Darkness enveloped the room.
Zavi's body suddenly tensed for a few seconds. He rushed to the table in the living room, quickly lit a candle, then carried it into his mother's room.
No wind entered the house, making the candle flame extremely steady.
Zavi raised the candle, higher than his head, and the warm yellow light revealed his mother sleeping, a blanket covering her entire body except for her head.
The sound of her breathing was clear, easing Zavi's earlier tension and allowing him to breathe more calmly than before.
After making sure nothing was wrong, he gently placed the candle on the bedside table.
"Mom… I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice barely audible.
He took a deep breath, turned around, and left his mother's room. Not forgetting to close the door behind him, Zavi walked toward his own room.
'Why does it feel like she's my own biological mother?'
Click…
The door opened, and a few seconds later he closed it again. Zavi stepped back and sat down on the chair, resting his legs on the table.
He pulled the silver revolver from his coat pocket, raised it in front of his face, stared at it, and slowly spun it around.
A question suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Who is he, really? Why is he so kind to me? We only met about a day ago, yet he knows what happened to Forn and how to deal with that winged creature.
Zavi pondered silently.
He took a deep breath, then opened a drawer and put the silver revolver inside, hiding it behind several books.
"Oh, what time is it now?" Zavi took out his watch and, to his surprise, realized it was no longer working, meaning it had been damaged by the rain. He placed it on the table.
He walked to the wardrobe, took a wooden hanger, placed his coat on it, and hung it on the wardrobe handle.
"It's fine, right?" he asked himself, slightly shrugging his shoulders.
Zavi only changed into a warmer shirt because the night was extremely cold, and he did not turn on the heater.
After doing everything he wanted to do, he decided to sleep and try the ritual tomorrow. Drowsiness slowly overtook him. Zavi forced his eyes open, but he couldn't.
In the end, he gave in to sleep and drifted off deeply, leaning to the right with his cold palm touching his cheek.
***
Morning arrived, the horizon glowing with warm sunlight, illuminating the world and stirring everyone's spirit to begin something new.
At 7:50 a.m., Zavi woke from his sleep, still dreaming of the same thing, forgetting his original plan to consult someone.
He quickly opened the door and ran as fast as he could to the bathroom to relieve himself. He hadn't expected that waking from such deep sleep would make his body feel refreshed and energized.
Instead, Zavi felt cramps in his groin and right hand, and his body felt as if it had been beaten by a group of people.
"Damn…" Zavi turned on the tap, cupped water in his hands, and splashed it onto his face.
"So refreshing…" he murmured in relief.
Just as he was about to wash his face one last time, a flat, trembling voice called his name.
"Zavi…" Ren said, holding his left shoulder.
The sound of running water stopped. Zavi rinsed his hands, then dried them on his pants.
"What is it?" Zavi asked with a blank expression.
Instead of answering, Ren's eyes widened as he stared at Zavi, his mouth slightly open.
"Hey, there's something strange about you. Look at the mirror properly!" Ren said, slightly shocked.
What?
Zavi quickly turned his head and looked at his face in the mirror, but there was nothing strange about him.
"This guy's drunk," he muttered softly, giving Ren an odd look.
After that, Zavi stepped forward, leaving the bathroom to prepare breakfast. Unexpectedly, Ren followed him and kept telling Zavi to look at the mirror properly.
Why does he keep telling me to look at the mirror?
Confused, Zavi's hands and eyes focused on making a sandwich, while his mind was caught on Ren's words, looping endlessly.
He turned around and walked back to the bathroom, taking small bites of the sandwich he was holding.
His eyes narrowed as he stared at his reflection in the mirror.
"Look closely," Ren said calmly, leaning against the bathroom door.
Zavi glanced again and focused on his reflection. A few seconds later, he was shocked by a supernatural phenomenon. There was a creature with a humanoid form, a terrifying face, and two black wings beneath its shoulders, hovering above his left shoulder.
Zavi reflexively stepped back. Unable to keep his balance, he slipped and fell, crashing into the bathroom wall.
"Ow… ow, ow… ow." He braced himself on the floor with both hands to stand up and looked at his reflection again out of curiosity.
"What kind of creature is this, anyway?" he asked, turning toward Ren.
Ren chuckled softly. "That's a phantom, but how did it manage to follow you?" he asked, his tone weary due to his poor physical condition.
Huh? Phantom, so that's what it's called? Zavi thought.
"Could it be that it appeared when I met Karl, or maybe when I was with Mr. Albert?"
