The night wind drifted softly between the buildings of Eryndor.
Not a violent wind. Not a storm. Just that cold breeze that wanders through exhausted cities after midnight… the kind that seems to carry the sighs of sleeping people.
Leaning against the railing of a forgotten rooftop, Seven stared at the city lights without truly seeing them. Neon signs flickered in the distance. Windows went dark one after another. Someone laughed somewhere down below. An ambulance siren crossed the horizon before fading away.
The city was alive.
As if nothing had happened.
As if Adonis had never existed. As if those collapsing buildings, those crushed bodies, those muffled screams buried beneath the rubble… had already become nothing more than a forgotten memory.
Seven slowly raised his cigarette to his lips.
Inhale.
The bitter taste of smoke slid down his throat.
Then he closed his eyes.
And instantly…
he saw them again.
The blood. The collapsing walls. The silhouettes thrown into the air. The stares.
Especially the stares.
Those horrifying final seconds when some of them realized they were going to die.
His breathing caught slightly.
— …Shit.
His hand trembled almost imperceptibly.
The battle against Adonis had carved itself into his memory in a way no amount of sleep could ever erase. Not because he had almost died.
But because he had kept fighting.
Even after realizing humans were dying all around him.
The worst part…
was that he knew he had made the right choice.
If he had let Adonis escape, the massacre would have been even worse.
So why did it hurt this much?
Silence answered him.
Far away, a train slowly crossed the suspended rails of Eryndor.
Seven lifted his eyes slightly toward the sky.
Clouds drifted beneath the moon.
Then he placed a hand over his chest.
— Arcane… Nexus Animarum.
Bluish runes appeared beneath his feet.
Slowly.
As though they hesitated to be born.
The circle expanded around him in a luminous whisper, ancient symbols revolving across the rooftop like a tranquil sea.
Then—
the temperature suddenly dropped.
The wind changed.
And the first silhouettes appeared.
Transparent. Trembling. Incomplete.
Souls.
They emerged from the darkest corners of the city like forgotten fragments of the world itself. Some still carried visible wounds. Others looked lost. Some were crying.
And when Seven saw them…
his heart tightened immediately.
Because he recognized them.
The man crushed beneath the collapsing façade. The woman thrown against a car. The teenager buried beneath the debris.
All of them.
They had died during his fight.
A whisper echoed through the Nexus.
Then another.
Then dozens.
— Why…?
— I still had a family…
— I didn't want to die…
— It hurt…
— Please help me…
— I'm scared…
The voices merged violently together.
Like drowning.
Seven remained motionless.
Stoic.
But inside his mind, every word sank into him like a blade.
His fingers tightened slightly.
More souls continued appearing around him, endlessly drawn toward the Nexus Animarum.
And suddenly—
a man grabbed his arm.
Or rather… his soul nearly passed through him.
— This is your fault…!
His voice broke into sobs.
— My daughter was with me… she was six years old…!
Seven didn't answer.
Another voice exploded nearby.
— Why did you trap us?!
— We were trying to run away!
— MY SON WAS THERE!
— MY HUSBAND!
— WHY?!
The Nexus trembled.
Seven slowly lowered his head.
His eyes remained empty. Calm.
But inside…
everything was becoming heavy.
So unbearably heavy.
For a single second, a horrible thought crossed his mind.
If I had never received these powers…
Maybe I could've just lived.
A normal life.
An ordinary school. Friends. Meaningless days. Simple dreams.
Not corpses.
Not souls.
Not this loneliness.
The wind blew harder around the rooftop.
The silhouettes continued circling him in a slow procession of regrets.
Then—
a small voice rose softly.
Fragile.
— Mister…
Seven slowly lifted his eyes.
The little girl.
The one from the collapsed building.
The one he had ended with his own hands during the fight against Adonis.
She was there.
A small translucent silhouette. Hands held close to herself. Timid eyes.
But she was smiling.
— Thank you.
The world seemed to slow down slightly.
Seven stared at her silently.
— …You shouldn't thank me.
His voice was low. Exhausted.
— I'm a murderer.
The little girl gently shook her head.
— No…
She slowly stepped closer.
— I was in so much pain… and I was really scared…
Her voice trembled faintly.
— But when you placed your hand on my head… the pain disappeared.
Seven's pupils quivered slightly.
— I'm going to see my grandmother again now.
Silence.
Then she looked up at him with a purity so painful it almost hurt.
— You were my guardian angel.
Something cracked inside Seven's gaze.
Not outwardly.
Internally.
A silent pain.
Deep.
Because he no longer knew what to believe.
Monster. Angel. Murderer. Savior.
He didn't know anymore.
The little girl gave him one final smile before beginning to fade into the light of the Nexus.
And around her…
the other souls slowly began to calm down as well.
As though those simple words had soothed part of their anger.
The luminous circle pulsed softly.
One by one, the silhouettes ascended toward the sky.
Some were still crying. Others smiled. Others remained silent.
But eventually…
they all disappeared.
And Seven remained alone.
Standing amidst the dying runes.
