The world was white.

  A white that cast no shadow, that swallowed every notion of distance or shape.

  Kael was naked, lying on… nothing. No ground, no air, no horizon.

  He pushed himself up with difficulty. His muscles didn’t hurt, but they didn’t respond the way they normally did — as if his body were only an approximate idea of himself.

  He searched for a reference point, anything.

  The man with the opal eyes…

  That damned bastard.

  The echo of his own thoughts resonated as if inside a skull far too vast.

  Kael eventually stood. His feet produced no sound.

  As he turned, he felt his heart tighten under the surge of an animal instinct.

  A silhouette stood far away. Kneeling. Enormous. It resembled a hollow, blackened tree trunk rotting from the inside. Around it floated strips of dark cloth, like fragments of a torn night.

  And from that distorted mass flowed long white hair, an absolute white — a white that, unlike the rest, seemed real.

  The creature raised its arms.

  It offered something between its hands.

  An indistinct object, blurred, as if Kael did not have permission to understand its form.

  A shiver ran along his neck.

  He felt a visceral pull, irrational, almost painful.

  He took a step.

  Then another.

  The white trembled around him, almost imperceptibly.

  A hand settled on his shoulder.

  He turned abruptly, slipped, and fell heavily — without a sound.

  The man was there.

  The man with the opal eyes.

  Long white hair tied back, an unmoving face, a gaze that seemed… to be waiting for something.

  Kael felt his throat tighten, a burning anger rising like a black tide.

  His voice echoed — but not in the air.

  "You look so much like them."

  The words passed through Kael like a blade.

  He sprang to his feet. Ready to leap for his throat.

  Anger, confusion, fear — everything exploded.

  And the white, the creature, the man…

  Everything vanished as if someone had blown on a fragile flame.

  He woke with a shout, torn from the white like a drowning man pulled from water. His body jerked upright too quickly, as if something were still dragging him out of the dream — his hand still extended, clenched, ready to seize an enemy that did not exist.

  His breath vanished. His chest hammered, searching for air as if it had forgotten how to breathe.

  Every inhale came in a violent gasp.

  Tears burst forth before he could stop them, hot, abundant, uncontrollable.

  They ran down his cheeks in burning waves, crashing against his chest in a frantic rhythm.

  His heart pounded as if it were trying to break his ribcage.

  His fingers still trembled, clenched by fear, rage, or both.

  A voice sounded behind him.

  Calm. Deep.

  A disturbing mixture of forced respect… and open contempt.

  "You sleep restlessly, Ombrevu."

  Captain Adonis leaned forward on his chair, his elbows resting on his knees, his shadow stretching all the way to Kael’s feet.

  He added, impassive:

  "And you’re crying again."

  He wasn’t saying it to mock him.

  Nor to comfort him.

  Just to state a fact.

  Kael wiped his eyes with the back of his arm — a sharp, almost animal gesture — and a groan escaped him despite himself. A burning pain surged up his back, as if the marks were trying to tear themselves open from the inside.

  His breath hitched.

  "Thank you, Captain Adonis… I absolutely hadn’t noticed," he growled, his voice thick with rough irony.

  He placed his feet on the ground.

  His legs trembled. The stone was freezing.

  Then he leaned forward, elbows on his knees, hands pressed against his face as if to stop his head from splitting apart under the weight of what he had just dreamed.

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  I look like them?

  The thought crossed his mind like a cold blade.

  He clenched his teeth.

  That damned bastard… always speaking in riddles and then disappearing as if the conversation had never existed.

  And that… thing.

  That rotten tree, that kneeling silhouette, those torn fabrics…

  What was that?

  What did it mean?

  Damn it…

  None of it made sense, yet it clung to his gut.

  He rubbed his face, grunted, then stood with a heavy motion. The crooked water trough in the corner and the small mirror hanging from a bent nail… that was literally everything he owned here. That, and a bunk far too short for him.

  The cell was bare, rough, without warmth.

  As if he had been stripped of everything that could still make him feel human.

  He splashed water on his face — the icy shock stole his breath — then lifted his eyes toward the mirror.

  The reflection staring back at him wasn’t really his.

  Not really.

  His hair, once brown, had lost all trace of its original color.

  Now almost blond, bleached by a month in the sun, it fell to his shoulders.

  His features were still soft — far too soft for what he had endured— but dark circles hollowed his face.

  The burlap trousers barely clung to his waist.

  No shoes.

  No shirt.

  Only his scarred skin.

  He lifted his arm and observed one of the ouroboros marks carved across his body.

  The one along his ribs pulsed — a sharp, vivid pain.

  The one over his heart was more discreet.

  The one on his neck… a dull burn that crawled into his skull.

  The mark on his shoulder wasn’t any better: a burning sting returned in waves, as if something were moving just beneath the skin.

