When Marc opened his eyes, he was in the cave he'd seen with Nathanaël. He was aching all over, even though he'd only received a single blow to the abdomen. He lifted his T-shirt and saw a large black and red mark on it.
Marc didn't want to look any longer.
Looking out over the cave from where he stood, he saw Elie lying unconscious on the floor. After checking that she was all right, he stood up and looked at his own hands.
His aura surrounded him. It was the first time he'd seen it. A dark, gloomy aura. Much less dark and gloomy than that of the man in black.
"Am I an evil being like him? "
Marc didn't want to think about it too much. But suddenly, he remembered all those people he'd killed.
"Perhaps, this is the manifestation of our murders? People's anger."
Suddenly, Marc saw his aura change abruptly. The dark, ominous flames gradually began to take on a different shape.
Marc panicked but could do nothing but watch. The shape quickly became clearer—it was a hand, several hands; there were several hands forming within Marc's dark aura.
But it wasn't just hands. Arms soon followed, attached to all those black hands. Dozens of human silhouettes began to surround Marc, closing in on him and grabbing him from all sides. And when the arms had finished forming, distorted faces that seemed to be melting emerged from the ground.
Marc panicked. He thrashed about in every direction to make them go away, but nothing worked; they clung to him just as his aura naturally did.
It was the most terrifying vision of horror he had ever seen, and all these gloomy things clung tightly to no one but him.
Marc slapped himself to wake up, but again, nothing worked. It wasn't a nightmare—at least, he wasn't asleep. There really were dozens of people who looked like they'd come straight out of hell, clinging to him desperately.
But just as his heart was about to give out from panic, that's when he heard them—the voices.
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
The voices kept repeating that single word, which echoed intensely in Marc's head.
"Why? Why? Why?"
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
Marc closed his eyes. But they didn't leave.
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? "Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"Get out."
The voices wouldn't go away.
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? "Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?"
"I'm going to make it. So get out."
Suddenly, one voice seemed clearer to him than the others, for a reason he knew very well.
"I'll never see Diane again."
Marc screamed.
"Get out, I said!!"
"MARC!!"
Marc opened his eyes.
The voices disappeared at once.
When he opened them, he saw Elijah. Elijah was there, looking at him with concern.
"Are you all right?"
Marc looked at Elie with a look filled with regret. But he didn't want to flinch in front of her again. He had to get over it.
Finally, he smiled.
"Don't worry about me. You're the one who fainted."
"You kept saying 'get out!', and you want me to believe everything's okay?"
"Yes."
Elie looked closely at Marc. She was worried about her partner's condition. However, she quickly changed her train of thought. They had to get out of this world.
"What do we do now?"
Marc didn't answer immediately.
He could only go back home after taking such a massacre. If the man in black was watching, they couldn't get in.
"I'm going to check out the village. You stay here and wait for me. If he shows up, jump in the water."
Elie understood Marc's plan very well. He wanted to do things on his own once again and leave her behind, which didn't suit her at all.
"I won't let you go alone. You're really going to die this time."
Marc replied, raising his voice slightly.
"You almost died last time. I'm the one holding up the most. So logically I should go on alone."
"Marc. Think for two seconds. Imagine if everyone in this world was like him."
"I'd run."
"How? He was so much faster than us."
"I've got Nathanaël's sword. It seems everyone who enters here gets major changes. Nath's sword was clearly able to counter it. If it doesn't, I'll run. I promise."
Elie knew she couldn't reason with Marc. But Marc knew he couldn't reason with Elie. She stood up and stepped forward.
"I'm coming with you."
Marc looked Elie in the eye. It was impossible to resist. His dark gaze met his friend's determined gaze. No matter what he wanted at that moment, Elie was going to win anyway.
He sighed
"All right."
The two left the cave and headed down the mountain, checking to see if the man in black was following them. Fortunately for them, he didn't show his face. Even though, in this strange world, it was impossible for them to know whether it was really good news or not.
They arrived at the sort of town at the foot of the mountain.
Marc immediately recognized the strange breed of white being who had attacked him and Nathanaël.
He mentioned it discreetly to Elie.
"It's them. We'll be careful."
"Okay."
They positioned themselves where they could observe the city without being seen. Behind a simple, large rock, where he leaned his head to look.
Marc took a good look at everything.
The city was much larger than any known city of their world. The buildings rose to monstrous heights. It floated on a cloud that was at ground level.
