The sunlight hit my eyes like a gunshot. You squeezed your eyes shut, but a sharp pain pierced your orbits, and blood gushed down your cheeks, scarlet, hot as lava. Fourth degree... confirmed. It felt as if an overheated electrical wiring had ruptured inside his skull, and every nerve was vibrating with pain and exhaustion. Leaving the building seemed endless, each step an impossible task. The world around him blurred in blood-red spots, perception distorted, as if through a column of water.

The fourth degree is not just an achievement, it is a line beyond which human capabilities are intertwined with something else. This is control over the flow of energy, access to the hidden reserves of consciousness, but also a huge price – physical and mental exhaustion, which can lead to irreversible consequences.

Blood continued to pour, blurring his vision. You crouched against the cold surface of the wall, trying to recover at least a little. My breath was coming in short gasps, and my head was pounding. There was a roaring in my ears, as if a storm was raging in my inner world.

And then he appeared. A tall man with perfect posture and cold, penetrating eyes. He was accompanied by two burly guards dressed in strict black suits, their faces were impassive, and their eyes showed indifference to everything except their ward. In his hands was an exquisite handkerchief, made of silk the color of deep night.

He approached, his footsteps quiet despite his rather imposing figure. Squatting down, he handed you a handkerchief. His voice was calm, without a single note of sympathy, but also without cruelty – rather a statement of fact.

— «Are you overexerting yourself? » — he asked, his words sounding like a medical diagnosis devoid of emotion.