The silence did not yield.
It remained between them like matter—dense enough to be felt, heavy enough to prevent any unthinking gesture.
The filaments still orbited Brianna.
More contained now.
Not withdrawn.
Merely… sustained.
The air around her held the same silent rejection, as though space itself had learned not to touch.
On the other side of the table, the knight did not move.
Seated.
Posture stable.
Hands resting, no visible tension.
But there was no relaxation.
Only control.
The crimson eyes remained on her.
Fixed.
Unhurried.
Without moving to break the distance.
As though she did not exist at all.
Heron did not advance.
He remained where he had stopped—between the table and Phoebe.
Body aligned.
Weight distributed.
Ready.
But not rushed.
Breathing controlled.
Eyes shifting.
Measuring.
Calculating.
Phoebe did not move.
Her head still slightly inclined.
As though listening to something that did not pass through air.
Or through ordinary time.
The blood on the floor was no longer the center.
Still… it remained.
Warm. Irreversible.
Brianna did not look away.
The filaments vibrated—a minimal oscillation, almost imperceptible.
No advance.
No retreat.
Recognition.
The silence did not break.
It was severed.
"Tirésias…"
The voice came low.
Unhurried.
"If this child persists…"
A slight pause.
"I will have no choice."
"I will kill her."
No rise.
No haste.
Only… decision.
The filaments around Brianna tightened by a degree.
Not from fear.
From response.
Phoebe did not move.
She gave a faint smile.
Almost imperceptible.
"Lady Brianna."
The voice came calm.
Firm.
"Step back."
It was not a request.
Brianna remained where she was.
For an instant.
Then she stepped back.
The filaments shifted.
They did not cease.
But yielded enough.
The knight inclined his head slightly.
Observing.
"Still…"
A minimal trace in his tone.
"still carries the same clarity."
A short pause.
"I understand why Zeus kept you close."
Silence.
Phoebe's smile did not fade.
"I did not make her step back…"
A light pause.
"out of fear of your threat."
The voice remained steady.
"I did it because I cannot allow…"
An instant.
"her to die before I obtain what I seek."
The air in the room seemed to adjust.
The knight remained silent for a brief moment.
Then—
a light breath.
Without warmth.
"So that's it…"
The voice dropped a tone.
"you believe this child would be capable."
A pause.
"It disappoints me."
His eyes passed over Brianna.
Returned.
"I expected more of your judgment."
Phoebe did not respond immediately.
The smile remained.
Small.
Contained.
"This is not Olympus."
A short pause.
"Nor the ancient world."
The voice did not rise.
"And there are beings walking now…"
An instant.
"that not even the ancients would name lightly."
Phoebe did not move.
Her presence remained turned toward him.
The faint smile did not yield.
"Clarify."
The voice came low.
Firm.
"How did you obtain the body of one of the princes of the Central Kingdom?"
There was no doubt in the question.
Only… demand.
The knight watched her for a moment.
His head tilted a degree.
"If you have already seen…"
A short pause.
"why still ask?"
Phoebe did not answer at once.
The silence remained between them.
Stable.
"You confuse vision with totality."
The voice came calm.
Without unnecessary weight.
"I do not see everything."
An instant.
"I see what cannot be avoided."
Her senses remained fixed on him.
Not on the body.
On what sustained it.
The knight did not look away.
"Then limit yourself… to the inevitable."
The voice came low.
Almost soft.
"And leave what lies beyond it…"
A light pause.
"beyond your reach."
Phoebe gave a smile.
Almost mild.
"I understand."
She raised one hand.
The gesture was minimal.
Sufficient.
Brianna stepped forward.
The ground responded before the sound.
The filaments around her compressed—not toward him…
but inward.
As if something were being forced to exist under pressure.
The knight did not retreat.
But—
the body reacted.
First, an involuntary adjustment in the chest.
Almost imperceptible.
Then the air failed.
A minimal delay in the breath.
His fingers tightened on the arm of the chair.
The skin… tensed.
From within.
The blood responded before the pain.
It rose.
Pressed.
A thin line slipped from the corner of his eye.
Dark.
Another, from the nose.
Slow.
Silent.
The body did not match what sustained it.
Even so—
the eyes remained raised.
Fixed.
Unchanging.
Phoebe kept her hand suspended.
"A human body…"
The voice came calm.
"was not made to sustain a primordial creature."
His breathing lagged a degree.
"It fails… from the inside out."
The silence closed again.
"Depending on your next words…"
An instant.
"she may kill you."
"Or…"
The faint smile remained.
"rebuild something…"
"that can bear what you are."
The air in the room tightened.
Brianna did not advance beyond that step.
But did not retreat.
The knight remained where he was.
The blood still ran.
Slow.
He smiled.
Almost imperceptible.
"I escaped…"
A light pause.
"because a boundary was opened."
His eyes remained on her.
"Between the Abyss…"
An instant.
"and this world."
The silence held.
"Not by force."
"By neglect."
Phoebe's hand lowered.
Unhurried.
Without abrupt gesture.
Brianna felt it before seeing.
The filaments yielded.
They did not disappear.
But moved away enough.
She stepped back.
Controlled.
Without taking her eyes off him.
The air returned.
Partially.
The knight's body responded next.
His breathing adjusted.
Late.
His fingers relaxed millimeters.
The blood still marked his face.
But no longer advanced.
He did not move beyond that.
Did not wipe it away.
Phoebe kept her presence turned toward him.
"Continue."
The voice came calm.
The knight remained still.
Breathing… unstable.
"After crossing the Abyss…"
"there was not much left I could call memory."
His eyes remained on her.
"Only fragments."
"Echoes… without form."
The silence held.
"I awoke…"
"in an empty body, buried."
His fingers adjusted slightly on the arm of the chair.
