Chapter 27: The Decision
"I’ve stayed in bed long enough. I’m getting up now," Aziz declared, rising from his sheets with a strangely renewed vigor—stronger than ever before. Yet something lingered in his chest... a kind of cold that had nothing to do with his body.
"Alright then," Astrid replied, standing beside Isis.
After washing their faces and dressing in suitable attire, the three walked down the palace corridors towards the dining hall.
Seated at the breakfast table were Stella, Sofia, and Sylvia, already waiting.
"Hmph! You kept us waiting again, Aziz," Sofia teased with a mischievous grin—more playful than genuinely upset.
"That was on me... I overslept again. Really sorry," he replied, offering a sheepish, slightly embarrassed smile.
"Hahaha, it’s fine. No need to feel bad about it, Aziz. Now, have a seat. Let’s eat," Stella intervened gently, easing the moment.
Aziz nodded his thanks and sat between his mother and Isis. The breakfast was as delicious as always. They ate, chatted, laughed at trivial things—small fragments of everyday normality.
But Aziz wasn’t entirely present.
At times, when he blinked... he saw a crimson glimmer. A crack. Or he imagined hearing a tone that didn’t belong to this world—as if silence itself had teeth.
Something inside him pulsed. A strange hunger. A fierce, uncontrollable instinct—an unspoken urgency to become stronger. He found this sudden need curious—intense and unexplained—but chose not to question it. He decided to trust his instincts, as if guided by something ancient.