Chapter 581: A Story

The sun continued its descent, bleeding oranges and reds across clouds that stretched endlessly above the mountains.

Wind pulled at their clothes, carrying smoke from their cigars away into darkness spreading across the peaks.

Then Darius’s whisper emerged soft, gentle in ways his earlier questions hadn’t been.

"If you cannot tell me, it’s alright–"

"Let’s just say..."

Damian’s interruption came quiet but absolute, his gaze never leaving the horizon.

"There are many people who would kill me if they got to know who I really am."

His hand lifted the cigar to his lips, inhaling slowly, letting smoke fill his lungs before releasing it in a thin stream.

"And in order to hide my identity from those people..."

A pause, weighted with something terrible.

"I had to kill my friend with my own hands."

Beside him, Darius went completely still, his breathing stopping for one heartbeat.

Damian continued, his voice staying level despite what the words carried.

"Only for me to later realize that everything that happened, every choice I was forced to make, every moment of suffering..."

His fingers tightened around the cigar, the only outward sign of emotion bleeding through.

"Was part of a game that a seer was playing to get the outcome they desired."

Silence fell between them, heavy and suffocating.

The wind picked up, scattering snow across stone, pulling at their hair.

Damian’s voice emerged again, quieter than before.

"Before my life became so complex, all I was trying to do was save my loved ones."

His gaze tracked across the mountains, seeing something beyond the physical landscape.

"But now..."

The word hung incomplete, trailing off into nothing.

Darius remained perfectly still for several long moments, his crimson eyes tracking the same horizon Damian watched.

Then his voice cut through the quiet, stripped of the earlier gentleness.

"Let me tell you a story."

His tone shifted, becoming distant, like someone recounting events that happened a lifetime ago.

"There was once a child whom his entire family loved a lot."

His hand lifted the cigar to his lips, inhaling deeply before continuing.

"Ever since he was born, he was showered with love, care and protected from all the dangers of this world."

Smoke drifted from between his lips, dispersing in wind that had grown colder.

"He had everything a child could ever ask for. A father who stood at the peak of humanity’s strength, a mother whose wisdom guided their family through every crisis, siblings who would die to protect him..."

His voice became quieter, edges appearing underneath.

"But despite having everything, he was never happy."

A pause, letting that settle.

"Rather, his heart was burning with agony every single day."

Damian’s head turned fractionally, his masked face tracking toward where Darius stood.

His whisper emerged before his mind caught up to the question.

"Why?"

Darius’s lips curled into something that wasn’t quite a smile, bitter and wrong.

"Because by the time he was nine years old..."

His hand tightened around the cigar, knuckles going white.

"He had seen more funerals of his loved ones than his own birthdays."

The declaration landed like a hammer blow, echoing across the terrace.

Damian’s breathing became audible, his chest rising and falling with growing intensity.

Darius continued, his voice never wavering despite the weight each word carried.

"One day, another funeral arrived."

His gaze found something in the distance, seeing beyond the mountains to memory.

"The funeral of the older sister who loved him the most, who had taught him everything he knew about being kind despite the cruelty surrounding them."

His fingers drummed once against his thigh, the motion unconscious.

"When he arrived in front of her casket, when he opened it, hoping to kiss her goodbye for the last time, you know what he saw?"

Silence stretched for three heartbeats.

"Nothing."

The word fell like a stone dropped into still water.

"Her body had been so completely destroyed that there was nothing left to bury except an empty box and broken memories."

Darius’s hand rose, gesturing vaguely at the terrace beneath their feet.

"And finally, he had enough."

His voice gained edges, becoming harder.

"That night, he stood on this very terrace with his Godfather, demanding answers for the first time in his life."

****

[That night – Years Ago]

Rain hammered against stone, turning the terrace into a battlefield of water and wind.

Thunder rolled across the mountains, shaking the estate’s foundation with each crash.

A boy stood near the railing, crimson hair plastered against his face, his small frame trembling despite the thick coat wrapped around his shoulders.

His hands gripped the railing so tight his knuckles had gone white, rain running down his arms in thin streams.

Whoosh

Behind him, a figure materialized from shadows, purple hair secured with an ornate tie, a white mask covering the upper half of his face.

The Sage moved without sound, his robes somehow remaining dry despite the downpour.

He stopped beside the boy, his masked face turning toward where small hands gripped stone with desperate strength.

Neither spoke for several long moments, rain filling the silence between them.

Then the boy’s voice cut across the storm, high and cracking with emotion he couldn’t suppress.

"Godfather..."

The word came out broken, carrying everything he’d been holding back.

"Why does everyone I love keep on dying?"

His head turned, finding the masked face beside him, tears mixing with rain on his cheeks.

"Why does it always have to be someone from my own family?"

His voice rose, building toward something that approached rage.

"Isn’t Father the strongest protector in the world?! Everyone says so! They call him humanity’s shield!"

The question tore from him, desperate and confused.

"So why can’t he protect his own family?!"

The Sage remained perfectly still for three heartbeats, his masked face giving nothing away.

Then his voice emerged, quiet but carrying clearly despite the storm.

"It is exactly because your father is the strongest protector that this is happening."

The boy went rigid, his hands loosening fractionally on the railing.

The Sage continued, his tone becoming gentler despite the terrible truth underneath.

"All the top seers of other races have been creating situations and sending their chosen ones to kill your older siblings for years."

His hand rose, gesturing at the mountains beyond the estate.

"To make sure not another one like your father rises to power, to ensure humanity never produces someone who could protect this world."

Silence crashed down between them, broken only by rain and distant thunder.