Five in the morning.
The air in the backyard was chilly, as if the night hadn't ended yet, even though the sun was about to rise. But no one cared about the cold. No one even thought to shiver.
The men in the front row, some still with half-sleepy eyes, some with their shoulders tucked in as if on a battlefield, were moving.
Not moving... watching.
With slow steps, she walked ahead of them as if searching for a flaw in a formation of soldiers. She didn't say a word, but everyone she met felt something shift inside them.
She finally stood in the middle.
She said:
> "None of you are strong yet. None."
> "But the weakest... are those who think they know themselves."
> "So, today, we'll begin with the simplest physical test."
> "Run. Climb. Jump. Resistance."
> "And you'll fail."
Evan raised an eyebrow with a faint sneer, as if he couldn't believe it was that "simple."
But the first minute... the sneer was wiped from his face.
They started running. One hundred meters? No.
Fifty? No.
The range was indefinite. No one knew when to stop, or when to be allowed to breathe.
Aaron was the first to burst forward, running as if chasing something in his memory. Ella followed with graceful strides, her breath ragged but steady. Nima didn't seem fast, but there was a kind of stubborn patience in her stride.
Sera was panting after a few minutes, but she kept going. Evan began to fall back.
As for Cairn...
He wasn't in the lead.
Not in the back.
Not even in the prominent center.
He was... "there."
Running. Breathing. Not falling. Not advancing.
Orina didn't look at him twice.
Then the next stage began: climbing the wall.
No ropes. No support.
Each in his own way.
Aaron jumped as if he was made for it, pulling his body with precise movements.
Nima fell the first time, but climbed the second time.
Ella surprised them all, climbing as if she knew the stone well.
Cairn? Climbed… slowly.
Not like someone who's scared, or training… but like someone who's doing something that doesn't matter.
"Hold the bar for a minute," Orina said.
Some of them started falling after 20 seconds.
Cairn… fell with those who fell.
He didn't put up too much resistance, he didn't feel pain, he didn't scream.
It was as if his body had decided to fall… and he followed suit.
"He's not weak, but he's not special," Raiden thought, watching from afar.
Time passed. Practice after practice. Failure after failure.
Then Orina said:
> "Enough."
> "Tomorrow... we begin the mental training."
> "As for today... it has revealed more to me than you thought."
She looked at Sera, then Aaron, then Ella.
Then at Cairn.
A brief moment.
Too short to count.
But her eyes showed no reaction to him.
At night, the common room was quiet. No one spoke much.
But Ella said, suddenly:
— "Cairn..."
He lifted his head.
— "You're... so normal."
He smiled weakly.
— "That's a good thing?"
Evan laughed.
— "No. In this place? The worst possible thing."
Sera gave them a sideways glance, then said:
— "Sometimes the normal... is the one who survives."
Nima whispered, without looking at anyone:
— "Or the one who silently collapses."
Cairn didn't reply.
He looked at his hands.
At the small lines in his palms.
He wondered...
"If I'm really ordinary... why do I have all this inside me?"
But he said nothing.
Raiden and Urena were standing in the dark corridor, beyond the courtyard.
Urina said:
"Cairn Valmir... he doesn't show anything."
Raiden replied:
"And that's exactly why I'm watching him."
"He doesn't show any signs of Nibrim... no shadows, no hallucinations, no resistance."
"And no humans, either."
He was silent.
Then he said:
> "I'm afraid he's not missing anything... he's hiding something, even from himself."
Late that night...
When everyone else was asleep, or pretending to be asleep, Cairn sat alone on the metal bed, his back against the wall, his chin resting on his knees.
He wasn't in pain.
He wasn't crying.
But the feeling in his chest had no name.
It wasn't doubt.
It wasn't emptiness.
It was... something like confusion that turned into an internal wall. It wouldn't let you move forward, nor would it comfort you by retreating.
He whispered to himself:
"What am I supposed to be?"
But the wall didn't respond.
In the surveillance room, the screens played the day's footage, slowly, with expert eyes.
Raiden, Urena, and a man in his sixties with a white beard watched silently with them.
The man said,
"Cairn… doesn't seem important."
Raiden replied without looking up:
"That's why… he's the most dangerous."
Urina placed her finger on the screen showing the moment Cairn fell from the beam.
She said, "Notice… he didn't struggle."
"He didn't scream. He didn't hold on. It wasn't like he was tired… it was like he wasn't even there."
He was silent.
Then she said quietly,
> "He's not acting like a human testing his limits… nor like a being testing his strength."
> "He's just… acting."
The old man shook his head and said,
"If he's not a Nibrim, not a human… then what is he?"
Raiden muttered in a low voice:
"This… is what we must discover before it's too late."
The next morning…
Everyone began preparing for the second day's test: mental training.
But no one knew what that meant.
Except Urena.
She just… smiled, that tiny, uneasy smile.
In the mental training room, the walls were gray, with no windows, no clock, no mirror.
Even the air… had no taste.
They all sat on the floor, in square rows.
The silence was harsh.
Even breaths were counted.
Urina entered, behind her Raiden, and in front of them stood a man who didn't identify himself. He wore medical scrubs without a badge. His face was expressionless, his eyes moving as if studying faces, not people.
He said simply:
> "Today's test… mental."
> "Each of you will be isolated… for just a few minutes."
> "During them, we will activate a simple device… that only tests your psychological reaction to an internal stimulus."
> "It won't harm you."
> "But some... won't come out the way they came in."
He gave a very brief smile, then disappeared through the back door.
They began one by one.
Nima came out, her eyes watering, but she didn't speak.
Evan came out, laughing emptyly, and said, "It was a childish dream, silly."
Ella came out, pale, and said only, "No one goes in there the same way."
Then it was Cairn's turn.
He stood and entered the isolated room.
It was empty.
In the middle... a single chair.
He sat down on it.
Nothing happened... first.
Then, the lighting began to change. A fading white light, then gradually turning gray, then a colorless shadow.
Then... a voice.
It was like his own.
But slower.
And deeper.
And closer to his heart, not his ear:
> "If you disappeared tomorrow... would anyone remember you?"
Cairn slowly opened his eyes.
He wasn't asleep. But he wasn't fully awake.
The voice continued:
> "If I die, will anyone say: 'He was important?' Or will they say: 'He was ordinary?'"
His shadow appeared on the opposite wall... Then the shadow moved, without his body moving.
The shadow said:
- "You're just... an unnecessary copy."
- "You were born from a mistake."
- "You exist, only... because someone didn't finish the job."
Then the wall began to draw near.
No... it wasn't the wall.
Something inside him was collapsing toward him, not from him.
He wanted to scream.
But he just... closed his eyes.
And the voice disappeared.
He came out ten minutes later.
His face... unreadable.
He didn't look at anyone.
He didn't sit down.
He didn't speak.
He went to his corner of the room, sat down by himself, and turned his face to the wall.
Ella wanted to say something... then she backed away.
Even Ivan… remained silent.
At the end of the day, Orina stood before them again.
She said:
> "The first mental test is over."
> "Some of you showed resistance. Some of you showed fragility."
> "But some… showed nothing."
> "And this… is more dangerous."
She looked at Cairn.
For the first time, she looked at him… for a long time.
Then she said:
> "Some questions… don't need an answer."
> "But they leave a wound deeper than any answer."
At night…
Cairn sat up in bed, staring up at the dark ceiling.
He whispered:
"I really… can't get back to normal."
"Not even… can I be Nibrim."
Then he pulled his blanket over his head.
And he didn't sleep.