Leandro Awakens His Powers

Leandro Awakens His Powers

[Leandro's Perspective]

For days, Leandro carried Samuel's notebook like an invisible shield. The pages were filled with scribbles, strange diagrams, and magical formulas that looked more like madness than knowledge.

But something in them spoke to him.

That night, Samuel silently called him outside the supermarket, into a hidden alley where the old streetlights flickered weakly.

"What are we doing?" Leandro whispered.

Samuel pointed at the ground.

There, drawn with charcoal mixed with his own blood, was the same symbol he had shown Leandro before: an eye surrounded by three curves of shattered mirrors.

"Minor Totem. Domain of Chaotic Remembrance."

"Awaken your name."

"I don't have a 'name,' just Leandro."

Samuel shook his head.

"Your true name sleeps within you."

"Call it."

[Henrique's Perspective]

Henrique was alone on the rooftop when the crystal glowed without his touch.

A projection of energy formed in the air: a feminine figure wrapped in red mist. The voice was unmistakable.

"Henrique… are you well?"

Lívia.

He stood, fists clenched.

"You still have the nerve?"

She smiled, sweet and cruel as always.

"I always did. You were the weak one. Always weak."

Henrique shouted,

"I loved you!"

"That's why I broke you," the mist whispered with sarcasm. "Only the weak love without condition."

He lunged at the image, but it vanished.

"I'll come for you," Henrique promised. "And when I reach you… I'll ask again if love was weakness."

[Sónia's Perspective]

Back in the shelter, Sónia noticed something strange. Silas, once calm, now moved with a fevered gaze. He mumbled to himself. His fingers stained with charcoal, drawing hidden runes on the walls.

She followed him quietly.

She found him in one of the storage rooms, drawing a symbol on the ground with charred bone: a black heart within an inverted flame.

"What is that…?"

Silas noticed her.

He smiled.

"Come. You have the Empress's light in you. You just need to open your eyes."

She stepped back, terrified.

But Silas didn't follow. He only whispered,

"You'll come back. Everyone does. When you realize your father isn't your father…

…but a weapon."

[Leandro's Perspective]

Back at the ritual, Samuel lit a small flame in the center of the symbol. The fire was black. No smoke. No smell.

"What is this?" Leandro asked, voice trembling.

Samuel wrote:

"Fragmented memory.

If you resist, your power will come.

If you fall… you'll lose your identity."

Leandro hesitated.

But then he thought of Miro. Of Sónia.

Of his father — broken, trying to rise again.

And he stepped forward.

Placed his foot inside the symbol.

The world collapsed around him.

[Leandro's Inner Perspective]

He fell into a sea of memories that weren't his.

— At twelve, he was whipped in an ancient prison by voices made of stone.

— At sixteen, he hunted monsters made of mirrors.

— At twenty-nine, he died trying to protect a child with black eyes.

Then… he saw a version of himself with bronze skin and flames pouring from his arms.

And a word echoed:

"Canticum."

"That is your name in the chaos. Leandro is your cloak. Canticum is your essence."

He awoke with his eyes on fire. Literally.

The black flame didn't burn his skin.

It danced around his body, wrapped around his arms.

Samuel knelt before him.

"Welcome, second verse of the Silence."

[Miro's Perspective]

Meanwhile, Miro had gathered stones, pieces of metal, melted plastic, and charcoal.

Sónia, though hesitant, followed him.

"Miro… what are you doing?"

"A temple. So the mirror hears me better."

He smiled, but his eyes weren't really there.

When he finished, the "temple" was no child's construction.

It was a structure that defied logic: doors levitating without support, mirrors that reflected nothing, and an aura of constant whispering.

"He'll answer soon," Miro said. "He always does when the world needs to be remade."

Sónia cried in silence.

[Henrique's Perspective]

Henrique came down to the shelter. He saw Leandro's eyes still glowing with black embers.

Samuel smiled.

Sónia, in the back, trembled.

Silas… was gone.

And Henrique realized something.

Everyone was changing.

And he still understood nothing.

But Kiala appeared silently, like an ebony shadow.

"Congratulations. Your second son has awakened."

"And what is he?"

"He is the second verse."

"Miro is the mirror."

"And you… you are the echo everyone pretends not to hear."

Henrique fell to his knees.

But the crystal in his chest glowed stronger than ever.