The incoming man did not move.
He stood at the mouth of the cave as though he had not entered a strange place, but had instead returned to a home he had known long ago.
As for Nir, he stared at him in silence.
The sensation that had stirred within him was not anger.
It was something deeper.
As if his body recognized an enemy his mind had forgotten.
The man said:
"Do you feel it?"
Nir did not answer.
"That thing waking up inside you."
He smiled.
"I was afraid you would die before reaching this stage."
Nir raised his eyes.
"Who are you?"
"My name is not important."
"To me, it is."
The man's smile vanished.
"Very well."
He stepped forward.
"I was one of the supervisors of your project."
Time froze in Nir's mind.
There was no rage.
Only a single question.
"My project?"
"Yes."
"What did you call me?"
The man looked at him for a long time.
Then he said:
"Subject Zero."
Silence fell.
Even the old man closed his eyes.
The name was enough to drag something dark back into Nir's memory.
A white hall.
Chains.
Blinding light.
Countless voices.
And pain.
Pain unlike anything he had known in the life he remembered.
Nir pressed a hand to his head.
The images surfaced.
He saw himself as a child.
Yet this time, he was not alone.
There were other children.
Dozens of them.
All standing inside magical circles.
One of them collapsed.
Another vanished.
A third began to scream.
Then the man's voice echoed:
"The other subjects have failed."
And another voice:
"What about Zero?"
"There is no Aura."
"Then he has failed as well."
Then came a woman's voice:
"No."
"He is not a failure."
"He is something else."
The memory cut off.
Nir raised his head.
His face was pale.
He said:
"How many were there?"
The man did not answer.
"How many children did you make?"
"Three thousand two hundred and seventeen."
A heavy silence descended.
"And how many remain?"
The man looked at the floor.
"One."
Nir looked down at his hand.
"Me."
"Yes."
The man stepped closer.
"And that is why I have come to take you back."
Nir said:
"I am not going back."
The man laughed.
"You don't understand."
He raised his hand.
Dozens of magical circles appeared behind him.
Each circle bore a different spell.
Nir looked at them.
It was a formidable power.
Magic accumulated over centuries.
Yet, strangely...
He felt no threat.
Only pity.
The man said:
"This power alone is enough to erase an entire city."
Nir remained silent.
"What is wrong with you?"
Nir raised his hand.
No Aura appeared.
No circle formed.
No light flashed.
Only stillness.
Then all the circles behind the man went dark.
One after another.
His face froze.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
Nir stepped forward.
"You were the one using magic."
The man recoiled.
"Impossible."
"You said you built the world I belong to."
Nir stopped right before him.
"But I never said I belonged to it."
The place trembled.
Stones began to fall from the ceiling.
The man quickly raised his hand.
A massive circle materialized beneath Nir's feet.
Yet it vanished before it could complete.
The man stared at it in terror.
"You are not canceling magic..."
He whispered.
"You are canceling the possibility of it happening."
Nir raised his eyes to him.
"I'm beginning to understand."
At that instant, the man lunged at him.
He used no sword.
No fist.
Instead, he unleashed hundreds of spells in a single moment.
Fire.
Lightning.
Ice.
Lances of light.
Spatial pressure.
Spells capable of tearing mountains apart.
They all reached Nir.
Then stopped.
They did not shatter.
They did not explode.
They simply ceased being magic.
They fell to the ground like meaningless matter.
The man stared at them.
He could not speak.
Nir said:
"Is this the thing you were so afraid of?"
Then he drew closer.
"Magic you boast about your entire life..."
He looked at his hand.
"Before me, it is worth nothing."
Yet Nir did not smile.
For the power he had uncovered gave him no feeling of triumph.
Instead, it made him understand something worse.
This man was powerful.
And the entire world relied on his strength.
And yet...
He couldn't even touch Nir.
So what would happen when Nir faced those who stood above this man?
The newcomer said in a trembling voice:
"You do not know what you are."
Nir answered:
"True."
Then he looked into his eyes.
"But I will find out."
The man tried to step back.
Yet his shadow did not move.
He looked down at the ground.
Then up at Nir.
And understood, too late.
Nir hadn't touched him.
He hadn't used the void on him.
He had simply erased the distance between them.
Nir said:
"You will not take me."
Then he added:
"But I will go to them."
The man's expression shifted.
"To whom?"
Nir answered:
"To everyone who had a hand in making me."
The man took a step back.
And for the first time since entering the cave...
Real fear showed in his eyes.
For he realized that the thing they had tried to forge as a weapon...
Was now choosing its own destination.
And far away, beyond the boundaries of this world...
Three entities opened their eyes at the exact same moment.
A single sensation reached them.
A feeling they hadn't experienced in centuries.
The void...
Had awakened.