What if the noise of the world had made you forget what matters most?
Rain had begun to fall over Biel. From the apartment window, the towers of Skyward seemed to float in the electric mist. Numa still hadn't moved. The black screen of the terminal still reflected his tired face... and the silhouette standing behind him. A few seconds passed before he finally sighed.
"You always do that?"
There was no immediate answer.
Then the person behind him slowly removed their damp hood and the mask with the long rabbit ears.
It was Soren.
Her red hair clung lightly to her temples. Her clothes smelled of rain and of the gas from the technical tunnels beneath Groundward. She quickly looked over the dark screens.
"You left too many traces. Now the little hackers are using our messages."
"Thanks for the moral support."
Soren ignored the remark. She walked over to the terminal, placed two fingers on its still-warm casing, then looked back at him.
" Kaïssa is speeding things up. She identified me."
Numa ran a hand across his face.
"Ah... that's really not good."
Far away, another dull explosion echoed through Groundward. Not strong enough to worry Skyward, but enough to make the windows vibrate slightly. Soren briefly turned her head toward the bright heights.
"The gangs are taking advantage of the chaos," she said. "They think Biel is beginning to fall."
"Biel is falling?"
"Not yet."
Silence passed between them before her gaze drifted toward the old photo of Sophie that was still open beside the terminal. Soren studied it for a few seconds.
"A new conquest?"
Numa immediately looked away.
"No... she's not a new conquest."
"Of course."
She smiled.
He didn't answer because, deep down, he knew she was right about one thing.
The most dangerous thing for him wasn't Kaïssa, nor her drones, nor her analysts, nor even a system capable of turning an absence into an anomaly.
The most dangerous thing... was beginning to want to save someone personally.
Soren took a small data key from her pocket and placed it on the table.
"We lost two relay points last night."
"Because of the explosions?"
"No. Because of the panic. People are talking too much, moving too much, posting too much. Since Kaël's live broadcast, everyone wants to go and see for themselves what's hidden inside that fracture."
She sat on the edge of the desk. She looked tired too, but in her case the tiredness remained elegant, almost intentional.
"Some groups want to go to the Wall. Others think Biel has been hiding something for years."
"And are they wrong?"
A faint amused breath escaped Soren.
"You know very well they aren't."
"Sometimes... I still wonder what the Alliance really wants. Here we jam networks, open passages, protect people... but after that, what happens?"
This time Soren hesitated for a moment, as if some answers became dangerous the moment they were spoken aloud.
"Some simply want to live outside the system," she finally said. "Without badges. Without thresholds. Without needing permission to exist. Others believe people must be awakened before they completely forget that they are more than profiles, data, and predictable behaviors."
Numa remained silent.
Soren watched the lights of Biel through the rain.
"The system gradually cuts people off from themselves," she continued more quietly.
Silence.
"From their deepest emotions. From their intuition. From certain things they no longer even know how to feel... from that part of themselves they no longer even know how to name."
She paused.
"Look at them. Most of them live inside an illusion without even knowing it."
"Each generation forgets a little more than the one before. One day, they will have completely lost the memory of what connected them to the three worlds. When that day comes, finding the way back will become almost impossible."
The rain slowly slid down the windows.
"You mean humanity has forgotten part of itself?" Numa asked, looking back at her.
"Yes."
A faint smile crossed Soren's face.
"You're speaking just like them now."
"Maybe because they aren't completely wrong. Maybe because I'm with them. And maybe because it's time to wake up."
Another silence passed.
This one was heavier.
"And now more than ever," Soren added, "we have to stop Kaïssa from finding everything that still exists outside her control."
"Because if she finds it?"
At last Soren turned to look at him.
"Then she'll give it a name. She'll classify it. She'll install sensors everywhere. And whatever she doesn't understand... she'll try to lock it away, silence it, or make people believe it's madness."
Her gaze drifted back to the rain.
"And when there's no room left for the unknown... there will be no balance left. Nothing."
Numa felt a faint shiver run down the back of his neck.
"Do you really believe that?" he asked.
"I believe Biel is turning people into functional machines."
She lowered her voice slightly.
"And a human being wasn't made only to function."
Numa remained silent.
Far away, another siren rose above the noise of the city, then a second one. Biel was slowly beginning to lose its calm.
"And you?" he asked. "Do you still believe the forest is going to save anyone?"
Soren gave him a small, tired smile.
"The forest doesn't want to save anyone. That's exactly why it's different from Biel."
She paused.
"The forest simply is."
Numa didn't answer because he didn't really understand what she meant.
And because part of him didn't like admitting it.
The Guardian Angel: What humanity has forgotten is its soul. When a person comes into the world, their soul never descends in its entirety. One part incarnates to learn, to love, and to grow in the material world. The other remains in the world of Light, whole and eternal. The true path is to rediscover that part which has never left them.