Lost in the Dark

Chapter 29: Lost in the Dark

The battlefield, once filled with the gleam of victory, had now become a grave dominated by silence. Luca, amidst the scattered debris, could feel the weight of the shattered world around him. With each step in the silence of the war, the land, once full of life, felt even more abandoned. Luca had lost himself in the rubble, unable even to hear the echoes of his own footsteps. Everything was the echo of the once powerful, now flowing away like a river. The explosions he had heard still echoed in his ears, but no matter how loudly he screamed, the loneliness he felt, the emptiness inside, overshadowed everything.

After Magnus’s death, it had been impossible to feel the outcome of the war. The end of such a strong man had quickly merged with the darkness behind him. But something was missing. Luca couldn’t sense whether he had won or lost. Every explosion left a ripple in his world, but Luca couldn’t grasp what he had truly gained or lost. The victory he thought he had won felt empty, as if something was missing. He felt as though he was lost behind something that had once existed. The world seemed to have swallowed him whole.

At that moment, Luca sensed movement behind him. His eyes trembling, he began to look around. One step later, another explosion echoed through the air.

Magnus had filled all of Elysius with explosives, set to detonate upon his death. In the middle of the war, in those moments where death was rampant, Luca felt that something was about to begin. He tried to stand, but he couldn’t stop himself from collapsing onto his knees. As he lifted his head, only the sky and the dark ruins remained—until Camille’s face appeared.

Camille… but in what way? Slowly, he began to feel her steps; Camille was walking toward him. Her eyes held something that made his heart race with every beat. With each step, Luca couldn’t grasp what was happening. What else could come after victory? For a moment, hearing Camille’s approaching steps felt like a thorn being driven into his heart, a coldness in the dark.

Camille had changed by the end of the war. Every movement she made seemed to carry a secret and a determination. Luca couldn’t predict what she was going to do. Slowly, Camille approached, and soon, she was standing right beside him. She took a deep breath, but before Luca could say anything, she disappeared. Luca had been in the middle of the battle for hours. The broken and mixed chemicals, the deep blows he had taken, the pain he felt, and the explosion that had just occurred muddled his mind, distorting his sense of reality.

Camille, on her way to find Luca, had been thrown off course by the explosion. Her shoulder had been broken, and she was in deep pain. As she looked around, she saw the bodies of soldiers who had died from the series of explosions. She worried about Selena and Luca. If an explosion had occurred, was Magnus still alive? Was he now detonating the rebels as he had done with Luca?

Camille tried to move, step by painful step. Aldric followed her from behind. He had barely been injured. He had come to check if Camille needed help.

"Are you okay? Is there something wrong?" Aldric looked worried. "Let me bandage your arm, then we can go find the others."

"Thank you. After me, could you check on Selena? I’ll go find Luca and come back." Camille hadn’t decided what to do if she found Luca, but she was certain it wouldn't be anything good. She was angry and frustrated with him, yet she still prayed that he wasn’t dead.

Parts of Elysius had been completely destroyed. This artificial world, floating in space, would have been lost entirely if it had taken any more damage. This was the result of everything Camille had worked for over the years, believing it was for the happiness of people. With each step, she saw the dismembered bodies of people who had died, limbs torn off, and the coldness in her was growing. Camille’s presence seemed like the harbinger of a storm. For a moment, in the gloom of the war’s aftermath, Camille’s steps didn’t feel like a salvation, but a sign of an end.

She kept walking.

She walked.

She walked.

And something struck her foot. The thing in front of her was her father, Magnus's severed head. Camille’s eyes widened in disbelief. Seeing Magnus dead wasn’t an end for her—it was more like a beginning. He had been everything to her, once a dark figure she had followed every step of the way. But seeing him dead made her question her own identity. Now, was this darkness going to consume her too? She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Terrified, she froze. When she lifted her head, she saw the rest of Magnus’s body near the wreckage of the laboratory. Camille’s stomach couldn’t take it, and she vomited.

Her father had done horrible things. Dirty, vile things. But seeing him dead was unbearable for Camille. His body, just like Dr. Malvyn Quirke’s, was unrecognizable. It was disgusting. His body was shredded, torn apart, organs spilling out.

Magnus’s death meant that Luca was still alive. Camille noticed the bloody footprints and believed she could follow them to find Luca. He seemed injured, but it also felt like there were others following him.

Luca, battered and bruised, finally decided to rest for a moment. He felt like he was being watched. He wanted to believe that the person following him was either Camille or Aldric. But the footsteps behind him were too harsh to be Camille’s. And if it was Aldric, he was far too clever to let his footsteps be heard.

Luca made a move as if he was about to listen and then entered a tunnel. He hid around the corner, silently waiting for the person to come closer, and as he realized the footsteps were getting closer, he made a quiet move forward. A gunshot rang out at that moment. Luca, not giving the person a chance, twisted their neck. The person he killed was Krane. But Krane had no weapon.

Before Luca could process what had just happened, something cold pierced through his back. It wasn’t like another explosion—it was different, sharper, and more painful. The pain in his back wasn’t just a wound; it was the herald of an end. Everything slowed down; time seemed to stop with the sting of that pain. Luca could feel his body freezing, the life within him slowly fading. Everything had gone dark, and only Camille’s cold gaze remained. For a moment, he felt like everything was slowing down. The pain in his back was deep and cold. It was one of those moments where his body felt empty, frozen. Everything was dark, and everything was becoming blurry, indistinct. The moment he felt the blow in his back, his eyes moved towards Camille. But Camille’s face didn’t carry an expression mixed with pain and darkness. For a moment, Camille’s eyes showed something else: determination, a goal... But that darkness was vast enough to fill the emptiness within him.

Luca had attacked Krane without realizing Camille had come, and in that instant, Camille shot him.