The Mysterious Link

Not long after their conversation, Ivan's gaze became serious and after a long sigh he turned to Nikolai with a strange gaze. His eyes soft, yet filled with concern. He reached out, as if to stroke his son's hair, before stopping halfway.

"Nikolai."

"Yeah?"

"You were right to be worried about the strange corruption." 

The moment his father mentioned the corruption, images of the caves filled with gunk appeared in Nikolai's mind. His eyes widened, knowing this wasn't the same level of talk compared to before.

"Did you discover something, dad?" 

Ivan rarely smoked after he recovered, but this time he flicked open a packet of his red stars and placed one of the death sticks into his lips. Then he snapped his old metal lighter with two flicks. The scent of tobacco filled the room.