The air in the square was saturated with the smell of iron and dust as Gelius drew closer. He looked at Diner, then questioned with a sharp, mocking edge:
"And where is this new advisor you all speak of?"
Scarcely had his voice faded when a man calmly stepped forward from the ranks. His steps were steady, and his voice was low yet confident:
"I am he, sir... My name is Ramin."
Gelius turned toward him, staring for a moment before letting out a short, scoffing laugh:
"Ha... Wait, I know you. You're that low-ranking soldier from Sector Nine, aren't you? What is this farce? How could a soldier like you become an advisor?!"
Ramin took a step back, his head slightly lowered, and spoke in a moderate voice devoid of anger:
"I apologize if I have upset you in some way."
But Gelius wasn't looking for an apology; he was looking for a way to assert his pride. He smiled a cold smile and said in a tone dripping with contempt:
"People like you shouldn't even be in places like this... What are you doing among us anyway?"
Diner intervened, trying to diffuse the situation:
"In fact, Lord Gelius, Lord Arius himself appointed Lord Ramin, and all the officials approved the decision. There is nothing strange about it."
Gelius's gaze instantly snapped to Diner, his eyes narrowing as if radiating a silent threat:
"Shut up right now."
Then he turned back to Ramin and said sharply:
"You, come with me immediately."
The two left the square, while the soldiers merely watched in a tense silence. They crossed the alleys until they reached a metallic bridge stretching over a cold river, its waters reflecting the dim city lights. There, Gelius stopped, turned around, and stared at Ramin like someone preparing for a private trial.
"Tell me, boy... What is your true strength? How did you get this position?"
Ramin answered him in a calm, honest voice:
"Forgive me, I am not very strong. My power does not exceed 17,000."
Gelius let out a short, dry laugh, then said with biting sarcasm:
"Exactly... That is why you are an insect. And how can insects stand alongside great kings? Who even are you to be among us?"
Vexation showed on Ramin's face, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Gelius cut him off with even harsher verbal violence:
"Do not speak. You are nothing... just a nobody. And not just you, even your foolish friend Arius is a nobody like you—a small toy in my lady's hand. She will soon tire of him and cast him away at the first opportunity. Do you think she will agree to his decisions when she returns? I am certain she was thinking with her backside when she decided to let that animal into our world!"
The words felt like a stab in Ramin's chest.
His features hardened, and a faint spark of suppressed rage ignited in his eyes. In a split second, he lunged forward and punched Gelius hard across the face. The latter stumbled half a step backward from the impact, looking astonished for a brief second... before that astonishment twisted into absolute madness.
"You dare strike me, you filthy animal?!"
And in the blink of an eye, he rained down a barrage of brutal blows upon Ramin. Every punch was followed by another, and every kick carried the intent to humiliate rather than just avenge.
Ramin collapsed to the ground, blood streaming from his mouth and nose, its drops mixing with the river water below. With every blow, the silence of the city over the bridge grew heavier, as if the air itself feared to intervene between them.
The light of the library dimmed little by little as Arius closed the last book before him.
His features remained calm, but his eyes reflected something deeper: the weight of the knowledge he had just absorbed. Thousands of books, thousands of minds, all now residing in his memory. He raised his hand slightly, his voice coming out low but decisive:
"Vanish now."
In an instant, the energy soldiers around him dissipated, as if they were nothing but a shadow of fading energy. Silence prevailed, then Arius smiled. Taking a step forward, his thought-tone extended through the mental link to Rhinos and the rest of his soldiers in space:
"Set out to the location I am thinking of right now... There you will find our prize. Search it thoroughly."
The reply came as a collective murmur across space, and then his massive armies moved through the stars in countless ranks. The distance between him and his target was vast—a distance that shattered even time.
Arius muttered to himself as he left the library:
"If only I had a clear internal image of that place, I would have teleported there instantly... but no matter. When they arrive, I will join them."
He stepped out of the long corridor into the palace, a ghost of calmness accompanying him. He headed toward the meeting hall, and no sooner had he sat down than he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in."
One of the servants entered with a slight bow, saying:
"My Lord, Lord Gelius returned a while ago... and he is now in the throne room awaiting you."
Arius raised an eyebrow, a half-smile forming on his face:
"Oh... he returned then. Fine, I shall head to him right away."
