“The world is going to change.” That was the comment the author had left. After all these events, how could Marc think this was a coincidence? It certainly wasn't. The visions he'd received surely spoke of a terrible moment. And Elie said she'd seen the end. This was far too obvious.

Marc also sent a comment below the chapter in the comment space.

“Are the visions from you?”

Suddenly, Marc felt he'd overdone it a little. He himself had said that the black character was common in stories. And the author was probably talking about the world of his work.

“What visions?”

That was what he thought. He'd gone too far. But to be on the safe side, he sent a second message.

“What world were you talking about?

“The world of "The Fall of the Sky".”

That was the title of the novel he was reading. Marc was completely out of his depth.

“Nothing then. Thank you for your work. It really is a beautiful story.”

Marc had said that sincerely. It was the story of his life. He didn't miss a chapter. He knew every detail. He'd get angry with the main character, or angry at him. He even had his own character in the book, thanks to the author. It was his story.

“Thank you. I'll keep writing just for you.”

Marc was moved. But that wasn't why he'd started the conversation. At least he knew the author wouldn't stop his novel because there weren't many people reading it.

“I wonder what he meant by 'change'?”

For the moment, he had to be careful of everything around him. Lest he run into that man in the black robe Nathanaël had seen, he had to be careful. He did a long search on the word “Aregis”, but found absolutely nothing. It meant nothing.

Marc sat down on his bed. He was thinking about what to do. Maybe he should give up? It didn't make sense. But he was convinced there was something behind all this. Something incredibly powerful. He was still thinking about it when his mother called him to eat. Actually, when his mother called him to eat, it was more like calling him to set the table so they could all eat together. Marc had no problem with this. It made sense to him that if his mother or father prepared the food, he should set the table. Everyone had their tasks in this house.

He was coming down the stairs when a horrible thought popped into his head. What if he lost them both? If all this really did lead to the end of the world, he'd lose his parents.

Marc didn't want to think about it. Even so, he couldn't help shedding a tear when he saw his mother with the dishes in hand.

“Well then? The table's not going to make itself.”

He smiled and went off to set the table as his mother had asked.

After lunch, Marc went up to his room. He really intended to get some sleep after his long day. He turned off the bedroom light and jumped into bed for the second time that day. There was no guarantee of a good night's sleep, but at least the day was over.

It didn't take him long to fall asleep. Surprisingly, he had a dream. Marc rarely had dreams on days when he had school the next day. Marc was in the middle of a cathedral. It was huge and well-decorated, but he'd never seen it before. The door was wide open and an icy chill infiltrated the cathedral. The symbols on the stained-glass windows were all strange. Some had flowers with as yet undiscovered outlines. Others had human faces, at least resembling them, with rings around their heads. Six in all. Others had swords, all of them different.

On closer inspection, it didn't look at all like a cathedral. Marc wondered what he was doing here. It was the first time he'd had such a bizarre dream. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from outside. Someone was approaching the open door. Even the door was strange. It had all the symbols from the stained-glass windows, along with other symbols Marc couldn't decipher.

He looked towards the door to see who the person was who had to enter when his heart stopped. The man who had entered was wearing a black hooded robe. You couldn't see his face, but he was holding a sword and had six wings on his back. The man from the vision.

Marc began to sweat. His heart was beating ten times faster than usual. The man walked slowly towards Marc, but he couldn't move. Fear had paralyzed his legs. The man reached him, but instead of bumping into him, he ran right through him. Marc didn't want to turn around to see where the man was. But after five seconds that seemed like a thousand years, he heard the voice of someone he knew.

“Marc?”

Marc turned as he heard Elie's voice. The man in black was advancing straight towards her. He raised his sword to the sky. Neither he nor Elie could say anything.

“Aregis”

The words echoed throughout the cathedral. With one clean stroke, the man cut off Elie's head and he fell straight to the floor. His body remained upright. The man in black turned back to Marc. Although he had no face, it was easy to tell that he was looking at him. Marc almost fainted in his dream.

“Astreos”

It was the second word he'd uttered. The dream ended the moment Marc fainted. He awoke with a start in his bedroom. This time, it was real. They had to take these visions seriously. Otherwise they were all going to die.

Marc hadn't slept the rest of the night. He kept looking at his bedroom door. To see if the man would come in. Before that, he'd even thrown up. He'd never had such a nightmare. He wondered if the others had too.

