The morning sun was piercing through the tall glass of the royal palace.
A calm light… but a cold one.
As if the world itself had not yet processed what happened yesterday.
SHOUTNA stood before the wide window in the King's wing.
His hands were behind his back.
His eyes were tracking the palace garden where the soldiers were changing their shifts after a night when no human had closed an eye.
The door opens silently.
The King enters with heavy steps and MAYNO behind him in a dark formal suit.
He carried the air of a man who knows where the world fell apart.
But he does not know how it will be rebuilt.
The King spoke in a low voice, yet saturated with weight:
"SHOUTNA… tell me."
SHOUTNA did not turn immediately.
He waited for a moment…
Then he said with a calmness resembling the silence before the storm:
"Everything… is moving in the direction we anticipated."
The King stepped closer, his voice containing a suppressed anger:
"Do you call this… anticipation?"
Silence.
Then the King continued:
"MOHITO… what he did yesterday—
was like a line carved into the earth.
We… no longer know where he stands."
SHOUTNA realized the true dimension of the question.
He turned slowly, his face steady:
"You know very well, Your Majesty
… he did what had to be done."
The King pressed his fist, looking at the ground like someone fighting a thought he did not want to admit:
"Was it… truly the right thing?
To leave everything behind?
To pull with him… three of our best elements?
And to leave the Princess… in this situation?"
SHOUTNA approached him slightly.
His voice was cold but not devoid of humanity:
"MOHITO did not leave anyone.
He simply…
Moved to the battle that we cannot enter."
The King raised his head, his eyes full of questions:
"And can we trust that his step will not destroy everything we are trying to protect?" SHOUTNA:
"Yesterday… we saw a part of the truth.
And in the coming days… we will see the rest."
The King was silent for a moment, then said with a voice cut by anxiety:
"And what about the Organization?
What happened yesterday proves that they are… closer than we thought.
Stronger than we believe.
And most dangerous… they have not shown all their cards."
SHOUTNA's gaze became sharper:
"I am ready…
for all that is to come.
And Shadows as well."
The King approached the window, looking toward the city:
"I do not fear for Shadows.
Nor for myself.
But…"
He hesitated. Then he continued in a faint voice:
"I am worried about LOUVNA."
SHOUTNA's appearance did not change…
But his voice became deeper:
"The Princess is stronger than you imagine, Your Majesty."
The King looked at him directly:
"Despite what she saw?
Despite losing MOHITO before her eyes?
Despite the ruin that fell over her head?"
SHOUTNA smiled… a small smile,
barely visible, but sincere:
"If there is one thing I know for certain…
It is that nothing—
Nothing—
Will break the Princess's resolve."
The King breathes slowly…
Like someone finding a bit of reassurance in a sea of chaos.
SHOUTNA added, with a voice that carried no doubt:
"She will rise.
And she will lead.
And she will face the Organization…
Not because she has to.
But because she decided to."
The King closed his eyes for a moment, then said:
"Then… we are heading for a war."
SHOUTNA replied calmly:
"For a long time ago…
The war has begun."
****************
Shadows Palace — BAYADNA
MOHITO's Room
The room was as its owner always left it:
Strangely organized,
Half of it is chaos, and the other half is strict order.
The bed was unmade…
The shelves were open…
And the corner where he used to sit to sharpen the "MORASAMI" blade still carried the mark of his sitting.
LOUVNA stood in the middle of the place.
Drawing in the air slowly…
As if the room itself possessed a pulse that only she could hear.
She was not crying.
She did not tremble.
She was calm…
She took a step forward.
Her fingers touched the wooden table where MOHITO had left a half-open map.
Her features became more solid…
More aware.
Then she took out her phone,
fixing the screen on a single old message:
"When will you return? "
"Soon."
She whispered in a low voice— but not the voice of a broken person,
but a person who finally understood the path:
"So this is it…
This is the path you chose,
MOHITO."
There was no sadness in her voice.
There was a decision in it.
For her… MOHITO did not leave.
He only… Walked the first path.
And she… must follow.
Minutes passed in silence before the door was opened.
MONA appeared first.
Her eyes were full of anxiety, her hand over her chest.
"Your Majesty…? Are you okay?"
From behind her appeared ODEL…
Who was trying to hide the tremor in his voice:
"We heard that you were here… We were worried about you."
LOUVNA turned to them slowly.
Her face… carried a new light.
She said clearly, with eyes shining with certainty:
"I am fine."
MONA hesitated:
"But…
after all that happened…
after the departure of MOHIT—"
LOUVNA interrupted her with a steady voice:
"MOHITO did not leave."
MONA and ODEL exchanged a look of shock.