Upon entering the throne room, Gelius was standing in the center of the hall, his arms crossed, a faint, forced smile on his lips.
Arius said as he approached with slow steps:
"Ha, so you're back. I see you are happy, even though I know you are not pleased to see me."
Gelius laughed with a dry lightness:
"Happy? Yes, but not to see you, you cunning rascal. You sent me to a place completely devoid of life; I found nothing useful to us there."
Arius settled for a placid smile and said in a calm yet biting tone:
"I know. There was nothing there from the very beginning."
Gelius's features froze, his eyes widening slightly:
"What?! You mean you sent me to an empty place on purpose?!"
Arius clasped his hands behind his back, looking at him like someone testing the patience of an angry child:
"I only wanted to give my head a rest from your constant shouting, and have your time wasted there instead of being wasted in front of me."
The grinding of Gelius's teeth was audible; the rage on his face almost caught fire. He didn't answer; he just turned and left the hall with sharp strides, leaving the door to slam shut with a dry thud behind him.
Arius smiled, then let out a short laugh:
"Good... he needed some air."
He then approached Nahira's throne, staring at it for a long moment before sitting on it without hesitation.
"This throne is utterly uncomfortable... How does that arrogant woman sit on it?"
He relaxed for a moment, staring at the decorated ceiling of the hall, before requesting Ramin's presence.
The servant returned after a brief moment, his features slightly tense:
"My Lord... Lord Ramin has been missing for four hours. No one has seen him since he left."
Arius went silent for a moment, his gaze lowering then lifting again, with something of caution masked by calmness in his voice:
"Missing?... Strange."
He remained sitting there, his fingertips tapping the arm of the throne in a light, repetitive rhythm, his eyes catching the silence as if it were an incomplete answer.
"Where did you go, Ramin..."
He whispered to himself, his thought-tone carrying a slight anxiety, barely visible behind his cold smile.
The hall was quieter than usual, and the silence within it had an ominous ring.
Arius stood up from his place, walking slowly through the long corridor, as if trying to extinguish the anxiety that had begun to creep into his mind. It was five o'clock now, and Ramin's scheduled arrival was at three. Delay was entirely uncharacteristic of him.
He stopped at the end of the corridor, sighed lightly, and said to himself in a low voice:
"This is unlike him... Where did he disappear to?"
He decided to search for him himself. He left the palace and headed toward the square, the last place Ramin was seen.
The soldiers there lined up upon seeing him, but he didn't care for appearances. He began questioning them one by one, his tone steady and cold, but his eyes scanning the minute details on every face that answered.
The result was the same: no one had seen him. No one knew anything.
He retraced his steps to the palace, his strides faster than before, until he reached the meeting hall.
He summoned two of his trusted aides, saying with serious calmness:
"Search for him. Ask everyone who was in or around the square. Leave nothing unexamined."
They departed immediately, and Arius waited in the hall, time passing with a heavy slowness.
After hours of searching, one of the aides rushed in, saying:
"My Lord, we have a lead. Someone saw him with Officer Diner before he disappeared."
Arius raised his eyes, his tone unchanged but carrying a hidden weight:
"Bring him to me immediately."
Not minutes had passed before Diner entered, bowing with tense respect:
"Did you summon me, My Lord, for a particular matter?"
Arius was sitting on Nahira's throne, his back leaning against its high rest, his eyes gleaming with a pure coldness.
"I am told that Ramin was with you before he vanished. Tell me what happened."
Diner answered without raising his head:
"Yes, My Lord, he was with me for some time. He finished his business and left... I do not know where to. Afterward, I went back to inspect the shipments we are sending to the camps."
Arius studied his features for a few moments, with a sharp gaze like a knife:
"Are you certain he didn't go with anyone? No one accompanied him after you left?"
Diner grew slightly flustered, answering with visible haste:
"Absolutely certain, My Lord, no one was with him."
Arius remained silent for a few seconds, then said with absolute coldness:
"You may leave now."
Diner bowed and left. Before the door closed, Arius turned to one of the nearby aides and said in a low voice that brooked no argument:
"Watch him."
The aide moved immediately after Diner, while Arius stood staring into the void, thinking.
Then, he decided to head to Ramin's house himself.
The sun was tilting toward sunset when he knocked on the door.
