The day, surprisingly, flew by unnoticed, and a crimson sunset was already flaring in the distance. Arktia sat on a flat stone, gazing at Verd's face as he slept peacefully. His features were calm, almost defenseless. The way she only ever saw them during his sleep.
His chest rose and fell evenly, measuredly, like a pendulum. But if outwardly everything seemed fine, Arktia could distinguish what was hidden from the ordinary eye. Verd's spiritual energy flows were chaotic, disrupted, like a river that had burst its banks.
'Didn't think it would affect him like this' - flashed through her thoughts.
She rose. Soundlessly, like a shadow, she slid toward him. Her hand froze over his chest, where his heart beat.
'Kael, you definitely did something. Even now you manage to infuriate me.'
Arktia's fingers touched his chest, and spiritual energy poured from her into him. A thin thread, almost weightless, absorbed into his body like water into parched earth.
'Of course, I don't particularly like touching people, let alone pouring spiritual energy into someone... But there's nothing to be done...' - her breathing turned into sighs.
***
Several hours later, Arktia could barely hold herself in his consciousness.
'How long it's been since I used this technique.' - her hand jerked toward her temple. - 'The Mneumofag seems ready to eat my brain.'
The Mneumofag was a beetle embedded directly into her head. In this cruel world, it was one of the few ways to touch the supernatural. Want to master a technique? Be prepared to share your mind with a chitinous parasite.
The technique itself, in essence, was this beetle. The practitioner underwent a horrifying implantation ritual: the insect gnawed through tissue, penetrated the brain, and attached itself firmly to the nerve centers, transmitting knowledge of the technique for further learning. Once inside, the parasite sent its microscopic tendrils deep into the person's spiritual channels. The beetle acted as a living conduit and modulator. It intercepted the host's will and forced energy to circulate through the body in a strictly defined manner, activating the technique. Without this writhing creature in your head, even summoning fire was impossible.
However, the human brain is not limitless. The number of "nests" - biological zones where such parasites could take root and function - was strictly limited for each person. Housing more than two or three beetles without the risk of going mad or dying from exhaustion was impossible. There was, of course, a way to perform a complete restructuring of the body to prepare new nests, but this procedure required an astronomical amount of rare resources and was nearly impossible for an ordinary practitioner.
Arktia gritted her teeth, feeling the Mneumofag stir discontentedly, scratching the inside of her skull with its little legs. She, like everyone, had to subdue and feed her parasite. A completely different fate awaited those few who were granted a Divine technique. In their case, the beetle was not implanted from outside. This perfect, sacred parasite was born in the brain itself at birth, developing together with its host as a single whole.
The beetle inside Arktia jerked again, demanding mental nourishment, and a sharp, pulsating pain shot through her spiritual channels.
'It's a miracle I even remember its name...'
After a brief adaptation, Arktia finally managed to step into the darkness. There was nothing around. Only emptiness that pressed from all sides.
'Need to find at least something about that creature Verd saw.'
The memory washed over her suddenly. She stood in the same darkness, but Kael was beside her. Old, tired, and very badly battered.
-Kael? - she uttered unconsciously.
Kael was hurriedly sorting through several artifacts on his large oak table and absorbing them with his ring.
-No one can be allowed to learn about this boy. Let him live like all the locals.
Hearing the voice behind her, Arktia came to one simple conclusion.
'I've entered the segment where Verd was asleep. A great rarity. Usually the Mneumofag doesn't allow me to see such things.'
The girl continued walking, barely hearing the fading voice:
-He's not just a man. He's the one who was and the one who will be...
Arktia understood nothing. In her memories, Kael always spoke in riddles. He was one of those people who always knows more than he says. And for her current state, it was a waste of time to try to understand the hidden meaning.
After a few steps, she saw more memories left in Verd's head.
'So Kael knew I would try something like this. Instead of his riddles, he could have just said everything directly!'
The memories changed slowly, one after another. In one, Verd was arguing with other people for the first time. In another, she saw him with Kael and was surprised. He was even more insolent than now.
Suddenly the darkness thickened, and all the memories shattered into fragments. She felt someone's presence. Perhaps the one she had been searching for all this time.
'Are you kidding me?' - flashed through her mind, and sweat appeared on her face. - 'I'm in a spiritual state in his mind, and this creature can find me...'
-Come out, - she said, trying to keep her voice steady.
Silence enveloped her, and only her voice drowned in the void.
-I know you're here. - Her hand reached to the side, an old habit from when she wanted to draw her sword. But here she couldn't manifest it.
Nothing happened. Arktia took a step forward, then another. And suddenly the darkness trembled. She felt that movement, which was faster than she could notice.
Silence. And then she saw it. A black silhouette without a face, without eyes, without a mouth. Just a shadow that stood and watched. She didn't understand how she knew it was watching, but she knew.
She looked at it. It looked at her. Between them, silence froze, so dense that she could hear the beating of her own heart.
