Kael Lanpar's POV
My eyes traced the mental plane of the elf as he dropped to his knees, the exhaustion of the fight crashing down on me without mercy.
The place where I found myself was nothing but pure darkness—a dense, silent blackness that felt disturbingly familiar.
I drew in the air of the ethereal space, forcing my lungs to obey, and tried to steady my breathing before letting myself fall onto the cold ground, staring up at nothing.
There, motionless, I couldn't help but wonder why invoking the power of Calur had been so difficult.
"What do you think is happening to me?"
The question was directed at the elf I had faced just minutes before.
I slowly turned my head to the side and studied his blood-covered face, his eyes completely white—empty—an unmistakable sign that he would not awaken anytime soon.
For some reason, I had left him alive.
Something deep within me whispered that killing him would have been a waste, especially after the doubts he had planted in my mind.
I didn't understand what he meant when he talked about condemning him, or why he had mentioned Lanpar's name in the first place.
The only thing I was certain of was that I had saved them all. Even so, I knew my body would not awaken soon.
I had pushed my physical limits far beyond what they could endure, gambling everything on the effects of Avella Citra.
Perhaps a brief coma awaited me—two or three days at most. If so, it should be enough for my body to recover fully and for the florion overdose to finally be purged from my system.
With effort, I raised my arms and rested my head between my hands, resigning myself to wait—with forced patience—for the moment I would awaken.
I remained still, trapped in the echo of my thoughts. My voice, though born in the mind, spilled outward, exposed—like an open book that anyone could read.
This place had always felt strange to me. The idea that the body could exist and feel across two different planes was something I had never imagined.
And yet, it never ceased to surprise me…
My eyes were closed when I began to sense multiple presences around me—figures staring intently, never looking away.
I tried to open my eyes and barely managed to make out, in a blur, beings floating in the air. I couldn't define their forms; my eyelids closed again without warning.
That was when I understood that exhaustion was beginning to lull me. It was a familiar fatigue, much like the one I felt when my physical body was about to awaken—that peculiar sensation of emerging from a dream that was, in truth, more real than waking life.
As had become customary, my eyes were blinded by the intense light of consciousness returning, a brilliance that slowly faded as time passed.
(Outside the mental space)
My senses stirred once more, catching the sweet scent of flowers dancing in the morning breeze.
I had barely managed to open my eyes when I realized I was in an unfamiliar room.
A chandelier—strangely out of place for the era I found myself in—hung near the ceiling.
With the little strength I could gather, I sat up in the warm, welcoming bed where I had been lying. Then, without warning, a searing cold wrapped itself around me.
I hugged myself desperately, trying to preserve what little warmth I had, watching my breath crystallize with every ragged exhale.
It didn't take long to notice that the window beside the bed was open.
I hurried to close it, and as my hand pressed against the frozen glass, I realized something that left me completely still—
The hand pushing the window shut was not that of a small child.
My mind blank, unable to comprehend what was happening, I stepped down from the bed and moved toward a nearby mirror.
I advanced with slow, uncertain steps until the reflection finally returned an image.
What I saw was not the body of a seven-year-old child.
It was Matías's body—at an age that didn't match his years. Too defined, too trained for someone who was supposed to be fifteen.
"Wait a minute…"
Panic seized me.
I brought both hands to my face, pressing my cheeks hard as terror flooded every corner of my being.
Those blue irises, that wild brown hair swaying gently with the air… that face belonged to someone who had marked me forever.
I wanted to believe that those smoke-born beings, the ones that had emerged within the elf's mental plane, were responsible for what was happening.
That suspicion vanished the moment I heard his voice.
"I see you've finally realized where you are."
Instinctively, I took a step back.
The mirror's reflection warped, revealing another person—the true owner of the adolescent body I now inhabited.
"You're still afraid of me," he added, almost in a whisper. "I still find it hard to believe I spared your life that day."
I clenched my jaw, acting on impulse, as an icy chill slid across my skin.
"What did you just do?" I asked, panic seeping into every word.
He didn't answer.
He merely offered a melancholic smile that sent a tremor deep into my soul.
Summoning strength from where none remained, I closed my fist so tightly my skin turned unnaturally pale.
With a sudden motion, I threw a punch forward.
The glass shattered with a dry crack, crystalline fragments scattering across the polished wooden floor.
My hand began to bleed.
Thick drops ran from my knuckles, staining the ground as Matías's voice continued to echo—multiplied, coming from every direction.
"What is it that you want?"
The shout came out muffled, aimless. His presence had spread, clinging to every shard of glass strewn across the floor.
"If it's not too much to ask…"
For a moment, everything fell silent.
Then his voice rose again, deep and close.
"I want you to understand why I'm doing all of this."
His words left me frozen—not because they wounded me emotionally, but because they confirmed something far worse.
There was no escape.
The reason I had understood from the very beginning that I was nothing more than a fragment was because I knew the power of Calur all too well.
Those abilities capable of warping reality, stopping time, or splitting the soul were not mere myths.
They were truths carved in stone—absolute manifestations of the Divine Eye's power that Dextrina had bestowed upon Matías.
"I would have preferred, a thousand times over, never to have been created—if I had known you wouldn't let me live in peace."
I let out a breath when I realized he had vanished.
Everything settled into calm for a brief instant.