Dyna opened the door, her face showing surprise at seeing him:
"Arius?! Welcome, come in... Is Ramin with you?"
Arius raised an eyebrow slightly:
"I was about to ask the same question. I thought he was here."
Confusion appeared on her face:
"Strange... Wasn't he with you?"
He paused for a moment, then answered her with neutral calmness:
"No, and that is why I came. I thought he had returned home."
At that moment, two young children ran toward him—Ryan and Ren—smiling:
"Uncle Arius! Have you come to play with us?"
He smiled a gentle smile, his voice softening:
"Not right now, my little ones. I am just looking for your father. Perhaps he is working somewhere else right now."
He tried to reassure them, then turned to leave, but little Ren's voice caught him:
"Uncle Arius!"
He stopped, turning to her with a warm look:
"What is it, my little girl?"
She pointed innocently toward a corner of the house and said:
"The big energy gentleman doesn't want to come out and play with me."
Arius's expression hardened for a moment, then his lips parted into a calm smile as he said:
"Well done, my little girl."
That was enough of a sign to remind him that he had stationed four energy soldiers to guard Ramin's family long ago, on the very first day he came to them.
The final piece was settling into place.
He raised his eyes to the sky, his features regaining their sharp coldness, then whispered in a low voice that was barely a breath of wind:
"So... it is not difficult."
In an instant, a wave of energy surged beneath his feet, turning his body into a flash of light. He ascended toward the sky at a speed that whipped the air and left behind streaks of blue sparks, heading into the clouds like a living thunderbolt seeking the truth.
The sky vanished beneath his feet then stretched around him like a carpet of cold dust. Arius drifted above the clouds, his body swaying with the air currents, until he closed his eyes for a brief moment—like a gateway leaving the entire world behind for a single step of serenity. Then came the sensation: an internal click, a thread of perception guiding him to a single location. In one instant, he dissolved into the air and disappeared.
He manifested suddenly beneath an abandoned metallic bridge, where heavy rain had begun to pour down, slapping the face of the city and battering its ground with cold rhythms. The light there was scarcer than usual, the shadows harsher, and the smell—the smell of metal and rain—cut through the chest. On the ground, amid puddles of water and mud, Arius saw Ramin lying on his back: his body exhausted, his face swollen from the beating, and blood trickling from every corner and crevice. The sight tore at his chest like a sharp bite.
Arius knelt down toward him without thinking, his grip firm beneath Ramin's shoulder, his voice coming out frantic and troubled: "Ramin... answer me. Are you alright?"
Ramin lifted his eyelids slowly. He looked at Arius's face, and his lips lit up with a faint smile as he said with difficulty: "I knew you would find me... my friend."
Fear crept into Arius, transforming into an internal blaze; his eyes widened like someone who possessed a window to the whole world only to watch it vanish before him. He cried out, with a voice aimed at one goal—saving the last bit of purity left to him: "Who did this to you?"
Ramin attempted to reply, his words coming out disjointed and heavy with pain: "It was... the commander of the capital army... Gelius."
A single name fell like a bomb inside Arius's chest; the shock instantly turned into a suppressed, cruel rage, as cold as blades. In a few seconds, he opened the system window inside his head—that window which never lies—and drew from it a floating healing potion. The dampness of the vial mingled with the rainwater on his hand as he offered it without a word: "Drink."
Ramin swallowed the liquid with difficulty, and a spark of light caught his body. The wounds began to fade gradually as if they had never been; flesh mended, breath returned deeper, and the pulse grew stronger. Ramin's swollen cheek smoothed out, and a look of gratitude and bewilderment swirled in his eyes.
Arius stood up; features do not lie—rage was etched into every line, but its coldness now was harsher, the target clearer. Ramin whispered, his voice trying to downplay it: "Calm down, man... it's not worth all this."
Arius cut him off with an unbearable sharpness: "How is it not worth it? That bastard beat my closest brother! I will never stay silent about something like this."
His command came as one that brooked no debate: "Go back to your house now. I will deal with that scum—Gelius—myself."
Ramin's heart was aching, but he was unable to read what would happen. He stood watching Arius head toward the sky, his silhouette turning into a flash of light, departing at a speed that sliced the air and left behind the screech of the wind. He left Ramin there, standing in the rain, caught between healing and anxiety, unsettled about what was to come for his friend who had flown far away in search of a merciless justice.