Marc was discouraged. He didn't want to investigate the visions anymore. He didn't want to die. He didn't even know if Elie was still alive. He didn't want to know. But he got up anyway instead.

“Oh and then sh.t”

Marc dressed as if he were going to school, but this time, He went to Elie's house. He left his house and took four steps forward, before realizing that he didn't even know where she lived anymore. There were two houses he couldn't decide between. Finally, he took a coin from his pocket, flipped a coin, and rang the doorbell.

The door didn't open immediately. Someone was about to open the door when someone else told him to leave it. It was Elie.

“Leave it, it's for me.”

“But, Elie are you all right? You look pale.”

“I'm fine, Mom.”

“Elie if that man came to hurt you believe me he'll hear me.”

“No, Mum. It's nothing, he's a friend.”

“He's abusing you, that's it. I'm calling the police.”

“No, Mom. Please leave us alone.”

There was a moment's silence. Elie had raised his voice a little too much.

“All right. But if I notice anything. Your boyfriend's going to jail.”

“Mom.”

The door opened at last. Marc didn't even have time to introduce himself to his mother before Elie jumped into his arms. She was crying.

“Are you okay, Elie?”

Elie's mother looked at him so badly that Marc wanted to disappear again. He'd wanted to check on her, but now he wanted to run away.

“Who are you?”

“Mom is ... ? ”

“Leave it. We'll see each other more often now. It's my turn to introduce myself.”

Marc had a way with words. He could put a person at ease with just a few words. But the mission was to reassure the mother.

“Hello, madame. My name is Marc.”

He hadn't held out his hand, afraid she wouldn't extend it in return.

“Why are you hanging around my daughter?”

“I'm not hanging around your daughter...”

It was more like she didn't want to let go of him.

“We're just friends.”

“Why are you here so top of the morning?”

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Marc knew how to find excuses as fast as his shadow. That was why he never got frozen or punished.

“I wanted to have a little chat with her while watching the sunrise.”

And bam. Well romantic, well timed, well executed. Everything was perfect and she probably wouldn't suspect a thing.

“Are you sure he's not dangerous, Elie?”

Elie's mother loved her daughter more than anyone. She didn't want to lose her. Especially if she went pale every time she opened the door, she wasn't going to leave her with a guy like him. He seemed like a nice kid. Elie had already told her about him. A quiet boy in all circumstances, playing the fool when in truth he was rather wise and mature. A little too mature at times. You could tell when he was dropping philosophical phrases and everyone was looking at him. Often, he'd deny having said anything and go back to his idiocy.

“Good. Go do your talking away. But if you touch her, you'll hear me.”

“Okay.”

Marc had said this with a big smile, but in reality he wasn't at all serene.

Elie changed, said goodbye to her mother and they both left. Elie's mother watched her daughter walk away, thinking that soon she would certainly no longer be her “little girl”.

Marc and Elie walked on without saying a word. The dream they'd both been having wouldn't allow them to look each other in the face for ten minutes. Finally Marc broke the silence.

“You were there, weren't you?”

“Yes.”

“You made...”

“Yes.”

Marc didn't know what to say. But yet he had to keep talking about it.

“What did you see?”

Elie didn't answer right away.

“I too appeared in this sorts of cathedral . I looked carefully at everything around me, then looked down. I saw Chris in a white coffin covered with black feathers.”

Marc couldn't believe his ears. Chris was there too. Did that mean the others were there too?

“Then I heard footsteps coming from the door. I turned around and saw you. The man in black was walking towards you. I called out to you, then the man in black crossed you and came towards me. I didn't even have time to do anything before he...”

She didn't need to tell the rest. Marc knew what the rest was. They walked a few more steps, then Marc took her in his arms. Elie cried and Marc said nothing. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know if they'd survive or if they'd find a way out. But one thing was certain: they were all in danger.

The bus arrived late. Marc and Elie both got on. Elie was still wiping away tears. Marc didn't know what to say. The journey seemed even longer than the last. Elie and Marc didn't say a word.

Arriving at the school, Nathanaël was the first to come and find them. Manon followed. Chris didn't want to come. He still had dark circles from the night, but wouldn't tell anyone why. Finally, they were all gathered in the same place.

None of them said anything for the first five minutes. But Nathanaël broke the silence first.

“I saw a cathedral on a mountain peak. I wanted to walk towards it, but I felt footsteps coming from behind me. The man in black was walking quietly towards the cathedral too. I wanted to move, but I was scared to death. He approached me, raised his arm silently, said the word and cut my head off.”