The wind slowly lifted his black coat.
He inhaled with difficulty.
Then whispered:
— Anamnesis…
The memory of things we should forget.
Silence fell over the rooftop once more.
For a long time.
Then his gaze drifted toward the horizon.
Toward a more distant district of Eryndor.
Toward her.
— She must be home by now…
His eyes wandered through the city lights.
— Liah…
Her name echoed softly inside his mind.
And almost immediately…
he felt that strange presence again.
That faint anomaly hanging around her existence.
Not human. Not completely.
Something had changed inside her.
No.
Something had always been strange about her.
Seven narrowed his eyes slightly.
Then slowly exhaled smoke into the wind.
There are two ways for a human to become an Awakened.
The first… is when the human mind experiences a shock so violent that the soul begins perceiving what lies beyond reality itself.
Trauma. Absolute terror. Something capable of breaking the boundary of the world.
The second…
is contact.
Ether.
When a human soul resonates with the ether of an angel… a demon… or a creature that should have never approached it.
That was the most common method.
And Liah…
had clearly undergone the second.
But even so…
Seven had a strange feeling.
As if she had always been different.
As if her soul had already gazed beyond the veil long before her awakening.
He slowly shook his head.
— …I'm overthinking this.
The wind drifted between the buildings.
Then Seven slowly raised his eyes toward the city.
And for a brief second…
he looked at Eryndor through the eyes of an Awakened.
Truly.
Luminous silhouettes floated above certain pedestrians. Guardian angels.
Silent. Exhausted. Watching over humans who didn't even know they existed.
Farther away…
a demon slowly devoured the spiritual body of a dead man inside an alley.
Elsewhere, two entities clashed atop a building in a burst invisible to human eyes.
A woman walked alone through the street.
And behind her…
something followed.
A thin, deformed demon. Almost crawling across the ground.
Seven looked away.
Then he saw worse.
A man.
Possessed.
Black ether pulsed beneath his skin like diseased veins.
He was laughing.
And inside his mind… Seven saw fragments.
Violence. Blood. Desire. Murder.
The demon within him was slowly dragging his soul toward madness.
To rape. To kill. To destroy.
Like so many others.
Seven slowly closed his eyes.
This disgusting world…
was the everyday reality of the Awakened.
And despite all of it…
humans kept walking through the streets. Laughing. Loving. Dreaming.
Without knowing.
A faint, sorrowful smile crossed his lips.
— What a joke…
Then a thought crossed his mind.
She probably sees the world like this now.
Liah.
A sigh escaped him.
He would have to teach her.
How to survive. How to use her ether. How not to lose her mind.
Because an Awakened who cannot control their perception always breaks eventually.
Always.
The sky was slowly beginning to pale.
So Seven finally left the rooftop.
Morning rose gently over Eryndor.
A pale light slid between the rain-soaked buildings, reflecting across puddles like fragments of a shattered sky. The city slowly returned to life amidst distant honking, hurried footsteps, and muffled conversations. An ordinary routine. Almost comforting.
And yet…
Seven walked slowly toward the academy, his hands buried in the pockets of his coat.
Tired.
Not physically.
Mentally.
His nights were growing heavier and heavier. Sometimes the voices of the dead still echoed inside his mind long after their disappearance, like remnants attached to his soul. And even within this living crowd, he continued seeing what others could not.
The monsters.
A demon clinging to the ceiling of a building, observing pedestrians like livestock.
A motionless guardian angel standing behind an old woman struggling to cross the street.
Farther away, a corrupted silhouette slowly feeding on the ether of a man sitting alone at a bus stop.
The daily life of the Awakened.
Seven looked away.
An old habit.
In front of the academy gates, Kael was waiting as usual, headphones over her ears, a book pressed against her chest. The wind played with several dark strands of her hair while she absentmindedly scrolled through songs on her phone.
When she looked up at him, she immediately frowned.
— You look awful.
— Thanks. That's sweet.
— Seriously… didn't you sleep?
He shrugged slightly.
— I had work to do.
Kael stared at him for a few more seconds, as if trying to see through the mask he always wore. Then she sighed slowly.
— One day, your whole "mysterious depressed angel" thing is going to become really annoying.
— Too late.
A faint laugh escaped her despite herself.
And for one second…
everything felt normal.
Peaceful.
As if the world could truly allow them moments like this.
Together, they crossed the academy gates amidst the noise of students and the pale rays of morning sunlight. Seven almost felt his shoulders relax. Almost.
Then—
something vibrated.
Faintly.
But enough to make his ether tremble.
At the far end of the hallway, a silhouette appeared.
Liah.
Her hair caught the morning light like pale golden threads, and her gaze seemed clearer than the day before. But that wasn't what disturbed Seven.
It was what he felt surrounding her.
That presence.
Unstable.
Like a soul that had just opened its eyes to something it should have never seen.
And the exact moment their gazes met—
Seven felt the air around them change.
A subtle chill crawled along his spine.
And for a fraction of a second…
the sounds of the hallway seemed to disappear.