Chapter 25

The great figure of the monster hung suspended, pierced through and through by innumerable shards of crystalline spikes. Navnlos managed to keep himself upright despite his injuries, limping toward the inert form of Kael.

When he knelt and took the body in his hands, it was growing cold. Kael still breathed, but each breath grew weaker and weaker.

"Are you there, Aedan?" Kael whispered, his voice barely audible.

Navnlos didn't know who Aedan was. Kael's eyes were open, but they seemed to see nothing. His hand rose weakly, searching for something. These were his final moments.

Navnlos grasped his hand tightly.

"I'm here."

"This time... I managed to save you."

"Yes. You saved all of us."

"I once met an interesting boy. I'm sure you two could be friends. His name is Navnlos."

"I would like to meet him," Navnlos said, and as the words left his lips, tears began to fall from his eyes. Kael's body grew colder with each passing second. His breathing became shallower. Even though Navnlos had barely known him, even though they had been enemies for most of their time together, a profound sorrow filled his chest. He didn't know Kael's story. He had assumed Kael was nothing more than a thug, a criminal. But Kael had a family. He had a history. Navnlos had nothing—not even a history—and yet in his dying moments, Kael had remembered him. He had spoken his name. Navnlos couldn't stop his tears. I shouldn't be the one holding him here. His family should be. Not someone like me. Someone without even a name.

At that moment, particles of light began to rise from Kael's body, ascending toward the sky. His form grew heavier in Navnlos's arms. Is this... his soul? It was a beautiful sight, like stars climbing toward the heavens. But the beauty brought with it a painful question: If I were to die, would the same happen to me? Do I even have a soul? Am I even a person?

"We'll be together again," Kael whispered, and breathed no more.

Navnlos gently closed his eyes.

He needed to check on Hina and Cristal. The city guards should arrive soon. It was strange that despite all the chaos of the battle, no guards had appeared. But perhaps that was for the best. They wouldn't have been able to do anything against that monster. They would have simply died in vain.

Navnlos struggled to his feet and made his way toward Hina, who was sitting with her back against the wall of a nearby building. He needed to assess her injuries.

Then, suddenly, there was a sound.

Every fiber of Navnlos's being went rigid. His body recoiled in denial. This couldn't be. He didn't want to believe it. It had to be a nightmare.

He turned his head toward the impaled monster.

It was moving. He didn't know how it was possible, but it was moving. The crystalline spikes limited its mobility, but it was beginning to reactivate. Its chest blazed with an orange glow, as if it were accumulating fire within itself. If it continued building that energy, it would explode.

In Navnlos's current state, he couldn't run. Hina wasn't in any condition to run either. He didn't know what shape Cristal was in. And he couldn't leave Kael's body to be incinerated, nor could he abandon the unconscious girl who had come with Kael.

Damn it. I can't do anything. At this rate, Kael's sacrifice will have been for nothing.

"You've done well, Navnlos."

A figure appeared, one with long flowing hair and a scepter in hand. It was a familiar face.

"Aedric."

"Leave the rest to me," he said with a calm, reassuring smile.

Aedric walked unhurried toward the impaled monster.

"You have wounded my students," he said, his voice taking on a threatening edge, "and worse, you have killed a person."

The orange energy within the beast grew increasingly intense. Suddenly, it began to roar, as if it intended to take them all down with it.

"If you wish to die, then die alone. Supreme Sorcery: Purgatorial Pillar."

Aedric's scepter blazed with blinding light. A massive circle of radiance appeared beneath the monster. In an instant, a pillar of flame erupted skyward. Even from a distance, the scorching heat was overwhelming. The creature began to roar—not in rage this time, but in agony.

Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the pillar vanished.

There was nothing left of the great monster. With a single gesture of his scepter, Aedric had reduced the abomination to ash.

Navnlos was so shocked that his legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground. He could barely comprehend what he had witnessed.

A figure approached them—Cristal. She appeared largely unharmed, bearing only minor scratches and nothing more.

“You’re alright,” Navnlos said, relief flooding through him.

"Do you know what comes next?" Aedric asked as he approached.

"Yes," Cristal replied. "They gave everything to save me from that monster. Now it's my turn to save them."

"I'm glad you understand."

Suddenly, guards flooded the area, pouring in from every direction in overwhelming numbers.

"This is about to become complicated, Navnlos," Aedric said. "Perhaps it's best if you rest for a while." His scepter glowed, and an unbearable drowsiness suddenly washed over Navnlos. He couldn't resist it.

