Chapter 14 – The Trail That Opens
The sky above the city was veiled in mist, as if the world itself refused to show its face. On the damp streets soaked in morning dew, Lumina's footsteps echoed—hesitant, yet resolute. She wore Enver's old gray coat, too large for her frame. Beside her, Enver walked in calm silence, his golden eyes observing every pulse of the world as if even time bowed to him.
Today, Lumina would perform her first purificazione.
"Don't rush," Enver said without looking at her. "One soul a day. Maybe two, if your body holds and your spirit stays clear."
Lumina lowered her head gently.
"I want to understand… the way you do. I want to see what you see."
Enver stopped. His gaze fell on an old man sitting alone at the edge of an alley, surrounded by small astral creatures—grey and hollow-eyed. To Lumina's sight, they clung to him like living shadows—coiling over his chest, spine, even his tongue. On the surface, the man seemed ordinary. But beneath his skin, tiny sins had hardened, layered like black filth turned to stone.
Lumina held her breath.
"Him?" she asked softly.
Enver nodded.
"Betrayal. He cast his wife out to the streets and married a younger woman for inheritance. But… his remorse is real."
Lumina stepped forward slowly. Her heart was a storm of pity and fear. Magic pulsed faintly in her hands—shaky, but present. She raised her palm. The astral creatures turned. One by one, they hissed, curled, and screamed without sound—then began to melt away under the dim light radiating from her fingers.
The old man suddenly closed his eyes. Tears fell.
Perhaps he dreamed.
Perhaps he felt something unseen finally let him go.
Enver watched in silence.
Lumina collapsed afterward. Her breath came ragged. Her soul drained.
"It felt like… a part of me was burned away," she whispered.
"Because it was," Enver replied calmly. He knelt, gazing into her.
"You gave a piece of your own light to replace the darkness you purified. That's why not everyone is worthy to become a Hellseer."
Lumina bit her lip. Yet on her face, a flicker of quiet light emerged—not from magic, but from the strange fulfillment of having done something that truly mattered. Something real.
Evening came. On the rooftop of an old building, they sat side by side. The city below buzzed with the usual worldly noise. But for Lumina, this was the beginning of a new path.
"One more tomorrow?" she asked.
Enver nodded, his eyes scanning the horizon.
"One more. But after that, we enter deeper ground.
A place where shadows don't just cling to humans—
They become the humans themselves."
Lumina said nothing. She simply clutched the oversized coat tighter around her and looked up at the sky, slowly clearing from its mist. She knew the journey had only just begun.
And she had chosen to walk it—whatever awaited them ahead, she would face it, with Enver.