LOUVNA continued as she looked around the room
as if she were putting something in its place:
"He only… started the journey first.
And I… will not be late for him."
She approached the window.
And the moonlight reflected on her hair as if it were made from the dawn itself.
Then she turned to them with a calm smile—
A smile of strength… not consolation:
"I will not stop.
I will not collapse.
And soon… He will find me at his level."
She remained silent for a moment.
"I will stand,
Yes, I will stand."
Then she added with a beautiful stillness:
"He chose his path…
And I will walk in the path that will lead me to him."
ODEL… smiled,
a small smile,
proud and reassured at the same time:
"The Princess… will not be broken."
LOUVNA nodded,
and her features increased in solidity:
"Nothing will break my resolve.
Not the Organization…
Nor the losses…
Nor even the departure of MOHITO."
She looked at them with a Chinese smile
"Because the path has not ended yet,
And...
"I will not disappoint his expectations."
while MONA and ODEL were looking at her,
they felt for the first time since the battle…
That something new was born.
LOUVNA…was no longer the princess who arrived at the capital.
She had become… something bigger.
Stronger.
Clearer.
And this…
Is the beginning of a new chapter.
**************
The night was heavy over BAYADNA.
The air was cold… as if it carried the trace of the battle in its breath.
And over the palace roof, SOLIMON stood alone.
The same place where he used to stand always with MOHITO.
The same stone wall.
The same distant horizon… But this time,
There were not two voices.
Only the sound of the wind.
SOLIMON put his hands in his pockets.
His shoulder was bandaged.
His body was broken…
But his back was straight.
He was silent.
the silence of the man who carries an entire battle in his chest…
and endures it.
Light steps came from the back.
He did not need to turn to know who it was.
SAMA was always moving with this calmness…
Not out of fear of him,
but out of respect for his space.
She stood behind him by a few meters.
Looking at him… At his broad shoulders,
at his wound,
And his deep silence.
Her voice came out soft,
hesitant… but full of the anxiety she was trying to hide:
"SOLIMON… are you okay?"
He did not answer immediately.
He remained watching the horizon…
as if he saw the shadow of MOHITO standing there.
Finally, he said, in a low but steady voice:
"I will be."
She moved one small step forward… then stopped.
She knows him.
He does not like to be approached during the time of pain.
But she also… does not know how to leave him.
"I heard what was said about MOHITO and the others."
She hesitated,
then added with a voice that almost disappears:
"their departure… no one was ready for it."
SOLIMON smiled a short smile,
but it was not mockery… But an acknowledgment of a truth he knows.
"MOHITO did not leave to abandon us."
He raised his head toward the troubled sky.
Then he whispered with a voice loaded with a new awareness:
"He left… to protect us."
SAMA's eyes widened a little.
She knew SOLIMON understand MOHITO more than anyone.
SOLIMON added:
"He did not leave to stay away… But to make us stand alone."
He went silent for a moment.
Then he followed with a sentence that came out slowly…
But it carried a decision bigger than the size of the night itself:
"I will be the man who does not need MOHITO to save him."
He turned half a turn,
enough only to see her from the corner of his eye.
She was looking at him with anxiety…
So he said to her with a kindness that no one had heard from him except her:
"Do not worry, SAMA."
Her lips trembled a little:
"I am… not worried about you only."
SOLIMON smiled.
The first real smile since the battle.
Then he went back to looking at the horizon and said with confidence:
"Next time…
It will not be MOHITO who saves us."
He pressed on the tape of his bandage,
tightened his fist strongly as if he was promising himself:
"The next time…
I will be the one who saves him."
The wind was storming around them…
But something became calmer inside SAMA.
She moved another step closer.
She stood beside him
She did not say anything else.
And he did not need to speak.
They remained standing there…
A man learning how to carry the shadows of others,
and a woman standing near him,
even though he does not ask for that.
That moment was the beginning of a new strength being planted in the chest of SOLIMON.
"Yes, we will all become stronger,"
SOLIMON whispered to himself like a covenant without a treaty with an absent one.
**************************
In the wide palace courtyard,
The sounds of clashing and running were filling the atmosphere like light war music.
ZARYOUH stood in the middle of the arena,
His sweat was shining on his forehead,
and his shoulder still carrying the traces of his battle with the Black fox.
But he ignored all the pain.
He wiped his forehead and said in a low voice,
as if he was directing an oath to himself:
"I will become stronger."
Then he raised a wooden dagger,
a sharp smile on his mouth:
"Come on… advance toward me.
Is this all you have?"
AYOUB stopped for a second, turning to TAHARA:
"This rascal… as if he was not stabbed two days ago."
TAHARA laughed lightly, raising the training weapon:
"It is okay…
We will become stronger than him soon."
