She saw him sitting on the bed, his shoulders bare—one side glowing with silver light, the other streaming with living darkness like molten lava.
Her eyes widened; she stepped closer slowly, her voice trembling:
— "Kim… are you okay? Do you feel something draining your life or your strength…?"
Kim lifted his head slowly, a faint, weary smile on his lips:
— "Don't worry… I have this skill now. Eternal Immortality.
As for the curse I took from you… it's mine now. I absorb souls now—don't be afraid."
Elena placed her hand on his chest, shivering at the strange heat beneath his skin, as the door suddenly opened.
The Queen entered, her head held high with a dignity tinged with astonishment, her icy eyes fixed on him:
— "So… this is the power of the one who took the Curse of Death…
What do you want in return for saving my daughter, stranger?"
Kim turned to her calmly, his gaze as deep as the abyss:
— "If someone dies… can they be brought back to life?"
The Queen gasped at the question, fell silent for a moment, then said slowly:
— "What a foolish question. If someone dies, of course they cannot return to life… How long has it been since their death?"
Kim lowered his head, his voice hoarse:
— "I don't know… I was imprisoned in the Void World…"
The Queen spoke in shock:
— "A world where the greatest criminals are exiled… those who've committed at least one cosmic massacre…"
Elena and the Queen exchanged a look of shock.
The Queen whispered to herself:
— "The Void World… no one has ever left it alive…"
She raised her eyes to him and asked:
— "Why were you exiled there?"
Kim gave a small, joyless laugh:
— "They say I tampered with time, that I went to worlds not my own, that I am of the Iltheim race… but I'm truly not one of them.
I… don't belong to any world. I have powers no human in my world was born with."
He lowered his voice, continuing slowly as if confessing a buried secret:
— "At least… I stayed alive for them."
Kim did not know that about eight hundred years had passed since his family's death.
Elena's eyes widened; she gasped:
— "Kim… there is no spell to bring them back. You must accept their death…"
Kim's expression suddenly changed; flames erupted around him without his will. He looked at her with eyes like a volcano:
— "Be silent!!
They… they will return!
I will bring them back… even if I have to wait millions of years!! Do you understand?!"
Elena trembled but did not step back; she moved toward him and embraced him despite the flames, her voice gentle and shaking:
— "Don't worry… I understand your feelings… I won't leave you like this.
I promise… I'll find a way for you to bring them back to life, Kim…"
For the first time in hundreds of years, Kim's tears fell. His body trembled in her arms:
— "Will you… will you really… bring my mother… and my beloved back to life…?"
Elena smiled, her eyes shining with strange sincerity:
— "Yes… I promise you."
The Queen stood at the door, watching the scene, not knowing whether what she heard was a promise or the beginning of another storm.
And in Kim's eyes… for the first time in centuries… a glimmer of light appeared, like hope.