Gael fell abruptly from the ceiling, landing on the floor with a thud. It seemed as though he had emerged from a place beneath his room, although logically, this wasn't possible. What was even more curious was that the boy suffered no harm upon hitting the ground, even though the fall was over three meters.

As he got up, Gael set his eyes on an illuminated room, devoid of lamps, yet somehow, he could see the people in front of him. There were no windows, but there were people in that space with him. Strangely, the place didn't have a visible door.

This became Gael's greatest dilemma. As he entered the room, curious gazes turned toward him, trying to comprehend what was happening.

"Who are you?"

The voice echoed through the room, reverberating in Gael's ears.

Everyone in the room turned to the spot where the boy had fallen, and by this time, he had already risen from the floor, clearly startled by what he was witnessing.

Men solemnly gathered around a majestic rectangular table, whose chairs were true works of art. Each seat was meticulously adorned with exquisite carvings, representing different animals on their sculpted backs. From his vantage point, Gael could clearly distinguish the imposing figures of a bear, a wolf, and an eagle, each with its features intricately carved in wood. The peculiarity of these representations piqued his curiosity, leading him to deduce that each individual at the table was symbolically associated with an animal, revealing aspects of their personality and essence.

In the center of the table was an empty chair, and three chairs on each side, with nothing but the arms of the people seated there.

Speaking of those seated figures, there were only six at the table. One of them seemed not to have arrived yet, but even though the boy who had spoken wasn't the most physically imposing of the group, his presence and gaze intimidated Gael.

In addition to the six seated at the table, another six stood, leaning against the back wall of the room, seemingly just listening to the conversation of those seated, until Gael entered the meeting uninvited.

On the left side of the table, a man with a displeased expression seemed reluctant to be there. His crossed arms contrasted with his dark skin and shaved head. His attentive yet neglectful gaze focused on Gael.

On the right side, standing, a young man with waist-length hair caught attention. His pointed ears were unusual to Gael, while his blond hair and fair skin gave him an enigmatic air. Even in the face of the unexpected arrival, he remained indifferent, showing no reaction.

The third individual, in his thirties, sported a voluminous beard that almost concealed his neck. His short, carefully combed hair to the side resembled Luis Felippe's style but with a dark brown shade, in harmony with the color of his beard. Since Gael's arrival, his eyes did not waver from the boy.

On the opposite side of the table, the others stood. The closest to the table, appearing to be in his twenties, had stubble, tan skin, and spiked hair. Gael couldn't discern precisely, but his eyes seemed to have a golden hue, something never before witnessed by the boy. His left eye was covered by a dark eyepatch.

The next individual seemed to be a child, undoubtedly the youngest in the room. Standing no taller than one meter sixty, he held a lollipop in his mouth, giving him a relaxed look. His hair had a predominant mix of black, with some white strands that seemed natural.

The last of those standing was a young man who appeared to be under twenty. His height surpassed Gael's, with fair skin and long, wavy hair that reached his shoulders. What caught Silva's attention was that, upon locking eyes, the young man blinked and smiled, as if there was mutual understanding.

However, what startled Silva the most in the room was the individual who had shouted at him as soon as he stood up. His hair, in an almost orange-red shade, was voluminous, and he wore a greenish cape that enveloped his entire attire. With a wooden stick in his mouth, he exuded an extremely threatening presence, despite appearing no older than sixteen.

"I'll ask one last time. Who are you?"

The young man demanded, as a liquid substance seemed to form in his hand. Silva felt the pressure and found himself immobilized, unsure of how to react.

"I... I have no idea how I got here," Gael replied.

"To be honest, I'm also asking: who are you guys?"

"Shut up and answer his question," another guy interjected, seated at the table, whose chair displayed a bear carving. This guy appeared to be in his twenties, with dark brown, long hair tied in a samurai bun. His eyes were a lighter green than Gael's, perhaps intentionally concealing the fury that seemed to emanate from him.

Feeling the impact of those words, with his next blink, Gael horrifiedly observed that he was no longer in that room. Thus, he saw, frightened, a terrifying scene unfolding before his eyes.

The ground began to freeze rapidly, forming a sinister path of ice that stretched to the horizon. Monstrous creatures emerged from the shadows, their sharp fangs gleaming in the light. The air turned icy, and a sense of despair overcame him as he realized his entire body had started to freeze.

However, when Gael blinked again, he realized it was all an illusion, a cruel creation by that being. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as everything he had seen disappeared like magic.