Nathanaël didn't need to say the word. Everyone knew what he was talking about.

“I saw the same cathedral. Except I was lying down and could only see the roof. Black feathers started falling on me. I couldn't move. I was as good as dead.”

Chris wasn't entirely wrong. He was in a coffin. We only put dead people in coffins.

After Elie had told his dream, only Marc and Manon remained. Marc recounted his, but Manon seemed so traumatized she couldn't speak. She turned pale and began to scream.

“No. No, no. I'd forgotten all about him. I don't want to see him anymore.”

Everyone was surprised. But they all wanted to know.

“Manon. Calm down and explain what you saw.”

Manon tried to calm down, but tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“I was hanging.”

At these words, everyone held their breath.

“I was hanging upside down over the cathedral. There was nothing I could do. I was beginning to run out of breath when I saw the same two eyes looking at me. They were watching me die.”

Marc understood why she didn't want to talk about it.

“Why?”

Chris glowered at Marc.

“Why are you the only one who isn't dead?”

Everyone wanted to know. Marc was the only one who hadn't died in the dream. To be exact, he hadn't been killed. He didn't know if the dream had ended in his death or not. He didn't know why he hadn't been killed. He just didn't know.

Marc could understand their confusion. The fact that he hadn't been killed and had been “lucky” enough to hear a new word made him seem special.

“Oh. Excuse me. Maybe you're a chosen one among us, right? You're the only one who's going to survive this tragedy.”

“Calm down, Chris. Marc hasn't d... anything.”

“Shut up, Nath. You can see I'm talking to the chosen one. The child of prophecy. The one for whom we've been shown this nonsense in order to see his advent.”

No one dared speak. Everyone found it strange. It was at times like these that some of mankind's most destructive feelings come to the fore: jealousy and frustration. They could provoke conflict and even war. Having what the other has. But in this case, it was more about being what the other is. A survivor.

Marc had no quarrel with this. He understood Chris's feelings very well.

“Maybe you're the man in black who wants to kill us ? Or maybe you sent him to do it ?”

Chris had grabbed him by the collar. He might not be able to lift him, but it was uncomfortable for Marc. But even so, he let himself do it.

“Why don't you say something? You're really in cahoots with the people who attacked us.”

“......”

“I'm going to punch you in the face.”

“Chris, stop it.”

The others stood up to stop him. Only Manon remained seated. She didn't trust Marc either. She already didn't understand why he didn't like Chris and why he hadn't been killed in the dream, but this was getting really suspicious.

Nathanaël had pushed Chris away. Elie hadn't done much. Chris had grabbed his bag and left.

“Damn. I don't want to see your face again, you hear me.”

Manon took her bag and left too.

“Don't worry, Marc. It's not your fault. I'm sure there's an explanation but we just can't figure it out. Maybe you saw something else that would help us understand.”

Nathanaël really was a good person. Always looking out for others, he never complained when asked for something. He had an infectious smile and was as gentle as a lamb. Marc liked Nathanaël, even if he sometimes thought he was too nice.

“Two things. The first is that when I got home, I saw lots of notifications about the death of average people on my phone. The second was that the man in black had appeared in the novel I was reading and that the author had left a message under the chapter saying 'This world is going to change'.”

Nathanaël took his information very seriously. Even though he told himself that the Man in Black was a character who often appeared in novels and that notifications of deaths were normal given that so many people died every day, he wrote them down in a notebook and put them in his bag.

“Okay. I don't know what it means yet, but I promise I'll look into it. That, plus the symbols in the cathedral, I'll have no trouble keeping busy these days.”

Nathanaël took his bag in turn, turned and looked at Marc.

“Eh. We'll manage.”

Marc opened his eyes wide. It was the first time anyone had comforted him. Usually, it was he who consoled the others, since he had an easy way with words. He'd even managed to bring some of Chris's buddies back, even though he didn't like him. Marc and Nathanaël got along well, even if they didn't speak often. They were good people who attracted each other. Except that one seemed lonely and the other not. Marc seemed hurt by people, while Nathanaël saw only the good in them. This made them differ.

“If you say so.”

Marc had somehow regained hope. It wasn't up to him to do himself in or let others die. Marc was worth more than that. He may have been only human, but that meant he had to consider himself above it all. Or else he was really getting a big head. But it was enough to give him the courage to face the dangers that awaited them.

“I'm here too, Marc.”

