Chapter 8
Inside Roland's Prufen, Marva and Xelix sat side by side on an old wooden bench made only for two. The air around them was dense, though the room itself appeared calm.
"We have to wait here. He'll come… two days from now," Marva muttered with irritation. Enver was never on time.
"You mean… Enver?" Xelix asked, his face lighting up.
Marva cast him a lazy glance. "Yes. Enver. Just hearing his name should be enough—you don't need to look like a love-struck teenager."
"I just… want to thank him properly. I have nothing to give… considering what I am."
Xelix's glowing expression made Marva sick. She stood abruptly.
"Where are you going? I'll come with you," Xelix tried to grasp her arm.
"None of your business. My job was just to bring you here. We're not the same. You're cursed. I'm not."
Xelix fell silent. The words stabbed like a cold blade.
Marva shook his hand off and leapt out the window. She landed near a large stone shaped like a bowing monkey. From there, she gazed at the open gates of Prufen.
Every Hellseer had a Prufen—a sacred place to store patients cleansed of their curses.
"If I go in now, they'll catch me… but my strength is almost gone," she muttered, clenching her fists.
"If I don't return to my body… everything will vanish."
DEUGH.
"Is this what they've been waiting for…?"
Marva wasn't an ordinary human. She was Huria—a great dragon who had changed form to hunt those who once kidnapped her and offered her as a sacrifice.
---
Previously…
In her dragon form, Huria fought against the Hellseers, but they kept chasing her. Until she met Enver—and everything changed. Enver, who had stolen a dragon scale from a hidden hill, brought it before her. Though she knew it was hers, Huria gave it willingly, for that man.
The scale fused with Enver. Granting him immense power.
They lived together. Enver promised to marry Huria, but never touched her. He waited at home. Huria sought the cursed.
But without her scale, Huria weakened. Roland and the Hellseers exploited this. They trapped her using the blood of purified patients—turned into spirits, chains, and cages.
Huria was helpless.
Urkle—a small astral creature like a bundled corpse—saved her. Huria ordered him to collect human bones. She arranged them. From those remains, Marva was born.
---
Back to now.
Marva watched the gates of Prufen. A group dragged a man inside. They saw him as human, but Marva knew: he was an elf.
DEUGH.
"They took me… the elf… and—" she murmured, then fell silent.
The three most powerful beings: the dragon (supreme astral), the elf (high-minded human), and one more: the Non-Human—humans with plant blood, absorbers of life force.
"No… I have to keep them away from this place. If the three are united… Vladar will rise."
The creature that decides destruction… or peace.
---
Elsewhere.
Thadric stared at Enver—with hatred and awe in the same face. But he never dared admit it.
"Use your staff. Find the Watcher Paus," Enver said coldly.
"You do it. I'm watching the house," Thadric scoffed, eyeing his staff.
"Inanimate things are innocent. The fault lies in you, for not being able to wield it," Enver's voice echoed even after he entered the house.
Thadric sneered. "Bastard."
---
Inside Dina and Herman's house.
Bones scattered. Blood stains. A small dinosaur doll circled the room.
When Enver touched it, the doll transformed into a broken-bodied child holding a knife and a pistol. Behind him: Dina's corpse.
The little creature was Rasti.
Without warning, Rasti shot Enver. Chased him while laughing, calling: "Daddy!"
Enver fought back. He coated his sword in blood and slashed at Rasti. A dark aura enveloped the boy's body—hatred for his mother who had devoured Herman before his eyes.
Each strike dimmed the darkness. The house slowly brightened again.
Enver nearly collapsed. He carried Rasti in his arms. The ground shook.
"Another Hellseer…" he whispered.
---
Outside, Thadric transformed his staff into a massive trumpet. He blew it. The Watcher Paus emerged—then instantly swallowed the house whole.
Thadric was shocked. That wasn't the Watcher Paus' usual behavior.
Two Hellseers appeared. One dropped his trumpet.
"Get rid of that! It can summon reinforcements!"
Thadric stared at them. "You knew my father, Jessel, didn't you?"
They fell silent. Thadric grinned and yanked off his wig.
Misowa Thadric. Researcher of Purificazione.
"You're one of those who sold patients to the holding pens. Who lived off their bodies."
DEUGH.
They froze. "I'm in charge here. Leave. In three hours, we'll meet at the usual place."
---
Enver looked at the Watcher Paus.
"Give me water from the dragon scale. Then we'll leave."
"You know I carry it?"
"I share its energy."
Enver handed him the potion. The Watcher Paus shrank and vanished.
He carried Rasti out. "Take him to Prufen," he told Thadric.
Just as he turned around, a voice rang out.
"I know you're here."
DEUGH.
Marva emerged.
"You did it, didn't you?"
Enver looked at her.
"How long will you keep hiding it?"
"Until my task is done. Perfectly. I don't like people who ask too many questions."