The first thing Nir felt was silence.
Not the silence of the place.
But a deeper silence, as though the entire world had drifted away from him, leaving him alone inside a point where time did not belong.
Then the memory came.
He saw no face.
He heard no voice.
He saw only darkness.
A darkness without a beginning.
And in its midst, there was a child.
A small child standing barefoot, neither crying nor moving.
Before him lay a massive circle of runes.
Behind the circle stood dozens of people.
Their faces were unclear, but their voices reached him.
"The experiment succeeded."
"Impossible... he's alive."
"What is the density of the Aura?"
"There is no Aura."
Silence fell.
Then another voice came:
"Then what is inside him?"
Someone approached the child.
He placed his hand over the child's chest.
The moment he touched him...
His hand vanished.
The man screamed.
The others stepped back.
Yet the child did not move.
He did not understand what had happened.
He did not know the meaning of fear.
He did not know the meaning of pain.
He knew only one thing.
That he was alone.
Then a man appeared before him.
The same man who now stood in the cave.
He was younger.
And he carried something resembling a crystal.
He knelt before the child.
And said:
"Can you hear me?"
The child raised his head.
His eyes were empty.
"Yes."
The man froze.
Because the child had not yet learned to speak.
There was no one to teach him.
And yet...
He was speaking.
The man asked:
"What is your name?"
The child fell silent.
Then he looked at the darkness behind him.
And said:
"Nir."
The man asked:
"Who gave you that name?"
The child answered:
"Myself."
The memory stopped.
Then the scene shifted.
Years passed in moments.
Nir saw himself growing.
Seeing the world.
Learning.
Failing.
Hurting.
And learning to laugh.
Then he saw the woman he had called mother.
She was holding a small infant in her arms.
Nir stood beside her.
He heard her say to the man:
"I will not let you take him."
The man replied:
"If he stays with us, they will discover him."
"And who said they will find him?"
"Because they have been searching for him since he appeared."
Then she looked at him.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
"Then we will make him human."
The memory cut off.
Nir opened his eyes.
The cave was dark.
Yet this time he could see everything.
He saw the dust.
He saw the cracks.
He saw Lyra's face.
And he saw the man.
Everything was frighteningly clear.
Lyra said:
"Nir... your eyes."
He raised a hand to his face.
"What's wrong with them?"
She did not answer.
It was the man who spoke.
"You have begun to recover your true appearance."
"What does that mean?"
The man looked into his eyes.
"That the eye you used to see the world was not entirely your own."
Nir fell silent.
"And what do I see now?"
He answered:
"The truth."
Nir raised his gaze.
And suddenly, he saw something that had never been there before.
Behind the man.
Behind Lyra.
Behind the walls.
Behind the mountain.
Countless threads binding things together.
Life.
Magic.
Time.
Space.
Even memories.
Everything lay before him like a colossal web.
He reached out a hand.
He touched nothing.
Yet one of the threads snapped.
At that exact moment...
A small stone on the floor vanished.
Nir stared at it.
He hadn't used his power the usual way.
He hadn't erased it.
He hadn't destroyed it.
He had wiped away the link making it a part of this world.
The man said:
"Do not do that again."
Nir looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because you are still learning."
"And what happens if I make a mistake?"
The man looked at the wall.
Then said:
"Things might not just disappear."
He paused.
"The laws that make them exist might vanish."
Nir understood.
If he tried to erase fire...
The flame might not disappear.
The rule that makes fire burn might vanish.
And if he tried to erase death...
He might erase the meaning of an end itself.
And if he tried to erase a person...
He might wipe every trace of their existence from the memory of the world.
His power was not destruction.
It was a rewriting of reality through the void.
Lyra said:
"Can you control it?"
Nir looked at her.
"Not yet."
Then they heard a sound.
Slow applause.
One.
Then another.
Then a third.
Everyone froze.
Nir turned toward the cave entrance.
Someone stood in the darkness.
They hadn't seen him enter.
Nor had they sensed his presence.
He said:
"Fascinating."
The man stepped out of the darkness.
He wore a white robe.
Upon his chest was the symbol of the First Aura.
He looked at Nir with a calm smile.
"After all these years... we've finally found you."
The old man stepped before Nir.
"Do not come closer."
The newcomer laughed.
"You're still trying to protect him?"
Then he looked at Nir.
"Poor thing."
He paused.
"They told you you were human, didn't they?"
Nir raised his eyes.
"And who are you?"
The man's smile vanished.
He said:
"I am one of those who built the world you believe you belong to."
Then he added:
"And I have come to take back what we created."
Nir's eyes locked onto him.
And for the first time...
The void within him stirred without his bidding.