A glacial breath swept through the chamber,as if the Tower itself reacted to his hesitation.
Invisible walls shuddered.A distant rumble bled into the void.
Kael lifted his head.His eyes narrowed.
Before him, the darkness thickened.Dense. Total.And beyond it… only the unknown knew what awaited.
…
Then, without knowing why, the blackness began to crack.Lines, contours, reliefs emerged where there had been nothing but absolute void.Even the air seemed to split, revealing details impossible to grasp seconds earlier.
Kael squinted, unsettled.— What… what is happening?
On his shoulder, Thana fell silent for a heartbeat.Her halo flickered, as if brushed by an emotion he had never seen in her.
Then her voice, low, slipped into his mind:— Kael… your eyes have changed.
He turned his head slightly toward her, incredulous.She went on, almost fascinated:— They're golden.A pure, incandescent gleam… magnificent.
Her silence grew heavier still, before she added with icy certainty:— No darkness will ever stand between you and your goals again.
Kael froze.He could not see his own eyes—only the new radiance tearing the dark before him.But Thana's words kept ringing, heavy and irrevocable: "No darkness will ever stand between you and your goals again."
Silence followed.Then he felt a soft, almost fragile vibration on his shoulder.He turned his head.
And there he saw her.
Thana.Her tiny face, pale and tired, had relaxed for the first time in a long while.Her lips sketched a smile—slight, but genuine.Not a mask.Not irony.A real smile, laden with a joy she could not hide.
For an instant, Kael forgot the Tower, the dark, the piled-up fractures.He hung there, enthralled.
That smile had the force of a miracle.And to him, it might have been the finest reward of all.
He still stared into the dark, astonished to see it fissure before him.He had done nothing.And yet the darkness was no longer absolute.It yielded.
On his shoulder, Thana watched him in silence.Then, in a soft, almost moved voice, she breathed:— The Eye of Nyx…
Kael turned toward her, surprised.— … The Eye of Nyx?
At that precise moment, the air thrummed.A window burst open before him, flinging its luminous lines into the void.
⟡ [ Skill — Eye of Nyx ] ⟡Rank: C — Evolving
Passives:• Darkvision• Detection of illusions, traps, lies
Actives:• Focus — Targeted analysis to detect weaknesses• Hunt — Marks a target and allows tracking within a 100 m radius (upgradable)
Kael stood still, eyes wide.For a heartbeat he felt as if he were facing a fragment of memory once torn from him and returned without warning.Of course… the trial.He had received it then.But in the tumult, in the fracture of memory, he had forgotten it entirely.
A breath escaped him, almost wry.— So… it was in me from the start.
His fingers tightened slightly.No excitement.No fear.Only a cold curiosity that made him reread each word a second time, to weigh it.
His eyes snagged on a single line of the window:— Detection of illusions, traps, lies.
A pinch ran through his chest.A memory from the 2nd floor surged, brutal.Lyana.Alive.Smiling.A world so perfect… too perfect.
His lips parted.— Then why… why didn't the Eye activate there?
He spoke low, almost to himself, yet his gaze already sought Thana's.
She was silent for a moment, as if to measure her words.Then, gentle but firm, she answered:— Because you already knew.
Kael frowned.— I knew?
— Deep down, you had recognized the illusion, she said.There was nothing to reveal.Nothing to shatter.Your own mind had already done the work.
Kael looked away, breath a shade shorter.
Thana added, almost like a caress:— You chose to remain all the same.Not out of weakness.Out of humanity.
A heavy silence fell between them.And Kael, despite the tightness at his throat, could not deny she was right.
Thana's words had opened a breach inside him.He did not move, but his mind raced.
You already knew.
The phrase looped and looped.
Then why had he played along?Why cling to that illusion, even knowing?
A hot discomfort rose in his chest.Thoughts came, sharp-edged:Coward.You wanted to believe the lie.You let it poison you.You lacked the strength to face the truth.
His hands clenched.He already saw himself condemned, crushed beneath his own judgment.
Then came the excuses.I just wanted to see her again.Just a moment longer.That's not a crime…
But even those justifications rang hollow, like extra chains tightening round his throat.
A vicious circle.Accusation.Punishment.Reproach.Excuse.Again.
He could have drowned there.
— Kael.
Thana's voice cut through the tumult.Calm.Unyielding.Illuminating.
— You did not fail. You were not deceived.You chose to stay… for a moment.And that is what makes you human.
He slowly raised his head.His eyes met the small, golden silhouette on his shoulder.The tender smile she gave him pierced the haze of his torment.
And for the span of a breath, the chains he had cast upon himself cracked.Not shattered.But enough to let a glimmer in.
Kael drew a deep breath.His breathing was ragged, yet he felt the tension easing in his chest.The reproaches, the excuses, the dull ache… all of it settled, like a storm-tossed sea finding calm.
Thana had not needed many words.Simple ones had sufficed.Because they carried the truth he refused to see.
He lowered his gaze.A rough sigh slipped out of him, almost an admission.— … You're right.
It wasn't capitulation.Nor a plea.Just acceptance.
He had nearly lost himself in his own chains.But she had brought him back to the essential.
When he finally looked up again, his gaze had hardened.Still marked by inner fractures, but steadier.As if the turmoil had yielded to a rock—fissured, yet standing.
And on his shoulder, Thana still smiled.A fragile, luminous smile, enough to scatter the shadow for a heartbeat.
Kael watched her in silence.And for the first time in a long time, he felt neither shame nor reproach.Only a mute gratitude.
A discreet shiver crossed his golden gaze.The Eye of Nyx still thrummed, filtering every word, every breath.
And there was no dissonance.No tremor.No hint of deceit.
Thana had not tried to mislead him.Not to soothe him with empty words.To her, what she had just said was not a lie.
He looked aside, unsettled.It was no universal proof—only the certainty that, in her mind, her words were true.And that was enough to fracture his doubt.
He inhaled slowly.The tumult had calmed.His doubts had not vanished, but the Eye of Nyx still burned in the dark—a constant reminder he was no longer blind.
He lifted his head.And this time he no longer saw endless dark.He made out shapes.Lines.Paths traced in the distance.
A way forward.
His heart quickened, not from fear but from a new fire.An ancient breath, forgotten, rekindled within him.
He tightened his fists.— Very well…Then show me what you're hiding.
On his shoulder, Thana offered a discreet smile, as if sealing the vow.
The Tower opened before him once more.And Kael, this time, advanced with eyes that would flee nothing.