Smoke still rose from the twisted wreckage of the Golden Tower. Shards of glass, charred wood, and warped metal formed a field of ruins. Crystal chandeliers, now melted, hung like dripping shadows. Opulence had become a grave.
The cries of the wounded mingled with the hiss of blue fire, an unnatural glow that spread like poison across the ground, consuming everything—living or dead—without distinction.
The few buyers who hadn't perished in the explosion tried to escape. Desperately, they pounded on the back doors, trying to open them. But before they could flee with the investors' money, a figure taller than the rest emerged from the shadows.
The man in the dark cloak walked slowly, unhurried. With a simple cane, he struck the nape of each fugitive with precision. They fell without even a whimper.
The hunter's eyes shone intensely, a deep blue that seemed to absorb the fire itself.
In his hand, he held a ring of keys.
—It's all mine —he whispered with delight. He tossed the ring into the air and caught it in one hand, as if toying with fate.
—I have the upper hand.
Meanwhile, Arisha clung to a twisted iron bench, gasping, with Lessa's unconscious body pressed tightly against her chest.
—"Wake up… please, wake up, Lessa," —she murmured through tears and dust.
Not far off, Baco, bloodied and limping, dragged Kai out from the boiler area. The explosion had opened the lower gates, releasing a torrent of searing lava that mixed with the blue fire.
Each step was torture, but Baco did not stop. He knew that if Kai fell in there, nothing would remain of him.
From the ruins of a collapsed tower, Nevri watched them in silence. His cape billowed like an omen, and his blue eyes never left Kai.
His lips barely moved.
—The balance… has already begun to break.
Hours later, through damp tunnels and forgotten passages beneath the city, Arisha managed to shelter Lessa.
There was silence. Only the distant echo of an invisible war that had not ended.
When Lessa opened her eyes, her pupils reflected more guilt than relief.
—Why didn't you tell me? —Arisha asked, her voice trembling.
Lessa didn't blink.
—Because you pure nobles… you don't forgive abominations, —Lessa replied, staring at her own reflection in the dirty water of the tunnel, blood trickling from her lips.
She pulled a metal plate over her right leg, indifferent to the pain.
—You need blood.
That moment was more brutal than the explosion. Both understood, without saying it, that the past had returned to collect its price.
Kai's Vision
Still weak, Kai fell into a deep sleep. In it, he was once again in that training field, surrounded by mist.
His adoptive father, stern-eyed, repeated the same words as back then:
—One day, son, you won't know who stands by your side by choice… or by curse.
Kai turned. In the sky, three black moons crossed, forming a triskelion. From afar, a terrifying figure with red eyes and black hair stared back at him.
"That symbol... one day it will mark you. Only you will decide whether it becomes a chain or a key."
He woke up gasping, his eyes glassy, his throat dry.
—What... was that?
Baco shouted: "Hold on tight, I'm pulling you up!" —yanking his large body up as if it weighed nothing.
Beneath a pile of rubble sealed with ancient magic, Balt opened his eyes. He coughed blood. His body couldn't move.
Then, he saw him: a tall, elegant silhouette, draped in a coat of dark fur. Klaus.
He spoke:
—Tonight you lose, Balt… —extending a hand— But you'll live to remember this night.
"Klaus vanished into the mist… but a shaft of light—like one cast by a vengeful god—struck him from above. It pierced him. His body fell without glory, only debts unpaid."
"So he died. Beneath stones, with no dues settled… But as Balt approached, that wounded body turned to sand—a skill belonging to Klaus's noble bloodline."
Closing Scene
Nevri walked calmly among the still-smoldering corpses. He didn't touch them. He didn't look at them.
One guard, still barely alive, managed to lift his head.
—Who… are you?
Nevri raised his palm. The triskel symbol, branded like fire, glowed faintly.
—I'm not from here… but something of mine—something ancient—has awakened among you.
He smiled with an expression not quite human. Then, he placed a blue flower on a stone blackened by fire.
"Are you… one of the Ancients?"
"The triskelion… has always marked the beginning of the end," Nevri murmured before disappearing into the mist, covering his palm as if he had never been there.