Time passed, and Theo was now seven years old.

  Not only had he grown, but so had the children of Midian; the Young Master had become a celebrity among the villagers, as he traveled there three times a week. He became known for befriending all the children; he was always inside the villagers' homes causing mischief, though respectful when possible…

  Of course, with Magnum as an influence, he sometimes crossed the line.

  However, it wasn't only Theo who changed.

  Midian changed completely.

  Ethan managed to buy several more hectares for the plantations, yet the workforce did not keep up with the vast expansion. Then, within a span of three years, the continent experienced an enormous leap: the machine revolution.

  "I can't understand how this thing works…" Michel said, refusing to step into an automated vehicle.

  Carriages were replaced in regions that dared to adopt the new technologies. But the conservatives couldn't buy the idea.

  "This is what we call an engine," Ethan explained, with the hood open. "It runs on a battery. This box here…" The Duke pointed to a box at the center of the machine. "Inside, there's an Arcane Crystal…"

  "And what does that do?" Anton asked, observing beside him.

  "Basically? It's the heart of a magical beast. This crystal provides energy; the wheels turn on their own; we control the vehicle's speed and direction."

  The Duke stepped back with a cloth in hand, wiping away the oil the machine spilled.

  "Come on! Try it, Michel. You'll have to get used to it!" Ethan insisted, pushing the leader of Midian toward the cabin.

  "No. No!" the man refused. "I'll go after Anton!"

  "What?" Anton shot back, reluctant.

  "Come on, Anton! Go, I'll ride in the cabin with you," Ethan said, climbing onto an iron step.

  "Hey! What if this thing flips with me inside?!"

  "Remember… I'm with you. The worst that can happen is we die."

  Mr. Anton jumped back, uneasy.

  "You don't joke about things like that, boy!"

  "Go on! Stop being a coward!" Michel said, slapping his friend's back as encouragement.

  Anton, however, snapped:

  "What did you say?! I'm doing this because you didn't have the guts to drive!"

  "Fine, go ahead."

  Grumbling as he took heavy steps, Anton climbed into the cabin with Ethan — the vehicle was a kind of harvester; a cutting blade was installed at the rear to gather wheat.

  Taking cautious and exhausting steps, Michel sat on a wooden bench in front of the barn and watched the two ride off in the vehicle.

  At first, Anton nearly crashed into the barn wall and truly came close to tipping over, but Ethan guided him perfectly to avoid disaster.

  "What a situation…" Michel sighed in exhaustion.

  While the workers were afraid to handle machines, the children wanted to handle monsters. The Nymph Forest bordered the Midian plantation; however, to the east lay the worst region.

  The Death Zone.

  The trio of the generation, as the villagers called Agnes, Magnum, and Theo, spent their days at the threshold between the Habitable Zone and the Death Zone; a small stream.

  There was an apple tree along the riverbed, and Theo hung from it to gather apples. Upside down, suspended only by his legs, he looked at his friends.

  Magnum massaged his chest, showing pain.

  "Theo… You know that mud stown you threw at me hurt, right?" Magnum said, upset.

  "Stone…" Agnes muttered, slapping her own forehead. "It's stone, not stown… And also, it's you."

  "Argh. Miss blah, blah, blah! Why don't ya just turn into a teache already?"

  Disappointed, Agnes gave up. Leaning against the apple tree trunk, she returned to reading her book.

  While distracted by the girl, an apple struck Magnum's head. He stumbled sideways and fell to the ground, clutching both his chest and head.

  "Ouch!" he groaned, now his back hurting from hitting the ground.

  Dropping more fruit, Theo launched himself from the tree, rolling across the ground and gathering the apples. Ignoring Magnum at first, he collected the fruit and stored them in his white tunic.

  "But seriously, Agnes. You should become a teacher," he said in a corrective tone, mocking Magnum. "And you, Magnum… You should attend my mother's classes. Maybe you'd straighten out…"

  "It hurt!" the boy complained from the ground.

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  "Illiteracy is a very serious problem…"

  "I'm only six! I'm younger than you! Besides, you're deviants… You're more… more… quali…"

  Magnum looked at his fingers, trying to remember the word he wanted.

  Theo laughed.

  "Qualified?"

  "Yeah! That!"

  "No. You just don't pay attention."

  "Coming from mister I-can-read-since-three-years-old…"

  Crouching beside Agnes, Theo looked at him, confused.

  "Mister?"

  "Furget it," Magnum said, walking toward the stream.

  Theo followed, bringing the apples to wash in the water. Tossing them onto the grass along the bank, he used the current to clean the dirt away.

  "You know, I'm telling the truth, Mag… You could join. It's free; it only costs the time you spend bothering the farmers' work…"

  Turning his face and watching the stream's flow, Magnum muttered:

  "How you expect me to learn?"

  "Well… By learning… It's not that hard. Just try."

  "You genios pretend to be slow or what?"

  "Genios? Shouldn't it be geniuses?"

  "That's what I said!"

  "No… I'm not a genius," Theo said. "Just someone more evolved. And it's slow, if you're speaking in singular, referring to one person…"

  "Ah!" Magnum shouted in protest. "Dang it!"

  "Oh? Gonna curse at me now?" Theo shot back, smiling quietly.

  After washing all the apples, Magnum returned to where Agnes was, only to grow irritated as she corrected him again. With curses thrown into the wind, Theo was drawn to the opposite side.

  "Theo, see those trees?" he remembered Ethan's words.

  They had been in one of Midian's barns, and Duke Lawrence pointed toward the region where the children now stood.

