The night remained silent over the North.
Snowflakes drifted slowly beyond the fortress walls, while the wind crossed the stone corridors, making the flames of the torches scattered throughout the castle flicker.
The last nobles were leaving the castle in small groups.
Conversations that had once been lively turned into whispers.
Little by little...
The movement of that night disappeared.
The corridors once again belonged only to the footsteps of the guards.
The banquet had ended.
But the shadow of that night would remain far beyond its end.
In another wing of the fortress...
Two figures silently crossed the corridor.
Éreon discreetly supported part of Éon's weight as they walked toward the chambers that had been prepared for them.
Éon's breathing remained uneven.
His steps grew heavier and heavier.
When they reached the oak door, Éreon turned the handle.
It opened slowly.
The room was warmed by the fireplace.
The crackling of the flames was the only sound breaking the silence.
Without saying a single word, Éreon guided Éon to the bed.
Carefully, he placed one hand against his back and the other beneath his arm.
He helped him sit first.
He supported him for a few more moments...
Only then did he slowly lay him down upon the mattress.
The black eyes remained open.
Fixed upon the ceiling.
As though any further movement might make him lose control over his own body.
His breathing remained heavy.
But no words crossed his lips.
No groan.
No expression of despair.
The swollen veins, black as fresh ink, pulsed violently beneath his pale skin.
Small tremors ran through his muscles, as if countless parasites crawled beneath his flesh.
Only a slight crease between his brows betrayed the absurd effort he was making to remain conscious.
Éreon watched him in silence for a few moments.
His violet eyes slowly followed the black veins spreading beneath the skin.
Then he spoke.
Almost in a whisper.
"Until now..."
A brief pause.
"Not a single groan."
His eyes remained on Éon.
"After everything..."
"you still refuse to admit the pain."
Silence returned to the room.
Leaving only the crackling of the fireplace.
Éon's heavy breathing.
And the wind making the windows tremble.
Éreon's eyes remained fixed on Éon.
"You should hate me."
Éon did not answer.
He continued looking at the ceiling.
His breathing faltered for an instant.
Only then did his eyes slowly move toward Éreon.
Éreon held his gaze.
A faint, weary smile appeared for a moment.
"I took from you the only thing that truly belonged to you."
His voice remained low.
"The right to choose your own end."
His fingers slowly closed.
"It was an agreement."
"I should have respected your decision."
"But I was selfish."
Silence returned.
Éon remained motionless.
The black veins continued pulsing beneath his skin.
After a few moments...
His voice finally broke through the room.
Weak.
"I tried..."
Éreon raised his eyes.
"I tried to hate you."
Another difficult breath.
"It would have made everything easier."
The two remained silent.
Éon closed his eyes for a brief moment.
As if searching for strength not to speak...
But to continue breathing.
"It's just that..."
His lips barely moved.
"When everyone disappeared..."
His gaze met Éreon's.
"You remained there."
No exaggerated emotion.
No tears.
Only a truth spoken without the strength to hide it.
"On every night."
"On every mission."
"Every time I thought I couldn't continue..."
A small pause.
"It was your voice that I heard."
Éreon remained silent.
The firelight danced within his violet eyes.
"To keep the Abyss within my reach..."
His voice remained low.
"I broke our agreement."
The wind crossed the crack in the window, making the flames of the fireplace waver.
Éreon walked toward it.
He remained for a few moments watching the snow fall beyond the walls.
Then he slowly closed the window.
The whistle of the wind disappeared.
Even so...
His gaze remained lost outside.
Only then did he speak again.
"This time will be different."
"If you still desire death..."
"I won't stop you."
Éon remained silent.
The black veins pulsed beneath his skin.
Éreon stepped away from the window.
He stopped beside the bed.
Their eyes met once more.
Éreon continued:
"Even if, for that..."
The fireplace cracked between one sentence and the next.
"I have to let go of the Abyss."
Éon held his gaze.
For a few moments...
He said nothing.
As though he had found an answer he had known for a very long time.
"I understand."
Another heavy breath.
"Then..."
"what will be the price?"
Éreon remained still.
For a brief moment...
He seemed to wonder whether that answer could still be hidden.
A discreet smile appeared upon his lips.
"All you need to know..."
"is that, at this moment..."
"you still walk as part of me."
Éon held his gaze.
Éreon slowly raised his hand.
Hundreds of violet filaments began to emerge between his fingers.
Thin.
Almost ethereal.
They slithered through the air like living threads, silently undulating around his hand.