Then the two rushed toward ZARYOUH—
Clash,
step,
strike,
maneuver…
But ZARYOUH was in another world.
Turning,
bending,
returning the attacks as if his body knows the way without his mind.
Suddenly, the twins appeared—
MASIN and YASSIN— Walking with quiet steps,
with enthusiastic faces.
YASSIN raises the training axe:
"Can we join?"
MASSIN adds, with a light smile:
"Training seems fun tonight."
ZARYOUH pointed to them without stopping:
"Of course.
Whenever the number was bigger…
The path became closer."
Everyone stood for moments…
Then they rushed all at once.
And a wave of enthusiasm pervades the arena.
Laughter…
Screams…
The sound of enthusiastic steps…
It was like a new breath of life entering the body of Shadows.
A little far away,
over a high tree at the edge of the arena…
MIZYANI was sitting in a meditation position,
His spear on his knee,
And his eyes were watching everyone from above.
A wide smile was drawn slowly on his mouth.
He whispered in a faint voice…
But carrying the certainty of iron:
"Yes MOHITO…"
"We will all become stronger."
*********************
In the systems room,
The blue screens were flickering under the fingers of ADEL,
and the tracking files were moving with unusual speed.
GHAZLAN stands beside him,
reviewing the panels together,
pressing the buttons lightly.
Her eyes are sharp…
But in them is a new shine:
the shine of responsibility.
ADEL said with an unfamiliar enthusiasm:
"We will raise the level of security completely…
We will make the palace a fortress that cannot be breached."
GHAZLAN nods with confidence:
"We will work night and day.
We must be ready… for everything."
The same determination…
The same spirit that MOHITO left is permeating them.
The sky was full of stars.
Glowing without fear,
and casting its light over all the shadows who are training…
Meditating…
Dreaming…
And preparing.
As if it was saying to them silently:
"Tonight… is the beginning of something new."
******************************
The dawn was crawling slowly on the peaks of the mountains surrounding BAYADNA.
The air is cold…
stagnant…
carrying a silence that resembles the silence of graves after a battle.
On one of the high elevations,
BAYADNA seemed small from there…
Small, but what they lived inside it was bigger than age itself.
MOHITO stood at the edge of the cliff.
His black coat was fluttering in the wind.
His eyes stared at the distant…
where the Shadows Palace can be seen as a small spot of light in the middle of the darkness…
"MORASAMI" is hanging on his back.
Pulsing with a faint red light…
As if it is watching the world with him.
Behind him,
ZAKI and OBASO and MESNAS were arguing like children…
But in a way that does not hide the fact that each of them was hiding a small fear of the coming.
MESNAS, raising his eyebrow:
"I knew about the plan before you, clear?"
ZAKI replies with haughtiness, approaching him a step:
"Do not joke with me… I knew about it before you."
MESNAS advances in turn:
"He told me about the plan before we headed to the slope."
ZAKI reaches his nose almost:
"And I also told me about it then."
OBASO was a little…
Then he raised his hand shyly:
"I think…
that he told me before you both."
The two turned to him slowly… With a terrifying look.
"What?"
The two shouted together.
OBASO said quickly, trying to defend himself:
"He told me about the plan when he was headed to meet… the devil Monkey in the factory!"
A voice appeared behind them:
"I told you that my name is BALI… not the Monkey."
BALI appeared from between the trees.
MESNAS whispers with malice:
"I think that the name Monkey suits you more."
BALI looked at him with a slow look…
Then he followed his path toward MOHITO without an extra word.
MOHITO, without looking at him:
"You have returned."
BALI raised something small… A picture of LUCY.
He said with a tone that came from a heart that does not soften except before the truth:
"I had to bring something… before the departure."
MOHITO nodded only.
And looked at his broken phone and fixed on a single old message:
"When will you return? "
"Soon."
AND smile, a light smile,
while he looks in the direction of the palace.
BALI whispered,
"What are we waiting for now?"
Behind them… came a calm voice,
but it carries the weight of a thousand battles.
"You are waiting for my coming."
Everyone turned—
SHOUTNA was advancing from between the trees.
ZAKI, MESNAS, OBASO
"SHOUTNA?!"
He stood before them.
He looked at the three directly,
and a light smile appeared:
"So… you made your decision."
After hesitation,
the three men nodded with steadiness.
No return.
SHOUTNA smiled at them then...
He advanced until he became beside MOHITO.
Then he looked with him toward SHADOWS PALACE from the top.
SHOUTNA began the talk:
"Everything went according to plan."
For MOHITO to answer him with a low voice, close to the heart:
"Sorry for making you bear all the blame."
SHOUTNA answered without turning:
"I got used to the matter."
