Mars and Earth stood in front of the wall of the hidden Castibas room, their gazes toward each other carrying a kind of challenge. How could they not, when the truth everyone is searching for lies inside it?
Upon entering, they found Phobos inside his healing capsule, his body covered with bruises and wounds, and his eyes full of exhaustion and doubt. Mars's moon could have met his fate then, but destiny had the ultimate authority in keeping him alive to reveal the secrets hidden within the folds of the universe.
Beside him, Deimos was found, who hadn't left his brother throughout the past Kai, constantly monitoring his condition and checking the capsule that protects him.
But the biggest surprise was when the two rocky leaders' gazes fell upon one of the leaders...
"Welcome both of you... Earth and Mars... why—"
It was Saturn, with his calm gaze radiating gravity and wisdom that's millions of cosmic years old, and his voice that instills reassurance in every soul that hears it, standing there with dignity.
No one questioned the reason for his presence there, for everyone in the solar system knows that it is the habit of the leader of the seventh planet to come here every Kai to check on the victims of the First Cosmic War.
His presence resembled that of a father visiting his children after a fierce battle, carrying countless concerns in his eyes, but hiding them behind a calm smile.
After greetings and passing talk, which carried in its folds a rare warmth in this cold place, the awaited question was uttered in a calm voice but charged with concern:
"What happened then?"
It was his leader who addressed him with the question. The atmosphere in the room became denser, as if the air itself stopped moving, waiting to hear the words that would come out of the mouth of Phobos, his moon. Everyone was looking at him, as if they were hanging their hopes on his words.
While Phobos seemed as if he was recalling painful memories, as if every word would cost him a great effort to say. He sighed deeply, and hesitated a little before starting to narrate what happened:
"After detecting that strange aura that I sensed in the far south of Mars, I didn't hesitate but rushed towards it after my master's approval... the closer I got there, my body was involuntarily trembling, as if it refused to advance.
It was a somewhat familiar aura to me, but I didn't pay attention to it. All I was thinking about was eliminating the intruder."
His words came out slowly, as if each sentence carried within it the weight of unforgettable memories. Everyone in the room was looking at him with intense focus, then he continued:
"As soon as my feet touched the surface of the planet, I walked slowly, my steps steady but my spirit alert, my eyes watching every corner, every shadow, every faint vibration in the air. The silence was charged, as if the place itself was holding its breath in anticipation of what would happen.
Then... I felt it..
A swift movement behind me, light as a whisper of wind, but charged with deadly intent. This wasn't a random attack, but was precisely directed at my blind spot, a strike that would have been enough to end everything in the blink of an eye. But I wasn't unaware, I was waiting for it.
Before my arrival, I had surrounded myself with an invisible layer of 'Kindo,' which lurks silently, and as soon as the attacker touched my defense, I didn't hesitate...
With deadly calm, I pressed my middle finger.
The 'Kindo' exploded in front of him, an explosion that wasn't just force, but was a sharp storm that tore the air, turned his attack into a fatal mistake. He retreated in astonishment, smoke rising around him, and my eyes alone were enough to tell him: that he was the prey from the beginning.
Our eyes met afterward. He was wearing a strange mask that surrounded all the details of his face except his looks which seemed somewhat familiar. Anticipation alone was controlling the situation, but I wanted to break it with a surprise attack, but I couldn't do that—or rather I didn't dare to do it—because of the appearance of two other people besides that first one. They wore the same mask with the strange shape, but with a slight difference in colors.
Without features, without words, they attacked me without warning..."
Tension rose in the room. Deimos was in a distant corner, listening in silence, his fist involuntarily clenching.
Phobos continued, but this time, his voice grew more disturbed:
"I tried to fight, which was a defense and avoidance of their attacks. I couldn't even wave my hand to counter their attack.
It was hand-to-hand combat without powers. I was surprised by that at first, but I realized they were trying to hide their identities."