Zavi cleared his throat once, trying to break his own tension. He turned again, staring at his reflection, and this time touched the phantom hovering over his left shoulder.
Shocked.
"Hey, Ren. I can touch this strange creature through my reflection in the mirror," he said in disbelief. "And why is it that when I look directly, the phantom isn't visible?" he asked, puzzled.
Just as Ren was about to open his mouth to answer, Zavi continued speaking.
"Do you perhaps have something?" Ren was startled as Zavi went on, "Something like a medium for supernatural abilities? A charm? An artifact? A relic? Or some other occult-related object?" Zavi's expression turned serious, his eyes fixed on Ren's calm face as Ren looked back at him.
"So you already know," Ren said. "Good. There's nothing I need to hide anymore."
After saying that, Ren straightened his posture and stretched his stiff body. Then he walked forward, leaving Zavi alone in the bathroom, a small smile etched on his gentle face.
And Zavi, now aware of what kind of ability Ren possessed, watched him as he climbed the stairs and disappeared into the hallway a few seconds later.
From downstairs, in the living room, Zavi once again grew curious about his mother. He quickly moved toward her room to make sure. Even though he knew that at this hour, she had already gone to the market to trade.
Still, there was no harm in checking, just to calm his heart a little after being shocked by the phantom earlier.
"As I expected, nothing strange happened to her." He muttered softly.
Was Karl earlier statement just a joke? The thought made him laugh.
That night, before returning home, Zavi had gathered information from Karl Avatar. He asked one question that had been lingering in his mind: the steps required to obtain the supernatural ability known as Prisoner.
The answer was not simple.
A sacrifice was required for the Avatar to gain its own consciousness. Part of the original memories had to be released, handed over, so it could function and carry out its will.
Even though it was only an Avatar, and Karl true existence remained unknown, Zavi had his own way of making it talk. A method that was not entirely clean, but effective enough.
And in the end, he obtained that information.
Doubt arose after hearing the ritual's conditions, strange, unnatural, and far too specific to be called coincidence. Yet his curiosity prevailed.
Now, Zavi had left his house. Coincidence or perhaps not, his home was located not far from the abandoned area, only about a hundred meters away. A place avoided by everyone. No one wanted to pass through, let alone stop there.
It was known to be eerie, with people often reporting moving objects or strange sounds.
The perfect place to perform a ritual.
After painstakingly gathering all the required materials, in the afternoon, Zavi stepped into the area that should have been part of the Chapena district, preparing to perform a ritual that might change everything.
Inside the abandoned house.
A chalk circle made from the vomit of a whale called Xie was drawn without even the slightest gap. Inside it, Prisoner symbols were arranged into an inverted triangle, connected by thin lines that served as channels for the flow of will. Each symbol was not a letter, but a command directed at a power unrelated to human language.
At the center of the circle, a watch that had been damaged by rain was placed facing upward, motionless, useless, with its hands pointing at 08:00. One condition fulfilled.
Zavi pierced the tip of his finger with a kitchen knife. Blood dripped, touching the floor of the abandoned house, right inside the circle's line. Two conditions fulfilled.
A bottle of night seawater was poured slowly, followed by jasmine flowers and about twenty red Terami leaves, a three-framed blossom called Netaraxi, and the main ritual ingredient, something repulsive: Secceter, a root with a sharp, alien stench, growing only on the western continent of Xereania. The final condition was fulfilled.
The aromas mixed, sweet yet piercing.
When he stepped inside, the blood from his fingertip had already stopped flowing. Zavi swallowed hard, afraid of what would happen next, but it was too late for regret, even though he knew that if the ritual failed, he would die, or rather, be taken to another world.
The blood and all the materials reacted. As whispers began to echo, the circle remained intact.
The watch also remained intact. The hands that should have been stopped began to move again.
The ritual was accepted. However, part of him did not return.
From within the abandoned house, a thick red aura mixed with dark purple emerged, then shot up through the roof toward the sky, creating a powerful wave of spiritual energy.
This made it difficult for Zavi to keep his body upright. He struggled not to think about his surroundings and waited for the final moments.
Objects like wood, roof tiles, and rusted iron flew around inside the room, making it hard for Zavi to concentrate properly.
"What is this?" he muttered, his voice slightly tense.
His face twisted, and his jaw tightened, a sign that the ritual was not going as planned.
"Huh? Is this the end of my life? Defying the gods was a bad idea, damn it," he said resignedly, convinced that he would soon be devoured by the circle.