Adrian slowly opened his eyes.
His vision was blurry at first, but it only took a few seconds for the world around him to come into focus.
A white ceiling.
The sharp smell of disinfectant.
Medical equipment surrounding his bed.
The steady beeping of a heart monitor broke the silence every few moments.
He tried to sit up, but a sudden wave of pain shot through his body, forcing him to stop.
He clenched his teeth as he struggled to understand what was happening.
Looking down, he saw bandages wrapped around his shoulders, arms, and chest, while large parts of his body were covered in gauze.
At first, he couldn’t remember how he had gotten there, but as the seconds passed, fragments of the battle slowly returned to him, one after another.
Adrian closed his eyes, trying to remember what had happened, but the first image that came to his mind was Philip.
He saw his brother’s smile.
He remembered his laughter and the way he used to call his name.
Then the image suddenly changed, becoming the sight of Philip’s small, lifeless body lying in his arms.
Adrian’s eyes widened slightly as more memories came rushing back—his grandfather, Dan, Malkar, the house, and the battle.
The memories were scattered and unclear, but he remembered the ending perfectly.
Philip was dead.
Adrian slowly raised a hand to his face, trying to hold back his tears, but this time he couldn’t.
He lowered his head as tears silently rolled down his cheeks.
He remained lying on the bed without trying to hide his grief.
He had endured too much that night, but now that he was far from the battlefield, there was nothing left to stop him from finally breaking down.
He remained like that for some time until he heard the door open quietly.
He raised his head and saw a nurse enter the room and walk toward him.
She quickly checked the medical equipment and his bandages before looking at him with concern.
“Are you feeling okay?”
Adrian quickly wiped his tears and tried to sit up slightly before looking at her with a tired expression.
“Where am I?”
The nurse calmly explained that he had been brought there after they found him following the battle.
His injuries had been severe, so he needed medical treatment and close monitoring.
Adrian remained silent for a few moments, as if the word “battle” had brought everything rushing back to him all at once.
Then he looked at her anxiously.
“Dan…
Where’s Dan?”
Noticing the worry in his eyes, the nurse quickly reassured him.
“If you mean the blond boy who was with you, he’s alive.
His condition was critical when he arrived, but he’s recovering now.
He’s still unconscious, though, and his condition is being monitored closely.”
“Can I see him?”
The nurse shook her head apologetically.
“Not yet.
You still need to rest, and he needs to be monitored as well.
You can visit him once the doctor gives you permission.”
Adrian didn’t argue.
He simply lowered his head.
He wanted to see Dan and make sure for himself that he was okay, but he knew his own body could barely move in its current state.
The nurse left the room, and silence returned, leaving Adrian alone with his thoughts.
He tried to close his eyes and rest, but the moment darkness filled his vision, unfamiliar images appeared before him.
Strange faces he had never seen before.
Unknown places.
Distant voices echoing inside his head, their words impossible to understand.
He tried to focus on them, but a sharp pain suddenly exploded inside his head.
Adrian’s eyes snapped open as he raised a hand to his forehead and clenched his teeth.
The pain lasted for several seconds before suddenly disappearing, leaving him staring silently at the ceiling.
He didn’t understand what had happened, but he began to realize one thing: every time he tried to get closer to those memories, the same pain appeared, as if his own mind was refusing to let him see what was hidden inside them.
The hours passed slowly.
Whenever the image of the house returned to his mind, or he remembered Philip lying in his arms, he felt something strange moving inside him.
A faint black aura began to seep from his body, only to disappear moments later before returning whenever his anger grew stronger.
Adrian knew that feeling all too well.
He had felt the same energy during his fight with Malkar, when his rage had reached the point where he nearly lost control of himself.
So whenever he sensed that energy beginning to surface, he forced himself to think about something else, trying to keep it under control before it could take control of him again.
Night fell, but sleep never came. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Adrian remained lying on the bed, his eyes fixed on the ceiling as a single thought occupied his mind.
Dan.
He kept wondering whether Dan had really survived and whether his condition was truly improving, or if the nurse had only said that to reassure him.
While he was lost in his thoughts, the door opened and another nurse entered to check on him.
Adrian immediately raised his head, and the moment he saw her, he began asking before she could even reach the bed.
“Please…
The boy in the room next door.
Dan…
How is he doing now?”
The nurse gave him a reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry.
He regained consciousness a while ago, and his condition is gradually improving.”
Adrian closed his eyes and let out a long breath, feeling as though a heavy weight had been lifted from his chest.
“I was really worried about him…
Thank you.”
The nurse smiled at him before leaving the room.
Adrian continued staring at the door after she left.
After everything he had lost, at least one person had made it out of that nightmare alive.
For the first time since waking up, he felt that something good had come from that night, even if it was something small.
A few moments later, Adrian’s eyes shifted around the room when he heard a faint sound coming from one of the corners.
It sounded like something small moving in the shadows.
