For several seconds, no one said anything.
Étienne kept his eyes fixed on me. Ciara did not move either. Isabela looked completely confused, while Haruki remained with his fingers interlaced and his chin resting on them.
Eleonor, Sophie, Elena, and Irina remained silent.
They already knew everything I was about to tell them.
Étienne had asked me not to leave anything out.
So I continued.
—The voice echoed through the dark void where I had been trapped. It wasn't a sound that reached my ears; it seemed to run through every fiber of my being.
I remembered exactly what I had felt at that moment.
—I tried to move, but my body wouldn't respond. I felt as if I were floating, conscious but unable to control my limbs.
—Then I asked:
—What are you?
—The darkness in front of me began to swirl. Particles of golden light emerged from nowhere, slowly spinning until they formed a human figure.
I paused briefly and continued.
I couldn't tell who it was.
It had no face.
It had no features I could recognize.
Only that silhouette made of light.
—And it answered:
—I am a part of the consciousness that resides within you.
Étienne's expression changed.
—Then it spoke again.
—I am part of the consciousness of the First Bearer.
Haruki slowly uncrossed his fingers.
Isabela interrupted me, wanting to ask something, but Étienne told her to let me finish.
I took a deep breath.
—At that moment, I felt a tingling sensation in my back. It didn't hurt. It was as if the Mark recognized that moment.
I remembered that sensation.
There was no mistaking it.
—I asked:
—What is all this about?
The figure took a step toward me.
—I don't know what words you use in your time to describe what happened to me. But I am only a fragment.
—A fragment?
—Yes. I am only a small part of the consciousness of the one you call the First. When we learned what the Supreme Beings had done to us, I knew I had to do something. But we didn't have enough power to stop them.
The expression on Chief Ciara's face was one of pure astonishment and confusion.
That statement now carried a very different meaning.
We had just heard that the Kartnod had tried to seize the Nexus in order to free themselves from the Supreme Beings.
And the First Bearer had told me that they had discovered what the Supreme Beings had done to us.
I didn't say anything about that yet.
I continued recounting exactly what had happened.
—Then it pointed to the bracelet.
I raised my left arm.
My family's emblem was there.
—And it said:
—Your bracelet, just like the one in front of you, contains part of my memory and the entire truth surrounding the Supreme Beings and our creation.
I divided my consciousness. I distributed it among relics. I scattered them across the world, hiding them in key locations.
Each relic, as well as the place where it is located, contains information of vital importance to humanity's survival.
This time, Isabela did react.
Her gaze immediately shifted toward Étienne.
Haruki did the same.
I continued.
—At that moment, I thought about the relics I had already seen. Our family's bracelet. The Orleans necklace. The Sevianko rings...
Étienne slowly exhaled.
—Then I said:
—The families' relics. Right.
—Correct. Each one contains a part of me. And you, Noah, already have the first: the one that contains my original essence, the one that guided you here. With this one, you now have two. Your duty is to collect them all and save humanity from destruction.
After hearing those words, no one spoke.
Eleonor watched me in silence.
She had already heard all of this in China.
But now something was different.
The conversation about the Nexus had just given those words a different context.
I continued.
—I told it that I had never chosen any of this.
I lowered my gaze to the bracelet.
—That the Mark had simply appeared on my back. That the ÓBroin relic had chosen me.
I remembered its answer perfectly.
—Do you think it was a coincidence? Your birth was planned. Your bloodline was cultivated. Every generation of Bearers has been prepared for this moment.
Ciara's eyes widened slightly.
This time, she couldn't hide it.
—What did you just say? —she asked.
—That's exactly what it told me.
Ciara fell silent.
All this time, I had thought that the Mark had simply made some kind of mistake by choosing me.
For years, even my own family had wondered why it had been me.
And now it seemed that perhaps there had never been any choice at all.
—I asked who had planned my birth.
