"How did it happen?" Fabian asked, breaking the lengthy silence in Liv's quarters.

"I don't know," Liv replied without meeting his eyes. "It just did. I fell from a ladder and suddenly I was in the Empt."

"But isn't that impossible? You need the symbols to get into the Empt, right?"

Liv spared Fabian a glance with a difficult expression. She could still see that scene of chaos. Her home left annihilated by an inhuman force. Everybody dead. For no reason at all.

She shivered. "That's what everyone thinks, but it's just instinctual. The thing that separates Inters from Intras is the way their craft works." Liv squeezed her hands into fists a couple of times. "Inters are instinctual in the beginning as well, but as they learn the symbols which evoke their powers, their power becomes more controllable, but at the same time, they become reliant on the symbols."

"So the children who inherit the King's Eyes bring forth the Empt on accident," Fabian said under his breath. Perhaps he hoped Liv wouldn't hear and confirm so that his world wouldn't shatter. Only for him to remain blind to all that is ugly in the world.

"That's right." Liv raised her gaze. She wasn't so kind to let him live a happy reality, but she would at least look him in the eye as she trampled his delusion. "When the children with the King's Eyes become threatened or hurt, they resort to their most primal instinct and protect themselves with the most powerful power they have at their disposal. A fact that was taken advantage of in the form of propaganda. 'The children with the King's Eyes can use the Empt. They must know the symbols. Thus, they are the reincarnations of the Red King and it is a holy duty to society to kill them before they grow.' Sound familiar?"

Fabian just sat there, his brows furrowed and his face twitching. He didn't seem to know if he should believe her or not.

"You were told that I'm highly intelligent. Isn't that right?" she asked. Fabian nodded. In that case, it was best to not pressure him any more than that. Otherwise, he would see it as an attempt at manipulation. "Then it's normal for you to doubt what I say. Even if I make sense on every level. Be as skeptical as you like."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Fabian seemed to relax at that. Liv smiled at him. She had expected a radical response. Usually exposing someone's beliefs to be nothing but moral manipulation on a governmental level resulted in outrage. Fabian just seemed embarrassed and was too empathetic to be enraged at being lied to.

Liv sighed and laid back down on the mattress on the floor, turning her back to Fabian. "This world is full of manipulation. Even something as fundamental as the gods may just be an illusion created long ago for the utility of those who proclaim themselves to be the shepherds of humanity," she said as she pressed her head against the soft pillow and closed her eyes. "Whatever this reality of ours is, it can be a lot better. I don't care to make it so. I just want everybody to see things for what they are, no matter the cost. If anything, that will push humanity in a better direction.

Some sound came from behind her. She thought it was Fabian leaving. Then she felt a hand on her head and heard Fabian whisper. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for how the world has treated you. I understand why you're angry. I would be as well. You think the gods have failed you, and maybe they have, but your fate doesn't define you. You define your fate." He stood up. "Goodnight, Liv." And with that, he was gone.

Such simple words with barely any meaning to them. They may have sounded nice, but—

Liv felt something at the corners of her eyes and wiped them clean of moisture. Ridiculous. She couldn't cry like that. Not to something so insignificant. She had made a promise.

A promise that her eyes had shed their last tears that day.

That day she came from the darkness and found her village ran through with unmatched ferocity. It had been erased. Some parts of it didn't even exist anymore.

Back then, all Liv could do was weep on her hands and knees as she imagined what such a force had done to her parents as they looked for their disappeared child. For some reason, the Shadow hadn't been there. It was supposed to be there, but after thinking it through a thousand times, Liv came to the simple conclusion that she had been in the Empt for such a long time that the Shadow had moved on after not sensing any usage of the King's Eyes.

At first, she'd had a sliver of hope that her parents lived the catastrophe. But eventually, she gave that up. The Shadow moved fast. It was known that it was nigh-impossible to evacuate an area faster than the Shadow could arrive. And once it did, it destroyed everything it came to contact with while prowling around for any traces of the King's Eyes.

But despite all the rage she had felt toward that abomination, it was overridden by the fear. She had never seen it. If she had, she would've been dead. That made the living myth all the more terrifying.

It was only after she realized its true nature that she let go of that fear and set her sights on something else. But now that that sight was starting to fade, she found herself relishing in Fabian's simple words and grasping at a distant dream.

A dream called happiness.