THE END OF AN EVENT.

The clan infirmary was a haven of peace. After the conversation with Noelia, Asimil lay awake for a long time, the echo of her sadness echoing in his mind. Finally, exhaustion overcame him and he fell into a deep sleep, but it was not rest.

...The darkness behind his eyelids was not a void. It was a memory. An echo that felt more real than anything he had experienced lately...

The pain was a phantom memory. Bruises. Sometimes he was in his room, with the empty white ceiling weighing down on him. Others, he saw himself reflected in a bathroom mirror, his torso covered in dark spots that burned with shameful heat. He didn't remember the fight, only the humiliation, a taste of ash in his mouth and the echo of a voice calling him "pathetic."

Tiredness was a heavy blanket that sank him into the sheets of a bed that felt like a tomb. But there was always a light calling him. A cold, blue light.

His hand, moving of its own volition, found the cell phone. The screen wasn't a screen, it was a glowing eye, a well of light that promised an escape from the pain. 'Just five minutes,' whispered a version of himself, a voice choked with defeat. The 'Connect' button wasn't a tap, it was a drop.

The walls of his room dissolved in ink. The weight of his body vanished. And the lights of the citadel, the magic lanterns and the murmur of a crowd that did not judge him were not an image in a game. They were his new reality. Sleep felt like coming home.

When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in his room.

He was there.

Asimil awoke in his Clan Harmonia bed, his heart pounding. The phantom pain of bruises and the oppression of that silent house still weighed on him. But as he looked around, seeing his modest but safe room in Altverse, a strange sense of relief washed over him. That dream... that life... was a nightmare of utter loneliness. Here, despite the danger and sadness, he was not alone. That simple truth gave him a shred of confidence he had not felt before.

It was evening. He went out into the great hall and found Sacres and Ikel at their usual table.

— The hero awakens! — Ikel joked, —Do you know that people are already whispering about "The Pit Survivors"? Our fame is skyrocketing! — 

— A fame that is of no use if the prize is a dagger I can't use — Asimil replied, sitting down with them. They talked for a while about the event, about the strange withdrawal of the creature. The conversation was light, a balm after the chaos.

But in the middle of the conversation, he realized that someone was missing. Noelia was nowhere to be seen. — What about Noelia? — he asked.

Sacres nodded his head toward the outside. — She's been there since nightfall. She hasn't wanted to talk to anyone. —

Asimil found her sitting alone on a stone bench in one of the clan's outdoor courtyards, under the light of the glowing trees. He approached quietly and sat down on the other end of the bench. 

— I thought you liked crowds — he said softly.

— Only when they are useful to me —she replied, without looking at him.

They resumed the conversation of the infirmary, that of Saitras. He defended his heroism, she scorned it with a coldness that no longer fooled him. 

— Weak is just what it was —she said, her voice an icy edge. — Do you want me to remind you? When that event was over, you could barely stand. Saitras saw you, saw me... and hesitated. And what good was his "sacrifice"? In the end, it served to save a useless man who had become paralyzed. —

— That doesn't detract from it! — he replied, louder than he expected, — He made a decision! Or is it that only you have the right to make a mistake and still stand? —

Noelia's smile tightened, as if for a second she had felt the blow. She leaned a little towards him. — Look, I'm not the one who needs saving. I'm not the one who hides behind others to survive. That's the difference between you and me, bunny. —

He wanted to answer her, to yell at her even, but then her expression changed. Just for an instant, he saw how her lips stopped curving in mockery. Her gaze was lost for a second on the ground, as if she were somewhere else. And there, without expecting it, her voice cracked just enough to let out something real. — Although... sometimes... it's tiring. —

That "tired" was a whisper, almost swallowed by the night air, but he heard it clearly. She pulled herself together at once, lifting her chin, hiding behind her mask again.  — But I suppose that's something you wouldn't understand — she remarked, sharpening the words again.

He did not interrupt her. Nor did he contradict her. Because, even if he wanted to continue the fight, the only thing that came to his mind was that crack he had seen, as small as a blink of an eye. He looked at her, and without thinking too much about it, moved by an impulse he didn't understand, he reached out and hugged her awkwardly.

She immediately tensed up. — What do you think you're doing, you idiot? — she snarled, but did not turn away.

He felt her hand tremble barely on his shoulder, as if she was hesitating between pushing him or letting herself be. That crack in her armor opened just for a second. A second enough to show that underneath all that hardness there was something else.

— Ejem! — A deep voice interrupted the scene. They broke off suddenly. There stood Sacres and Ikel, arms folded, staring at them.

— Really? — said Sacres, with a mocking smile. — I come to see if my pupil is training his determination... and what I find is this. —

— I-It's nothing! — Asimil stammered, feeling his face burn. 

Noelia rolled her eyes in annoyance, though her cheeks were aflame. — Nosey old men.... —

Sacres let out a laugh.

— We'll talk later, bunny. — he said, and Asimil knew he had heard it all. — And you, Noelia... never change. Although sometimes... you really should. —

The moment was broken, but inside Asimil something had stuck. Noelia hadn't changed... but for a second, she had let him see the person hiding behind the armor. And that vision, for some reason, gave him more strength than any victory.