The rift had already closed behind them.

  The noise of the outside world fell silent.The catastrophe of the island, Rayuka, Vaynar – they all became distant, blurred memories.

  In the Depth of Silence, only their own breathing echoed.

  Anonime did not venture further.He stopped at the edge of the circular chamber where a white light, seeping from a deep fissure, pulsed like a slow, patient heart.

  Then, he sat down.

  Not on a throne.Not at an altar.

  Simply upon the stone.

  Rintal hesitated for a moment, then lowered himself opposite him. The Seal was still throbbing faintly, but it did not dominate. It felt… diminished here.

  Silence.

  Rintal was the one to break it.

  — "What is this place, truly?"

  Anonime stared into the fissure.

  — "The most plausible theory is that it was intended for outcast souls."

  Rintal’s brow twitched.

  — "Hell?"

  — "No," he answered calmly.— "An escape route."

  A brief pause.

  — "A small pocket within the astral world that remains a mystery to this day. The few who knew of it called it only 'The Anomaly'."

  — "Neither the will nor the power of any god is present in this small haven."

  — "It is as if God abandoned this place and those within it long ago, and thus, they have become null."

  Rintal looked down at his own hands.

  The white light pulsed slowly from the crevice.Rintal watched it for a long time.

  Then, he spoke.

  — "Who are you, really?"

  Anonime did not move.

  — "You have asked this before."

  — "But I would like a proper answer, because you seem to know a lot and you carry yourself like a herald." — Rintal’s voice grew harder.

  — "I was an Inquisitor. A few years ago, I would have cut down your kind in a heartbeat."

  Rintal’s brow twitched.

  Anonime did not react immediately.Then, he spoke coldly.

  The tone was not one of pride.Nor of shame.

  Fact.

  — "I judged in the name of the Lord."— "I hunted heretics."— "Demons."— "The Cursed."

  Rintal’s gaze hardened.

  — "And?"

  Anonime’s voice sounded heavier for the first time.

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  — "I believed I was serving the Lord."— "But after a time, I realized…"

  — "…that we are the ones who create the Demons."

  Silence.

  — "I have seen children on the pyre."— "I have seen villages burned because someone had a bad dream."— "I have seen priests who loved power more than the truth."

  The light faded within the visor's slit.

  — "And I carried out the sentences."

  He offered no excuses.

  — "I was not innocent."— "I believed them."— "And I killed for them."

  Rintal asked softly:

  — "What changed?"

  Anonime lifted his gaze.

  — "One day… I received an order."— "To execute a boy."— "They said he was touched by a demon."

  A pause.

  — "He bore a mark on his arm, much like yours."

  The Seal throbbed.

  — "He was no demon."— "There was only fear in his eyes, and he was merely born with unique genes, like the Sons of the Dawn."

  — "And that was when I saw the first crack."

  His voice grew deeper.

  — "Not in the boy."— "In the system."

  — "The Church did not serve the Lord."— "They served something else."— "Something that wishes to keep this prison intact."

  Rintal almost whispered:

  — "Why do you call it a prison?"

  — "Because when I began to doubt…" — he said finally, quietly — "I did not start to pray."

  Rintal looked up at him.

  — "Instead, you watched?"

  A brief silence.

  — "I began to overhear the conversations of my superiors."— "Unofficially."— "Through walls."— "From behind confessional booths."

  — "I gathered documents."— "Forbidden records."— "Old, sealed ledgers."

  Rintal’s gaze sharpened.

  — "You spied on them."

  — "Yes," Anonime answered simply.

  — "And what I found… was not about demons."

  A pause.

  — "It was about two brother-gods. Twins."

  The air shifted.

  The Seal tightened slightly.

  — "At the dawn of creation, there was not one will."— "There were two."

  — "One who desired order."— "One who desired freedom."

  Rintal asked softly:

  — "And the latter… became Satan."

  — "Yes."

  — "But not in the way they teach you."

  Anonime’s voice remained cold.

  — "It wasn't mere rebellion."— "It was a dispute over the fate of a family and all of creation."

  — "During the Fall… the two brothers clashed."

  — "Not with swords."— "On the very level of existence."

  The white light pulsed with sudden intensity.

  — "Satan lost."

  Rintal did not speak.

  — "But the price…"

  Anonime looked slowly at Rintal.

  — "…was the exile of both."

  Silence.

  — "Exiled from their own creation."

  Rintal’s eyes slowly dilated.

  — "This world…"

  — "Yes."

  — "This is that place."

  — "A closed system."— "A severed creation."

  — "A place where the will of the gods is no longer direct."— "Only an echo."— "After Satan’s fall, Hell was born, and from his negative emotions, the demons arose."

  Rintal’s voice became hoarse.

  — "Then why does the Church still stand?"

  Anonime’s response was instantaneous:

  — "Because the prison must be maintained."

  — "The illusion of order."— "The narrative of sin."— "The image of the enemy."

  — "People are afraid."— "Fear can be controlled."— "And people seek meaning in their suffering, which they mold into faith, and faith into hope."

  Rintal stared into the light of the fissure.

  — "And what awaits me in this prison?"

  Anonime’s answer was no longer theological.It was personal.

  — "They will hunt you."

  — "The Church."— "Rayuka."— "And others… even the Son of Satan himself, Vaynar."

  — "Because your Seal is not a mistake."

  A pause.

  — "It is a crack."

  The Seal throbbed harder now.

  — "And every crack… can be an exit."

  — "It could be Satan’s way out through you…"— "Or it could be the narrative of a divine will, should we succeed in sealing him away forever."

  A heavy silence settled over them.

  Rintal finally asked softly:

  — "And you… what do you want?"

  Anonime did not hesitate.

  — "To atone."

  — "And to break the system I once served."

  — "But I cannot do it alone."

  The faint light from behind the visor locked onto Rintal.

  — "Now, there are two of us."

  — "A fallen Inquisitor."

  — "And a potential Judgment."

  The Depth of Silence did not answer.

  But the history of the world… had begun to shift.