His entire body collapsed to the ground as sleep claimed him.

His eyes snapped open.

He was somewhere else, kneeling on the floor. When he looked around, he found himself in a grand hall. Beside him were Hina and the girl who had come with Kael, the three of them on their knees. Before them stood Aedric and Cristal, both upright and composed. They faced a massive figure seated upon a throne—Cristal's father. The entire chamber was filled with guards and citizens dressed in expensive finery. In front of the throne stood an elderly man holding an enormous tome. He began to speak.

"We are gathered here today to pass judgment upon these individuals for having unleashed an abomination upon our city."

Navnlos's mind reeled. We're being judged for releasing the monster? We were the victims. This is insane. Fury flooded through him, and it must have shown plainly on his face.

Hina suddenly began to laugh.

"What amuses you so greatly?" Cristal's father demanded, his anger evident.

"You would judge me?" Hina's voice had changed. It carried an edge of authority that Navnlos had never heard from her before. "Do you not know who I am? My name is Estela Hrimvald."

In that instant, the entire hall convulsed with shock. Even Cristal's father's eyes widened in surprise. Aedric put his hand to his face, as if signaling that Hina had just made a grave miscalculation.

"Do you truly believe your pathetic house can judge me?" Her voice was cold, measured, utterly commanding. "Learn your place, Caelan Aithmuir."

Navnlos's mind reeled. The situation had become incomprehensible to him. He had never seen Hina take on such an attitude. More than that—was Hina even her real name? He didn't understand why the revelation of her name had shocked everyone so deeply. What is happening?

"Release her. Now," Cristal's father commanded, his composure shattered.

"Release the others as well," Cristal said suddenly.

"Be silent," her father snapped.

"No," Cristal replied calmly, meeting his eyes directly.

"You dare defy me?" Cristal's father rose from his throne in fury.

"I will no longer be your trophy," Cristal declared. She conjured a dagger and pressed it to her own throat. In that instant, her father became completely motionless.

"Have you lost your mind?"

Cristal drew the blade closer, and a thin line of blood appeared at her neck.

"With your power, you could make our family stronger than any other. Even stronger than those cursed Hrimvald."

"That is my decision to make," Cristal said firmly. "It is my power. It is my life."

"Wretched girl," her father spat. He extended his hand, attempting to crush her against the floor as he had done to Navnlos before.

But nothing happened. Instead, it was Cristal's father who fell hard to the ground.

A presence materialized above Cristal—a great faerie. But this one was different from what Navnlos had encountered before. It resembled an enormous serpent.

"She has become the avatar of a great faerie," a voice announced. To Navnlos's shock, it wasn't Cristal who spoke. It was Aedric. His arm was extended, and it was he who had caused Cristal's father to fall. "Therefore, you have no authority here."

"A damned wandering mage," Cristal's father growled. "This is none of your concern."

"From the moment a great faerie became involved, this became entirely my concern," Aedric replied. He seemed different now—like a different person entirely. His eyes, too, had changed. They now burned with an intense, verdant green.

"If you lay one finger on her," he continued with absolute conviction, "I will destroy you."

"Now release them all," Cristal commanded with unwavering authority.

The crowd around them remained in stunned silence, too shocked to react. But none were more shocked than Navnlos himself. What in the gods' name is happening? The two people who extended their hands to me, the only ones I could trust in this cursed world—they're suddenly different people entirely.

"Release them and ensure they never appear in this city again," Cristal's father shouted from the floor, his fury unconcealed.

A guard approached and freed all three of them from their bonds.

Aedric secured his scepter, preparing to depart. Navnlos looked toward Cristal, searching for any answer, any explanation.

"Don't worry," she said quietly. "You can go. I'll handle the rest of this."

That's not the answer I wanted to hear.

The four of them were escorted out by guards. No one spoke. The silence was absolute and suffocating. Navnlos didn't know what to feel. Could he trust them? But then Quindle's words returned to him: Everyone in that house was running away. “Hina and Aedric were the same. They didn’t know my story, they didn’t know my name, but they accepted me. And now that I’m in the same situation, I don’t know how to feel.”

As the guard led them toward the exit, Navnlos began to form words. But Hina and Aedric simply walked away without saying anything

Navnlos was left alone with the girl who had come with Kael.

"It seems life isn't easy for you," she said suddenly.

"What should I do?" The question escaped his lips before he could think.

"Do you have time?" she asked.

"I... suppose I do."

"Come with me, then. I want to show you something," Elaine said, extending her hand.