The smell of antiseptic saturated the air.
I opened my eyes slowly. The white light from the ceiling blinded me for an instant until my pupils adjusted. I was in my room, but something was different.
Medical devices surrounded my bed. Monitors flickered with green lines. Intravenous tubes hung at my side. The constant sound of a heart monitor filled the silence.
I turned my head to one side, and there was my father, sitting in a chair beside the bed, absorbed in a book.
Cedric Thornveil. The man who had threatened to send me to a fishing terminal if I failed. The man who preferred to have no son rather than one incapable of using magic.
"Well, well, well..." he said in a calm voice, without looking up from the book. "You finally wake up. Seems you took quite a long break, don't you think?"
I tried to speak, but my throat was parched. The words came out raspy, barely audible.
"W-what happened...? What am I doing here...?"
My father finally looked up. His eyes were cold as ice.
"Well, I think you're the only one who knows."
And he returned to his reading.
I didn't understand anything about what was happening.
Was I really alive...?
Hadn't I died...?
But the last thing I remember… that monster devoured me alive.
I looked at my body under the sheets. There were no visible wounds. No fractures. No marks. Nothing that could confirm that.
The pain in my throat also felt real. The weight of the sheets on my body.
Everything.
Definitely. I was alive.
"I..."
I started to remember more and it was horrible—the bodies of my group and the professor lifeless, the death of each of them in ways that would be seared into my memory forever at the hands of that terrifying and strange man.
"Ngh…"
"Please Blake, don't be disgusting, don't tell me you're going to vomit in front of me."
The worst came when I remembered how I took Darius's life... My best friend... With my own hands.
But then I thought about it carefully... Had it really happened? Or was it a product of my imagination? Maybe my mind just recreated everything as a result of the panic from everything that was happening.
Besides, I was alive—someone like me, pathetic, weak, and useless.
It was impossible then that they all weren't, that Darius wasn't.
"T-the others..." I looked at my father. "How are they?"
Cedric stopped reading and looked at me. A mocking smile appeared on his face.
"What...? Are you joking? Because if so, I don't find it funny at all."
"No... Why do you say that...?"
Cedric let out a short laugh, without humor.
"They all died. Don't you remember anything?"
The words fell like a hammer.
It was real.
Everyone died.
And I witnessed how it all happened. And I was also directly guilty of one of those deaths—I was practically the murderer.
And now I was here. Alive. Unharmed. While everyone else was dead.
Why?
What was the reason?
I tried to remember more or find an explanation, but after entering the monster's mouth, nothing else came to mind—only darkness.
Guilt twisted in my stomach like a snake. This made my breathing accelerate along with my heartbeat, something my father noticed because the machine detected it.
"From your reaction, I deduce you do remember."
I looked at him and considered telling my father what had really happened. But then I stopped. What would I tell him? That a strange man talking about a ritual murdered them? That he was capable of manipulating blood and didn't have a ring? That he controlled strange creatures that looked like puppets? That he forced me to choose between Darius and myself?
He would think I was crazy.
I shook my head.
"No... I don't remember much."
"HA!" Cedric let out a bitter laugh. "And here I was hoping you could explain to me exactly what happened. I suppose I had expectations that were too high for you."
He paused.
"As always."
Silence fell between us, heavy and uncomfortable. Only the sound of turning pages could be heard.
"I know why you're here," I said, barely in a whisper.
"Excuse me?"
"You came for what we agreed, right?" I lowered my head. "About sending me to work in the Nemura archipelago if I didn't become a sentinel..."
He said nothing, just continued peacefully with his reading.
My heart kept beating hard. My hands began to tremble under the sheets.
"I tried, okay?! I really gave my best effort! But it's fine... I admit I couldn't do it... And I accept that I must comply, I'll go to the Nemura archipelago even if that means losing everything and being forgotten, but please, just please, at least acknowledge it! Acknowledge that I tried! Acknowledge my effort! That's all I ask!"
He just sighed and set the book aside. He stood up and walked to the window.
"You won't be going to the Nemura archipelago."
I looked up, confused and stunned by his words.
"Besides," Cedric continued, looking outside, "if that were the case, you know perfectly well I would have told you from the moment you opened your eyes. You know me very well."
"What...? But I..." I swallowed. "I didn't pass the exam. You have every right to—"
"You did pass."
My world stopped.
"W-what?"
Cedric turned toward me.
"Well, something like that."
"When the sentinels arrived at the location, after detecting the massive electromagnetic waves coming from the rift where you were taking the exam, they didn't find anyone. There was just blood everywhere. And there you were, completely intact on the ground. It was surprising. Even I didn't believe it when I heard it."
He crossed his arms.
"You were unconscious for seven days. There was no way to wake you to find out what had happened. However, one thing became clear: you had the misfortune of encountering an anomalous rift."
"Anomalous...?" I repeated.
"Gray rifts are supposed to only cover floors 1 through 5 of the underworld," my father explained. "But the rift you were in had a passage that led directly to floor 35."
Floor 35...? That was... impossible. Those floors were only found in blue rifts from what I understood. Places where even the most experienced sentinels could die.
"So it's clear that whatever killed everyone was there," Cedric looked out the window. "Which is normal. Let's be honest, not even Roxanne would be able to survive there. The lower floors require a lot of experience. They're an absolute minefield."
He paused.
