The figure stood beside Allan's bed, its dark silhouette barely distinguishable from the darkness around the room, and for several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Allan waited.
"So…from the beginning, you said?" he said impatiently after the seconds of silence became several minutes.
"I did." The figure lowered its gaze as a sigh escaped its…mouth?
"There is something you should know first. Something I should have told you much earlier," it continued.
Allan's expression tightened.
"What?"
"My name."
Allan blinked.
"My name is Nythar." The figure said while looking directly at him.
The name hung in the room.
"Nythar…" Allan repeated quietly.
"Yes."
It was strange. After everything that had happened, Allan had expected the conversation to go into a deep explanation, but instead, it simply gave him his name.
But somehow, hearing it made the figure feel more…real.
"So, after all this time, you finally gave me your name?"
"Yes?" Nythar said, looking a bit confused.
Allan raised one of his eyebrows at that.
"How come I'm only hearing it now?" he said.
A faint silence followed, then Nythar tilted his head slightly.
"You never asked."
Allan stared at him.
"Seriously?"
For the first time, the Nythar's expression seemed almost amused.
"Perhaps I should have introduced myself." He responded while scratching the back of his head.
Allan sighed and rubbed his face. "Fine. Nythar. Who are you?"
The amusement disappeared, and after another round of silence, Nythar answered.
"I was an Awakened…once"
Allan's eyes narrowed.
"Once?"
"A very long time ago." He continued.
Nythar turned toward the window.
"I lived during an age you know nothing about. The world was different back then, and the people were different." He said with what Allan could swear was a melancholic tone, "and those I called companions were people I trusted with my life." Nythar continued.
His voice remained calm, but something beneath it had changed.
"They betrayed me."
Allan said nothing.
"But I will not go into that."
Nythar looked back at him.
"Some things are better left buried."
Allan frowned but didn't press further.
"What happened after they betrayed you?"
Nythar was silent for several seconds.
"I was thrown into the Seam."
Allan's brow furrowed.
"The Seam?"
"The physical space beyond the Veil."
Allan remembered the word; he had heard Nythar mention the Veil before, but never like this.
"And what exactly is it?"
Nythar's body language changed.
"That is another matter." He paused after that. "I spent what remained of my existence there."
Allan stared at him.
"You mean you died?"
"Technically." Nythar said witha shrug.
The answer unsettled him.
"My body died," Nythar continued. "But I did not."
Allan's confusion only deepened.
"How can someone be dead but still exist?" He asked with an incredulous tone.
"I don't expect you to understand…it'll be weird if you did"
"That's becoming a pattern everytime we talk"
Nythar ignored the remark.
"The important part is that my consciousness remained. For a very long time, I existed without a body, without a life, and without any means of returning."
Allan's shoulder slowly lowered. .
"So you've been trapped there all this time?"
"No."
Nythar's gaze settled on him. "I found a way to remain connected to this world."
Allan stared at him.
"How?"
"Through your blood."
The answer made Allan's stomach tighten.
Nythar continued.
"Before my 'death', I had descendants." Nythar said while signaling the quotations sign while saying the word death.
"My blood?" He said while backing down a bit.
"Yes"
Allan's eyes widened.
"And I'm one of your descendants?."
Nythar nodded at that.
"You are."
Allan looked away while feeling the room become smaller.
He had spent his entire life believing his family was ordinary, that he was just one of many. His parents had never spoken about anything unusual. There had never been stories about some powerful ancestor hidden within their bloodline. The mention of a bloodline was never even a thing. Yet the being standing before him was claiming otherwise.
"How powerful were you?"
Nythar was quiet for a few seconds before answering.
"I was considered an individual of immense power."
That answer didn't help.
"Considered by who?"
"Humans, my companions, and apparently everyone else."
Allan frowned. "And that's why you chose me?"
"Partly."
Nythar stepped closer.
"Your bloodline retained something that most descendants eventually lost…purity."
Allan looked at him.
"Purity?"
"The closer a bloodline remains to its origin, the stronger the connection."
He paused.
"Your blood is unusually pure."
Allan's expression grew uneasy.
"And you've been looking for someone like me? With enough purity?"
"For a long time."
The words struck him harder than he expected, but Nythar wasn't done.
"I needed someone capable of carrying the connection strongly enough to help me regain what I lost."
"All this time…"
Allan swallowed.
"You've been searching for my family?"
"I have."
"And when you found me, you made the contract."
"Yes."
Allan stood from the bed.
"So that's it?"
Nythar watched him.
"You found someone with the right blood, so you chose me."
"That is part of the truth."
"Part?"
Nythar didn't answer immediately, and Allan's frustration grew.
"You keep saying things like that. You tell me half of everything and expect me to understand."
"I told you I would explain."
"But you aren't explaining!" His voice rose while Nythar remained completely still.
Allan turned away, breathing heavily; his mind was filled with questions. An ancient dead Awakened, the Seam, his apparent bloodline, descendants, a contract, and a being that had apparently spent an unknown amount of time searching for someone like him.
None of it made sense.
After several moments, Allan finally spoke.
"I don't know what to think."
"You don't need to."
Allan looked back.
"Not yet," Nythar said. "You have a year before your Awakening."
He paused.
"Use that time to think about everything I said."
Allan stared at him. "And when I awaken?"
Nythar's face remained fixed on him.
"Then I will tell you the rest."
The room fell silent. For the first time since meeting the figure, Allan realized that he had never truly known who had been standing beside him. Now he wasn't sure whether learning the truth had made anything clearer.
Or whether it had only created more questions.