"Good! That's it!" Something inaudible whispered. "Come on! Keep going! Keep destroying and devouring!"
Yes! Yes! Something inside him shouted, something that wasn't him, something speaking to his mind—or through it.
He raised his arm, palm tightly clenched, pointing at a group of Fulgoris Incendia moving through the vast hall."Gluttony… Regurgitate."
Slowly, almost like watching the sunrise in slow motion, a searing glow—blinding, almost—began to form between his fingers. It looked like liquid fire, moving as if it had a life of its own, the heat so dense it was almost possible to smell it, to see it distort the air.
Adam's indigo eyes began to shine with a luminous void, a glow that seemed to devour him from within. His voice shifted as he spoke, as though every word tore a piece of control from him.
The Fulgoris Incendia surged forward like a horde through the great hall, burning and destroying everything in their path, oblivious to the carnage of their kin. Yet, amid the fiery mana and the unstable flow keeping the ship afloat, something disturbed them. They felt a change in the air, like an ember blown to awaken dormant flames.
And then they saw him: Adam, staring at them with glassy eyes, a contained sunrise held in his palm.They scattered like raindrops over scorching rock.
Adam clicked his tongue and furrowed his brow, grinding his teeth.
He whispered a name. It wasn't a language. It was hunger—no… something worse, his true nature. Blood began to seep from his nose as that impure shadow shifted focus.
Like a beast hunting hundreds of prey, he lunged, extending his skeletal arms; each movement made them creak like bones snapping.Some he split in two, others he severed entirely. His rage drove him into columns, tables, chairs, smashing partition walls and shattering hanging glass. Every impact made the structure tremble. Several beams collapsed, crushing the Fulgoris Incendia who, in a final instant, perished in screams that never made it out.
At last, only a hallway leading to a corner remained. Though spacious, it felt narrow compared to the hall's former vastness.
Amid the massacre, Fidelis raised his resplendent scarf, covered in runes that absorbed some of the flames, attempting to shield the passengers retreating just a few steps behind Adam.He was exhausted: moving so many people demanded an almost inhuman effort.
A small group couldn't keep up. They were trapped in that corner, defending themselves as best they could: some wielded railings like bats, others held chairs to keep distance. The Fulgoris swirled around them, closing the path.
Behind them, the impure shadow began to move.It didn't walk—it slid, dragging a silence so dense it seemed to suck the air from the hallway.Occasionally, a hollow snap—the scrape of what could be called teeth—broke the stillness, accompanied by a faint crackling, as if a jaw opened with anticipation.A small sound, almost trivial, yet in that silence it rang like hunger itself preparing its feast, its last feast of the day.
Good. They're together now, Adam thought.But the voice in his mind was now only a distant echo, a weakened whisper.He twisted his face into a grotesque smile, baring teeth, wrinkling the corners of his mouth with an expression so empty that if not for the violence driving him, he would have seemed a mere hollow shell.
Fidelis remembered what he had done just moments before and forced a tired smile.But when a distant scream—human, clearly human—cut through the air, the smile crumbled.He turned his head, searching through the rubble, the fallen columns, and scattered glass.Where are they? he thought, digging his fingers into the dust.
Another scream made him look toward the opposite corner. One of the passengers lay with burns spanning from arm to chest.
He rose, body trembling, and in doing so, his gaze met Adam's—staring straight ahead, oblivious to everything.There he was.Those glassy, dead eyes, glowing as if devouring the light around them, empty, filled with a hunger no living being possessed.Within those eyes, the incandescent fire born from his fingers grew, fed by every second of doubt.And he saw—with mounting horror—that Adam was aiming at where the survivors stood…and slowly, he began to open his palm.
He lunged at him."No! Don't do it!" he shouted, watching the palm halfway extended. His feet slipped, tripped while trying to run, powerless. He realized he wouldn't reach him, wouldn't even touch him. So he pushed his body to the limit and jumped. As he did, he brought the pendant to his mouth, gripping it with his teeth.
The pendant was sun-shaped, an irregular circle of aged gold, with twelve asymmetrical rays sprouting from the edges, curved like blades or petals twisted by heat. In the center, a core of dark crystal seemed to contain a trapped spark, uncertain whether to burn or die.
(Illustrative image, not final)
He pressed his hands together, fingertips meeting, leaving a small space between palms.
In an instant, the scarf—until now only able to cling to Fidelis's neck—slid completely free. It unfolded end to end, enveloping them in a luminous sphere. A bubble of force isolating air, light, and sound from the outside world.
Then came the fire.It crackled like embers, like an unleashed sea of flames. When Adam finished extending his hand, he and Fidelis were engulfed by an inferno igniting every inch of the bubble. For a moment, there was only light. Then, that light turned to smoke. The barrier began to crack, shattering like glass in slow motion. The contained smoke escaped through fissures in thin gray threads.
The shadow—that which Adam had summoned—began to wither, dissolving like ash carried by the wind. Still, it dragged several surrounding Fulgoris with it.
When the bubble finally fragmented, Adam was on his knees. Part of his clothing had turned to burnt rags; his arms bore some burns, though none deep. Breathing was difficult. One hand pressed to his chest, hitting it with dull thuds, the other covering his mouth.
"Disgusting…" he murmured, staring at the floor. A gag rose to his throat, but he held it back. "Ugh…" He leaned forward, dizzy, trying not to fall.
After the fractured sound and silence that followed as Adam tried to regain control, a sob rose behind him. He turned.The scene froze him.
Fidelis lay on the floor, face distorted, on the verge of tears if given the time, both hands clinging to his right leg. Skin blackened from heel upward, flesh ripped by a burn climbing the calf and disappearing past the knee. The air smelled of scorched flesh; a thin wisp of smoke still rose, slow and persistent, unwilling to die. Pain made his lips tremble, and every breath was a short, choked gasp, as if even the air burned inside. Beside him lay the pendant.
The scarf, still imbued with runes glowing faintly, pulsing softly, descended slowly, unraveling from its spherical form. As if by instinct, it began to coil around Fidelis's neck, settling gently.
Adam stepped toward him, raising his arm to reach, but his vision was blurred. Between his outstretched fingers, he could only see the distance still between him and Fidelis. He was about to take another step, barely lifting his foot off the ground.
A new scream pierced the air. Another plea for help.
What do I do? he thought. And in that split second of hesitation, everything—the scream, the smoke, Fidelis's pain—seemed to merge into a single dissonant, high-pitched note that would make any musician shiver.Fidelis… he'll never forgive me if I let someone die.
His eyes widened; fingers stiffened, trembling. Doubt anchored him in that exact moment, trapped between impulse and duty.
Adam let out a low growl, a rough sound, almost a gesture of irritation turned audible. He clenched his fist and turned toward the Fulgoris Incendia.
Fidelis, tears brimming, lifted his gaze. Through heavy eyelids and vision blurred by burning pain, he caught Adam's last movement.
Again…? he coughed, the smoke still scratching his throat. Each cough dry, arid, like wind scorching a parched field. Did I get in his way again? he thought, with that inner voice barely forming words, a fractured echo blaming itself.