Marc was completely unsettled by the style of architecture. Nothing really looked human, but it was organized in much the same way.
The buildings bore no resemblance to normal buildings in their world. Most were cylindrical in shape, with windows that looked like fly eyes. The top was pointed, but only along part of the circumference.
All the buildings were identical, without exception. They varied in height, of course, but as a whole, they formed a series of cylindrical towers with fly eyes.
As for the city itself, there was nothing but buildings. No other infrastructure was in place. It was as if this so-called city were nothing more than a massive...
"Honeycomb. It looks like a honeycomb."
But what intrigued Marc the most was that, despite the presence of those few white beings, there was no sign of life. Nothing else but them, as if it were their city.
"Could they be the inhabitants of the other world?"
The whole place just looked like a huge storage facility for the white-clad beings, which made it feel particularly lifeless. Because the white beings didn't look anything like living creatures.
And Marc quickly began to feel uneasy.
"This place is way too weird."
"It's empty."
"Yeah. If it's just them, I can beat them."
Marc wanted to emerge from his hiding place but stopped himself.
Someone had just come out of one of the buildings. And when Marc saw him, he was extremely shocked.
First of all, the person was clearly human. Among all those strange beings, he looked exactly like a human being.
But the second reason made him tremble even more, because Marc could have sworn he had seen this person somewhere before and that he knew him very well.
Suddenly, that person started talking to someone else.
"I think it's all right. He lives alone on a mountaintop. He won't make a move from here."
Marc could swear he'd seen this person before. The language he spoke was clearly not his own but he understood everything.
Then, the second person began to speak. Someone who was in the building.
"You should watch out for him. He's really not clean-cut."
The voices belonged to two middle-aged men. There was nothing unusual about that.
"I know. Speaking of which, what would you do if you had unwanted guests."
Marc and Elie flinched.
They quickly realized they were the ones being talked about. Stares seemed to be coming from everywhere in their direction.
"I don't know. Should we punish them?"
Their eyes turned to the two teenagers.
Marc and Elie stood up as the beings in white began to pursue them.
"Maybe he should learn to hide their aura."
"Hush. He'll find out."
Marc and Elie ran toward the mountain. The beings in white followed in their wake.
In less than thirty seconds, the situation had completely spiraled out of their control.
Not only did the two beings who were talking know they'd been there from the start, but now a swarm of white beings was hot on their heels.
At least, that's what it seemed, as if every white being in this town had started chasing them. But Marc hadn't even taken the time to look. Without thinking, he turned and ran in a panic, dashing with Elie toward the cave.
"Elie, don't stop! I'll slow them down!"
Marc knew he was much weaker than the man in black. But that was no reason to let Elie die here under the pretext that he was helpless.
He wasn't helpless this time.
"I'll help you."
"You really are."
But even Elie couldn't bring herself to let him fight alone. So she, too, stopped and stood trembling by his side
The two faced the groups of white beings.
Meanwhile, the two people who were talking seemed to be watching it as if it were a movie.
"Oh. They've decided to fight."
"That means they've been here long enough and they know it."
"Let's see what they're capable of."
But Marc wasn't calm. On the contrary, he was desperate. If he had stopped there, it was because he thought he could do a good deed for once in his life and make up for even a tenth of his mistake. He had counted on Elie to run away, but in the end she had stayed there.
The sacrifice had been wasted, and now he was standing next to her.
He might not have had the will to survive, but that wasn't the case for his friend standing beside him. Seeing Elie trembling like a leaf, Marc couldn't help but feel guilty.
His suicidal urges constantly drove her to want to help him. And now, she stood beside him, facing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of strange white beings from another world who wanted to kill them.
So even though he'd messed this up, he wasn't going to let Elie die here.
That was out of the question...
Marc was the first to step forward.
A white being leapt at his face, but he dodged and landed a heavy blow to its stomach. The white being spat out stars and black matter. Marc thought for a millisecond about how strange it was before refocusing his attention.
He had no time to celebrate his blow when a second being holding a spear tried to thrust it into his heart.
"Careful!"
This time, Elie kicked it hard.
It was an front kick she'd learned in her class.
Marc was surprised.
"Wow."
Marc realized he didn't have to worry that much about her.
The white beings swarmed in. Marc dodged and retaliated.
