When the Queen's order rang out, silence fell over the heavenly hall.
Silver armor gleamed, weapons ignited with light-magic, and incantations rose like a sacred song of death.
In the center of the hall, Kim stood unafraid, his still eyes reflecting the glint of hundreds of spears aimed at him.
He spoke with a deadly calm:
— "How strange… that light fears its own shadow this much."
A voice shrieked sharply:
— "Silence, cursed one! You've defiled the land of Aether!"
But suddenly, a girl stepped forward hesitantly—the same one who had healed his wounds earlier.
Her face was like the moon, her eyes a soft silver, as if light itself longed for her.
Her name was Elena—a name as pure and delicate as she was.
She cried out, standing between him and the soldiers:
— "Stop! He's not evil! I felt the energy of his heart when I healed him… there's darkness, yes, but it isn't malicious!"
The Queen rose from her crystal throne, her eyes gleaming with the chill of royalty:
— "Be silent, Elena. Don't let your feelings corrupt my judgment.
This being carries the curse of the Abyss… its only place is annihilation."
Elena trembled, but her eyes never left Kim's face. She saw something in him no one else could see.
And suddenly…
A beam of light shot from one of the guards, but before it reached its mark, another girl leapt forward to push Elena aside—
she fell to the ground, a sharp cry of pain cutting through the hall.
When Kim approached, he saw on her leg a black mark curling like a serpent.
A death curse.
A curse no Eltharion should bear—they were children of immortality.
The Queen recoiled with rare fear, and the soldiers shouted:
— "The sacred curse… it's the curse that drains life!"
Kim looked at her, then at the Queen, and spoke with a terrifying calm:
— "Even in your pure world… there's death waiting for the undeserving."
He stepped closer despite the threat of swords, kneeling beside the fallen girl.
Shadows began to stir around him.
Elena cried out:
— "What are you doing? It will kill you!"
He answered with a faint, enigmatic smile:
— "Not the first time."
Darkness flowed from his palm toward the girl's leg.
The curse began to draw out of her body into him—searing pain, black scorpions crawling back onto his skin.
Amon's voice thundered inside his head:
— "Fool… you'll destroy yourself for them? Have you fallen for the light?"
Kim clenched his jaw:
— "Shut up… I don't usually do this. But I'll save the one who helped me."
Elena looked at him, tears in her silver eyes, whispering in fear and wonder:
— "Why… why are you helping us?"
He raised his gaze to her, speaking softly as if to himself:
— "Because I don't leave a debt unpaid."
Then light and darkness erupted at once—half the hall scorched by shadow, the other half blazing with light.
And at their center… Kim collapsed to the ground, his body half black as coal, half glowing silver.
The Queen cried out:
— "What is this…?! Did he truly absorb the curse?!"
While Elena approached him with trembling steps, whispering his name…
— "Kim… open your eyes, please."