  What a massacre…

  The bandage around his neck still covered the symbol he had never been able to see.

  But judging by the soldiers’ reactions — even Velara’s — Kael had no doubt about its danger.

  For others, at least.

  He lifted his chin slightly.

  His eyes, once dull black, had changed as well:

  streaks of gold, symmetrical sparks, like a star-filled sky reflected in still water.

  He studied that unfamiliar face for a long time.

  I’ll get used to it eventually…, he thought.

  He looked toward Captain Adonis, who had not taken his eyes off him for two days.

  Austere man.

  Thick black beard, meticulously maintained. Very short black hair. Silver plate armor bearing the crest of Soleandre.

  A man Kael respected — not for his rank, but for his loyalty, his calm, his sense of duty.

  In two days, Adonis had not slept a single minute.

  Not once had his eyelids yielded.

  "There isn’t much longer to wait, Captain," Kael said. "In a few hours, you’ll finally be able to enjoy a well-deserved night of sleep."

  "Very funny, Ombrevu," the captain replied.

  "What makes you think you’re leaving here anytime soon?"

  Kael smiled.

  "Come on, Captain. We’ve been playing this little game for two days now, you and I. I can see it in your shadow. It keeps looking toward the right side of the corridor since I woke up… which I assume is the exit. You must have received information recently mentioning my release or something like that."

  The captain allowed himself a small smile.

  "Well, Ombrevu. I see I can’t hide anything from you… which is rather frightening, by the way."

  Kael had learned to calm the Axiom of Φ.

  Before losing consciousness in the arena.

  It had nearly driven him mad.

  And once locked in these dungeons, he had spent long hours wrestling with it before finally managing to quiet it.

  But now, what fascinated him was the Axiom of the Perfect Shadow Theorem.

  He didn’t see many people here.

  The only… subject… available to him was Captain Adonis.

  At first, interpreting the theorem had been particularly complicated.

  Dubium had not lied: even when the Perfect Shadow appeared, understanding it was another matter entirely.

  Yet the functioning of the axiom was simple. Every closed system Kael observed produced a Perfect Shadow. For now, he had only tested it on a human. And it created a double — a shadow that revealed a hidden truth.

  That was exactly what he had just done again.

  The captain’s current shadow had generated a double that did nothing except look toward the right.

  That could mean anything… or nothing.

  But Kael had eventually understood and interpreted the rest.

  This little game had lasted two days. That was probably why the captain had not closed his eyes — literally.

  Adonis didn’t particularly like Kael.

  He found him insufferable, impertinent, and particularly rude. But He had been forced to admit something: Kael possessed remarkable wisdom for his age, along with a rare analytical intelligence. In other words… he was brilliant.

  Adonis had struggled to accept that, given his rank. But one thing was certain: despite all his flaws, he couldn’t bring himself to hate him.

  Kael spoke again while washing under his arms with one hand.

  "So… what’s going to happen to me?"

  Adonis replied:

  "It doesn’t look good for you. Apparently they’re organizing an exceptional royal summons just for you."

  Kael looked at him.

  "Could you possibly be even more vague?"

  "To put it simply," the captain said, "you’re going to find yourself facing the king, the queen… and if you’re lucky, you’ll even meet the Seven of the Celestial Laws."

  "I’ve never had much luck," Kael replied.

  He sat back down on his bunk and looked at the captain through the bars of the cell.

  "I won’t even ask what the Seven of the Celestial Laws are. I have a feeling I’ll get the answer very soon."

  A soldier appeared in the corridor, coming from the right.

  Kael was already smiling — he knew exactly what the man was going to say.

  "Captain Adonis, you may bring the prisoner to the throne room. Everything is ready."

  That everything is ready rang through the cell like a funeral bell.

  Adonis stood up, renewed energy in his movements, and took out a ring of keys.

  He simply said:

  "Against the wall, Ombrevu."

  Kael tried to step forward and felt his legs resist for a moment, as if the floor itself didn’t want to let him go.

  Or as if his own body were rebelling against the idea of obeying.

  He sighed inwardly.

  This Dominant Trait is really going to screw me over one day.

  He finally stepped forward and placed his hands against the cold wall.

  The captain entered the cell and shackled him.

  "Nothing personal," he murmured.

  Then he guided him out of the cell.

  They went through the corridor to the right and climbed a staircase, then crossed a long hallway before ascending another. They passed other guards: some judged Kael with their eyes, others spat as he walked by, and a few even whispered insults behind his back.

  Adonis spoke again, his voice deeper than usual.

  "If something happens… what would you like us to do with your body?"

  A small laugh rose in Kael’s throat — bitter, dry, almost tender despite everything.

  "Throw it into the Soléen," he said. "That way I’ll finally go home."

  Far away, behind walls too thick, he heard voices — a deep murmur, like a judgment already beginning to form.