The scream…
It wasn't a sound.
It was something worse.
Something that made the very air tremble, the walls crack, and the ground sink beneath their feet, as if the world could no longer endure the presence of that thing.
But Nir…
He did not retreat.
—
His hand was still on the door.
The blackness that had covered his arm began to spread further, moving over his skin like a living creature, climbing to his shoulder, his neck, then half of his face.
His right eye had almost vanished within total darkness.
But the other eye…
Was still human.
Still resisting.
—
> "Impossible…"
>
The voice emerged from behind the door, carrying for the first time something resembling rage.
> "You are a mere vessel."
>
—
Nir's grip tightened.
He felt the bones of his arm breaking from within.
He felt his heart about to stop.
He felt something inside his head tearing apart.
But despite that…
He did not lift his hand.
—
"Perhaps…"
His voice came out with difficulty.
"…but this vessel…"
He slowly raised his head.
His eyes filled with a terrifying coldness.
"…will not break."
—
Then—
Something moved within the door.
The black hand that had emerged from the shadows suddenly trembled.
The cracks covering it began to widen.
The darkness around it began to be drawn in.
Slowly.
Then faster.
Then faster still.
—
Nir was…
Absorbing it.
—
But not as he had done before.
He wasn't just absorbing energy.
Nor just magic.
—
He was swallowing the very existence of that thing.
A part of it.
A feeling from it.
Its very will.
—
The eyes screamed again.
This time…
In pain.
—
The black threads in the room began to collapse.
The walls they had covered turned to ash.
Even the darkness itself…
Began to vanish.
—
Lyra raised her head with difficulty.
She was watching what was happening, but her mind could not comprehend it.
"He is…"
she whispered.
"…devouring it."
—
Cain did not answer.
He just stared.
With eyes filled with something he had never felt before.
Not fear.
Nor hate.
—
Awe.
—
As for the little girl…
She looked at Nir in silence.
Then…
For the first time…
She smiled.
A small smile.
Calm.
—
"So…"
she whispered.
"…you really are different."
—
But in the next moment—
—
Nir screamed.
—
He fell to his knees violently, as the blackness around his body exploded like living smoke.
The pain he had been suppressing until now…
Returned all at once.
Stronger.
More violent.
—
He felt his body tearing apart.
His bones breaking and being reshaped.
Something new being born inside him.
—
> "Adaptation… has begun."
>
The voice whispered inside him.
But this time…
It wasn't the same voice.
It wasn't the old voice.
It was something else.
Calmer.
Colder.
And closer to him.
—
The black veins began to disappear slowly.
His breathing stabilized.
The blackness that had covered his face…
Retreated inside his body.
—
Then…
He opened his eyes.
—
And they were different.
Not entirely black.
Nor ordinary.
—
But…
Eyes of a dark gray color.
Deep.
Cold.
As if they had seen something no human should see.
—
He looked at the door.
It was still there…
But it was no longer as it had been.
It was cracked.
Shriveled.
And the eyes in the depths…
Had vanished.
But before they disappeared completely…
One final voice emerged.
—
> "We shall meet again…"
>
—
Then…
The door closed.
Of its own accord.
—
The silence…
Finally returned.
—
Nir stood up slowly.
His body still ached.
But the pain…
No longer weakened him.
Instead, it made him feel something else.
—
That his body…
Was beginning to get used to it.
Slowly.
To that power.
—
And one day…
Perhaps…
All the magic of this world would no longer be able to do anything against him.
—
Because what dwelt inside him…
Was not mere power.
—
It was…
The end of magic itself.