The cold air brushed against Yaram's skin, ruffling his golden crown that seemed to shrink before his eyes under the weight of the recent days. In the corners of the throne hall, the rooms were empty except for a few servants moving silently behind the heavy curtains. Everything was quiet, tinged with a kind of tension one feels when standing on the edge of a major decision.
He remembered the words of his last speech. Those were the moments when he stood before his people, saying what they did not expect: "Justice was never the goal, but merely a means to maintain order. And now, my dears, order does not need fixing it needs rebuilding, a return to new foundations." He added this in his mind as he gazed at the high ceiling of his spacious hall. There was only the faint sound of his servants preparing the small boxes filled with the elixir that was going to change everything.
Suddenly, the main door of the hall opened to reveal one of his entourage, a man with a grim face and a tendency to speak in short sentences. He said calmly, "Sir, it is time. The distribution teams are ready."
Yaram nodded, but his mind was entirely preoccupied. He knew that what was about to happen would be the beginning of a massive transformation. But was he ready? He didn't know yet. His heart was still trembling from the chaos he had gone through in recent days. The closure of the academy, the return of enemies, the killing of those who didn't believe in his plan… all of it haunted him. Yet he held onto one idea: the elixir.
He walked toward the hall's window, where the sun was slowly rising over the distant mountains, casting a pink hue on the clear sky. His eyes stared into the horizon, but his mind swam in the depths of the ocean, searching for an answer: would the elixir truly be the solution? Would this new beginning help save the kingdom from the abyss?
"Let's rebuild everything from scratch," he whispered to himself. And he smiled a faint smile unfamiliar, yet it carried something of relief. For he knew the elixir would change everything, including himself.
...
Day One Noon
With the beginning of the elixir distribution, crowds of people gathered in the public squares. Yaram stood on the elevated platform, observing the faces gathered under the scorching sun. Every person in those crowds wore expressions of both hope and anxiety. Their faces weren't just reflections of what they had been told about the elixir; they were questioning whether it would provide the security they had long been missing. Yaram knew well that hope was split between those who trusted him and those who watched the situation with suspicion.
Suddenly, a voice rang out from the crowd: "What if the elixir is a trick? What if it's a hidden poison?"
Yaram's heart jumped. The words struck like a powerful blow. Yet no emotion appeared on his face. He stood there, firm, thinking, as a fog of emotions receded into his subconscious. He knew that doubt would remain even with the elixir, and he wanted to prove to everyone that he hadn't deceived them.
At that moment, he took a breath and turned toward the guards nearby, saying, "Let them go. No one loses if they feel afraid."
"But sir, this might affect morale…" one of the guards replied, attempting to warn him.
"True hope is not affected by fear only by actions."
Despite the harshness of his words, this was the first time he felt that everything was under his control, at least temporarily. He knew the wary crowds weren't fools, but they needed help. They needed to see hope in the end.
That night, Yaram sat in his private room, alone. The elixir had begun to spread among the people, and he kept wondering whether he had made the right decision. He closed his eyes for a long time, trying to breathe deeply. He didn't mind being alone, but solitude now made him feel a kind of loss, as if he had left a piece of himself behind with every step.
"Would I have survived if this wasn't the elixir?" he wondered internally.
At that moment, one of his aides entered suddenly, hesitating. He said, "Sir, the first reports indicate mixed reactions. Some have begun to feel better, while others are experiencing side effects."
Yaram sighed audibly, but no trace of worry appeared on his face. He replied in a soft voice, "I know nothing will be perfect from the start. This is the beginning of a war much larger than just distributing a dose of hope."
His aide smiled, though he felt fear for the future. He said, "But sir, won't you respond to the skeptics?"
Yaram looked at him deeply and answered with a bitter smile, "Skeptics don't need responses. They only need to see the truth with their own eyes."
Then he looked at the bottle placed on a nearby table, where the elixir was already being distributed by unfamiliar hands in the streets. These small bottles, which people saw as their lifelines, were the keys to the future for him. Yaram didn't know exactly how everything would change, but the idea that he held the key to change filled him with confidence.
And at that moment, as he tried to maintain his calm, he felt something strange creeping into his heart: the sense that everything was about to change forever.
Elsewhere, inside the Black Moon
In the deep meeting hall of one of the secret organization's headquarters, where the light was dim and the windows were cloaked in heavy shadows, the leaders sat around a massive round table. The air was thick with tension, as if it was saturated with threat. At the far end of the room, Alexis Lockard stood leaning against the wall, arms crossed, his face carrying a calm smile, as if what was happening before him was nothing more than a passing scene in his day. He didn't care about consequences, and deep inside, he knew he would come out of this trial stronger than ever.