-Who are you? - she asked.
It didn't answer. Just stood.
-What do you want?
Silence. She stepped forward. It didn't move. Another step. It stood. She reached out her hand to touch it, and in that instant it vanished, and Arktia was thrown out of Verd's consciousness by someone else's energy. Sweat ran down her face, and she herself paled.
'That aura...' - she thought. - 'Kael... What terrible plan have you devised...'
Arktia sat by the fire, still unable to recover. Verd slept, his face as peaceful as a child's. She removed her hand and, for the first time in a long while, noticed how her fingers trembled.
Arktia's thoughts raced frantically in her head about what he didn't know. Didn't know who he was. Didn't know what was hidden inside him. Didn't know what awaited him.
-Kael... bastard... I won't protect him for anything... - she said. - But I will be there. When the time comes.
She sat by the fire, looking at the flames, and her face was calm. But inside, everything trembled.
'We can't let him break free!'
***
In the morning, he woke first. She sat in the same place, watching him.
-Feels like someone was in my head... - he muttered under his breath.
Arktia only slowly opened her eyes but continued looking at the ground.
Verd sat up, stretched, and took his spear. The shaft pulsed in his hand, and she watched this and thought only one thing.
'So that's why it submitted to "this"?'
Arktia rose lazily, almost reluctantly, and dusted off her pants.
-What do you want to do today? Rest, or train? - she said slowly.
Verd was surprised by the question, but remembering the results of his last rest, quickly answered:
-I choose training!
The girl sighed and stretched.
-That's what I thought. - She turned and started walking away. - In that case, let's go.
Verd watched her retreating back.
-Arktia, is it just me... Or are you somehow different today? - he said.
She didn't answer immediately. A long half-minute passed before her head slowly, almost unnaturally, turned toward him. Her gaze, usually cold and focused, now seemed completely empty, covered with a murky film. She wasn't looking at Verd, but somewhere through him, as if his figure was merely an annoying obstacle to her view. Her fingers, which had been hanging limply at her side, again unconsciously twitched toward her right temple.
-I'm the same, - her voice sounded flat, mechanical, without a single intonation, as if she were struggling to pick words from a foreign language. - Just because of the Mneumofag, my speech apparatus is damaged.
Having given a clear answer, Arktia simply walked on, ignoring the fact that she had never told him about the beetles.
'I certainly hate you, Kael,' - Arktia thought. - 'But I will do everything I promised. I will be there. And I will protect him.'
***
They came out to a flat area where the stones formed a natural arena. The sun had already risen, and its rays fell on the sand, turning it into almost living gold. Verd stopped, turned to her, and took his stance. The spear in his hand pulsed, and she watched this, thinking that it felt the same as she did. No, it had felt this from the very beginning. From the moment Verd touched it. Primordial fear of a stronger being.
-Begin, - she said.
He didn't make her wait. He lunged forward faster than she expected. The spear traced an arc, aiming for her shoulder. She stepped aside easily, almost casually, but noted to herself: he had gotten faster. Much faster than a week ago.
-Good, - she said. - Again.
He attacked again. Now it turned into a series of strikes: short, sharp, without unnecessary movements. She dodged without taking her hands out of her pockets and felt her lips curl into a smile on their own. He was learning. He was truly learning from his mistakes.
-You're not defending yourself, - he said, breathing heavily.
-Why? You're too weak for me to raise my hands.
He smirked and tried to land a few more strikes. Soon Arktia pulled out one hand. From time to time, smiling, she caught his spear after failed thrusts and tossed them both into the air.
Preparing for this moment, Verd tucked in midair and aimed the spear directly at her. Arktia was ready to step aside, but suddenly Verd's eyes changed. Became deeper, darker. She felt it before she saw it. The aura. That same aura she had sensed in his consciousness. Black, heavy, ancient. It spread from him like smoke, like shadow, like night itself, as if the sun had ceased to exist, and Arktia saw what he did not.
Behind his back, overlapping his figure like a second shadow, loomed a silhouette. Huge, black, without a face, without eyes, without a mouth. It didn't move, didn't speak, just stood and watched. But its presence was oppressive, all-consuming. It filled all space, pushed out light, pushed out warmth, pushed out her herself.
Unaware of what she was doing, Arktia pulled out her second hand and, with a swift movement Verd didn't have time to see, caught his arm, knocked the spear away, and slammed him to the ground. Several seconds passed before she realized she was pressing her elbow into his neck and he was struggling to breathe.
-Verd!
She quickly stood and stepped back.
'What was that... Because of that silhouette, I did it unconsciously.'
-Are you alright? - she hurried to ask.
-I'm fine, - he answered, his voice slightly hoarse.
Even though Verd said so, Arktia had already understood and accepted: there would be nothing normal ahead. And she had forgotten one truth. The one she had always been told. When the abyss looks at you, it's too late to run. And she was already standing in its gaze. And there was no way out.