Chapter 473
That irritation grew deeper, sharper, more disturbing as Theo realized that the disruption to the main scenario in the first arc, at the end of episode eleven, was not caused by technical failure or intervention from an external force beyond his control, but by something far simpler and yet far more complex than that.
Ilux's inability to transform into the Void, a failure that should not have occurred if all the bullying he had designed had worked perfectly, was not because Ilux was too strong or too resistant to the suffering inflicted upon him.
He was fragile, he was wounded, he stood on the brink of collapse every time he passed through the gates of the Star Academy with clothes still stained with food and mocking laughter faithfully trailing his steps.
Yet amidst all that fragility, amidst all the wounds that remained open and were never given the chance to heal, Ilux still possessed something that allowed him to endure, something that kept him from falling into the abyss of despair that had already opened wide before him.
A feeling that kept him bound to the world, that prevented him from letting go of everything he had—even when everything he had now was nothing but suffering repeating itself every single day—was something Theo had never seriously accounted for, because he had assumed that after all the pressure applied, nothing would remain of Ilux except an empty shell ready to be filled with darkness.
His parents—those were the roots of all the anomalies that had occurred over the past two nights, the source of the prayers that continuously escaped Ilux's lips every time darkness crept in to replace the retreating light, the unbroken thread that refused to snap no matter how much the world tried to sever every connection Ilux had to a reason to keep living.
It was not hatred that made him strong, not anger that burned and gave him energy to keep resisting, but an irrational belief that he was here at the Star Academy to make his parents proud, that all the suffering he endured, all the stains clinging to his clothes, all the unseen wounds that cut deeper than any blade, were things he had to go through for a single purpose that never wavered no matter how everything around him tried to tear it down.
And that belief, which should have been the greatest obstacle to the scenario he had traced, which should have irritated him in ways he had never imagined before, instead did something far more complex than merely interfering with the flow of the narrative.
That belief was proof that Ilux, even though he had been designed to become the center of all darkness, still possessed a light that could not be extinguished by bullying and endless suffering alone, still possessed something that kept him human amidst every attempt to turn him into something no longer human.
With that belief, with the awareness that he could not change what had already happened over the past two nights and perhaps could not change what would happen in the coming nights if he did not address the root of the problem, Theo chose no longer to remain standing in the same place, in the same position as he had since morning broke.
His body, which had briefly stretched and enjoyed the morning scenery with all the calm it offered, now moved with a clear purpose even though his steps were never hurried.
The scenery he had been enjoying, the morning air so fresh that he had inhaled and exhaled it dozens of times, all the small pleasures he had stolen from time that should have been used to continue his mission of tracking Ilux's movements, now had to be abandoned because there was another matter far more urgent that he needed to resolve.
His steps carried him into the boys' dormitory of the Star Academy, passing through doors he had never entered in a way visible to ordinary eyes, crossing corridors still quiet because most of their occupants remained in their rooms, penetrating spaces never designed to receive the presence of a being like him.
"His body is still in that room, but his mind has gone somewhere else."
Time moved in a strange way for someone accustomed to watching seconds pass without ever rushing, and for Theo, who since morning had never left his position within shadows untouched by light, the movement of the clock felt like a river flowing without ever asking anyone whether it should slow down or hasten its course.
The sun, which earlier had shyly crept through gaps in the leaves, had now reached the peak of its journey and slowly began descending along the other side of the sky, leaving behind traces of orange that scattered themselves across every surface willing to receive them.
The roosters that since dawn had called out in voices breaking the silence, marking the beginning of a new day with everything it carried that could never be predicted, had long since fallen silent after completing their duty of awakening the world.
And the afternoon light that entered through the gap in Ilux's curtains, whose position remained unchanged since morning when Theo first peeked from the shadows, continued to shift slowly in an unchanging rhythm, illuminating the dust drifting through the air in the same way it illuminated everything in this world—without choosing, without discriminating, without ever asking whether its light was needed or not.
Hours passed, time continued to creep forward with a pace indifferent to who was waiting or what was happening behind doors that never opened.
From the noon call to prayer that echoed and trembled against the dormitory walls, to the afternoon call that came with a slightly different tone yet carried the same message of time moving forward without ever looking back, Theo never diverted his attention from a single point—from a single door that, since morning, had shown no sign of opening.
His stomach might never feel hunger like ordinary beings, his eyes might never feel fatigue like humans who require rest between observations, yet something began to settle within his awareness as the shadows outside the window grew longer—something about certainty slowly turning into a concern he had never invited, yet one that kept knocking at the door of his consciousness more insistently each time he realized that nothing had changed behind that tightly closed door.
And when the orange glow began to seep in more boldly, when the sun that once hesitated to leave the sky now showed signs that it would soon surrender its throne to the moon waiting beyond the horizon, Theo still remained in the same place, in the same position, with eyes that never blinked fixed upon the unmoving door.
Maghrib approached the night, the time when the boundary between light and darkness blurred, when the sky displayed colors that could never be replicated, when the call echoed with a tone different from those before, carrying the message that the day would soon end and night would take over with all the mysteries it carried.
Yet behind the still-closed door, behind curtains that had not been opened since morning, there was no sign that Ilux was aware of the passage of time occurring outside.
To be continued…