The Fall of Masks

Chapter 5: The Fall of Masks

Camille was left alone with her father, Magnus. The silence spread through every corner of the room. Every time she was alone with Magnus, the sense of security inside her grew more and more blurred, replaced by a deep doubt. Before this moment, her heart had been shattered when she learned the lies her boyfriend Luca had told her. Now, the same trust she had in her father, Magnus, who was connected to her by blood, was also under threat. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t find peace within herself.

“Father...” Camille said, her voice trembling. “Do you really think it’s right to kill the Rares?”

Magnus watched his daughter for a moment with cold eyes. He had noticed something had changed. The tremor in Camille’s voice was the sign of the anger and doubt she was now feeling toward her father, whom she had trusted for years but was now becoming a stranger to her.

“The Rares are not worth living, Camille. They are inferior, filthy beings,” Magnus said, with cruelty in his eyes. “You’re still chasing after these simple thoughts. Only the elite, those with developing minds, those who can make sacrifices for science, should live. The others… the others are destined to perish. Sometimes salvation comes through destruction. Those who remain should survive according to what they deserve. This country, this world, exists only for the strong. Souls like yours, trying to elevate them, can’t protect them. They are weak. The only way to cleanse them is to eradicate them. That’s why I killed the Rares. They cannot serve humanity.”

Camille was shaken by her father’s words. Again, as always, she was met with a cold response, one that left no room for empathy. But the storm inside her wouldn’t let her stay calm. Her vision blurred, and for a moment, everything began to spin. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath.

Luca… He finally told me the truth, he betrayed me. But this... this is worse.

“Father,” she said, her voice this time almost as if afraid of trembling. “Why do we have to kill? Weren’t we supposed to be different? You... you always made me believe in what was right.”

Magnus had difficulty seeing the deep conflict Camille was experiencing. Using her pure emotions, not telling her the truth for years—it meant nothing to him. Camille’s questioning was leading her into a world she had never seen before.

“These are your youthful dreams,” Magnus responded. “You must learn to accept the truth. Intelligence and strength are more important than anything. You’ll understand this, Camille.”

Intelligence and strength... Camille repeated her father’s words in her head. With every passing minute, she realized that what Magnus had said was becoming more and more painful. He saw human lives as worthless, allowing their deaths to happen without care. She had misjudged her father up to now. The sense of security that had disappeared after her mother’s death had been replaced with fear, anger, and deep disappointment. Seeing her father’s true face had shaken her once again in a traumatic way. Her father had never been a real father; he was a manipulator, a tyrant. He saw himself as a god, trying to rule the world, a man who served only his own interests. Accepting this was hard for Camille. But perhaps she had no choice but to accept it.

“You lied to me just to do your job. Does all this show how worthless what we believed to be true after my mother’s death was?” Camille said, her voice trembling but firm.

Magnus let out a deep sigh and took a step back. His face remained almost as stiff as a statue. “Your mother’s death was a tragedy, Camille. I was devastated like you, but after her death, I found a true purpose. Wanting to ‘save’ people is just a way of feeling weak. True power lies in immortality. Our bloodline is destined to rule the world and create our own generation.”

A moment of silence passed. Something inside Camille was writhing. Every word her father spoke was destroying the trust she had in him. The pain was so deep that, slowly, she covered her face with her hands and realized tears were falling from her eyes. All the beliefs inside her were suddenly shattered. First Luca, now her father... Everything she had believed, everything that shaped her view of the world, was being questioned.

But in that moment, Magnus suddenly broke the silence. “There’s been an issue with Lyra,” he said calmly. “She’s starting to oppose the Leader. She was supposed to cooperate with me, but things have changed.”

Camille couldn’t help but look up at her father. Something about the situation with Lyra went wrong, and for a moment, Camille felt a deep unease. Could it be that her father was the true Leader?

Magnus continued with a strength born of passion, his hands clenched. “Lyra dared to oppose me. I must punish her properly.” There was a threat in his words. Camille, for a moment, didn’t even feel her heartbeat. The darkness in her father’s eyes was more ruthless than even the most terrifying enemies of her past.

Magnus, looking Camille straight in the eyes, made his decision. “This ends here,” he said with a serious tone. “You stay here, I’ll finish my work.”

Camille didn’t know what to do. As she tried to understand her father’s words, a phone rang. Magnus, answering it quickly without even questioning who was calling, responded immediately.

“Yes,” he said without a second’s hesitation. “I will kill Lyra. The time has come.”

Camille was frozen in place after hearing her father’s words. The way he spoke was so cold, so terrifying, it sent chills down her spine. In an instant, she realized the person she had once felt secure with—her father—was the embodiment of a ruthless ego and boundless power.

After hanging up, Magnus turned back to Camille. For a moment, the fear in Camille’s eyes seemed to satisfy him.

“Camille,” he said, his voice now sharp enough to be cutting. “This is my path. And you will choose your own.”

Camille was momentarily stunned. Without knowing which path to take, she slowly nodded. She was facing her father’s dark side for the first time, and everything was beginning to spiral out of control.

Killing Lyra was an example of how far Magnus would go. It meant that Camille, having lost all trust in him, would embark on a journey deeper into loneliness and darkness.

A few hours later, Magnus appeared before the cameras.

“Everything is clear now,” he said, his face cold and emotionless. “Lyra was just a mask. She deceived me, chasing after a false identity. But that’s over now. All these power games... The closer some people get to power, the more they lose themselves. Now, as the truly powerful one, I’m taking control.”

Magnus's voice carried a certain tone—confident, threatening. "When you give a bit of power to trash, they start thinking they matter. But not anymore. Power and intelligence decide what is right. And now, we move forward. Only those who truly wield power can understand it."