Elie took all the ones Marc didn't have. He even tried holds he'd seen on TV. He knew that the longer he stayed there, the stronger he became. So it was a golden opportunity to make the most of it while he had the upper hand.
Marc began to understand his true strength. Each blow he landed became stronger and stronger. Each kick became faster and more precise. Each dodge became quicker and quicker. His eyes became increasingly able to see through his enemies' attacks.
The longer the fight went on—even after hundreds of rounds—the more Marc felt like he was becoming someone else.
Someone greater...
The white beings stopped attacking Elie and concentrated on him.
They had spears, swords and daggers, but nothing could stop Marc.
Elie quickly realized that she was no longer a specific target and watched the fight.
Marc seemed to take pleasure in cutting them down. He even perforated the belly of one of them. He deflected daggers and swords, shattered spears...
She was even surprised when she saw several of them with rifles and snipers. Marc had taken a few bullets, including one in the thigh, and he even began to dodge them.
His evolution was frightening...
After about ten minutes, all the white creatures were on the ground.
Marc wiped his bleeding mouth. In fact, his whole body was bleeding, but Marc couldn't really feel the pain.
But Marc sensed something strange. He knew full well that it wasn't over. That something else was coming, but the feeling of unease didn't come from the city. It came from that foot.
The beings in white may have been on the ground and ko, but they were all looking at him with starry eyes.Their eyes that seemed to contain the universe.
None of them had their eyes closed. They were all looking in Marc's direction from where they were lying on the floor.
And suddenly, they all opened their mouths and shouted.
"Aregis"
The word echoed again in Marc's head.
Marc held his head in his hands and collapsed, kneeling on the floor. The pain was immense. It was worse than last time. He couldn't stand it. It felt as if his head was going to explode all over again.
"Stay with me, Marc. Don't collapse now."
Elie's voice began to echo in his head as well, just as it became impossible to offset it with the pain of the word.
Marc slowly raised his head. He saw Elie about to cry on her knees beside him.
And again, he smiled.
"Don't worry.Those jackals knew exactly what they were doing, but I'm staying stronger now."
Elie had laid Marc down and put his head in his lap.
"Yes. You're strong now."
Suddenly, Marc heard someone approaching.
He turned his head and saw the person who had come out of the house and spotted them, advancing towards them.
"Be careful, Elie."
"I know."
Marc looked at Elie, surprised by the tone of his voice. His gaze had gone from sadness to anger in less than a second.
"I'm warning you already, if this is about you fighting, you're going to have to expect the worst."
Marc felt shame rising. Elie wasn't very good with aftershocks, and she didn't look at all capabl of fighting. It was more like the image of a cute, fragile young girl who got upset for no reason that kept running through his head.
Marc thought.
"At least she's strong."
But then it was the strange person who spoke.
"I see. I see."
Marc and Elie couldn't see what the stranger saw.
The so-called young man put his hand behind his neck.
"It's complicated. Good. I'm going to let you go this time even though he might hurt me. I don't want any trouble, besides so I'll send you home."
Elie retorted.
"Wait a minute. We didn't get all our answers."
"You don't need them and I'm not going to give them to you."
Marc and Elie looked at their opponent.
He was very handsome and seemed to be a famous personn. He had long black hair which cascaded down in a black cascade of lively curls, with a lock that hid part of his face. Yet his clothes were very simple. An apple-green shirt with white flowers, a little too baggy, and baggy jogging pants too.
He seemed so relaxed that Marc and Elie were taken aback.
Elie couldn't help but ask the question.
"I've seen you before, haven't I?"
At Elie's question, he laughe and even his laugh was beautiful and harmonious.
"Of course you have, of course you have. My name is Mirades. Oh no, that's right. In your world, I'm Known."
At these words, a blue light enveloped the teenagers. Marc couldn't even move and didn't try to challenge, but Elie tried to reach out.
"Wait."
Even so, the light enveloped them completely and they found themselves in a vast expanse of land.
The last image they had of the other world was the terrifying beauty of Mirades as they faced a swarm of white beings rushing straight toward them from a strange city where the buildings were odd structures with fly-eye windows.
Marc and Elie didn't understand where they were until Marc noticed Nathanaël's car.
"There's no more field."
Everything had become dry and hard. Marc could no longer see any puddles on the horizon.
From a distance, Nathanaël started running toward them, waving his arms.
"What happened?!"