His eyes were abnormally open and the pupils were so dilated that they were almost indistinguishable from the iris, with a completely lost look. Aiden walked clumsily back, he had already moved away a considerable distance and still had that strange expression on his face. It was like that until a loud sound awakened his consciousness.

—What am I doing? What was that…? An explosion!? —He looked from side to side, but everything looked slightly different than he remembered—. I was following…!

He felt nausea for some reason and strong shivers in his neck, but the young man hurried towards the place from where the strong noise came from.

He was supposed to be watching Maika, so what was he doing going in the opposite direction? Aiden pondered as he ran, full force.

—Damn it! —His head was full of questions and his consciousness still swayed a little, but right now, there was something more important, he had to make sure that Maika is okay.

Aiden had no way of knowing that by pure coincidence or bad luck, perhaps, a great change in the mental impressions of the location, a loud noise, was enough to fade the veil over his consciousness. The hunter, too, would never have imagined that she was being followed by a normal person, much less that this person could escape the hypnosis so easily.

On the way, he heard a few shots, so he worried more and ran with even more strength. Normally, after hearing the shots, running towards the source was something that would not have crossed his mind for a joke. As any sane person, Aiden would have turned around and run with all his strength while calling the police, that was the line of action that common sense would dictate under any normal situation. However, due to the effects of the spell, his sense of reality was still disconnected from his consciousness. Aiden followed the first instinct that he had as if it were expected of him; He ran with all his strength to save Maika.

Once he arrived at the place where the explosion came from, he stopped before turning the last corner. The thoughts of insecurity finally invaded him. Things like «What can I do once I see her?», «Will my help matter if they are armed?», and although he did not want to think about it, «What am I going to do if it's too late? Think Aiden, think! You're taking too long!»

Aiden's mind and body were overrun with insecurity and fear, he felt cold sweat running down his back and the effort his throat made to swallow saliva could be equated to a cat vomiting a hairball.

Black smoke floated in front of him, as if marking the path towards her.

«I've already run here! I can't turn around and then pretend nothing happened. Don't think anything at this time, just act! Come on, Aiden, wasn't your silly wish of a new, exciting life? Now act!»

Gathering all his strength and determination, he crossed the corner of the old building, and what he witnessed was nothing he could have imagined.

—¡¡¡WRAAHHHRGG!!!

That tearing scream followed by 'BANG', that unmistakable sound, broke through the night and Aiden's heart.

The scene witnessed by his eyes destroyed all illusions he had created. A beautiful and fragile girl of his age, a little shorter than him, with a mysterious and charming essence that makes you want to protect her along with everything that makes her smile. That innocent and charming image that he had created about her was shattered like glass slipping through your hands.

The brunette girl firmly aimed her weapon at a kneeling man. His last scream was one that made Aiden feel a strong shiver throughout his spine to the tip of his toes. But he was even more confused by who pulled the trigger without hesitation, who did not even turn her head to avoid the horrible scene.

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He was a few meters away from where it all happened, so he couldn't see the man's face or the expression she had. But it was not something he wanted to do either, in fact, he wished he had never seen that, and that this had never happened.

Memories of a certain incident came up as his mind fired relentlessly to try to make sense of what had transpired just now. Nonetheless, he had never witnessed an execution firsthand, so how could he?

All he could do was hold back the urge to vomit upon repeating the scene countless times in his mind, trembling on the ground, back leaning against the building, and out of Maika's sight for dear life.

He tried to say something and only managed to stutter meaningless things. After a few seconds of staring into nothing, he perceived the signals of his terrified body, trembling like an abandoned child in the cold.

Without wasting more time, Aiden fled the scene. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know if he was doing the right thing by running away like this, but he couldn't stand to be there another second. He ran and ran without looking back until he had no strength left and without realizing it, he had already passed the commercial district, he was in a block full of student dormitories and professors.

«What do I do? What do I do!? Should I call the police? Talk to the teachers?» Aiden thought, «But what am I saying, of course I have to tell them!»

The young man took a moment to catch his breath, his current nervous state made it impossible to make any rational decision or any other real decision. At that moment when he regained his breath, like the whisper of a devil, in his mind the words were drawn: “But what if…”

He observed the lights and applications on the mobile phone screen. In reality, he was rather examining his reflection in it.

He was determined, he was going to tell the teachers and the police what he had seen, but he wouldn't be able to calm down until he heard an explanation from Maika.

«Maybe it was self-defense, that gun shouldn't have been hers, yes, surely it belonged to that man, and she managed to take it away, and, and, and then!»

A warm sensation remained in his chest and his head felt light, as if he had been injected with morphine, he attributed it to the tension and horror of what he had witnessed.

At some point, the black smoke that only he could see was present, but he ignored it completely. His thoughts were understandably worried about a more important matter. “I want to know her story,” he thought for a moment, but horrified by the nature of the idea, he soon buried it without thinking about it again.

He roamed around several dormitories where teachers also live, keeping the number of the police marked at all times, but ultimately, returned to the reserve dormitory.

He spent the night trying to calm down, but the only thing he managed to do was spend the night awake.

The next morning, Aiden had dark circles under his eyes, not from staying up all night, that was not enough to have such dark circles, the tension, and stress of what he had witnessed were the real cause.

Even now, he wondered if he had done the right thing by not reporting it to the police immediately. All night, the number of the police was marked on the display of his mobile phone. But even if that feeling followed him for the rest of his life, he had decided there was something he had to do as soon as possible.

—Finally, it's daylight —Aiden opened his eyes and directed his intense gaze to the window where the warm light was coming in.

That was it, his decision, to talk to her, Maika. As soon as possible and hope for an explanation, or rather, an expiation for what he saw.

—I have to prepare for classes.

Almost like a zombie, Aiden walked to the bathroom in his room and took a short shower, dressed in another uniform because the one he wore yesterday was still on him and dusty from the environment of the abandoned district.

He took a pill despite not having eaten anything, and so he went to school, where he intended to face his fears and receive an answer. Aiden ignored it, but even now, as he was about to face something terrible, that warm feeling in his body was still present.