He paused a bit, as if recalling those terrifying moments, then continued with his gaze directed towards Mars:
"But it wasn't long before two others joined them... then two more... before I could comprehend the matter, I was facing seven opponents.
They rained down blows on me without mercy. They were moving as if they were one body. I could only block and defend, which were ineffective in such a battle..."
The leader of the fourth planet held his breath, while Earth closed his eyes, trying to comprehend the magnitude of the danger. But the only one who was calm and unshaken by the moon's words was Saturn, who didn't raise his eyes from the ground as if he was analyzing everything that was said.
"They weren't aiming to kill me... they wanted something else... keeping me alive to witness something. Then, I heard a voice stopping the fight, a harsh voice that instilled terror in me with every letter it uttered.
A person stepped among them whom I couldn't see his features. His mask was strange, and his cloak concealed all his details. He approached me, his walk was slow, deliberate, as if enjoying seeing me surrounded... then he uttered a single sentence I didn't understand..."
Phobos lowered his tired eyes, then raised them quickly looking at them directly, before repeating in a faint voice filled with confusion:
"It's not your fault that he is the one who is wrong, but don't worry... you are proceeding and will proceed according to my plan."
A tense silence prevailed, as if the room became narrower, the air heavier. Deimos trembled a little, while Earth and Mars exchanged sharp glances, each trying to decode these words.
Phobos took a shaky breath, then continued in a faint voice:
"After he left, they didn't leave me alone... they rained down on me from all directions, but I felt something strange... they were fighting me, but they weren't trying to kill me. As if they were waiting for a certain reaction... then, I barely managed to speak, and said to them in a barely audible voice: 'He is coming... run quickly.'"
Mars's eyes widened, while Saturn and Earth frowned.
"As soon as they heard that name... they all fled without hesitation, as if they knew I meant Mr. Mars. But... there was one person who didn't flee. Before he moved away, he lifted the edge of his mask a little, revealing a scar extending from under his mouth... then he muttered a sentence, as if it were a puzzle that must be solved before a catastrophe occurs:
'It's not us, asteroid.'
Then he disappeared."
Earth was the first to speak, in a voice as sharp as a blade:
"A scar under his mouth... do you know who he is?"
Phobos was silent. As if he wanted to deny, as if he feared uttering the name. But after an internal struggle, he muttered in a voice that barely came out of the Castibas amplifiers:
"It's... Miranda."
As if lightning struck the room. Mars's eyes widened. Saturn, who hadn't shown any reaction, raised his head as if he didn't believe it. Earth froze in place.
As for Deimos... his entire body shook, his gaze carrying a mixture of shock and anger.
But before anyone could speak, Phobos resounded in a different tone:
"This is impossible... Miranda! It can't be him.
In addition to that, there is only one person in the solar system who calls me 'asteroid'."
It is...
Upon announcing the name, he left everyone in a whirlwind of doubts. How could they not, when hallucinations and imaginations controlled them after all this amount of information?
When the interrogation ended, Earth stood in front of Phobos's capsule, staring at him for moments before approaching him, lowering his voice, whispering words that made Phobos's eyes widen in shock. For a moment, it seemed as if he wanted to refuse, to deny... but in the end, he nodded in agreement, in silence.
Saturn left the room with heavy, but steady steps, as if carrying on his shoulders a burden heavier than gravity itself. He didn't look back, despite his awareness that Earth and Mars were still there, planning, discussing, drawing the features of the future.
When he reached his cosmic portal, he stood looking at the expanse stretching before him. He felt an invisible wind blowing, despite the absence of air in this place. For a moment, he hesitated, as if something inside him wanted to stay, to return, to say something he hadn't said.
But... there's no time for that.
He breathed deeply, then stepped forward, leaving behind more than just a room... leaving destiny flowing among the stars.
