---
The rain fell like it was listening.
Farro lay on the damp earth, trembling.
His breath shallow, heart racing as if being hunted by something invisible.
That man in the black coat had vanished between the trees—without a trace, without a sound.
Only his final words lingered, ringing like a chime in Farro's thoughts:
"What lies inside you… is not light. It is emptiness."
He didn't understand.
But he felt it.
Like something inside him had cracked—unsealing a door that had long been forgotten.
---
Then, it began.
The air distorted in front of him.
Just slightly—like heat rising from pavement, but colder… and wrong.
He looked down at his palm.
There it was—an unfamiliar mark, faint like a burn or a scar. A spiral etched in silence.
And then, a voice inside—not spoken, but experienced:
"Do you know who you are?"
"Do you know what you're meant to be?"
Farro tried to speak.
His mouth did not obey.
Then he saw it.
Not with eyes—but with that new sense, still unnamed.
It stood within him.
A figure, shaped like him—but without a face.
Its body pulsed like living smoke. Silent. Watching.
"I am you… when you are nothing."
"I am what you left behind… and what you try to forget."
Farro shivered—not from cold, but from within.
This entity was not imaginary.
It was the first manifestation of his emptiness.
A shadow—yes—but alive. Formless, yet personal.
It wasn't Nen. Not exactly.
But something deeper. Something primal.
---
Then came a voice—not from inside, but behind.
"You saw it, didn't you?"
The man in black stood there again, like he had never left.
"Good. That means your Nen is awakening… in its own way."
He stepped forward, lit his pipe again.
"Everyone who sees that… the one behind the mirror… has a choice."
"Face it and tame it… or vanish, like the rest."
The man crouched beside him, looking him in the eyes.
"If you want to survive… there is a path. But it is longer than any other."
"And if you want true strength, not borrowed power… you'll have to start where no one does:
from within the void."
---
Farro, despite everything, didn't feel fear.
For the first time… he felt something like will.
A spark—not of ambition, but of need.
He lifted his head and whispered:
"Teach me."
---
End of Chapter Three
كان الرجل يجلس القرفصاء بجانبه، وينظر في عينيه.
إذا أردتَ النجاة... فهناك طريق. ولكنه أطول من أي طريق آخر.
"وإذا كنت تريد القوة الحقيقية، وليس القوة المستعارة... فسوف يتعين عليك أن تبدأ من حيث لا يبدأ أحد:
"من داخل الفراغ."
---
فارو، على الرغم من كل شيء، لم يشعر بالخوف.
لأول مرة... شعر بشيء يشبه الإرادة.
شرارة - ليست من الطموح، بل من الحاجة.
رفع رأسه وهمس:
"علمني."
---
نهاية الفصل الثالث