Zarak Seduces Leandro

Zarak Seduces Leandro

[Leandro's Perspective]

Leandro stood atop the containment wall, watching the shelter below. The sky was dyed a deep gray, as if the night were too tired to fully fall. The boy held a stone in his pocket — the first item he had ever dropped, a shard of defensive crystal — but he hadn't used it.

Everyone treated Miro as someone special. Sónia had already shown power. And him? He was just the second son. The middle one. The forgettable one.

It was in that silence that Zarak appeared.

"The wall has good eyes," said the deep voice behind him. "But what you're looking at down there doesn't matter. What matters is in here."

Leandro turned. Zarak was one of the new hunters. Dark-skinned, light-eyed, hair tied in fine braids. His body was covered in tribal tattoos and scars. A necklace of teeth hung from his neck. He always smiled, but never looked happy.

"You're Leandro, aren't you?"

"I am. Why?"

Zarak sat next to him, arms crossed.

"Because I see fire in you. Shapeless fire. — You're surrounded by shadows of brothers and heroes… but they forget that a volcano sleeps in the heart of the mountain."

Leandro frowned.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Zarak extended his hand. A dark crystal pulsed in his palm.

"This is a fallen ability. Dropped from a monster that only appears when hope dies in a group. — Few accept it. It burns the user… but also everything around them. — I call it 'Flame of Silence.' — I can teach you. But you'll have to choose for yourself."

Leandro stared at the crystal, fascinated.

"What about my father?"

"He wants to protect you. I want to set you free."

[Henrique's Perspective]

Henrique woke up with back pain and dried blood on his shirt. He had spent the night watching over Miro and recording every movement in the mirror chamber.

Kiala watched him from afar, as always. Beautiful, unreachable, always wrapped in an aura that made him forget the pain for a moment.

But Sónia entered quickly, interrupting his thoughts.

"Leandro is missing."

Henrique stood up immediately.

"Have you searched?"

"One of the hunters saw him climb the wall… but then lost the trail."

Henrique ran. The wall was more than a watchpoint. It was the only place to see the desert beyond… and where decisions were made that changed everything.

[Leandro's Perspective]

"Why are you doing this?" Leandro asked.

Zarak stood before him at the top of the second watch ring, where the winds howled like beasts.

"Because you remind me of who I was. I was the forgotten son too. — And today, I'm the only one from my shelter who survived. — Do you want to be the one who watches… or the one who leads?"

Leandro hesitated.

"My father is strong…"

"Your father was strong before the world collapsed. Now he carries the past… you can carry the future."

Zarak placed the dark crystal in Leandro's hands.

"Squeeze it."

Leandro squeezed.

The pain was immediate.

As if his nerves had been set ablaze, his mind screamed, and his vision darkened. But for an instant… he saw.

He saw his father, fallen. Sónia, dead. Miro… consumed by his own reflection. And himself — Leandro — standing, with black flames in his fists, leading a crowd.

When he opened his eyes, Zarak smiled.

"Welcome to chaos, Leandro. Now you've truly begun your journey."

[Samuel's Perspective]

Samuel was walking through the corridors when he felt the ground vibrate. Not an ordinary tremor… it was magic.

He rushed to the sanctuary.

"Henrique! The mirror… it's reacting to Leandro!"

Henrique arrived moments later. The mirror was dark. Shadowed. Miro's reflection trembled as if panicking.

And in the center of the mirror… a new silhouette emerged.

Leandro. With black eyes. And a smile… just like Zarak's.

Henrique screamed.

"LEANDRO!"

But the mirror only replied with the sound of crackling flames.

[Kiala's Perspective]

Kiala touched the shelter wall with the palm of her hand.

"He has opened the first of the three flames. — A child who carries the silent fire… can set the whole world ablaze."

Henrique fell to his knees.

"What did I do wrong?"

Kiala didn't answer. She simply looked to the sky in silence.

Because above them… a second veil had begun to tear.