Awakening

Yordel silently knelt where he was, a pair of pitch-black eyeholes set in his eerie dark-purple mask.

Tales suppressed his countless thoughts and sighed softly.

"So it was you."

Yordel's mask shifted slightly.

"Yes," a hoarse, muffled voice came from beneath it.

"I was here."

The man behind the mask slowly extended his gloved right hand.

"I've been here all along."

Tales fell silent for several seconds as the soreness in his arm gradually faded.

He took a deep breath.

"That's right."

The Prince lifted his head and revealed a gentle smile. "I know."

"I've always known."

He grasped Yordel's hand and rose with the other man's help.

The flame of the torch in Yordel's hand flickered softly, illuminating their surroundings. Yet when its light fell on Yordel, the colors seemed to draw inward, leaving scarcely any reflected light.

It only made his mask appear even more mysterious and profound.

Tales released Yordel's hand and silently studied him.

Not long ago, Nikolai and Monty's bloody battle in the Barren Stone Fields had been more than merely heart-stopping—it had also dragged an innocent bystander into the fray. Poor Tales had been caught between them, both the core bargaining chip that neither side could do without and the key tool they used to overcome each other. He had even suffered grievous injuries and hovered between life and death.

Under rare circumstances, the Sin of the Hell River had once again surged forth after a long absence, devouring the boy at that moment.

And while Tales lay dying underground, enduring the uncontrolled agony inflicted by the Sin of the Hell River, the heightened senses stimulated in that instant had fed the Prince of Starfall new information.

Apart from Starfaller and The Dead Crow, who were fighting to the death, and himself, who could