My words lingered in the air, unanswered, until they were met in the most unexpected way—the song of birds perched by the window.
Knock… knock
I slowly turned my head, still unsure of what I was supposed to feel, and watched as the door opened, a figure appearing in the doorway.
His face showed no emotion as his eyes swept over the destruction I had caused.
A grimace of displeasure formed on his dry lips before he spoke.
"I see you're having mental issues now."
I wanted to reply, but no words would come.
"When you've finished putting your thoughts in order, head straight to the meeting hall. Lord Castleboard has summoned you."
Without adding anything else, he closed the door.
At that exact moment, as his footsteps faded away, I sensed a presence at my back.
I didn't think. I spun on my heel, lowered my center of gravity, and drove a punch straight toward his ribs.
I missed.
I felt the pressure of Matías's hand clamp tightly around my arm.
Before I could react, a brutal kick struck me head-on. I couldn't block it. The impact hurled me against the wall, ripping the air from my lungs.
"You're afraid of being discovered, aren't you?"
My gaze hardened as it met his. In that instant, I understood everything.
I realized what he had truly done.
"Ha… ha… don't fuck with me," I spat through a broken laugh. "You sent me to the damn past."
He merely traced a faint smile.
He vanished the moment I blinked.
Before I could react, his hand lifted me into the air. My breath cut off abruptly, and unconsciousness tried to claim me.
Just before I lost awareness, he released me.
I fell to my knees with a dull thud, clutching my throat with trembling hands, pain burning through it.
"Don't you dare do anything stupid," he said without looking at me. "Your actions here don't alter the future that's already been set."
"Take this place as an alternate reality. A glimpse of what I can't explain to you with words," he added, his voice drifting farther away.
Dazed, I raised my head with effort, searching for his face.
All I found was the chaos he had left behind. The bastard had vanished once again.
Leaning against the bedside table, I tried to stand.
I froze instantly, paralyzed by what I had just heard.
"Son, are you alright?"
My heart began to pound at the sound of the gentle voice coming from behind the door.
I knew all too well who it belonged to.
And even though I didn't know whether I was supposed to feel affection for someone who existed only in memories that weren't truly mine, a strange, serene calm seeped into the deepest part of my soul.
The door opened once more, revealing the face of a beautiful woman.
In her kind eyes rested a concern that only a mother could hold.
"Matías, what happened to you?" she asked, rushing toward me.
I forced a smile as I finished standing, holding the gaze of the woman I had once called mother.
"I was trying to practice and—"
I didn't finish the sentence.
She wrapped her arms around me and broke into a restrained sob, her whispered words cutting through me without mercy.
"You promised you wouldn't hurt yourself anymore, my son. Why won't you think about yourself, just once?"
I returned the embrace, trying to calm her, searching for an excuse that would spare her the pain of what Matías had been enduring at that age.
Maybe I hated that bastard with every fiber of my being—but just as I knew how despicable he could be, I also knew his story.
After all, I was a part of him.
There were memories I couldn't access, perhaps because he wouldn't allow me to see them… but this moment, I remembered with absolute clarity.
"I don't want anything bad to happen to you," she added with difficulty. "You and your sister are the only people I have left."
I loathed pretending feelings that didn't belong to me, but the pain of seeing her cry was stronger than any inner rejection.
Carefully, I pulled away from the embrace and held her in front of me by the shoulders.
I offered a smile—this time, a genuine one—and watched as her expression finally softened.
"Mother, I have to go. Lord Castleboard requires my presence," I said as I stood up.
An idea had begun to take shape in my mind.
I didn't know if it would work until I tried it, but if I wasn't mistaken, this was precisely the point in Matías's life when Calur fully awakened.
If it was possible, I would use his own weapon against him.
I had no intention of staying long in this world.
After putting on my shirt and coat, I leaned down to take the sword sheath resting against the wall.
The white gold adorning it glimmered faintly beneath the light, as if it sensed what was about to come.
Before leaving the room, I paused for a moment to look at my mother one last time.
I watched her clean up the mess I had left behind, wearing a smile worthy of admiration.
I knew she had forced herself to be strong for us after my father's death. That unbreakable smile had died long ago; all that remained was the habit of pretending it was still alive.
As I crossed the threshold, I found myself in long corridors branching off into different sectors.
Golden sunlight filtered through the windows, illuminating gilded ornaments that gleamed beneath its glow.
"You decided to give me a chance."
I swallowed my anger. This time, for my own sake, I simply held his gaze. His face was reflected in a silver tray resting on a small table.
"Don't get it wrong. I'm only doing this because I have no other choice," I replied, watching a smile form on his lips.
When I looked away, his voice dissolved into silence, replaced by the shouts of adolescents running through the corridors of the army training grounds.
If my memories didn't fail me, this was the exact age at which she… died.
My eyes settled on the young girl waiting, leaning against a door with quiet patience.
Her golden hair, cascading down to her waist, and her blue eyes—carriers of an unmistakable freedom—gave her away instantly.
Our gazes met, and a radiant smile spread across her face.
All I could do was let out a weary sigh, fully aware of what awaited me.
I adjusted the sword sheath at my waist and resumed my walk toward the exit. I exchanged glances with several people who greeted me as they passed.
I knew that if I wanted to leave this place, I would have to play along with his game…
At least for now.