"Ohh man, my human died!" The voice echoed frustrated through the hollow, blue-white fire that crackled without heat.
"I literally corrupted him just a few minutes ago! Man… how is that even possible? That's such a waste of power! If this keeps happening, I'll have nothing left soon!"
A second figure peeked out of the flames, its voice annoyed, as if it had heard this monologue a hundred times already.
"Yeah, who do you think you are? Nobody cares if you die. Your only job is to corrupt humans, to distract the bearer of Elionis' powers so that—"
The first one immediately cut him off, irritated, mimicking a nagging teacher:
"—so that when he arrives, Ghalthuron already rules, yeah, yeah, I know…"
He rolled his eyes dramatically.
⸻
A knock.
Hard. Urgent. Like someone wasn't just announcing themselves — but trying to break the door in.
Rhuven slowly lifted his head. He took a deep breath, set his cup aside — and opened the door.
In front of him stood Saevin.
With Noen. Or rather: with a completely destroyed, squirming, half-collapsed Noen, whom he held up by the clothes like a soaked sack.
Noen's legs dangled in the air. He flailed with his fists, but they weren't real punches — only weak, powerless motions, looking more like desperate flailing than an attack.
"Rhuven," Saevin said.
He paused.A long moment. He lowered his gaze, looked directly into Noen's face — the blue eyes, the trembling lips, the burning shake in his entire body.
Then Saevin said, quiet and serious:
"He…"Another short glance downward."…is nowhere near ready for it."
Rhuven closed his eyes for a second, lightly, burdened. Almost as if he had expected exactly this.As if the outcome had always been inevitable.
Noen sucked in a sharp breath. "Ready? Ready for what?!"
His voice cracked.
He gripped Noen tighter — and simply threw him through the open door into Rhuven's home.
Noen stumbled, fell to his knees, then slid halfway across the floor. He reached out frantically for something to hold onto, found nothing.
Rhuven stood calmly by, letting Saevin handle it.
"Make sure you deal with this," Saevin said finally.
Then he turned around.
Without another word he jumped over the railing outside the door, performed an absolutely unnecessary but impressive flip down the staircase — and ran, almost gliding, up the wall until he reached the rooftops.
One last glance back, barely noticeable. Then he was gone.