The firelight wavered.
Éreon's violet eyes began to glow.
Little by little...
His pupils became narrow.
Slitted.
The filaments slowly spread through the room.
They slid across the floorboards.
Curled around the furniture.
Until they completely surrounded the bed.
Éreon's voice once more broke the silence.
Calm.
Precise.
"When this is over..."
The filaments moved closer to Éon's body.
They hovered above his skin for a brief moment.
"you will cease to answer to my will."
The first threads touched his arm.
The sensation was cold.
Deep.
As though countless needles were slowly piercing his skin.
Éon slightly clenched his fingers.
"You will become a complete existence."
The black veins pulsed violently.
As though awakening.
Éreon did not look away.
His voice became even lower.
"It will hurt."
A brief pause.
"Do not fight the Abyss..."
The filaments intensified.
The violet energy spread throughout his body, making every muscle stiffen.
"Fight to remain."
For an instant...
Nothing happened.
Soon Éon's black eyes began to glow.
First, a faint reflection.
Then a violet light overtook his irises.
The entire room seemed to grow colder.
The filaments around his body began to pulse, as though something inside him had awakened.
Éreon slowly closed his fingers.
His expression remained unmoving.
"Mentis."
The world seemed to stop.
For the first time that night...
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"
Éon's scream tore through the room as though his very soul were being torn apart.
His body arched violently upon the bed.
His fingers gripped the sheets so tightly that the joints of his fingers lost their color.
The black veins beneath his skin spread like living cracks.
His muscles trembled in a sequence of involuntary spasms.
The air abandoned his lungs all at once.
His entire body reacted to the invasion of that energy, as though every fragment of his existence were being separated and rebuilt at the same time.
The bed groaned beneath the force of the impact.
Éon's fingers closed even tighter.
Tears appeared involuntarily at the corners of his eyes.
Not from fear.
But from the intensity of the pain that pierced his soul.
The violet glow in his eyes grew stronger.
At that same instant...
Hundreds of black filaments began slowly detaching themselves from Éon's body.
They did not dissipate.
They searched.
Like uprooted roots still seeking the earth.
When they encountered Éreon's violet filaments...
They wrapped around them.
One by one.
The two energies began competing for space.
The violet filaments retreated before the black.
As though they were slowly being devoured.
The shadows stopped following the light of the fireplace.
They began moving on their own.
Stretching across the walls.
Climbing across the ceiling.
As though something breathed within them.
Something brushed against Éreon's neck.
A touch.
Light.
Freezing.
Like the tips of someone's fingers.
"...At last you've returned, Éreon..."
Éreon's breathing faltered for a single instant.
Another touch.
This time...
Against his back.
The black filaments slid across his skin like icy water.
"...Do you believe, Éreon?..."
The voice vanished before it could even finish.
Another took its place.
"...Every hesitation..."
The cold grew stronger.
As though something breathed behind him.
"...is death."
Another touch.
Now upon his shoulder.
"...Why did only you return?..."
The shadows trembled.
The black filaments slowly wrapped themselves around Éreon's arms.
"...You took longer..."
The voice changed.
Another.
"...And yet you returned to the same point..."
The air seemed to become heavy.
The fireplace flames flickered.
"...You see..."
Something wrapped around Éreon from behind.
A shiver ran down his spine.
"...Repeat..."
A whisper was born beside his neck.
So close that the distance between the voice and his skin seemed to have ceased to exist.
"...Return..."
The black filaments advanced beyond his arms.
Silently.
Like roots searching for a path toward his heart.
"...You never cross..."
Another touch.
Now upon his face.
Like cold fingers sliding across his skin.
Another.
Upon his neck.
The black filaments coiled tighter around his body.
"...Peace is a lie..."
Something passed through his chest.
Cold.
Like a hand moving through his flesh.
"...Éreon..."
Another voice.
Closer.
Almost against his ear.
"...No."
More hands.
Across his back.
Upon his shoulders.
In his hair.
Like dozens of them trying to reach him at the same time.
"...ta... take care of our little girl..."
Éreon felt something wrap around his throat.
There was no form.
Even so...
The pressure was real.
As though invisible fingers squeezed his neck, preventing the air from reaching his lungs.
His chest refused to expand.
His breathing failed.
The black filaments advanced across his skin.
"...Elyooonnn!!"
The scream tore through all the others.
In a single instant...
The world lost meaning.
Everything around Éreon disappeared.
His senses were ripped away in a single instant.
Leaving behind only absolute darkness.
