The figure in the shadows did not move. Its cloak, black as the space between stars, rippled slightly as if touched by a wind that came from nowhere. Seong stood his ground, his hand resting loosely at his side, not on a weapon but open, empty, unafraid.
"You were me once," the figure repeated, tasting the words as if they were foreign. "Angry. Alone. Certain that the world was against you."
"Yes," said Seong.
"And you changed?"
"Yes."
"How?"
Seong took a step closer. The figure did not retreat. "I met people who refused to give up on me. I saw that my anger was hurting no one but myself. I chose to let go."
"Chose." The figure's voice was bitter now. "You make it sound so simple."
"It wasn't simple. It took years. It took tears. It took losing everything I thought I was. But it was worth it."
The figure was silent for a long moment. The garden around them was quiet, the only sounds the soft rustle of leaves and the distant murmur of the sleeping sanctuary.
"My name is Varen," said the figure finally. Its voice was different now. Less like ice breaking, more like stone accepting rain. "I have been watching you for a long time."
"How long?"
"Since the beginning. Since the first meeting place. Since you first walked the Eternal Cold Road."
Seong felt a chill that had nothing to do with temperature. "You were there?"
"I was everywhere. I am what remains of those who did not choose. Those who froze not in ice, but in indecision. Those who watched history pass them by because they were too afraid to step forward."
"You are... all of them?"
"I am the sum of their fear. I am the shadow that doubt casts. I am the watcher in the dark that you become when you refuse to choose."
Seong looked at Varen differently now. Not as an enemy. Not as a threat. As something else entirely. Something sad. Something lost. Something that had been waiting not to attack, but to be seen.
"Why are you here now?" asked Seong.
"Because you are building something I have never seen before. Something that terrifies me. Something that makes me want to destroy it... and something that makes me want to protect it."
"Those are two very different things."
"I know. That is why I have been watching. That is why I have not acted. I do not know which desire is stronger."
Seong sat down on a bench beneath the great tree. He patted the space beside him. "Then sit. And watch more closely. Maybe you will find your answer."
Varen hesitated. For a moment, Seong thought the figure would disappear back into the shadows. Instead, Varen moved. Slowly, hesitantly, like a wild animal approaching water for the first time. And sat.