Days before the arrival of Ereon at the castle of the Marquesado, in the heart of the Southern County, hovered a suffocating atmosphere. Everything depended on the choice of Kaelir, but the place in which he was already spoke for itself: it was not a hall of honor, but a den of horror.
The walls were taken by dense shadows, broken only by the wavering flame of Brianna. The floor of cold stone reverberated a heavy silence, and in each corner rose a human statue — petrified figures of children, captured not after death, but in the instant in which they still breathed. Their unmoving eyes kept the frozen terror of the last breath, and the hall seemed to whisper their laments without voice.
There there was no space for reverence, only for the remembrance of a cruelty that never should exist.
Kaelir, with trembling and stammering voice, broke the silence:
"""A-are you... going to kill him?"
Kael gave a cold smile.
"Yes. But, for that to happen, you need to tell us what you know."
Kaelir breathed deeply, the body trembling, and began to reveal the plans of the count. As he spoke, Brianna and Kael could not hide the astonishment. To know of the carnage that the count was willing to commit left them terrified. But what most worried them were his last words:
"He intends to overthrow the emperors… and, for that, many people have to die. He wants to bring back the enemies of the gods."
Kael let out an incredulous laugh. "And how does he intend to do that? If the sacrifice were enough, he would have done it a long time ago."
Kaelir:"I heard… they need one person. A prince that can walk between the abyss and the human world. And the count is not the only one… there is a group, spread among the empires, waiting for the resurrection…"
The voice of Kaelir faltered, but it was not that which held Brianna. It was the silence of Kael. He said nothing — only remained standing, the body rigid, as if those words had crossed his mind like an invisible blade.
For an instant, the air around seemed to weigh. Brianna knew him enough to perceive: when Kael stayed silent, it was because he had understood something that no one else saw. He did not need eyes to see the weight of those words — the prince that walks between worlds…
A whisper escaped from his lips, low, almost a thought said aloud:"So it is this…"
His hands moved without hesitating. In a sudden gesture, he reached the shoulders of Kaelir, the fingers firm like claws. The tension in his voice broke the silence of the dark hall:"How did the count disappear? And how is he maintaining the contract?"
Brianna held her breath, she knew Kael enough to know that that rigidity was not common anger, but something deeper. His silence always weighed, but now… now there was fear hidden in that. And if Kael feared, then there was no way out — they were all already inside that destiny.
Kaelir, trembling, raised his hands as if the weight of those questions was too overwhelming. The air around bent, distorted by the uncertain gesture, and before them opened a small fissure, as if space itself had been torn.
Brianna stepped back a step, the blood freezing, unable to believe what she saw."U-um… Weaver of the Paths? I thought they were all dead…"
The hall trembled, and the flames wavered as if they feared the presence that there arose. The air became heavy, each breath difficult, as if space itself resisted that revelation.
Then, the eyes of Kaelir shone with a strange tone, and his voice, before trembling, rose in a grave chant, sublime, intoning words in an ancient tongue — a language that did not belong to the human world, but to the very fabric of the Paths.
"Ita… illa mulier non erat ultima filia Salem?" (Then… that woman was not the last daughter of Salem?)
Brianna stepped back, the heart racing, and answered with trembling firmness:"Quomodo? Ego ipsis oculis vidi Teceolos mortuos esse…" (How? I saw them dead with my own eyes…)
The air around seemed to vibrate, as if space itself reacted to that, and his presence became even more intense.
Advancing a step, Kaelir raised the voice with contained fury, grave like thunder that announces the storm:
"Maga Salemensis, oculi mei solum sanguinem vident qui terram maculavit. Dic mihi, cur non debeam gentem tuam hic et nunc delere? Familia tua nos prodidit et usque ad ultimum nostrum tradidit. Si puerum non protexissem, eius fatum idem fuisset. Populus meus eum servavit ante bella deorum, et pro illa gratia pretium sanguine meo solutum est."
Brianna raised the chin, the voice firm despite the pain, like a flame that resists the wind:
"Credis me dolorem ignorare? Populus meus quoque illa proditione laceratus est. Numquam putarem eam ausuram esse ut suum populum pro potentia venderet. Sed, ut filia Salemensis, debitum illud sanguine et igne solvam."
The silence fell upon them. The energy in the hall seemed to pulse, and each word of Kaelir resounded with ancestral weight, loaded with meaning:
"Fides luxus est quem habere non possum. Ea me docuit amicitiam esse funem qui mortem trahit. Custodes viarum vestrarum fuimus, et pro hoc nobis gustum sanguinis datum est. Quomodo possum futurum texere filo a praeterito maculato?"
Brianna clenched the fists, the blood throbbing in the veins, and swore with the strength of one who defies the night:
"Ita, intellego. Ideo per nomen meum iuro debitum sanguinis quod illa mulier intulit solvituram esse. Confide in me: protegam te, pretio quocumque."