The Grand Leader, the man who never showed his face, sat at the head of the table. His eyes glowed under the dark shadows that covered his features. His voice was firm, steeped in authority:
"Alexis Lockard... you've crossed the line this time. You betrayed our trust, used human subjects as test rats, and deliberately released a fake elixir. Do you now realize your mistake?"
Alexis didn't hesitate to raise his eyebrows slightly, then replied in a calm and restrained voice, as if merely expressing a simple opinion:
"My mistake? I think you don't really understand the meaning of 'mistake.' In our world, the one who holds the power to change is the one who sets the rules. You all sit here blaming what is merely part of a larger plan. Everything was under control until it failed at the last moment."
The leaders' reaction was immediate. All of them wore the same grim and shocked expression. One of them even whispered:
"Madman… defying everyone right before our eyes."
But the Grand Leader remained calm, ignoring their whispers. He observed Alexis with eyes devoid of mercy. He spoke in a low voice, yet it carried a threat:
"You failed your trials, and you caused chaos that was not part of the plan. And now, you will pay the price."
Alexis looked at the Grand Master, his eyes gleaming with a hint of amusement. He knew that what awaited him in this moment would be nothing but another test of his strength; he knew that the punishment would only be part of the game he had started. Yet, the idea of punishment itself stirred in his heart a kind of pleasure. Punishment was not merely a threat to him; it was an opportunity to test the endurance of his body and mind, to see how much he could endure and how long he could remain steadfast in the face of the power around him.
Then the Grand Master signaled to one of the guards. In a moment, the guard approached Alexis and pulled from his coat a strange device, filled with mechanical parts and advanced technology, harmonizing with the darkness surrounding the room. It was a device designed to torture its victims in unconventional ways, to increase pain without leaving visible marks. Alexis recognized it immediately. But he showed no reaction. Instead, he smiled slightly and closed his eyes for a moment.
"I suppose you think I'm afraid of pain," he said in a low voice, directing his words to the Grand Master.
The Grand Master laughed deeply, as if Alexis had said something unusual in their dark world, then said in an arrogant tone:
"You'll realize soon enough."
And when the guard approached to place the device on Alexis's body, the latter felt as if time itself had stopped. The device was about to touch his skin, and he could already feel the coldness of the metal before it penetrated the flesh. But this wasn't the first time he had faced pain. He had endured far worse in the past. Nothing could shake his confidence. And the only thing he was thinking of now was that moment when the Grand Master would be subjected to his questioning, when he would realize that Alexis had not been defeated, but had been planning something much greater.
As expected, when the device began to stimulate his nerves, the pain was intense, but Alexis showed no reaction. He didn't groan, didn't move, remained still in his place. His mind was far from the scene, as if in a state of internal meditation. Thoughts jumped through his head. He thought of how this punishment was just a short phase before he gathered his strength again. He knew that failing in his mission wouldn't determine his fate; on the contrary, it would contribute to refining his character and improving his abilities.
He thought about the fake antidote he had used. He had manipulated people on a wide scale, but Alexis understood something deeply: people don't trust change, but they trust strength. That's what always made him superior to others. And this moment, in the eyes of the leaders, was a test for him, but for him, it was a test to confirm his own endurance and patience.
He felt the pain wrapping around his body, but he wasn't afraid instead, he was smiling inwardly. He remembered everything: how his plan began, and how no one expected his failure. The whispers among the leaders at the start of the mission were filled with doubt about his strength, but today they would realize they had underestimated him. And the more the pain increased, the clearer his idea became in his mind.
With every moment, he became more certain that this organization, which thought it controlled him, would one day become a tool in his hands. Not today, but one day.
Finally, after the device had done its work in delivering pain, the guard stepped back. The Grand Master looked at Alexis, who remained standing, in a state of complete calm, as if nothing had happened. That moment was a powerful challenge for him. A sense of triumph sparkled in Alexis's eyes, who continued to smile without showing any sign of pain. Thoughts spun in his mind with new solutions, but he remained silent, waiting for the right moment to rearrange the entire world.
"I won't forget this, Alexis," said the Grand Master finally, in a tone not devoid of threat.
"You won't forget?" Alexis replied calmly, his eyes gleaming. "I never wanted you to forget. The future I see will be more thrilling than you can imagine."
As the last word echoed in the air, the looks of the leaders were filled with astonishment and suspicion, while Alexis stood there, unmoved, fearing nothing, ready for what was to come.
