In a long, dark corridor of the underground prison of Athok, chains rattled and the sound of running water echoed relentlessly. In one of the cells, two boys, about thirteen years old, were imprisoned. One, named Kei, was rather strikingly blond considering the environment he had been immersed in all his life. Even his broad, healthy-skinned body seemed unreal, not to mention his open face whose great beauty was further accentuated by his blue eyes with the reflection of a morning sky, so that even the hideous green uniform he wore did not change his sublime charm. He knelt down next to another boy and tried in every way to support him and ease the torturous pain that was gnawing at him after he had fought terrible dark forces.

Kei watched the pale boy he was supporting with his arms. And in spite of the apparent fragility of his friend, he knew better than anyone the strength and the will that the latter possessed in him. Unfortunately, he had not yet been able to develop his potential effectively, his magic was constantly unstable and most of the time too weak to achieve anything really tangible. Not to mention, of course, the all too rare times he was able to create strong defenses like the one he had just used, to protect them from attacks of darkness filled with hatred and anger. Now that the danger was over, his friend seemed to have lost all his strength and balance. He was having great difficulty breathing. Bent over the ground, he struggled valiantly to regain his energy and composure.

"That's it, calm down, everything is fine now, breathe slowly, breathe calmly", Kei repeated untiringly while patting gently the boy's back. After long minutes, this one, whose thin body was rather worrisome, finally managed to breathe more freely. Relieved, he leaned his head back.

"Do you feel better now?" Kei asked, still anxious, but at the same time very relieved to see some color coming back to his friend's pale face,

"Yes Kei, I feel better now, thank you," he assured, smiling hesitantly, but with a still weakened voice.

"Oh, so much the better then. I'm so glad you're feeling better. You really scared me this time. And that sudden, sneaky attack, it's so like them. It's still not enough for them to know that we'll be thrown into their sordid game of death in a few hours? On top of that, they have to hurt us on the threshold of battle. "

His friend smiled, half amused, half sarcastic.

"No Kei, it is obvious that nothing can satisfy them. But as usual, they failed to kill me. "

"That's good, but you shouldn't laugh at such things." gently reprimanded him by his loyal companion. "However, as usual, I had to be helpless to help you", he forced himself to add, displaying an air of sadness and shame such as it would have made anyone melt, and this acted on his friend who, to console him, had to appeal to his sense of humor.

"Don't worry, Kei, your magic will inevitably awaken one day. And I'm sure it will be as magical and radiant as you've always wanted it to be, just like your zest for life."

"Thank you for the compliment, at least if it was really a compliment. " he made, hesitantly. "But when it comes to beauty.... And he paused for a second, admiring his friend take a deep breath and stand up.

"Despite myself, I think you're extraordinary, Miron, and yet I'm a boy."

And Kei really meant it, as did everyone else, child or jailer. After all, his story was out of the ordinary. For in truth, the children who lived in Athok were all abandoned children. Their families, knowing the legend of Stanys and its cursed city, as well as the more or less real existence of Athok, discreetly placed the children at the foot of the famous mountain, so that the mages who populated it could choose their slaves from among these unfortunate innocents, and unfortunately, they were spoilt for choice.

Some of them, who would probably be called the luckiest, became their apprentices and even their heirs. If one can call that luck. On the other hand, those who are taken to Athok will never have the slightest hope. For in this cursed domain, ruled by a monster, no survival or escape was possible.

The arrival of Miron, on the other hand, was quite different, and this fact had become the most extraordinary story in the city. Unlike all the other children in the shelter, Miron was the only one found on the doorstep of the building, which was located deep in the kingdom. The being that had brought him to the gates of desolation was so prodigiously discreet and probably so strong that no one had the power to sense its presence or its magic. This being, unquestionably more evil than the others, had made sure by himself that Miron was well placed in the house of Athok. He must have spent an unimaginable amount of time and energy to achieve this. And he succeeded. Kei didn't even dare to imagine what kind of will and resentment could have driven such a being to such extremes, and whether they were directed specifically against Miron or his family, or both.

But Miron, far from the concerns of his faithful friend, smiled as he looked at him, putting on a rarely uncertain face.

"Uh, thanks, but lucky for us, we're not on that side, are we? Otherwise, we would have been violently and disgustingly thrown into this fatal game long ago."