"Leave the boy alone, Eduardo!" one of the voices at the table said, hands raised. It was he who had broken the illusion created by Eduardo. It seemed so real, but Gael had finally managed to process the situation. The question now was: how would he get out of this madness?

Gael carefully examined the man sitting at the table and noticed that, on the neck of the one who told him to shut up, there was a tattoo of a bear, similar to the lion on his left arm.

"Maybe this tattoo is a clue," Gael said, rolling up the sleeve of his shirt to show that he was not lying.

"And who guarantees that you're telling the truth?" the red-haired young man in front of him questioned.

"Maybe you acquired it by killing Rick!" he answered his own question to Gael. This time, he stood up from the chair, revealing a shark's teeth and head carved into it.

"Calm down, Vinícius, we shouldn't jump to conclusions," the man who had broken Eduardo's illusion said again, with a calm and serene posture.

"He may be as lost as we are in this situation."

"Lost, João?" Vinícius asked forcefully.

"Miguel, don't you see Rick's mark on this boy's arm? What explanation do we have for this symbol? Rick Roth was the strongest guardian among us!"

As I was saying, Vinícius, before you interrupted me, we shouldn't attack him. First, we need to find out what happened to Rick," Miguel emphasized, searching for some reason before Vinícius Lubu and Anthony Eduardo made an irreversible mistake.

"Just because Rick may have met his end doesn't give you the right to declare yourself the leader. Stay in your place, or you'll join him," Anthony declared, exhaling hot air from

 his mouth, forming smoke that permeated the environment. The temperature seemed to change with the words of the guy, who was already standing.

Vinícius moved away from the table and approached Gael, and the boy felt his hands tremble with the young man's approach. He raised his right hand before him, and Gael felt his body move involuntarily, falling to his knees on the floor. He didn't understand why, but his body seemed to act on its own.

"Come on, kid. What did you do to Rick, and how did you get that mark?" Vinícius asked, pressing Gael to the ground until his face touched the dust.

"If you try anything or say any lies, we'll be responsible for your death."

Gael was terrified. What he was witnessing and feeling was completely disconnected from reality, something that defied all logic. Vinícius was controlling his body against his will, and the threat of death surpassed any sense of rationality.

The boy tried to describe all the details he remembered from that day: the transformer explosion, the bearded and long-haired man dead on the ground, how only he seemed to be able to see the body lying at the foot of the pole, and how this same individual rose from the dead and wielded a non-existent sword in his abdomen. He also recounted how he woke up at home, as if none of that had happened.

"You heard him, he was chosen by this kid, there's no need to make him go through this," Miguel argued, trying to convince Vinícius to stop.

"Then let's see if he really is the chosen one," Anthony said, his hand becoming as cold as ice.

Upon uttering those words, the guy was already next to Gael. He raised his hand to punch Silva's head as if it were a nail about to be hammered, and the ice on it intensified. The impact was imminent, and the boy just closed his eyes, awaiting the worst. However, when it seemed that the punch would hit him with full force, surprisingly, the impact did not occur.

Then, he heard a firm, gentle, and light voice echoing in his ears:

"Speak the name."

Gael opened his eyes in search of who was speaking, but found no one. Among all the impossible things he had witnessed that day, this was one of the most intriguing. Looking up, he noticed Eduardo's frozen hand descending towards him, as if in slow motion.

The boy heard it again, realizing that the voice did not come from anyone in the room but from inside his own mind. This led Silva to question:

"Speak the name of who?"

Anthony's icy hand was slowly approaching Gael's head, who still couldn't move with his face pressed against the ground.

"Search, look within yourself, and hear the true name of fire."

The slow-motion sensation disappeared, and when Anthony was about to hit Gael, the boy shouted without knowing if it would work:

"IGNIS!"

A wall of fire, with dancing and mesmerizing flames, emerged with overwhelming intensity. Its orange and golden glow illuminated every inch of the room, creating a fiery barrier that separated Gael from the others. The intense heat emanated from the voracious flames, making the air tremble and distorting the vision around him.

While the fire consumed everything in its path, the warm energy pushed Eduardo vigorously, projecting him away from Silva as if an invisible force. His figure moved quickly, while the crackling flames enveloped the environment in a sinuous and imposing dance.

The surprise on Vinícius's face was palpable. His enchantment, which had previously kept Gael under control, was undone by the dazzling manifestation of fire. His eyes widened at the magnitude of that scene, witnessing the power of the element he hadn't seen for a long time, perhaps centuries or even millennia.

The wall of fire glowed with spectacular intensity, illuminating the astonished faces of everyone and transforming the environment into a majestic and imposing scenario, where elemental force manifested in its most glorious form.