Chapter 34:

TWO ALLIES, ONE WARNING

Lover Online: Legacy

Ikel and Asimil continued their way through the desolate map of the Pit. Strangely, they encountered no other adventurers. The loneliness of the place made Asimil nervous. Could this be a trap of Ikel's? He dismissed the idea. Despite the rudeness of the fire warrior, he sensed in him an honest, almost childlike loyalty.

They headed for a "Ghost Village," a stone graveyard where holograms of market stalls flickered like specters. And as if fate wanted to frighten them, an unnatural squawk tore through the silence.

A raven made of shadows and purple runes materialized in the air above them. It did not flap its wings; it simply hovered. It opened its beak, and a voice, which was the echo of a thousand fallen souls, proclaimed a message that chilled the blood:

[Half are down! Fifty out of a hundred are no longer breathing!]

The crow dissolved into smoke.

— AMAZING! —hissed Ikel, inspecting a crumbling wall. — Less competition, but more weirdoes.... —

An eerie sound interrupted him. From behind a half-ruined house, a cloaked figure emerged, leaving a trail of violet sludge. An Arcane Toxicologist.

— That doesn't smell good! — Ikel grumbled.

For an instant, Asimil froze. It wasn't just fear; it was the icy echo of a monumental failure, a phantom memory of his feet nailed to the ground as a friend fell because of him.

That guy took advantage of his moment of weakness. — You two will be my next experiments! — he shouted, hitting the ground. Ikel pushed Asimil away just in time. A tentacle of violet slime emerged from the ground beneath him, curling around his torso.

— Damn it, this burns hotter than my flames! — he shouted. His life bar plummeted. — It's suppressing my energy! I can't... breathe! —

To flee. Fighting. Ask for help. Resign himself. The options clashed in Asimil's mind. Then he saw it. Ikel's eyes. There was no fear, but a restrained, impotent fury.

And all at once, he saw himself in the high school bathroom. Trapped. Humiliated. The same impotent rage he now saw in his eyes, he had already felt. It was the fury of a caged lion. And a part of him, the part that had failed a friend like him in another life, refused to let history repeat itself.

In that instant, something broke inside him. Or maybe... something woke up.

His legs moved on their own. A voice echoed in his head: Do the right thing.

A faint green fire erupted from his palm. Sparks crashed into the enemy's eyes. — AAAARGH! WHAT IS THIS! — he roared, disoriented.

Ikel broke free. — Nice trick, buddy! — he gasped, surprised.

For the first time, something in Asimil flared up. It wasn't power. It was... usefulness. Then he saw Ikel pointing to the mage's heart. The message was clear. Body trembling, he broke into a run. They flanked him. His weak fire distracted, Ikel struck hard. They were a coordinated chaos that, against all logic, worked.

— HAHA! No one can resist my hooks! — Ikel exaggerated.

Asimil smiled. A small gesture, but real.

The magician, in desperation, screamed. A purple sphere began to condense over his head. — DAMN, IT'S A POISON COLLAPSE! — Ikel shouted. —RUN, ASIMIL! — He pushed Asimil against a wall. The vortex grew, devouring the light. Asimil closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

Silence. A brush of cloth. He opened his eyes.

And he was there. The hooded man in the coliseum. Standing on the vortex, as if stepping in a puddle. Asimil saw his face: ebony skin, pointed ears, golden eyes. A dark elf. He felt the same heavy presence, as if gravity was altering around him. It was him.

Without gesture, without word, he raised a finger. The vortex imploded. The magician disappeared.

Ikel gasped. — WHO WAS THAT GUY!? —

Asimil was not listening. He recognized him, not by sight, but by soul. Fear paralyzed him. He walked toward them, and every step rumbled in Asimil's chest. He stopped in front of him, ignoring Ikel. A pin appeared in his hand. Small and silver with a stylized eye. The same one Noelia was wearing.

He dropped it in Asimil's palm. It wasn't heavy, but it felt warm, and for an instant he thought he felt a pulse of energy, an echo of a forgotten connection. — What...? — he tried to ask.

There was no response. He turned and dissolved into the darkness.

Ikel approached, elated. — A friend of yours? A secret boss? — Asimil paid no attention. He pressed the pin. It was not a gift. It was a warning. Or a key. Noelia. The hooded man. The eye. All connected. And him, caught in the middle. — I do not know — he lied, his voice breaking.

At that moment, the shadow raven reappeared above them, cawing its ominous update before vanishing again.

[Sixty have fallen! Forty are still breathing!].

Ikel patted him on the back. — We'll figure it out on the way, brother! —

They moved forward. Asimil, with an ally shining at his side... and an icy pin in his pocket, which now seemed to whisper secrets he couldn't understand. And with the bitter certainty that Noelia's indifference was the least of his problems.

From the shadows of a ruined rooftop, Noelia observed the pin in Asimil's hand through a magic magnifying lens. Her expression was a mask of cold concentration. The ghost of her dream. The fire warrior. And now, Saitras, moving his own pieces. The variables were piling up, all revolving around a single, annoying constant.

And at the center of it all, irritating and undeniable, was him.