"I have no doubt about it. According to my analyses and Phobos's words, and after excluding all possible probabilities, the only remaining probability is the truth, no matter how harsh it is..."
Then he slowly raised his eyes, and his gaze met Mars's directly. In his eyes was an unshakable certainty, as if the truth had been revealed to him and there was no room for denial.
"There is a traitor among us."
Mars stood frozen in place, his eyes wide, but words... failed him. He couldn't utter a letter, couldn't even move his lips, as if an invisible force had robbed him of the ability to speak.
It wasn't just shock, but a feeling more like receiving hundreds of blows to his head at once, each blow taking away a part of his certainty, his confidence, his perception of what was happening.
He tried to gather his thoughts, to say something—anything—but emptiness was all he found in his mind. As if time itself had frozen around him, while the truth he heard echoed inside him mercilessly.
And finally, amidst that atmosphere charged with tension, the leader of Seromi spoke haltingly:
"Im... impossible! What... what are you saying? Do you realize the seriousness of what you're trying to convey to me?!"
Earth's face remained frozen, his features stern, as if his expressions themselves were saying: you have to accept this truth... there's no room for denial. Mars waited, perhaps to hear a sarcastic laugh, a provocative comment, any sign indicating that this was just a heavy joke... but he heard nothing. No laughter, no sarcasm, no attempt to lessen the impact of the shock. Just a harsh silence that grows heavier with the passage of time.
Then, Mars realized... this isn't a joke. It's not an illusion. It's not a nightmare that will end when he wakes up. As for his doubts, they evaporated as soon as he saw Earth frowning more, as if the seriousness he carried weighed on him himself. The truth was too harsh to be said... but it remained true.
The tension was increasing Kai after Kai, as if time itself had become an enemy to them. Each Kai felt as if it carried an encrypted message, but they hadn't been able to decode it yet. They were living in a state of constant anticipation, as if they were on the verge of discovering something great, but it remains beyond their reach.
The two rocky leaders sat in the same meeting room inside Seromi, amid a dim light casting their shadows on the walls, while a three-dimensional map of the solar system was drawn before them, where moons and planets dance as if they were chess pieces on a board of never-ending war. Silence enveloped the place, but they were working at their maximum capacity.
Mars replayed the audio recording in a low voice, renewing the echo of the mysterious words uttered by the enemies: "It's not your fault that he is the one who is wrong, but don't worry... you are proceeding and will proceed according to my plan."
"It's not us, asteroid." And between each sentence and another, the place is filled with intermittent rustling, interspersed with electronic distortions resembling broken breaths across the ether waves.
Earth pressed his hand firmly on the surface of the table, looking at Mars, who was absorbed in thought, his fingers playing with a small shard of Dinko, his eyes fixed on the void. Then the latter resounded in a low voice but charged with anger: "I don't understand... who is he talking about? Who is 'the wrong one'?"
But Earth, with balanced calm but carrying a hidden tension, said: "They aren't referring to us directly... but to someone, someone they consider the cause of all this."
Mars stared at the enemy's words written before him, trying to connect them to anything, to any event in the past or present: "Not only that, but the second part is more strange... 'you are proceeding according to my plan.' Does it mean we're just toys? That every step we take was expected?"
Tension rose in the room, as the two exchanged glances filled with concern. Then Mars threw the shard he was holding onto the table while the other added in a sharp voice: "Don't forget the worst... 'It's not us, asteroid.' This sentence alone carries dozens of possibilities. Does it mean there's another party working in the shadows? Or is someone trying to implicate an innocent party?"
The two fell silent and realized that what they had in their hands wasn't just a puzzle... but a warning that the game they were participating in was bigger than they had expected.
———⟡ ☽ ⟡———
"Well.. well.. well.. who would have thought you would betray me.. who would have thought you would stab me in the back.. but the question poses itself, my dear moon.. why? I want a clear answer that negates my analyses.. Nyix?"
So who will win in this game?
— End of Chapter —