He raised his head and stared at the cabinet on the other side of the room for a moment before pressing the button to call the nurse.
A short while later, the nurse entered and looked at him with concern.
“Do you need something?”
Adrian pointed toward the dark corner.
“I hear something coming from over there.”
The nurse looked toward the spot he was pointing at, then cautiously approached the cabinet while Adrian watched her closely, ready for anything that might emerge from the darkness.
Suddenly, the nurse screamed.
Adrian jolted despite the pain and quickly raised his head.
“What happened?”
The nurse crouched down for a moment before emerging from behind the cabinet with a small cat in her arms, laughing softly.
“Oh…
There you are.
I’ve been looking for you for hours.”
She turned toward Adrian with a smile, still holding the cat in her arms.
“Don’t worry.
She’s my cat.
Looks like she snuck into the room without me noticing.”
The nurse carried the cat out of the room and quietly closed the door behind her.
Adrian rested his head against the pillow and stared at the ceiling for a few moments before muttering to himself in a tired voice:
“These people…
They really overreact about everything.”
Silence returned to the room, and for a moment, it seemed like everything was over.
But a few seconds later, a calm voice came from the same corner.
“Do I…
really look like a cat to her?”
Adrian went completely still.
His eyes snapped open as he realized the voice hadn’t come from the nurse or anyone else in the room.
He slowly raised his head and stared toward the source of the voice, his body tensing despite the pain.
“Who’s there?”
The shadows shifted before his eyes, and moments later, a tall man stepped out of them.
Long red hair fell over his shoulders, while his crimson eyes glowed faintly in the darkness.
Two small horns could barely be seen above his head.
He stopped a few steps away from the bed and looked at Adrian calmly, as if appearing out of nowhere inside someone’s hospital room was perfectly normal.
“Calm down…
I’m not your enemy.”
Adrian tensed his body and prepared himself to fight despite his injuries.
He kept his eyes fixed on the stranger, watching every movement carefully before asking directly:
who are you?”
The man approached with calm steps, showing no hostility.
A faint smile rested on his face, making his mysterious appearance seem slightly less threatening, but it wasn’t enough to make Adrian trust him.
The man sat down on the edge of the bed as if he were completely comfortable there, then looked steadily at Adrian.
“My name is Valdrin…
and I’ve come to take you with me.”
Adrian stared at him for several seconds before replying coldly:
“Where are you taking me?”
Valdrin didn’t answer immediately.
His eyes dropped to Adrian’s bandaged body before returning to his face.
“I still don’t understand how you obtained that power…
or why that fragment appeared in the first place.”
Adrian frowned.
He didn’t like the fact that this man knew something about the power inside him.
“And you expect me to trust someone who suddenly broke into my room and asked me to leave with him?
You haven’t even told me who you really are.”
The corner of Valdrin’s mouth lifted into a faint smile.
“But I just told you.
My name is Valdrin.
So why are you saying I haven’t told you who I am?”
Adrian stared at him for a moment before a faint smile appeared on his face despite himself.
It was one of the few times he had smiled since the beginning of that night.
Valdrin’s joke had come at a strange time, but it made Adrian realize that there was something different about this man beneath his mysterious appearance.
The smile quickly disappeared, and the suspicion returned to Adrian’s eyes.
He continued watching Valdrin in silence, as if waiting for him to reveal his true identity or make any move against him.
“A name means nothing.
Who are you?
Why did you enter my room?
And how did you get in here without anyone seeing you?”
Valdrin continued smiling without answering.
Adrian clenched his fist and spoke more sharply.
“Answer me.
Are you from the same place Malkar came from?
Or did he send you to finish what he started?”
Valdrin looked at Adrian for several seconds before speaking calmly.
“So…
Malkar is the one who attacked you.”
Adrian’s gaze sharpened immediately.
“You know him?”
Valdrin didn’t answer right away.
He studied Adrian for a moment, as if watching his reaction, before finally speaking.
“You seem very interested in knowing who he is.”
Adrian clenched his fist tighter, anger and grief mixing in his voice.
“Interested?
He killed my family…
and destroyed my entire life.”
Silence filled the room for a few moments.
Valdrin continued staring at him without revealing any emotion, while Adrian waited for an answer.
After a moment, Valdrin finally spoke in a calm voice.
“Are you sure…
Malkar was the only one responsible?”
Adrian stared at him in confusion, unable to answer.
Valdrin’s words had raised questions Adrian had never considered before.
The more he tried to piece everything together, the more things seemed to make no sense—the power that had appeared inside him, the reason Malkar had attacked him, and how all of it was connected to what had happened to his family.
Valdrin slowly stood up, his eyes remaining fixed on Adrian.
For a few moments, he said nothing, as if giving Adrian time to process his words.
Then he spoke quietly.
“Perhaps it’s time…”
He paused for a moment before continuing.
“For you to learn the whole truth.”