He did not answer her.
Nir stood in the center of the room, motionless, his eyes locked onto the small girl sitting amidst the black threads. There was something wrong about her—not just because she controlled those creatures, but because her very presence felt familiar. It was as if he were looking at a distorted reflection of something dwelling deep within himself.
—
"You are like me..."
The girl repeated it in a calm voice, as if stating an obvious truth that required no explanation.
"I can feel it..."
She raised her small hand toward her chest.
"...Inside you."
—
Nir's grip tightened.
> "Kill her."
>
The voice within him wasn't just a whisper this time. It was angry. Volatile.
> "Kill her now!"
>
—
But Nir did not move.
"Who are you?" his voice came out cold.
The girl smiled. "I don't remember," she said simply. "A long time ago... they used to call me by a name." She looked at the threads stretching around her. "But after they began to fear me... they stopped using it."
—
Silence.
"They were afraid of you too, weren't they?" Her question was direct, sharp, as if it pierced something deep inside him.
He remembered. The stares of the students. Their words. The contempt. The fear. The whispers that never truly stopped.
"People..." the girl said, looking at her small fingers, "...hate everything they do not understand."
—
Behind him, he could hear the footsteps of Lyra and the others approaching the house. But the voice within... grew more violent.
> "Do not listen to her."
> "She is not like you."
> "She is a failure."
>
—
Nir slowly raised his hand. The black threads around the girl began to writhe violently, as if sensing danger. But the girl did not run. She didn't even flinch. She only looked at him with empty eyes... yet within them lay an ancient sorrow.
"If you kill me..." she said quietly, "...they will kill you too."
Nir's hand paused.
"Because you know now." She gave a small smile. "No matter how much you try to convince yourself that you are different..." She raised her eyes to him. "...In the end, they will put you in the same place they put me."
—
Suddenly—the door of the house burst open. Cain entered first, followed by Lyra and Syrn.
"Nir! Get away from her!" Lyra screamed the moment she saw the black threads.
But Cain... froze. "This..." He looked around at the walls, the threads, the girl. Then his eyes widened. "...She is the source of all this."
He raised his hand immediately. Flames ignited around his fist.
"Wait!" Nir said sharply.
But Cain did not stop. "If we kill her... it all ends!"
The flames surged toward the girl.
—
In the instant they were about to touch her... the black threads moved with terrifying speed. They lunged, seizing Cain's arm, his neck, his legs—lifting him off the ground in a heartbeat.
"Cain!" Lyra shrieked.
More threads surged toward them. Syrn launched a wind spell to cut them, but the moment it touched them, it disintegrated. It was as if the threads were devouring the magic itself.
"This is impossible!" Syrn shouted.
As for Nir... he was only watching. Not the threads, and not the girl.
—
He was looking at something else. Deep in the room, behind her, stood a door. Old. Black. And upon it... was the same symbol he had seen on the crystal back at the Academy.
He felt something cold pass through his body.
> "The Seal..."
>
The voice within him whispered.
> "There is another part..."
>
—
Nir's eyes went wide.
Suddenly—the girl screamed. Her entire body convulsed violently. The black threads began to wrap around her like serpents. Her eyes began to lose their focus.
"No..." she whispered, clutching her head. "It's... waking up..."
The entire room shook. The walls cracked. The threads stretched in every direction.
Then—a voice emerged. Not from the girl. Not from Nir.
But... from behind the black door.
> "Open..."
>
—
Silence.
> "I have waited so long..."
>
—
In that moment, Nir knew... that whatever was inside that door... was far more dangerous than anything he had faced until now.