"But the Sentinel Association is so stupid they determined you survived because you were able to defeat the monster you faced down there."
Then he turned toward me. His gaze was penetrating.
"But we both know that's not true, right?"
I didn't respond. It wasn't necessary—he was right.
"By the way," Cedric added casually, "I also noticed a large transaction in my bank account. It was you, wasn't it?"
A chill ran down my spine. I had completely forgotten about that.
"I knew it had been you, it was obvious," Cedric continued. "I realized immediately that you would use it to enter the exam illegally, an act completely repulsive in my most sincere opinion."
He moved away from the window.
"I would demand you return what you stole from me, but the Sentinel Association already gave me compensation for what happened. And honestly, it even triples what you took. So I won't ask you to return it."
I looked up slowly.
"Compensation...? Then, does that mean... the other families also got one?"
"Of course not," Cedric said as if it were obvious. "It's a benefit that only I get, because of how important my position is."
My fingers closed around the sheet.
"I know... but I wasn't the only one who suffered in that incident. There were other kids there too. Their families must be deeply affected by their deaths..."
My voice trembled.
"They should receive compensation too. At least I'm alive. They're not."
"And that benefits us."
I looked at him, confused.
"Huh...? What do you mean?"
Cedric stared at me.
"You know perfectly well, you're not that stupid."
"No... I really don't know what you're referring to."
"Are you going to make me spell it out for you?" Cedric sighed. "Fine. If they were alive, they would have told everyone you cheated on that exam. And that's not exactly something that's looked upon favorably, right? Not to mention that everyone would know my useless son can't use magic."
"You forced me to do it..." I murmured, my gaze lowered.
"Did I specifically tell you to cheat to enter the exam?"
"And how else was I supposed to get into the sentinel academy to become one?" I raised my voice. "It was the only thing I could do! I had no alternative!"
"If you say so," Cedric shrugged. "But anyway, let's not think about the bad. We should see the positive. The fact that they all died means there are no witnesses, which benefits both of us. In my case, the Thornveil name will remain intact. And in your case..."
He made a gesture, pointing at me with his index finger.
"You'll be able to continue living this wealthy boy life you're so accustomed to."
He lowered his hand.
"So let's enjoy the fact that this situation favors us."
I felt a lump in my throat.
I didn't know why I was surprised. That's how he was. That was the kind of person my father had always been. For him, the deaths of all those kids weren't a tragedy. They were a convenience.
And the worst part was that he was right. Thanks to their deaths, I was safe.
And that was what made me feel worst.
Because a small part of me, a dark and twisted part I hated to admit existed, was relieved they were dead.
But the other part blamed and fully hated me for everything I did, and wouldn't stop reminding me that I was the one who least deserved to get out of that place alive.
I hated myself for feeling that.
My father then walked toward the door.
"From now on, think your decisions through better," he stopped, turning toward me with a cold and threatening look. "Tomorrow is the entrance ceremony to the sentinel academy. From there on it won't be easy at all. But if you've made it this far..."
His expression hardened.
"Don't ruin it. Use your head and think carefully about your next decisions and movements. Because if you want to live in a lie, now you'll have to maintain it. Otherwise, you'll have wished you'd accepted my proposal to work at that fishing terminal."
The words were a direct stab.
I understood perfectly what he meant.
Now I would have to enter the sentinel academy. Without magic. Without skills. Only with the pressure of being a Thornveil. The most prestigious family in Eldralid.
And if I failed, if I revealed I couldn't use magic, if someone discovered the truth...
My father would have no mercy.
The pressure was greater than ever. Before, the worst-case scenario was being sent to work at a fishing terminal.
Now, the worst-case scenario—who knows what it could be? It risked being much darker.
Cedric opened the door to leave.
"Oh, and go see your mother," he said casually, without even looking at me. "She's been very worried and you don't know what a headache it's been."
And he left, closing the door behind him.
I was left alone in my room, surrounded by medical devices, with the sound of the heart monitor as my only company, for what seemed like hours remembering and trying to process everything that had happened.
Finally, I forced myself to get up.
When I put my feet on the floor, my legs almost gave out.
I grabbed onto the edge of the bed, waiting for the room to stop spinning.
I took a deep breath.
And walked, step by step, toward the closet.
My legs trembled with each step, but I continued.
I took out clothes and began to change. First the pants. Then I removed my upper garment.
"Aaaah!"
And then I saw it.
On my abdomen, just below my ribs, there was a mark. Reddish. Like a strange symbol engraved on the skin.
I froze.
What was that?
I approached the full-length mirror in the corner of my room. I lifted my shirt to examine it better.
The mark was circular, with patterns that intertwined in impossible ways. It seemed... alive. As if it pulsed faintly with each beat of my heart.
Panic hit me.
I touched it. It was hot. As if something under my skin was moving.
Then a memory hit me so hard it made me fall to the floor.
The red windows.
Floating in the darkness while the monster devoured me. Strange text. Options.
A pact I accepted.
"So that's why...? That's the reason I'm alive?" I said while looking at my hands.
The details were blurry. Like trying to remember a dream. I knew I had accepted something to keep living, but I wasn't very clear what it was.
"I don't know if I should be alarmed or worried about this, it seems like the work of some divine intervention or something like that, although for others it would be an indication of something much more macabre. After all, as far as I know, it's not possible to cheat death. But in the end I'm alive and I think that reflects that whatever helped me must have good intentions."