Kaelir closed the eyes for an instant, between weariness and solemnity. When he spoke, his voice sounded like an ancestral echo, heavy of centuries:
"Custos vitam defendit, sed actiones meae limitatae sunt. Tu es libertas mortis, persona quae iter suum texet. Nunc te relinquo. Per pactum quinque saeculorum, Kaelir Stellaire in tua cura relinquitur, Brianna Thorne."
Then, Kaelir touched the hand on the head of Brianna. Her eyes shone for an instant, and then her flames went out. Brianna fell unconscious. The darkness returned to the hall.
Kael remained unmoving, unable to process everything that he had just witnessed. The concern about the recent revelation weighed on his shoulders, while a voice, that was not entirely human, sounded inside him:
"Her path is already traced. You saw her paths… and found death in all of them. Let me ask: for what do you fight?"
Kael answered, firm but with a thread of doubt:
"I could not give you the answer now. But after this war ends, I believe I will find it. Because the path that I want to tread does not depend on me, but on him."
Kaelir then spoke, his voice loaded with solemnity and ancestral authority:
"I end my promise here. Take care of them. And Kael… you will tread a path of blood. Death will follow you, no matter where you go. That will be your fate. The only thing I ask is that the last of my lineage does not meet his end so soon."
Then, Kaelir, with a gentle gesture, pronounced:
"Revelare."
The air trembled, and a fissure opened before them. One of the paths that the count had traced to reach the Marquesado was revealed in the blink of an eye.
Then he looked at Kael and said:"Go. There is still one last path that I need to trace."
Kael stood still for an instant, in doubt. To leave Brianna behind tightened his chest, but he could not allow himself to hesitate. After everything he had just discovered about the count, he knew that every second counted.
Then he passed through the fissure. Kael, using his seismic vision, perceived that he had been left alone there and that the distance to the Marquesado was still considerable. The time for doubts had ended. Breathing deeply, he moved, conscious that he needed to go ahead, even with the weight of the decision.
The space around him dissolved in shadows and faint lights. The silence of the past still seemed to echo in his mind, along with the sensation of distance and isolation that he had felt when crossing the fissure. Kael remained unmoving for an instant, allowing each memory to settle: the gesture of Kaelir, the fissure that opened, and the promise that weighed upon him and Brianna.
A whisper escaped from his lips, almost a murmur to himself:"So… Karna was the last…"
Kael could feel that the end of that war was near. Each beat of the heart seemed to resound like a war drum inside his chest, reminding him of the weight of what was to come.
Inside the castle, Ereon moved with deadly precision. In seconds, with his manipulation of the shadows, he shaped small rats that spread among rocks and rubble, leaving a mark in the shape of a half-moon, preparing the terrain. Isabela activated the Circle of the Judgment; the blades shone like sharp stars and advanced against the count, cutting the air with a threatening buzz.
Ereon took three steps back, sheathing the katana, breathing deeply, and murmured with firm voice:"New Moon Dance."
In an instant, he switched place with a stone using the Reversum, moving with supernatural speed. The blade reached the neck of the count, but ricocheted as if it had struck against an invisible and impenetrable shield. Ereon used the Reversum to return to the initial position, feeling the heat of the fight and the sweat running down the face. Each breath was measured, each beat of the heart calculated. Isabela continued attacking, her blades a storm of light and steel, but the count remained calm, almost mocking.
Then, with a simple gesture, he struck Isabela with overwhelming force. She flew to the other side of the ruined hall, colliding with shards of stone. The deadly silence of the following instant was loaded with pain and tension. The count spoke, his voice chilling the air:"I have no time for you."
The count looked at the mark on the hand of Ereon and, in an instant, advanced with overhuman speed. Each step of him made the ground tremble, sending shockwaves that seemed to echo through the distorted air. Ereon, keeping the mind cold, switched place with another stone, feeling each bone and each reflex move in perfect synchrony. Each fiber of his body vibrated with the tension; a single mistake would be enough to cost his life.
The count paused, catching air, the eyes shining with disdain and power, as if he could consume the courage of all around."Really, this is an irritating ability. That is why I hate those who awaken."
In a fluid movement, he grabbed the ground and lifted a huge block of stone. He launched it against Ereon while advancing. The claws of the enemy cut the air, about to reach him. Ereon retreated, feeling the earth vibrate under his feet. In a tense whisper, he pronounced:"Inverted World."
The space around the count distorted. The sound disappeared, time seemed to freeze, and the imposing presence of the enemy was suspended, impotent. Absolute silence took over the space, as if even the air was in pause. Ereon then, with a low tone of voice, spoke:"Count… tell me, what were your sins?"