  "There is an energy that surrounds all matter in this world; we call it mana… However, beyond those trees are creatures formed entirely of that energy; not merely surrounded by it. They do not bleed like we do. Their strength can destroy our home; devastate this entire forest…"

  "You will have moments when mana speaks to you, but not with simple words. They will be actions… It will distract you, seduce you. Just like a nymph would… Mana lures invaders into that morbid forest, where all that exists is evil. That is why, no matter what is happening, never follow the mana… Never! Even if it seems like a harmless day. Because…"

  "Theo? Where are you going?" Agnes asked, seeing him walk along the stream to cross it.

  "The Nymph Forest seduces its targets into the jaws of death."

  Theo crossed the current directly into the Death Zone.

  "Resist the temptation…"

  "This mist…" he pondered, wrapped in solitude.

  It was so dense it would be fair to call it solid; a curtain, like a spider's web. Clinging to his body, pulling him eastward.

  Where a majestic glow illuminated the absolute density…

  Theo followed the light.

  It buzzed before the child's eyes, completely seduced.

  Each of his steps inside the forest covered by mist was an ancient memory. A sensation only those who had seen death could understand.

  Only those who had seen solitude…

  Every branch he stepped on wrongly delivered the feeling Liam Mason had hated so much. His heart pounded fast, and he grew stressed without even knowing why.

  It was the only fear of Egon's greatest man: the future. Not knowing the next step… The anguish of not seeing the next step.

  Only the wind and that glow guided the boy toward destiny…

  And the destiny of all living forms is only one…

  To see the face of death.

  A gust of wind tore through the mist, thinning its density. It cleared; he could see the region now.

  The intense light vanished as a horse's neigh echoed.

  Startled awake, he gasped. His eyes darted to the limit consumed by confusion and despair, searching for the source of the sound. But aside from small creatures running across dead grass or hiding behind trees, he found nothing.

  'Michel Hansen.'

  A deep voice commented, its sound echoing through space.

  Frozen, he remembered that same voice.

  'Liam Mason Le Fay…'

  It was the same voice Liam had heard in death.

  Or similar. An impostor… Or one of his servants.

  Paralyzed, he slowly lifted his gaze toward a hill swallowed by mist.

  There was a knight atop it; mounted on a black horse, clad in black steel plate armor. He held a spear in his left hand. But when Theo tried to maintain eye contact, he found no head. White smoke rose from the hollow of his neck.

  The merciless beast, dressed in the same black armor, turned to reveal true terror.

  Theo felt only one sensation when he faced the creature's head…

  'Anton… Ramires…' said the Black Knight.

  Its head was in its right hand; hollow white eyes devoid of life met the Young Master's bright yellow ones. White hair flowed like a bride's veil.

  "I can die here…"

  It wasn't that he could.

  He truly would die if he stayed.

  The creature's dry lips uttered another name: 'Frans…'

  Theo's chest was stabbed by unbearable pain, forcing him to spit blood onto his white clothes.

  His eyes flickered between present and past; a knight mounted on a yellow horse drove a sword into Liam's chest, moments before declaring his name.

  The former general spat blood just like the child.

  Completely paralyzed, Theo collapsed from weakness.

  The knight continued chanting names; all of them belonged to Midian's villagers.

  Though he stood before that creature, Theo's existence was utterly ignored. His name was not even considered.

  Theo calmed for a moment. But his tension shattered when the ground trembled; a roar tore across the sky. A powerful wave of wind struck him.

  Regaining consciousness, Theo ran without looking back. Blood ran down his lips; he wiped it as he ran, praying not to lose himself in the dense mist.

  The knight's voice reached him, still reciting villagers' names.

  Clutching his chest, he ran without stopping. He wished to emerge somewhere he could find Magnum and Agnes. That was when he lost focus and tripped over a branch; but Liam Mason had tripped over his own weakness.

  His mind faltered again.

  Liam crawled through the forest nearly lifeless. Leaving a trail of blood on fallen leaves. Though he left blood behind, regrets remained within that poor soul.

  Yet the regrets returned to Theo, who lamented and repented with every step.

  Liam found a stone in the middle of a clearing in his deathbed. He tried to support himself and, with his last strength, managed to stand one final time.

  The clouds released the glow of the red moon in the sky. It was Liam's last vision…

  In contrast, the mist vanished from Theo's reach; the sun touched the clear waters of the stream.

  Theo cried in joy and relief.

  "Theo!" Agnes shouted, near the apple tree.

  He ran against the current, until he stumbled from exhaustion and nearly got swept away.

  "My God!" Agnes said, running alongside Magnum.

  Both managed to extend their hands and pull Theo from the force of nature.

  While Liam extended his hand toward the moon, the last act of his life.

  Panting, crawling over the grass. When he stood, he grabbed Agnes by the arm and helped Magnum up. Then he dragged the girl away. Magnum did not question it, for Theo was pale with anguish.

  But Agnes pulled back and demanded:

  "Theo! That's… blood. What happened?!" she asked, worried.

  "It doesn't matter! Let's get out of here!"

  Magnum agreed and was the first to run.

  Theo dragged Agnes along the trail between the trees; then another explosion echoed across the region. The ground trembled with the sound.

  Soon after, countless explosions erupted simultaneously.

  The tremors intensified as the distance to Midian decreased. Each one stronger, though muffled by the woods.

  "What is…" Sunlight blinded Theo's eyes, announcing the tragic end. "Happening."

  The children froze in complete shock.

  Midian's plantations were swallowed by clouds of smoke. His small body locked at the screams of despair and helplessness from women and children.

  The magnitude struck him.

  The blazing sea of Midian had become a sea of death and chaos.

  Smoke reached the sky, claiming the pale blue for itself.

  Another explosion, another death.

  Despair filled the air. The same despair Liam had once controlled completely…

  But Theo did not.

  Untamable fate brought death before his young eyes…

  In the form of a black cataclysm.