So deep...
That even existence itself seemed incapable of producing sound.
A faint smile appeared upon Éreon's lips.
"I thought it would take longer."
The words came out in a whisper.
Éreon felt his feet sinking.
Something gave way beneath them.
Like quicksand.
Heavy.
Viscous.
Slowly...
It began pulling him downward.
As though it knew...
That there was no escape.
A whisper emerged somewhere.
So close it seemed to breathe inside his ear.
"You always choose the dead."
Another emerged immediately behind him.
"And you always end up alone."
The silence seemed to watch him.
A restrained laugh escaped somewhere within the darkness.
"...Heh..."
Another answered soon after.
"...Hahaha..."
Another.
Closer.
"...Ah... ah... ah..."
The laughter spread through the darkness.
Without origin.
Without bodies.
Blending into one another.
Until it was no longer possible to tell where one ended and the next began.
Éreon remained motionless.
The smile did not disappear.
"I expected more from you."
The laughter ceased.
The void became silent.
Then...
A voice emerged once more.
"You still smile..."
Another answered.
"Even now."
Éreon tilted his head slightly.
"If this is the best the Abyss can do..."
"I almost feel sorry for it."
The silence remained for a moment.
Soon...
A voice broke through the darkness.
"You still wear that mask..."
Others answered soon after.
"The mask of the man who endures everything."
"The man who never falters."
"The man who learned to smile while sinking."
Éreon remained silent.
The voices slowly surrounded him.
"You wore it for so long..."
"That you almost forgot what exists behind it."
"It isn't strength."
"It isn't pride."
"It's fear."
Invisible hands slowly began climbing across his body.
Like frozen roots searching for something beneath his skin.
"Fear of silence."
"Fear of opening your eyes and finding no one."
"Fear of remaining alone once again."
Another voice approached, almost whispering beside his ear.
"Wasn't that why you brought him back?"
The smile on Éreon's lips faltered.
"You don't know..."
The voices answered before he could finish.
"...Anything."
A brief pause.
"You couldn't bear being alone, Éreon."
The void continued to pull him downward.
Éreon's jaw tightened.
Even so...
His voice remained firm.
"Creatures..."
The voices completed in unison:
"...vile."
Another voice cut through the others.
"You lie to yourself..."
A low laugh echoed through the darkness.
"Just as you lied to them..."
Silence fell.
Heavy.
"When you said you would protect them."
Éreon remained silent.
Another voice emerged.
Lower.
Almost gentle.
"I will give you what you desire most, Éreon."
"...Heh..."
The laugh disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
Éreon remained motionless, breathing slowly.
As though he refused to grant the Abyss any reaction.
Then...
Silence.
Absolute.
Until a sound was born in the distance.
Weak.
Small.
So distant that it seemed on the verge of disappearing.
"Μ... μπα... μπαμπά..."
Éreon's eyes faltered.
His entire body stiffened.
He slowly raised his head.
A small silhouette appeared in the distance.
Almost invisible.
"Φοβᾶμαι..."
The silhouette wavered.
And disappeared once more.
Éreon's eyes searched through the darkness.
For the first time...
There was urgency in his gaze.
He searched everywhere.
Trying to find her.
But she was no longer there.
"..."
His lips parted slightly.
No words came out.
"Μπαμπά..."
The voice emerged once more.
Farther away.
Weaker.
"Βοήθησέ με..."
Éreon's hands moved by instinct.
As though trying to reach her.
But there was only emptiness.
The voice weakened.
Until it disappeared completely.
"...Once again..."
The whisper emerged somewhere within the darkness.
"...too late."
Éreon remained motionless.
Waiting to hear her once more.
The void seemed to be watching.
"...try to reach her."
The whisper emerged once more.
Closer.
Softer.
"...this time."
Then...
Something began taking shape within the darkness.
First...
A silhouette.
Then...
An outline.
Delicate.
Motionless.
Familiar.
Éreon remained watching.
Without blinking.
Without breathing.
The figure approached calmly.
The shadows concealed her face.
"Éreon..."
The soft voice drifted through the darkness.
Éreon's eyes faltered.
For the first time since the offer...
Éreon tried to answer.
"Ma—"
Before he could finish...
Thousands of invisible hands seized his body.
Éreon was dragged away all at once.
The darkness swallowed him completely.
The hands continued pulling him downward.
Deeper and deeper.
Éreon reached out his hand.
As though he could still reach her.
But the distance between them grew with every passing instant.
While the Abyss...
continued to smile.