A perfect copy of Adam was sitting on the ornate bleachers, one leg crossed over the other, staring at Adam with a malicious glint in his eyes.
His name was Noah.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in... the traitor."
A few seconds passed before Noah continued, his tone calm and condescending:
"Welcome back... Danny."
Danny gritted his teeth, swallowing his rage as he stared at Noah, who was identical to him in every way except for the subtle sneer and posture—like a distorted mirror image.
He shot him a furious look and said:
"What brought you back here, you traitor ?"
Noah smiled slyly and continued in that calm, condescending tone:
"Didn't you say you'd never come back... until you fulfilled his final wish?"
Danny looked at him with eyes full of rage, his voice sharp as he said:
"Don't play dumb…You know exactly what brought me back. I never wanted to return."
A silence hung in the air for a few seconds after his words, before Noah burst into a loud, mocking laugh, then stopped abruptly.
His expression turned icy as he stared at Danny and said:
"You think we want you here either?No one wants to see you after what you did. No one wants a traitor by their side."
He said it in a low voice laced with threat, his eyes blazing with contempt.
Then he raised his hand and pointed toward the shadow seated on the stone throne,saying coldly:
"Not even Adam... wants to see you."
A loud sound echoed across the sky, like a thunderclap, but much stronger and deeper. The mountain they stood on shook violently, and dust scattered from between the ancient stones.
Noah lowered his gaze outward. Down below, the gray clouds were slowly crawling toward the mountain, clashing together like an angry beast. Then the sound boomed again, louder than before, before vanishing as suddenly as it had appeared.
Noah's eyes widened for a moment, and a flicker of worry crossed his face, but he quickly regained his composure and hid his unease. He looked back at Danny and said in a low voice, stripped of all its former arrogance and slyness:
"There's no place for you in the Kingdom of Consciousness anymore, Danny... Go back to the Reality. And don't ever come back."
Danny gritted his teeth so hard he almost heard them grinding. His trembling hand clenched into a tight fist. He then lifted his eyes toward the dark shadow seated on the throne, a look of pure anguish breaking through his silent facade.
"I... I..."
He wanted to speak, but the words caught in his throat. He could only lower his gaze to the ground, a faint glimmer of pain shining in his eyes.
Danny knelt in the direction of the dark shadow enthroned upon the stone, bowing his head as if carrying the weight of his sins on his shoulders. He then muttered in a hoarse, strained voice:
"I promise... I won't come back until I've atoned for what I've done."
As Danny spoke his vow, Noah was watching the gray clouds crawl toward the mountain like a raging sea. His eyes were filled with unease, his gaze darting nervously between the kneeling Danny and the ominous, overcast sky.
Noah gritted his own teeth, his usual demeanor shifting to one of grim despair. He looked at Danny and said, his voice low and urgent:
"Go now... Just go."
Danny stood up again, lifting his head slightly. He closed his eyes for a few brief seconds before suddenly feeling as if an unseen force was pulling him downward. The ground vanished from beneath his feet, as if it had dissolved completely, and he found himself floating in an ocean of dark emptiness.
A harsh cold seeped into his body, starting from his back and creeping upward until the very air around him felt like ice.
He slowly opened his eyes to find himself lying on his back. Something was covering his entire body—something green streaked with dark lines.
He reached out and pushed the covering aside, realizing it was a giant leaf, patterned with deep blue stripes. Several similar leaves were scattered around him, covering him as if someone had carefully wrapped him in them.
He recognized them instantly—leaves from the Poison-Fruit tree, the same one he had eaten from before.
He pushed himself up slightly and looked around in surprise. He was inside a dark, damp cave, the silence broken only by the echoing drip of water from the stone ceiling.
Beside him, one of the striped leaves had been laid out like a platter. On it rested two huge, melon-sized fruits. They were a deep purple, studded with sharp, crimson, triangle-shaped thorns.
One of the fruits was split open at the side, revealing inner seeds that resembled pomegranate seeds, but their dark, murky purple color hinted at poison and mystery.
A sweet, delicious scent wafted from them.
