thief of fate-Chapter 44: The second spark 2

"It wasn’t just an organization, Raphael."

Selena spoke the words in a quiet voice, as if pulling a thorn from her chest that life had long embedded in the flesh of her memory. The night behind her was thick, drowning the sky with no stars to pierce it almost as if the truth she was about to utter had snuffed out the lights too.

Raphael stood beside her, his body, as always, a rock carved from patience and embers, and his clear eyes watching her tone rather than her words like someone guarding an old wound unsure whether to open it or let it fade.

She continued, her voice low but clear:

"The Black Moon Organization... It never sought power. Nor chaos. Not even money. That was never its aim. It was a tool. A means. A gateway..."

She paused, as if holding back a wave of psychological nausea.

"A gate, Raphael. A gate for the Arkanis."

His breath caught, and he looked up at her, but didn’t speak.

"Everything was planned. Every step. Every death. Every bit of chaos. They were paving the way. Even Ethan... even he... was just a pawn."

She said his name like a whisper, then closed her eyes for a moment.

"I thought I was watching them. That I was one step ahead. But I can’t do anything alone."

Silence followed, and Raphael watched her with the patience of a man who knows when not to interrupt. Selena rarely spoke and rarer still was her display of regret. Tonight, it seemed, was a night of exceptions.

"Where are they now?" he asked finally, in a tone without urgency or reproach.

"Scattered... or so they seem. The northern branch disappeared months ago. The south turned on itself. And the center... I thought it was dead. But a few days ago, I received a message..."

She paused again, pulling a small folded paper from her inner pocket. She didn’t hand it to him just stared at it like a riddle she didn’t want solved.

"One word, Raphael. That’s all it said: ’The Point.’"

"The point?"

"It’s a location. Or a timing. Or both. When they reach it... the gate opens. The Arkanis pour through."

Raphael raised his eyebrows slightly, but his voice remained steady:

"And Ethan?"

She took a deep breath and exhaled it in a bitter sigh.

"Ethan left nothing. He was smarter than all of us. No paper trail. No code. Not even the luxury of forgetfulness. And..."

She raised her eyes to meet his directly, for the first time since they began talking.

"If I revealed what I know now... I’d be the only one condemned."

Moments passed then more and he said nothing. He understood, as did she, that every word spoken now might open a new gate... or dig a new grave.

"Raphael, do you know what hurts the most?"

"Tell me."

"I was never afraid of death. But I’m terrified of being remembered as one of them. That history will be told and my name written on the wrong side. Even if I was trying to stop them."

She lowered her gaze to the dark courtyard beneath the tower.

"Is that all that’s left to us? To block gates without leaving a trace?"

Raphael stepped forward, his voice steady as ever:

"Not everyone who burns a map is lost. Some paths require walking without a compass because the road itself is cursed."

She raised an eyebrow. "Poetic... I didn’t know you were a poet."

He smiled faintly. "I don’t speak much, but I understand what others feel."

She fell silent again, then whispered:

"I was one of them, Raphael. In the beginning. Young. Naive. Hungry for knowledge. They told me the moon hides the truth... and that truth sets you free. They never told me I would become a gate."

He stepped closer, slowly.

"But you aren’t."

She looked at him, as if doubting the words, then continued:

"I remember one place still under surveillance. Mount ’Arenval.’ Outwardly, an abandoned mine. But beneath it lies a network of tunnels. The engravings... strange. Similar to the Arkanis markings that surfaced after the fall of ’The Balcony of Blood.’ That’s where they moved the first seeds."

"Seeds?"

"Experiments. Humans. Even children. They implanted parts into them... parts we don’t know the origin of. Some died. Some... didn’t die the way humans do."

Raphael paused, then asked:

"And you? How did you get out?"

A faint, broken smile appeared on her lips.

"Ethan. He got me out. Or so I believed."

He watched as she pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, not against the cold but for the winds to come.

"Will you stay silent?" he asked calmly. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"No. But I won’t speak publicly. Only to you. You’re the only one who won’t sell the information or fear it."

"Why me?"

"Because you belong to nothing. No party. No sect. No ambition. You simply stand in the middle. Guarding us... and guarding every innocent soul that doesn’t deserve to die."

The wind slid between them, carrying the scent of dried earth as if the land itself was choking. She looked away, then murmured:

"If the Arkanis return... I don’t think anyone will survive."

Raphael stepped back half a step, then said:

"Show me the way to ’Arenval.’ If there’s a gate... I’ll stand before it."

She looked up at him for the first time—with complete trust, stripped of doubt and regret.

"If you stand there, you won’t come back the same."

"I was never someone to begin with."

Silence fell again, but this time it wasn’t peaceful... it was a transition. As if what had just been said closed one Chapter and opened another.

Finally, she reached into her cloak and pulled out a small, dull gray stone, seemingly worthless, but bearing an unfamiliar engraving.

"This is the key. It won’t open the gate but it’ll lead you to it."

He took it, then asked:

"And Ethan? What will you do?"

She smiled softly, painfully.

"If I can’t find proof against him... I’ll create it."

---

"Beautiful..."

The voice was barely audible, whispered from lips beneath closed eyes, as he leaned against the trunk of an old tree perched at the edge of a hill overlooking the forest. The light filtering through the leaves cast slanted lines across his face, splitting his soft smile in two: one side radiating kindness... the other hiding something entirely different.

His usual smile the one that made many trust him was there. Gentle. As if it had been born with him. But behind it, there was no peace only a silent note of triumph.

From his pocket, he pulled a dark shard not more than a broken claw from an ancient stone. He brushed his finger along it, and a faint glow pulsed within it, like a heartbeat delivering news.

"Finally, Selena... you’ve cracked."

He opened his eyes slowly, looking at the sky as if admiring the bloom of an old betrayal.

"You were always the weakest among them. The smartest, maybe. The bravest? Occasionally. But the weakest because you still believe in something above truth. Justice? It doesn’t exist. Truth? A well-dressed lie. Loyalty..." he smiled again and shook his head, as if consoling himself. "...is just a temporary choice, shifting with fear."

He rose slowly, dusted off his robe, and walked between the trees. He wasn’t in a hurry.

"She betrayed, yes." He said it as he placed the shard back into his pocket. "But she hasn’t realized yet... she never betrayed anyone. She simply obeyed me without knowing."

He stopped at a small pond in the forest, knelt beside it, and stared at his reflection. The kindness remained. The gentle features. The clear eyes. No one would doubt this face.

"That’s the secret, isn’t it? To look like what they want you to be. Not what you truly are."

He smiled at himself, and laughed softly a short, pure laugh. Kind on the surface.

"Selena, you will speak more. Because you think you’re exposing them... when all you’re doing is lighting the way. Every step you take... brings them closer."

Then he paused, eyes shifting toward the void as if hearing a distant voice.

"Raphael? Yes, I hoped you’d cling to him. Tell him everything. Because when he stands before the gate... he’ll be the one to open it. For me."

He laughed again. Gently. No mockery. No scorn. Just satisfaction.

Sitting on a rock overlooking the valley, he pulled out an old book and began turning its pages.

"Sometimes, you don’t need to start the war yourself. You just plant a single idea... and let it grow in the minds of those who think they’re stopping you."

Then suddenly, he looked up like someone had called his name from centuries past and whispered:

"Soon, Selena... you’ll realize you were just a piece on my chessboard."

"And the best part? They’ll thank me... before they even realize who lit the fire."

"hahahhaha I will always be the ultimate winner"