Their silence knew everything… Then MOHITO said:
"How is everyone?"
SHOUTNA:
"They will be fine.
They found the goal they were looking for."
A stillness leaked between them.
Then SHOUTNA said:
"So… you will not back down from the decision."
A moment of silence
MOHITO breathed deeply.
Then he raised "MORASAMI" before his eyes.
The voice of the sword was whispering:
"Give me more…"
Then he start toolking like he's bringing memories
"BORBAKI tried to protect me… when he hid MORASAMI from me.
He was afraid that I would become the monster that the Organisation wanted."
MOHITO closed his eyes:
"But I cannot escape my life.
The danger… is my danger.
And my proximity to the shadows… is no longer safe for them."
He opened his eyes— SHOUTNA's gaze changed.
MOHITO was different.
He was standing before him,
but he was not the one he knew.
There was something different in his eyes,
in his stance,
in the aura of power that wraps him like a shield.
"For a long time..."
MOHITO began to speak,
and his voice resembled the hiss of the wind between the dead trees,
"I was not able even to imagine my life without BORBAKI...
I was living in a vortex... a closed circle of darkness and blood."
Then he turned his head slowly toward the distant palace,
where the lights were sparkling like fake stars.
"But I now..."
His words stopped for a moment,
then launched with a new strength,
"I know exactly what I must do."
He turned suddenly toward SHOUTNA,
and his red eyes were glowing like two embers in a cold winter night.
"I will fight them..." he whispered with a low voice carrying the omens of war,
"I will fight the Organisation until the last breath in my body...
until the last drop of blood in my veins."
He gripped over "MORASAMI" until his knuckles turned white.
"I will become stronger...
stronger than all my pains...
stronger than all my memories...
stronger than my destiny itself."
Then he lowered his voice to a whisper that melts in the darkness,
but reaches the heart like an arrow,
as he looks toward the palace.
"Until I deserve to stand beside them with all pride...
Until I deserve..." he smiled
to look in her eyes... without being ashamed of my shadow."
SHOUTNA smiled calmly,
a rare smile shining in his eyes like a beam of light in a long night.
"What?"MOHITO said,
wondering if he did not get used to this warm glimpse from his strict leader.
SHOUTNA answered him while he looked toward the distant palace,
where the memories were embodied like ghosts in the dawn:
"I was only remembering the first day we met."
His voice carried a tone of nostalgia that MOHITO had not heard from him before.
"I truly did not expect that we would live to see all these events."
MOHITO laughed lightly,
the sound of his laughter like a breeze crossing the fields of memories:
"Neither did I."
Then he turned to SHOUTNA,
His eyes carried a sincere confession:
"Were it not for you… We would not have reached here."
SHOUTNA looked at the city extending under their feet,
their eyes contemplating the sparkling lights.
"The Organisation made us believe that we are just weapons without a soul…
and that the only way for survival is through killing and destruction."
Then he pointed with his hand to the life that is boiling below:
"But maybe there is another path for us…
in the middle of all these hearts pulsing with life."
"maybe" MOHITO answered
SHOUTNA approached a step, his eyes steady:
"The past kept you a prisoner enough, MOHITO. ...
But today the question is no longer what happened."
He stopped before MOHITO completely:
"The question is…
What are you going to do now?"
MOHITO did not answer with words…
but with a smile.
A smile carrying in its folds all the hope,
all the decisions,
all the future.
He turned toward his companions—
ZAKI hitting MESNAS,
MESNAS hitting ZAKI,
OBASO is trying to separate them while he receives the hits from the two sides…
MOHITO sighed with a smile:
"I will need some luck."
BALI said from the back with confidence:
"Do not worry…
I will take care of them all."
SHOUTNA nodded toward BALI:
"I count on you."
Then he went back to look at MOHITO.
MOHITO extended his hand.
His silence was heavy like an oath.
"SHOUTNA."
SHOUTNA extended his hand in turn and pressed over the hand of MOHITO strongly: "MOHITO."
The handshake was not… A handshake of farewell,
but a handshake of a covenant.
MOHITO left the hand of SHOUTNA…
Then he turned.
BALI followed him with silent steps.
ZAKI dragged his hammer on the ground.
MESNAS tightened his fist.
OBASO is trying to catch up with them.
Five men…
Walking on the cliff,
Toward the black forest,
Toward a fate they do not know the end of.
SHOUTNA stood alone on the edge…
Watching them go away.
The wind passed around him…
Carrying with it the echo of their steps.
He whispered to himself:
"Protect them MOHITO…
and protect yourself too."
Then he smiled a little—
The smile of a man who knows...
This is not a real goodbye...
Only see you lately