The church building in the southern suburb wasn't like any other.Its gray walls bore faded tattoos, and the closed windows looked like eyes afraid of the light.The silence inside ran deeper than necessary, as if time itself had chosen to stop at its threshold.
Inside, Priestess Jerome read a report written in rough handwriting:"Luin Meer. Unregistered opening of the first seal.Abnormal marks on the body.Use of defensive rituals outside the system.Temporary tracking by the shadow unit failed due to mental rebound."
She placed the paper on the table and looked at the man sitting before her."You witnessed the fight?"
The man's face was cracked like dry earth. He nodded."I'm the one who survived it."
"And your description?"
"He didn't fight like a human. Nor like a demon.Something else.Something… that doesn't speak, yet makes the air speak for it."
⸻
Jerome closed her fingers around her psychic cross necklace."This boy… must not reach the second seal."
"Why not?"
"Because the second opens through betrayal.And Luin… he's the only one capable of betraying himself more than anyone else."
She looked at the man sharply and commanded:"Watch him.Kill him if he approaches the second seal's rituals.But if he hesitates… make us his betrayal."
⸻
In the corner of the room, a small girl in a servant's dress watched silently.White hair. Warm, dim blue eyes.
When everyone left… she whispered to herself:"He's grown, then."
And she disappeared, like a shadow needing no door to pass.
⸻
"You don't understand," William said, tossing a small knife toward Luin."Real fighting isn't won with strength. It's won with deception."
Luin caught the knife, his gaze steady."I'm not interested in being a killer."
"You're not a killer. You're something else, something yet to be born.And you won't be born unless you learn to tear the last shell from yourself."
Luin sat in silence, staring at the chalk lines William had drawn on the floor.Circles within circles.Twisted numbers.Whispers resembling hymns… but recited backwards.
"What is this?"
"Rituals of lies.A way to trick your body… so it believes it isn't afraid."
⸻
On the fifth night, William asked Luin to close his eyes."I'm going to stab you."
"What?"
"If you don't act on what I trained you for… you'll bleed."
Luin didn't respond. He closed his eyes.
William stepped forward with cold, deliberate steps.But at the moment of the strike, Luin raised his arm and caught the blade between his fingers—without seeing.
Blood flowed… yet he didn't flinch.
William smiled for the first time in days."Now… you can begin."
⸻
The next day, a nobleman entered their home.Elegant, leather-gloved, his eyes like mirrors.
He introduced himself simply:"Sir Cairn. From the Lufari family.I seek someone who lies better than he believes."
William stared. Luin said nothing.
The man smiled faintly."I've heard you… hate the Church, Luin Meer.And I have an offer… one that might satisfy that part of you."
⸻
Luin sat in the shadow, near the unlit hearth.The night wasn't quiet—it was heavy, as if the stars themselves watched without daring to speak.
"Why did you really come?" he asked, eyes on the dead fire.
Sir Cairn slowly removed his glove."Because I need someone to break something he doesn't own."
"What is it?"
"The Church's most sacred secret: the Silent Blood Seal.No one knows how it was first opened, but we know the Church hides who opened it."
Luin stared at him."And why me?"
Cairn smiled faintly."Because you're close to betrayal, even if you haven't betrayed yet.Only such humans… can touch the truth without burning."
⸻
That night, Luin dreamed.He saw himself in a cell. Walls made of sound, floor made of memories not his own.
A voice whispered in the darkness:"You are the son of the unnamed.A seal was placed upon you, but your voice was buried beneath it.To reclaim it… you'll betray, and be betrayed.And your face will shatter in the mirror more than once."
He woke, sweating, clutching his chest… as if something inside pulsed wrong.
⸻
In the morning, William told him:"The second seal is near… but don't rush it.Betrayal comes when you think you're doing the right thing."
"Who said I want to open it?"
"It's not about desire. It's fate.Those who do not choose… will be chosen."
⸻
The path to the Shadow District wasn't open to the public.
But Luin, accompanied by Cairn, walked as if he belonged there.
The ground was covered with ashes of ancient rituals, and the walls bore traces of letters buried under plaster.
"Who are we meeting?" Luin asked.
"The only one who opened the second seal and survived," Cairn said.
"Where is he?"
"In the mirrors. Only there."
⸻
They entered an old building.Every wall was a mirror. No windows, no back doors. Only reflections.
In one mirror… Luin didn't see himself.He saw a child crying, then laughing, then staring at him and whispering:"You're next."
One of the mirrors suddenly shattered, releasing smoke resembling watercolor ink.From it emerged a man with burned eyes and a chain of rituals around his neck.
"Cairn…" the man said, "you brought the boy."
"Will he teach me?" Luin asked.
The man laughed."I won't teach you. I'll betray you.Only when you understand my betrayal… will your seal crack."
Cairn said in a low voice:"Here begins the journey… beyond the self."
⸻
Between the mirrors, time seemed meaningless.
Every step Luin took felt recorded, as if the walls were keeping pieces of his soul without consent.
The man who came out of the mirror—named Elar—sat across from him, slowly grinding gray papers, preparing something that couldn't be named.
"Everyone who opened the second seal before you… kept it secret and died with it," Elar said, placing the ash into a bone vessel.
"Then why didn't you die?" Luin asked coldly.
Elar smiled in a way that couldn't be defined."Because I betrayed before I was betrayed. That's all there is to it."
⸻
In the corner, a circular mirror covered with a red cloth.
"Open it only if you're ready to hear the first lie told to you."
"What is it?"
"That your name is real."
Luin didn't move. He felt his back sweat and his hands grow cold.
"I've been watching you since you were a child. You saw what shouldn't be seen. And you survived a hand that should have killed you."
"The surgeon?" Luin whispered.
Elar stared at him for a long moment. Then said:"No… something older than that."
Before he could continue… someone sneezed.
Yes, a sneeze. Simple.From the shadows.
But it wasn't ordinary. It carried a hidden layer of psychic force that shook the room. All the mirrors trembled, and some cracked.
Luin turned immediately.
From the darkness emerged a new man.His face unmarked. His eyes… empty, even of void.
"Who is this?!" Cairn shouted.
Elar suddenly stood, whispering in fear:"He's not human… he's one of the Silent Ones."
⸻
The Silent One lunged at Luin.
There was no time for rituals.
Luin twisted his body, using his psychic energy to press against the air around him.
But the Silent One passed through the attack as if it were a smoke curtain.He appeared in front of Luin, placing a finger on his forehead.
Suddenly… Luin saw a scene that defied description.
His heart being ripped out.His voice locked inside another mouth.His face… erased from existence.
Yet at the last moment, an inner voice broke and shouted:"You will not make me forget myself twice!"
⸻
Luin collapsed to the floor, vomiting something black.
It wasn't blood, but a mixture of ink, fear, and regret.
"What did he do to me?!" he shouted, gasping.
Elar approached, placing a hand on Luin's forehead, checking his eyes:"You've seen a part of yourself removed by the old rituals. This is normal."
"Normal? As if my name is ripped from me? As if I see my voice breaking?!"
Cairn looked around."The Silent One disappeared… how did he enter? How did he leave?"
Elar replied calmly:"He didn't enter. We reached the edge of his awareness… when you neared the second seal, you began to dance on the edge of their names."
Luin stood, unsteady but firm.
"I… haven't betrayed yet."
Elar placed his hand on his shoulder, saying:"Then you're close."
⸻
On their way back, Cairn asked:"Will you continue?"
"Yes."
"Even if those you trust betray you?"
Luin looked at him and said:"Everyone I trusted… is dead."
⸻
End of Chapter Seventeen