddled on the ground, shaking like a leaf.
This was Vermiliya. Her eyes were bright and beautiful, but right now, they were wide with a paralyzing fear.
Ayelen stepped into the clearing. "Do you know them?" he asked calmly.
Vermiliya looked up at him, her breath hitching. She slowly shook her head from left to right. "No..." she whispered, though fear kept her from saying more.
Ayelen understood. He didn't need any more information. He reached down and took a ribbon from her hair, gently tying it over her eyes.
"Don't look," he said.
Then, he moved. He was a blur of lethal motion. He grabbed the first man by the throat—the man was dead before he could even blink. The others froze, their hearts stopping in their chests.
"What... what is happening?!" one of them screamed.
Vermiliya could see nothing. She could only hear the sounds of the massacre. The wet thud of hits. The sickening crack of bones. The desperate screams that were cut short by the spray of blood. One by one, they fell. One body was split open with such force that blood rained down on the grass.
The last two tried to run, but they found their feet rooted to the spot. They couldn't move. They were frozen in terror. Ayelen finished them with a cold, mechanical efficiency.
Silence returned to the clearing. The ground was littered with bodies. Ayelen walked over to Vermiliya and gently removed the ribbon. She blinked, her eyes adjusting to the light. The men were gone, and the boy stood before her, his clothes unstained.
"Thank you," she said softly, her voice still trembling. "My sister... I have to go to her."
She turned and sprinted toward the city hospital, her heart pounding.
Flashback
Vermiliya remembered standing in her father's house. Slap. The blow sent her spinning to the floor.
"You're useless!" her father had shouted, his face red with rage. "You can't do anything right! I wanted a son, not a failure like you!"
Tears had filled her eyes as she looked at the floor. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'll earn money. I'll take care of everything, I promise."
Another slap followed, harder than the first. "Don't you dare say that again! You will marry someone rich and bring this family the money we deserve!"
She had stood there, helpless and broken, with no one to turn to.
Back to Present
She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, never once looking back. "Thank you for saving me," she whispered to the wind. "But I have to go."
Far behind her, Ayelen stood alone. The wind moved slowly through the trees, carrying the scent of ozone and iron. The world felt different now. Colder. Darker.
And this time, he didn't feel anything at all. Not the sting of the wind, not the pain in his chest, not the fear of the future.
Nothing.
Only one thing remained deep within him. Something dangerous. Something ancient. And it had only just begun.
• CHAPTER 12 ENDS •