It was nighttime. Kaeron was walking home after a long day of work. After getting off at a bus stop, he crossed the deserted streets of Scriba, still dressed in his scientist uniform. He checked his watch: 6:30 p.m. He seemed to be on time for dinner.

  Suddenly, someone called out to him from behind. When he turned around, he found himself facing a person wearing a black cloak, their face hidden beneath a hood.

  “Who are you?”

  asked Kaeron, stress rising in his voice as he faced this kind of situation.

  “You know exactly who I am, Kaeron. You and I share a long history. I know you’re trying your best to forget it, but I’m here to warn you about something,” the individual said in a low, almost sinister voice.

  “I don’t know who you are if you don’t show me your face. Are you stalking me, by any chance? Because if that’s the case, I have years of combat experience behind me.”

  “Have no fear. I only came to tell you that your family is in grave danger. I analyzed the seismic frequencies while you were away. Something is happening, and it seems to be coming from this location.”

  He pulled out a map and pointed to a forest north of the city, not far from the Cael’ren residence.

  “A new fracture…”

  Kaeron whispered, barely audible. He then noticed the tail of a Lothean moving beneath the stranger’s cloak.

  “What you did to protect us is about to turn against you, Kaeron. These crystals only bring trouble to the people of this nation—and to all of Trastarce.”

  “Listen… if something happens, it will be my duty to protect everyone else. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go home.”

  Kaeron turned his back on the individual and continued toward his house.

  “If you don’t get rid of that crystal, I will do it myself. I owe you that much… brother.”

  Kaeron froze after hearing those last words. He clenched his teeth, hesitating to respond. Remaining still for a moment, barely turning his head, he finally resumed walking, ending the conversation.

  In a cemetery

  A few days had passed since the discovery of the corpse in one of the laboratory’s tanks. Today, Kaeron stood alone before a grave in a cemetery atop a hill. Some buildings in the city were barely visible through the settling fog. With it came a thin, slightly acidic rain caused by water vapor.

  To protect themselves, many umbrellas in the region were now equipped with absorbent surfaces. Some protective suits had them as well, though they were more expensive.

  Holding his umbrella, Kaeron stared at the grave of the individual found in the research laboratory a few days earlier.

  “Why did you come back for me… Why didn’t you tell me anything beforehand?”

  Kaeron said softly, catching his breath.

  “I can still see that moment when I pulled you out of the water. I was both heartbroken and furious. My brother… I don’t know what misfortune befell you, but I will find out, no matter the cost. Even if it means fighting that monster again…”

  He remained silent for several minutes before lowering his gaze and leaving the cemetery.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  On the news, several journalists interviewed scientists from the Scriba research center a few days after the body was found. One of them stated:

  “Our forensic doctors were unable to determine the cause of death. Although he was identifiable, the body was nearly decomposed. We still believe he was the source of the contaminated water across the region. The police have opened an investigation to retrace his path to our district.”

  Afterward, the governor gave a somewhat ambiguous speech about the city’s safety and the population’s well-being, attempting to suggest that the event had merely been an accident.

  Though the protests had calmed down, worry still weighed heavily on many Lotheans as well as humans, who suggested that their two peoples should be separated to avoid further conflict—and to prevent the poisoned water from affecting them directly.

  In Arix’s bedroom

  Throughout the afternoon of the weekend, the rain kept pouring over the city. Arix, sitting at his computer, was playing his favorite game with his cousin—recently returned from the hospital—and another player, Hive. On the other end of the call, Seryn complained:

  “It’s been raining for days now. It’s getting exhausting!”

  “You’re really unlucky lately. Where I live, the weather is often nice. And it’s perfect, because tomorrow is the Aquiledia Festival,” Hive said excitedly, moving his character around the game erratically.

  “What does that mean?” Arix asked.

  “It’s a type of flower meant to symbolize hope and reclamation. It only grows in our region.”

  “You’re into flowers, Hive?” Seryn asked.

  “It might sound strange, but yeah. I go every year. I wish I could show you my hometown, but I don’t think that’ll ever happen.”

  While listening to Hive, Seryn felt a sharp pain in her hand, still healing from her burn. Her mother now forced her to follow the doctor’s advice and wear her protective suit more often, even though she disliked it.

  At the Scriba Laboratory

  Meanwhile, at the research center, Kaeron rubbed his forehead, overwhelmed by the paperwork covering his desk. The brightness of his monitor lit up most of the room despite the interior lamps and the corridor visible through the glass panels beside the door.

  During his thoughts, someone entered the room: one of Kaeron’s colleagues.

  “Kaeron, I want to apologize again for your brother’s death. This must be hard on you,” she said calmly, closing the door behind her while staring at the floor.

  “I’ll be fine, thank you, Celina. I was just as shocked as you to find him like that, after he was pulled from a water-recovery tank. Thinking that it could have been avoided if security measures had been up to standard…”

  “I’m not blaming the security team, but there were very few guards the night the incident might have happened. The center runs almost like a factory with all these machines… I imagine the workload is enormous. But for someone to enter that room without trouble, they couldn’t have been alone.”

  Célina approached Kaeron’s desk slowly, her eyes still fixed on his screen. He glanced at her as she leaned forward.

  “Thank you, Celina, really, but that’s enough. I knew my brother. If someone harmed him, I’ll find them. In the meantime, let the police do their job.”

  Somewhere near a lac

  Later in the evening, as rain continued to fall along the coast, a fisherman stepped out of his boat. Climbing onto the dock to reach his cabin, he carried a straw sack filled with fresh food he had gathered from a lake—one of the last places where the water was still drinkable and where certain marine species still thrived.

  As the fog swallowed the surface of the water, rendering the lake almost invisible, a silhouette emerged. Tall and imposing, it produced a faint noise in the air that made the fisherman turn around in shock, dropping his basket.

  The figure had horns and a piercing gaze. The skin around its eyes was cracked, revealing only hatred on its face. It stared at the fisherman while floating above the water, its cloak billowing in the wind.

  Then it raised its hand.

  A burst of fire erupted, and the man screamed in terror.