But Danny paid the fruits no mind. He knew all too well what would happen if he ate something strange again without being sure.
What truly occupied his thoughts was the mysterious situation he found himself in: trapped in a dark cave, wrapped in giant leaves, with these bizarre, unfamiliar fruits beside him.
The last thing he remembered was being engulfed by those strange, shifting colors, followed by an overwhelming exhaustion that washed over him before he collapsed among the trees.
Yet, a fleeting memory flashed in his mind, making his breath catch—something had emerged from the trees right before he blacked out… He hadn't seen what it was, but he was sure it was there.
Danny couldn't get up quickly; his body was still drained from the poison fruit's effects, and on top of that, that thing might be waiting outside.
He scanned his surroundings cautiously, searching for anything he could use as a weapon, but all he found were scattered rocks of various sizes.
That's when… an idea struck him.
Several minutes passed in a heavy silence, broken only by the sound of water dripping from the cave ceiling. Then, suddenly, the soft sound of footsteps echoed from the cave entrance—cautious, yet steady.
A figure appeared at the mouth of the cave. At first glance, it looked like a human boy of fourteen or fifteen.
But his skin was a pale, ashen gray, like cold ashes, and his eyes were completely black, devoid of any white, centered by irises of a vibrant, glowing blue that seemed to shine from within. His long hair was tied back tightly into a single tail.
He wore a short skirt that reached his knees. Hanging from its edge was a small stone knife, studded with hard, shiny fragments. His arms and legs were protected by primitive armor made from the same material, tightly bound with dark cords.
The creature moved with quiet steps toward the spot where Danny had been lying. He bent down slightly to place a third fruit beside the previous two, then turned to leave…
But he suddenly stopped after a few steps, as if something had caught his attention.
Slowly, he returned to the leaves that had covered Danny and bent over them, silent, as if examining them or trying to confirm something.
The boy reached out slowly, carefully lifting the leaves... but then he froze in place.
Danny wasn't there.
Under the leaves, he found only scattered rocks, cleverly arranged to hide the body's absence.
His head shot up in surprise, and he spun around quickly toward the cave exit, trying to flee—
But suddenly, Danny lunged from behind a large rock where he'd been hiding.
He grabbed the boy by the neck with both hands before he could scream, slamming him hard onto the ground.
Danny pinned him down, digging his right knee into the boy's back and wrenching his arms to immobilize him completely.
He pressed his knee down harder, and a cry of pain escaped the boy's lips.
Danny snatched a rock from the ground and smashed it violently next to the boy's head, sending sharp fragments flying into his face.
Then, he leaned close to his ear, his voice a deep, congested roar, raw with anger and the lingering humiliation from the Kingdom of Consciousness.
The image of Noah and the dark shadow was seared into his mind, and all that pent-up fury now had a target.
The boy immediately stopped struggling. His eyes began to glisten, and then the first tear traced a path down his ashen cheek. His mouth trembled and fell open silently before a stifled, childlike sob escaped his throat—a cry he was desperately trying to suppress.
Danny kept staring at him with hard, unfeeling eyes, and he was on the verge of shouting at him again.
But when he saw the tears streaming down that youthful face, he felt as if a knife had pierced his chest.
Gradually, the anger receded from his features, leaving behind a familiar, old ache. He eased the pressure on the boy's back, allowing him to breathe more freely and release the sobs that had been trapped beneath Adam's foot.
After a moment of internal struggle, Danny let out a heavy breath.
He snatched one of the leather cords tied to the boy's clothing.
With steady hands, he bound the boy's wrists and ankles tightly. He then carefully took the small stone knife, removing it from the boy's possession.
Finally, he dragged him a short distance and propped him against the cold cave wall. The boy sat there, half-reclining, his whole body shaking with fear.
Danny stood silently before him, his eyes burning with a mix of anger and suspicion. The boy could only sob quietly, his tears cutting tracks through the dust on his gray face.
"Shut up!" Danny yelled.
The boy, however, seemed not to understand a word.
So Danny tore another leather strip from the boy's clothing, grabbed a handful of the leaves that had been scattered over the rocks, and stuffed them into his mouth, I muted his voice .