"Speak for yourself," the blond boy replied, rising in turn to sit on the black metal bed that creaked under his weight, with a disillusioned pout. "If I wasn't hanging around you, they wouldn't even have noticed me."

Miron laughed at this incredible naivety.

"You're exaggerating, as usual. But maybe you should have behaved like this. Then you would have avoided such a fate even the tragedy was inevitable at the end. "

Kei looked at Miron and realized that the person who had accepted him as a friend did not fully understand what he really was. Just as Kei was blond with eyes as clear as dawn, Miron was all black, from his long curly hair to his eyes shining like stars against a dark sky, even his clothes could only be black. A deep, wonderful black on pale, almost sickly white skin. He represented an entire world of light and shadow, inside and out. His tall body was so thin that it bordered dangerously on thin, and his face, so thin and delicate, was not beautiful, but rather fascinating. If they were not orphans, imprisoned forever in this sordid place where the end could only be unhappy, Kei would have sworn that his friend, his one and only friend, Miron, was descended from the most extraordinary imperial lineage ever. In fact, even in this dark and cold place, and in these short moments that were surely their last, the young blond couldn't help thinking so. He shook his head and closed his eyes.

"I suppose they'll be coming for us soon?"

Miron who felt overwhelmed, broken with fatigue, leaned gently against the icy wall where cold, morbid water flowed endlessly. Slowly, he nodded in response to his friend's question.

"Yes, probably."

"We'll die here."

Kei looked at Miron, upset.

"Miron, I don't want to die here! Not like this! Not in this place! Tortured, helpless prisoner, and to end up with nothing!"

There was a short silence.

"Do you realize that? We know nothing of what exists beyond these foul walls. We have never seen the light, the real light. We don't even know what it might look like, it and all the things it can illuminate!"

Miron laughed briefly.

"I don't want us to die either, you know! Either way, we're going to fight to the end. We don't have a choice. This is what they expect from us and we'll make sure we don't disappoint them."

"Of course we won't let them down! But for God's sake, Miron, why did you do this? To that filthy vile lady Kriniela?" asked Kei with a slight reproach. "If you hadn't provoked her anger so brutally, we could have continued to live this... normal life with the others."

Hearing his friend's vindictive protests, Miron instinctively sketched a grimace accompanied by a meaningful hand gesture.

"Because you call this a normal life?"

"Oh please, stupid genius, don't play with words, not now. Why did you do that?"

The stupid genius shrugged to show his irritation.

"Because she deserved it, plain and simple. And I'm not going to explain myself any further. If I had to do it all over again, I would. But I have to admit, I didn't really think about you," he continued more indecisively, "nor did I expect them to involve you with me when you had nothing to do with what I did."

Kei rolled his eyes in despair.

"Thanks again for trying to clear my name. But between us, it was probably a lost cause. Seeing me constantly following and serving you, it was simply unlikely that anyone would imagine me outside of your rebellious movements."

Miron sighed.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Kriniela deserves worse, much worse. But it was all I could do. And because of my last act of rebellion as you say, we find ourselves in this squalid prison cell."

"I know, and I feel the same way. That monster disguised as a woman had to suffer endlessly before he knew death. I hope that someone, whoever he is, would succeed where we had all failed. His only quality, as well as that of his repulsive fellow creatures, is probably not to pretend to be good. On the contrary, displaying it for them, this monstrous nature, is like a mark of pride. But the price to pay for these obscene thoughts and especially these obscene acts is far too cruel. Miron, you have to do something, please. I don't want to end up like this. Like all our companions before us. I wish I had a choice, even once in my life."

Miron stared at Kei for a moment with his large, unfathomable eyes before turning and straightening with a fierce look, filled with a newfound determination and cruelty that made his friend shiver even more than the coldness of their cage.

"Don't worry Kei, and calm down. Whatever happens, I'll make sure we get it. It can't be otherwise. After all, if we look at the truth as it is, we are the ones who came from the real monsters."

Yes, Miron thought, for only true monsters would ever dare abandon helpless children at the foot of that mountain of evil, especially since most of them were their own flesh and blood, and that, being fully aware of the atrocious fate that would be theirs if they were dragged into the immortal mists. And those cowardly and hypocritical people who, after their unforgivable deeds, probably still dared to claim to be good or at least better than the black mages who populated this cursed and repulsive land to which they abandoned their innocents. Thinking about this never failed to make him feel nauseous.