The pain hadn't entirely vanished yet, but his body gradually began to return to its natural state thanks to the advanced treatment provided to him. The doctors focused on avoiding any visible marks that might reveal what he had been subjected to.
But Alexis, who was in a state of total stillness, was thinking of something else. His gaze wasn't fixed on the treatment itself, but on his next plan. He was suffering injuries, but they had never touched his essence. He believed that pain was just part of the process, and the punishment he had endured was just a reminder that every step in the game required patience and precision.
One of the doctors, who seemed hesitant as he worked on a small device to ease the pain in his body, asked in a low voice:
"Are you ready to return? It'll be a little tough for you at first… but no one will know what happened."
Alexis looked at him coldly, as if he hadn't heard the question. His mind was more occupied than ever. His hands moved automatically to signal the doctor to continue, but he didn't speak directly. His thoughts were drifting far away.
"When I return… things will be different. They won't know what's being schemed in the shadows. But the new plan needs greater precision."
He said that in his mind, his eyes completely closed while the doctors treated the traces of torture. He knew that the failure of the previous time was merely a chance to increase the precision of his thinking for the next one. This time, nothing would be allowed to go against his will. He had a very clear idea.
At that moment, he heard the door open gently. Edric entered his loyal servant, the one who never left him, and breathed only to fulfill his orders. Edric's features reflected tension and concern. He was carrying his leather bag filled with medicines and materials necessary for rapid evacuation, and his eyes bore a worried look that his master's health might have been affected by what had happened in the ordeal.
With his calm steps, Edric approached Alexis and said in a low voice, filled with respect:
"My lord, the treatment has begun to take effect. Are you ready to return?"
Alexis opened his eyes slightly and looked at Edric with a faint smile on his lips, but it wasn't a congratulatory smile it was a preemptive smile, as if he was hiding a secret in his heart.
"Of course, Edric. I won't let a failure like this hold me back. We will return, but this time things will be different."
He pointed to the wound that had begun to heal on his body, then looked around the lab, contemplating all the tools that had been prepared specifically to erase any trace of what had happened.
"Failure was part of the plan. I didn't care that they saw my weakness. What matters is what happens now. And next time, I won't allow circumstances to interfere with our path."
Edric stood sensing the shift in his master's tone. He noticed that brilliance in his thinking that only he could see, and he knew that any wrong move in the upcoming moment would mean losing control of everything. But in the end, he could only fully trust Alexis's wisdom.
"And what is the next plan, sir?" Edric asked with a voice full of confidence, yet hiding deep anxiety within. The previous plan had failed unexpectedly, and he needed to be reassured that Alexis had learned the lesson.
Alexis sat relaxed on the bed, then looked at Edric with a sharp gaze filled with depth and cunning. His thoughts were picking up the threads of the new plan, as he began to weave them in his mind.
"We need to be more precise than last time, Edric. The fake antidote was merely a test. The failure came only because we placed our trust in untrustworthy people. But now, we need two things: someone who knows no fear, and someone who cannot be betrayed."
Alexis stood up slowly, and gently pointed to himself, as if he wanted to make sure Edric fully understood what he was saying. But within, the words carried a weight far deeper than any casual remark.
"First, we will restructure the internal system of this place, we will introduce new ideas under the veil of chaos. Remember, Edric, we will not be at the front lines this time, but behind the scenes, weaving all the threads around them. We will create a trap that is wider and deeper."
Edric looked at him, his eyes holding a question, but there was no doubt in his loyalty, so he said calmly:
"And what about the people who caused the last failure? Do we leave them?"
Alexis smiled a mysterious smile, growing wider and wider, until his face was filled with dark cunning.
"No, Edric. We leave no one behind. But we will make them believe that forces greater than them are moving the strings. They will break, and they will think that staying in the shadows is their own choice. But they do not know they will remain in the shadows forever, while we are the ones guiding them through the darkness."
Alexis sighed deeply as he picked up his bag and prepared to move. His eyes were burning with enthusiasm, but that enthusiasm remained buried deep inside. He was betting on secrecy, on precise manipulation, while watching everyone from afar. And he was confident that the next plan would be more successful than any previous one.
As he exited the lab, he spoke in a low voice, but filled with strength and certainty:
"They won't even realize when time starts to play in our favor, Edric. Everything is set, and everything is under our control."
Those words were a true promise for the future, where Alexis began to feel that everything would soon be in his grasp, and that he would remain the one crafting destinies in the shadows.