Chapter 38. Loss

  A deep, grave silence settled around them.

  No one spoke a word… Everyone remained silent.

  Beligor—the puppet they had deemed a traitor, the one they had considered abandoning—had saved them at the cost of his own life. The blood on his body had begun to dry. Each of them was lost in thought. What would happen now? Why had he done it? How could they seal the rift between worlds, stop the darkness from seeping into the realm of light, and find their way forward?

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  Leonel gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Rage and sorrow tore at his chest. He wanted to scream, but the words stuck in his throat.

  The half-blood girl knelt beside Beligor, her fingers trembling as she gently closed his eyes.

  — He wasn’t supposed to… — her voice broke.

  Stan turned away in silence, his jaw clenched tight. Even Ethan, always composed, looked lost.

  — We can’t leave him here, — Stan finally said.

  Leonel took a deep breath and lifted his head.

  — We’ll give him the honor he deserves.

  With great effort, they lifted Beligor’s body and, step by step, carried him back to camp.

  But as they walked away, the half-blood felt something strange.

  A whisper reached her on the wind… or was it a voice in her mind?

  "This is not the end."

  She spun around sharply, but there was no one there.

  Was it just her imagination?

  Or… had Beligor left behind something more than just a memory?