๐ฅ[๐๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ผ๐๐! ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐พ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐จ ๐ฉ๐ค๐๐๐ฎ!]๐ฅ
๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ #๐ญ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐! ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐ฌ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐ข๐ค๐ง๐, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐! ๐๐๐ฉ'๐จ ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ค๐ซ๐๐ก ๐ฌ๐๐ค ๐๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ก ๐๐ค๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฃ! โ๏ธ
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The Awakening of the Stain and the Star Reaper
While the grandfather spoke, the dark stain in Leonardo's eye began to burn. It wasn't an ordinary physical pain, but a sensation that something was trying to see through him. The kitchen plunged into an unnatural gloom, and the shadows on the walls seemed to stretch, gaining a life of their own.
"Grandpa... my eye... it's happening again," Leonardo groaned, falling to his knees while covering his face.
The Old Man acted with superhuman speed, drawing a symbol in the air that expanded into a barrier of pure white light, pushing the shadows back.
"Breathe, Leonardo!" the master commanded. "Don't fight the darkness... If you hate the void, it will feed on that feeling. The void is indifferent. Be indifferent too! Find the center of your soul and close the door!".
Leonardo stopped pushing and simply accepted the stain as part of himself, like a scar that no longer hurts. Slowly, the pressure diminished.
"What was that?" Leonardo panted.
"A resonance," the Old Man explained, visibly exhausted. "Contact with the Black King left a mark on your soul. He now has a thread that binds him to you.". He looked at his grandson with a heavy decision in his eyes. "Tomorrow, we depart. You are going to meet the others. Those who, like you, felt the Soul Storm and did not forget.".
The Old Man retrieved a long case from a false back in a bookshelf, placing it on the table with a thud. "Leonardo, you asked me why I 'stole' you and who I really am," the master said, breaking the seal. "The story the world tells about the Great War is a convenient lie... We did not banish the Black King; we only put him to sleep at the cost of entire generations.".
He opened the case to reveal a sword of matte metal, engraved with runes pulsing in a pale gold. "I was the Commander of the Seventh Legion of Light, the man the elves called The Star Reaper.".
Leonardo listened, paralyzed. The grumpy grandfather was a living legend.
"I took you from that lineage because you were different, Leonardo," the Old Man continued. "You weren't born with a Domain of Fire or Earth. You were born with the Void.". He admitted that he once feared Leonardo might become a vessel for the Black King, but Ecatrice saw that the Void could be the only weapon capable of wounding what does not exist.
The Revelation of the Seven and the Farewell to Innocence
The Old Man spread the charred map on the table. With a touch of his finger, the ashes rearranged themselves, no longer showing the Elinor Woods, but the entire globe. Seven points of light began to glow across different continents.
"The Soul Storm you witnessed was not a natural disaster. It was a calling. In seven different places, seven individuals awakened. They are the 7 Chosenย of the prophecy. Some are princes on thrones of bone, like little Kalena in Nebula. Others are servants, peasants, or wanderers. Each carries one of the Seven Blessings: Day, Time, Just, Reason, Heart, Transformation... and yours."
"And what is my blessing, Grandpa?" Leonardo asked, feeling the weight of destiny.
The Old Man smiled sadly, closing the sword case. "Yours is the most dangerous of all, Leonardo. You carry the Blessing of Sacrifice. The Void does not gift power; it demands that you give up everything so that you may contain the impossible. You are the Shield that will allow the other six to attack."
The Farewell to Innocence
Night fell over the small stone house. Leonardo could not sleep. He spent the hours organizing his backpack, feeling the weight of every item. He was no longer the boy who wanted to go to Albion just to see the city lights. The encounter with the Black King had killed that child.
At dawn, the Old Man was waiting for him at the door. He no longer wore his peasant clothes, but a travel tunic reinforced with boiled leather.
"Albion is our first destination," the Old Man said. "Saint Linus of the Elves has sent a message through the spiritual currents. The Queen of Beasts is also moving. The world is waking up from the memory 'blackout,' and panic will spread as soon as people realize the sky has changed."
Leonardo looked at the house one last time. He knew that if he returned, it would not be as the grandson of an old hermit, but as a warrior in a war the world did not yet understand.
"Let's go," Leonardo said, his voice now firm, his left eye glowing with a subtle and dangerous violet hue. "I don't want him to call me a fragment next time. I want him to call me the end."
The Old Man nodded, both proud and terrified at the same time. Together, they descended the hill, leaving behind the peace of anonymity and walking toward the whirlwind that the Black King had initiated.