"I came out of the earth…"
No emphasis.
"but not whole."
A light pause.
"The Abyss does not give back."
His eyes remained on her.
"It corrodes."
A brief pause.
"Even when it allows passage."
"Something in me… was already breaking apart."
Another pause.
"Not in the flesh."
"Nor in the form."
His fingers shifted millimeters.
"But in the essence."
Silence.
"As if what I am…"
a slight tilt of the head
"had been left behind."
His eyes did not yield.
"That was when I found him."
A brief instant.
"A boy."
"At the edge of death."
A light pause.
"Desperate enough… to accept any promise."
Silence.
"I gave him my name."
Without weight.
Without ritual.
"And, in return…"
"he gave me what he still had left."
A pause.
"His body… and the right to use it."
His eyes remained on her.
"With a single condition."
"That everyone involved in his death…"
A slight tilt of the head.
"would cease to exist."
The air did not move.
"And I accepted."
The smile did not grow.
But remained.
Cold.
"This body…"
A minimal pause.
"now belongs to me."
"I expect you to keep your word…"
His eyes did not shift.
"Tirésias."
Phoebe kept her presence turned toward him.
"Do not worry."
A light pause.
"after all… wasn't it you who led us to this point?"
The silence adjusted.
Brianna stepped forward.
"This conversation at least confirms what I suspected."
The voice came firm.
Unhurried.
Her eyes remained on the knight.
"It was not chance."
Phoebe nodded.
"No."
"As Kael reported…"
An instant.
"Isabela did not merely allow the crossing."
The voice remained calm.
"She let it stabilize."
The air in the room seemed to weigh a degree more.
Brianna did not look away.
"And, if the report from the Barony is correct…"
A light pause.
"then it did not end with the count."
Her eyes hardened, still contained.
"There is involvement."
A brief silence.
"From the Central Kingdom itself."
Phoebe held.
"Yes."
Without hesitation.
"And not carelessly."
A pause.
"Whoever is behind this…"
The voice dropped a tone.
"does not act blindly."
An instant.
"They used the count."
"As a veil."
The knight remained silent.
Observing.
Brianna took a breath.
"Then the question changes."
Her eyes did not yield.
"How many managed to cross?"
The silence closed again.
But Phoebe did not follow it.
"That is not what we should concern ourselves with now."
The answer came unhurried.
"What crossed…"
"is already here."
A pause.
"And what moves around it…"
"will come."
The faint smile returned.
Contained.
"The war will not be avoided."
Silence.
She inclined her head slightly.
In Brianna's direction.
"When it comes…"
The voice remained steady.
"I believe we will need him."
Her senses remained on the knight.
Without deviation.
Without haste.
As if the decision had already been made.
Brianna took a step.
Small.
Enough.
"Then… if he—"
The door opened.
Fast. Controlled.
The sound cut the words before they fully formed.
One of the knights crossed the threshold and dropped to a knee before even reaching the center of the room.
"Forgive the interruption, my lord… my lady."
The breath came contained.
But firm enough not to fail.
"The men who were accompanying the inspector…"
A short pause.
"fell."
The air in the room seemed to retract a degree.
"Their veins darkened to purple."
Another pause.
"Indication of poisoning."
Silence.
No immediate reaction.
Only… acknowledgment.
Another hurried step echoed right after.
A second knight entered, carrying a still-sealed document in his hands.
He knelt beside the first.
"Report from the Golden Wall."
Head lowered.
"A young man… around fifteen."
Before continuing—
his gaze faltered for an instant.
Brief.
Almost involuntary.
It dropped.
Found the headless body on the floor.
Stopped.
A second longer than it should have.
Then—
he forced his focus back.
"demanded an audience with the marquis."
Heron did not respond immediately.
His eyes passed over the room.
A single reading.
"Burn the bodies."
The voice came firm.
Direct.
"No one touches them without protection."
An instant.
"Isolate the area."
His eyes were already moving.
Decisive.
"Prepare my departure."
He stepped forward.
But did not complete the second.
"That will not be necessary."
Phoebe's voice crossed the space without rising.
Heron stopped.
"He is already inside the castle."
The silence changed.
Subtle.
But definitive.
Phoebe stood.
Unhurried.
The movement was simple.
Even so—
the room reorganized around it.
She kept her head slightly inclined.
The faint smile returned.
"It seems you prepared very well…"
A short pause.
"Tifão."
The name fell into the room like something too ancient to echo.
He rose from the chair.
The crimson eyes remained on her.
More attentive now.
"Tirésias…"
The voice came low.
Contained.
"You overstep."
Tifão watched her for a long second.
"Names…"
"are not meant to be given."
His eyes did not shift.
"And yet… you did."
A pause.
"That rarely comes without cost."
Phoebe did not retreat.
The smile did not fade.
"Consider this…"
A light pause.
"a warning."
The voice remained calm.
"Your name is no longer under your guard."
The air between them tightened.
Phoebe continued.
"I promised to help you stabilize this body."
"I did not promise to conceal what you are."
A short pause.
"My word remains intact."
Phoebe turned.
Unhurried.
Heron followed at once.
Neither of them looked back.
The silence did not break.
The door closed behind them with a low sound.
Controlled.
The corridor was empty.
Long.
Lit only by what was necessary.
Footsteps echoed for a few moments.
Then ceased.
Heron spoke without turning.
"Will this remain under control?"
The question came direct.
Without detours.
Phoebe kept her pace for one second longer.
Then stopped.
"It will."
The answer came calm.
Without hesitation.
A brief silence followed.
She inclined her head slightly.
"What cannot be avoided…"
A short pause.
"will not be."
The air in the corridor remained still.
Heron did not respond immediately.
He only nodded.
Once.
And resumed walking.