Who was this boy? What was he doing? That mark…

  Ilyen looked in disbelief, her hands numb, her face turning white. Her boots scrubbed the ground, her hands gripping the floor as she tried to hold on.

  It was as if the space they were in had collapsed, folding inwards, like paper. The walls started curving towards them, the floor getting steeper. Gusts of wind seemed to come out of nowhere, blowing her back. She tried to focus on Caelan.

  He stood still, unaffected by the space around him, his nails continued to dig into his back. He howled in distress. Blood dripped from his back and onto the floor, his eyes red.

  The floor appeared to shift once more, into something completely abnormal. The stone formed into tiny, spikes that were layered onto the ground around her. The spikes cut through Ilyen's skin, making her bleed.

  Was his mark responding to his pain?

  Where had she seen that mark before? It looked so familiar.

  When Ilyen gazed at Caelan, her face started to light up, as if something clicked, like a hurried memory that sprouted from the ground.

  His body, the way he talked, his eyes, they resembled that sweet boy she knew, Thalen, who was snatched away from here. She whimpered, tears forming in her eyes.

  Thalen always had a curious mind, a mind that never stopped thinking. He was a student of the empire.

  "I will clear the sins of humanity, so that the gods will forgive us."

  His voice echoed in her mind. What a bold, ignorant statement. He researched too deep, became too curious. That's what got him killed.

  ---

  15 years ago.

  "Thalen, I told you to stop with this nonsense," said Ilyen, her face annoyed as she stumbled into the room.

  Her son was on his usual antics. He was a 2nd year at the academy and had a bright future ahead. But the sight she saw in front of her made her visibly recoil in disgust.

  His room was bombarded and scattered with pages of strange texts, figures, and symbols. He knelt on the floor, drawing on a paper with one hand and flipping the pages of a book with another.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "Thalen, look at me!" she screamed at him.

  Thalen didn't respond, his tongue touching his upper lip as he occasionally fidgeted with his fingers in between writing. The room was chaotic and disordered.

  She stepped over the several pages, making crunching noises, and walked over to Thalen, her hands crossed, her brows drawn down, and her face tightened.

  "Thalen!" she shouted again.

  No response.

  She knelt down and forcefully grabbed the pages from his hands.

  "Mum, what are you doing?" he said in distress, as he jumped up from the floor and tried to get the pages back.

  "No. Stop. Listen."

  Thalen didn't stop. His arms were reaching for the paper, but Ilyen pulled them away.

  "Stop this nonsense. This type of stuff, it will get, no, both of us killed."

  Thalen glared at her, his arms lowered, his eyes dull and lips parted.

  "And what is this, huh?" She grabbed a book on the floor, no name, as if it was erased.

  "Is this from the lower archive? Answer me!"

  She slammed the book to the ground.

  ---

  The smell of smoke blanketed the area.

  "A fire, it's a fire!"

  "Lord help us!"

  People fled the scene.

  Ilyen looked in shock, her jaw dropped, her eyes widened. Before her was her house, set on fire, cracking with sparks.

  The guards watched from outside, seemingly doing nothing, as if waiting just enough so that whatever was inside was erased.

  "My boy," she whispered, her hands cupped around her mouth.

  She rushed inside…

  ---

  Present

  "Thalen, Thalen, stop!" she screamed at Caelan.

  He didn't pay her any attention.

  She huffed rigorously, coughing against the heavy wind.

  "What, what am I doing?" she thought.

  She knew she had to snap out of it, otherwise both of them were going to die. She examined the situation, blood dripping down her clothes. She grabbed one of the spikes. Another spike was impaled in her right leg, another touching her stomach.

  She was trapped. She couldn't move forward or backwards. The only thing she could do was speak to Caelan, but he wasn't listening. Think. She had to think. There was very little time left.

  The well continued to pulsate light at rapid speeds, its inner rings rotating quicker.

  "These spikes?" she thought.

  "What caused them?"

  Her earlier assumption was the only thing she could go off. It seemed as if the mark responded to Caelan's inner being. If he is distressed, the space collapses to mimic that. The pain hence probably brought out the spikes.

  It was her best guess, a risk she had to take. If this was true, Caelan would have probably figured this out by now. He was a smart, intelligent young man, never speaking out of turn, quietly observing her. She noticed these things from her time with him.

  But the pain was so deep, he probably wasn't thinking straight.

  "Caelan, listen to me!"

  Caelan's eyes twitched as he grunted again.

  "That mark, it responds to your emotions, right?"

  Caelan's eyes widened, as if he woke up from a dream. He looked around the room in surprise.

  "You have to calm down, you have to control your emotions."

  He heard every single word she was saying. He stopped scratching his back and took deep breaths to stabilise his breathing and calm his heart. He thought of nothing, not his past, nor the future ahead.

  The room started to fold outward, returning to normal. The spikes started to transition to normal stone. The gust of wind appeared to cease.

  Caelan slumped to the floor, his knees on the ground.

  Ilyen breathed heavily. She had never seen anything like this. She grabbed her impaled leg tightly, the one spewing blood, and applied pressure to it.

  "What, what's that mark?" she asked him.

  Caelan stood up and calmly walked towards her, his face blank.

  "I asked you a question. What is that thing on your back?"

  Silence.

  "Hey, what…"

  Caelan grabbed her neck and lifted her off the ground. He stared at her dead in the eye, expressionless, his body relaxed yet also tense.

  The hands around her neck tightened.

  "Don't you dare tell anyone about this"

  Ilyen struggled to breathe.

  "I, I swear by it," she choked.

  Caelan removed his hands. Her body slumped to the ground. He looked at her calmly.

  Even if she told everyone, they would never believe her, even if they did… it would be too late.