“I know you are. Don't worry.”

Elis didn't want to leave these two to deal with this alone. She wanted to help. After all, she was included no matter what.

Marc could see that he had to find a way out. But he didn't know where to start. He'd look for this cathedral first, but he'd have to be prepared.

“It'll all start after school.”

“All right.”

This time, something had to be done.

After school, Marc already had an idea in mind. He had to know how to defend himself. And the first thing anyone did to defend themselves was take up combat sports. He had already checked the timetable, and could only take part in three sports at a time, so as not to overlap. Taekwondo on Mondays and Thursdays, karate on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and jujitsu on Saturdays and Fridays. Sundays were rest days. He didn't want to overexert himself.

Elie decided to follow him, but the girls' schedules were different. So they took the same sports, but he only had two classes in common, and that was jujitsu.

It seemed silly, given that the man in black surely had supernatural powers and a “magic” sword, but you never knew what to expect.

They both went home and asked their parents directly for permission to enroll. To which Marc's parents hesitated.

“Why all at once?”

“I want to know how to fight.”

“Did something happen to you at school?”

“No.”

Marc's parents knew he wasn't lying to them. For the simple reason that their son was already strong enough to defend himself. Not just strength. Their son had all the physical capabilities to stand up to someone doing mma.

“If that's what you want, I won't stand in your way. Become a great fighter Marc.”

Marc often described his parents as the best parents in the world. As far as he was concerned, his upbringing had been anything but unsuccessful. He lived in fear and love of his parents. What could be better?

“But don't come home and say you hurt yourself in every class.”

“Don't worry. I'm tough.”

“I know, but you never know.”

“I'll call them right away.”

This is why Marc loved his family.

On the other side. Elie's mom had grabbed a belt ready to do battle with this Marc.

“He'll hear me.”

“No, wait, Mom.”

“He'll hear me.”

“Marc's chosen combat sports too.”

At these words, Elie's mother paused.

“Is it true?”

“Yes.”

Elie's mother looked into her daughter's eyes.

“I'll go and ask him, will he say yes too?”

“You can go.”

Elie's mother took her belt and went to ring Marc's doorbell. Marc's mother opened the door.

“Hello, Catherine. How are you?”

“Hello Marie. I'd like to know if your son has decided to take up combat sports?”

“Uh, yes. How do you know about it?”

“Elie told me.”

“Did he? He's not one to spill his guts to everyone.”

“Apparently, he's my daughter's boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Yes. It sounds like you didn't know. Well, I'll leave you to it. That's all I wanted to know. Have a nice day.”

Marc's mother couldn't believe her ears. Marc had never had a girlfriend. If he were to have one, it would surely be his future wife. She closed the door and ran to see her husband.

“Honey, did you know Marc had a girlfriend?”

Marc's father spat out the tea he was drinking.

“What?”

“Elie. Catherine's daughter.”

“Really?”

“The two ran upstairs to their son's room.

“Marc can we talk for two minutes?”

“Yes, no problem.”

“Listen. We know that teenagers need that kind of relationship.”

“What the hell is he talking about?”

“They have trouble calming their hormones.”

“What the hell is she talking about?”

“I know Catherine's daughter is a pretty girl and we'll have a hard time changing your mind but...”

“We're not a couple.”

“Oh, you're not?”

“She's just a friend.”

“Phew, that makes us feel better. We really thought you were going to get married.”

The two had spoken at the same time.

“We'll leave you to it then. Ah yes. They've all agreed to let you come to their class.”

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

After closing the door, Marc refocused on looking for the cathedral.

“Why do you insist on signing up for all this stuff?”

“I want to be with Marc.”

“But you don't even have the same classes, since you're a girl.”

“Some classes are in common.”

“But that doesn't mean you have to do martial arts.”

“I don't see why not.”

“Because it doesn't do you any good. You do martial arts if you want to defend yourself, but you told me it doesn't do anything to you. So...”

“Mom. I want to do combat sports. So why not?”

Elie had said this with a broad smile. The kind of innocent smile that would bring down any mother. Catherine didn't want to stop her daughter from doing what she loved. With the man she loved. Even if she didn't love him.

“All right, then. I'll sign you up. But don't come to regret it later.”

“I could never regret it.”

Elie was proud of her. She often got what she wanted from her mother, but this was no mean feat. She thought she'd never make it. As soon as it came to boyfriends, her mother wouldn't listen.

She went off to her room with a smile on her face.