The sound of the wind's wings almost faded beneath the weight of his steps when Arius returned to the palace—so furious that the walls around him seemed to stagger. Everyone stopped; eyes turned toward him in bewilderment and caution, as if they were witnessing a shadow returning from an internal war. Without a word, Arius pointed to a standing servant and said in a cold, binding voice: "Summon Gelius to the throne room immediately."
Hardly moments had passed when Gelius walked in, sarcastic as usual, thinking the meeting was a joke or a delayed break. He looked at him with the intent to provoke: "What do you want now? Don't give me a mission—it's my rest time."
Arius didn't wait for further talk. He stepped forward with strides that resembled the swift and steady hands of a clock. Before Gelius could compose himself, Arius's fist slammed into his stomach—a single punch that came as sharp as a lightning bolt, knocking the wind right out of Gelius's chest. The bodies around them shook from its force. Gelius fell to his knees, his face contorted with severity, losing his breath as though his soul had stumbled for a moment.
He didn't stop. A powerful kick to the face sent his body flying, causing him to recoil like a doll made of shattered silence. Arius said with a coldness laced with disdain: "If you like to test your strength on the weak... then come on. Let me make you feel what they feel."
A series of strikes began—consecutive, methodical, leaving no room for a response—a downpour battering Gelius's body, which seemed rigid at first, before his silence was pierced by fractured gasps. At one point, Gelius raised himself and laughed with a broken difficulty: "Hahaha... are you enjoying this?"
Arius's gaze held nothing but utter contempt. He slapped him again and sent him crashing away. Then Gelius's words fell like desperate arrows—his old accusations spoken with a stiffened voice: that you are arrogant, selfish, a fake display of kindness... but he could not summon the strength to stand before the wave of rage.
Arius, without any excess mercy, delivered a final blow to his face—a concentrated one that resembled a definitive seal. Gelius collapsed unconscious, stripped of both his words and his pride, and the echo of his fall in the hall was as if to announce that something had ended. Arius's shout rang through the hall like a decisive command that brooked no delay:
"Take him away."
The servants froze for a moment, then moved with desperate haste as they carried Gelius. Not a spot on his face remained untouched by the punches; his face was flushed and swollen until it looked like a mask of pain. The doors of the hall closed with a heavy silence, and Arius remained standing in the center, his breath heavy, his eyes burning with a deep coldness that had not yet dispelled the rage.
The following morning, Arius knocked on the door of Ramin's house. Ramin opened it himself this time, looking somewhat exhausted, but a faint relief showed in his features when he saw his friend standing before him. They sat together, and in a calm tone, Arius said:
"I have finished with that fool... Believe me, he won't cross you ever again."
Ramin looked down for a moment, then said in a steady voice carrying a hint of bitterness:
"It is fine, I don't blame him. He was right in a way... an ordinary soldier like me becoming a leading advisor overnight. It is difficult for the likes of him to accept that."
Arius stepped closer and placed his hand on his shoulder, looking into his eyes with the gaze of a brother to his brother:
"Listen to me, Ramin... Have you forgotten who I used to be? Was I not placed in the lowest of ranks? Was I not just a punching bag for the vilest of soldiers? And yet, look at me now—the second most powerful person in this corrupt world.
What matters is not who you are now, but who you will become tomorrow. The day will come when no one will dare cross us... they will fear to even utter our names, my friend."
Ramin smiled faintly with a renewed sense of resolve, and said:
"As you always say, you are right."
Arius laughed with a confident lightness, then stood up, saying:
"Then, let us get to work. A new day awaits us."
Ramin replied with a clear smile:
"Let's go."
Days passed, then months, in an apparent calm that concealed a great deal of movement beneath the surface.
And on one majestic morning, the capital held its breath in anticipation when Nahira returned after an absence that had lasted three whole months.
The streets of the city were teeming with crowds, between those cheering with a joy tinged with awe, and those standing silently out of respect for her presence. She advanced with measured steps surrounded by the breezes of dawn, her clothes swaying softly with a natural majesty.
At the palace gate, the guards and attendants lined up, among them Smith, her assistant who had not left her side since the beginning of her journey. She concluded the official greeting with a fleeting glance at the faces, then continued her way inside, a glint in her eyes of a woman who knew perfectly well that everything would be set in motion anew from the very moment of her entry.