—And this was its answer:
—I don't have that answer. To find it, you must gather all the other relics, and then you will obtain all your answers.
—The only thing I will tell you is that you are the key to restoring what was broken. Each relic contains a part of my consciousness and also a fragment of the original power of the Supreme Beings. You must find them all. You must bring them together.
—And what will happen when I gather them all?
—When all the parts are complete... humanity will be able to face them.
The room fell completely silent.
This time, no one tried to break the silence.
Those final words seemed to have changed something.
Étienne was the first to react.
—Them?
I nodded.
—That's what it said.
—Was it referring to the Kartnod? —Haruki asked.
—I don't know —I replied.
Étienne placed both hands on the table.
—We shouldn't assume that.
We all looked at him.
—The First Bearer had just been talking to you about the Supreme Beings —he continued—. If immediately afterward it told you that humanity would be able to face them, we have to consider every possibility.
Ciara kept her eyes fixed on him.
—Including the possibility that it was referring to the Supreme Beings themselves.
No one could answer.
A chill ran through me.
That was precisely what had been bothering me since China.
The Kartnod said they had been used.
The records showed that they had been created through experiments.
The ancient archives showed that the Supreme Beings had arrived while fleeing from another plane.
And now we had just discovered that the war could be connected to an attempt by the Kartnod to seize a device capable of altering reality in order to free themselves from them.
Too many questions, and still not enough answers.
—After that —I continued— it began to disappear.
I remembered my desperation.
—I tried to stop it.
—Wait! Don't leave me like this. I need more answers.
—The answers are in the relics. Find them, and when you're ready... the truths of the past will be revealed.
—That was all —I finally said—. After that, it disappeared and my consciousness returned to my body.
Étienne kept watching me.
Chief Ciara did the same.
Isabela was the first to break the silence.
—So the relics were never merely family artifacts.
—It seems that way —I replied.
Étienne nodded.
—If what Noah heard is true, we've been guarding something for thousands of years without knowing its true purpose.
Chief Ciara turned her gaze toward my bracelet.
—And now Noah has two.
I nodded.
Haruki remained thoughtful for several seconds.
—There's something we can't ignore —he finally said.
Étienne looked at him.
—What?
—The attacks against the families. Could one of their objectives have been to seize the relics?
Isabela's expression hardened.
Haruki continued:
—Our enemies have attacked very specific locations. They've gone after the seals, our archives, and everything the families have protected for generations.
—It already happened to your family. Iara managed to take the relic that was in the Cavalcanti mansion.
I looked at her.
I remembered the pendant.
—When I fought Iara, I saw that she was carrying a relic, a pendant with a gem that gave off an intense green light. That must have been your relic —I said to Isabela.
Then I remembered the dark figure that appeared after Iara had already been defeated.
The same presence Eleonor had recognized as the one that attacked us at the Orleans mansion.
I didn't know who it was.
But I did know one thing.
It had arrived specifically to get Iara out of there. No, more accurately, it only wanted to prevent us from recovering the relic.
—Then we need to take measures to recover the relic that's now in enemy hands —Étienne said.
—And take countermeasures, since they may try to obtain the others —Chief Ciara added.
Sophie looked at my bracelet.
—If they know what they're for.
—That's precisely the problem —Elena replied—. We don't know how much they know.
Étienne nodded.
—So we're not going to make the mistake of assuming either that they know everything or that they know nothing.
Chief Ciara looked toward the other family chiefs.
—From now on, any information related to the relics will receive the same level of protection as our most restricted archives.
Isabela nodded.
Haruki did the same.
—We also need to find out what happened to the Sevianko relics —Étienne continued.
I lowered my gaze to the six symbols on the bracelet.
Two had already made their way to me.
One was now in the hands of our enemies.
And there were still far too many questions.
The First Bearer had told me that I had to gather them all.
But now I understood something I hadn't considered until that moment.
If we could search for them...
so could our enemies.