“The world is going to change.” That was the comment the author had left. After all these events, how could Marc think this was a coincidence? It certainly wasn't. The visions he'd received surely spoke of a terrible moment. And Elie said she'd seen the end. This was far too obvious.

Marc also sent a comment below the chapter in the comment space.

“Are the visions from you?”

Suddenly, Marc felt he'd overdone it a little. He himself had said that the black character was common in stories. And the author was probably talking about the world of his work.

“What visions?”

That was what he thought. He'd gone too far. But to be on the safe side, he sent a second message.

“What world were you talking about?

“The world of "The Fall of the Sky".”

That was the title of the novel he was reading. Marc was completely out of his depth.

“Nothing then. Thank you for your work. It really is a beautiful story.”

Marc had said that sincerely. It was the story of his life. He didn't miss a chapter. He knew every detail. He'd get angry with the main character, or angry at him. He even had his own character in the book, thanks to the author. It was his story.

“Thank you. I'll keep writing just for you.”

Marc was moved. But that wasn't why he'd started the conversation. At least he knew the author wouldn't stop his novel because there weren't many people reading it.

“I wonder what he meant by 'change'?”

For the moment, he had to be careful of everything around him. Lest he run into that man in the black robe Nathanaël had seen, he had to be careful. He did a long search on the word “Aregis”, but found absolutely nothing. It meant nothing.

Marc sat down on his bed. He was thinking about what to do. Maybe he should give up? It didn't make sense. But he was convinced there was something behind all this. Something incredibly powerful. He was still thinking about it when his mother called him to eat. Actually, when his mother called him to eat, it was more like calling him to set the table so they could all eat together. Marc had no problem with this. It made sense to him that if his mother or father prepared the food, he should set the table. Everyone had their tasks in this house.

He was coming down the stairs when a horrible thought popped into his head. What if he lost them both? If all this really did lead to the end of the world, he'd lose his parents.

Marc didn't want to think about it. Even so, he couldn't help shedding a tear when he saw his mother with the dishes in hand.

“Well then? The table's not going to make itself.”

He smiled and went off to set the table as his mother had asked.

After lunch, Marc went up to his room. He really intended to get some sleep after his long day. He turned off the bedroom light and jumped into bed for the second time that day. There was no guarantee of a good night's sleep, but at least the day was over.

It didn't take him long to fall asleep. Surprisingly, he had a dream. Marc rarely had dreams on days when he had school the next day. Marc was in the middle of a cathedral. It was huge and well-decorated, but he'd never seen it before. The door was wide open and an icy chill infiltrated the cathedral. The symbols on the stained-glass windows were all strange. Some had flowers with as yet undiscovered outlines. Others had human faces, at least resembling them, with rings around their heads. Six in all. Others had swords, all of them different.

On closer inspection, it didn't look at all like a cathedral. Marc wondered what he was doing here. It was the first time he'd had such a bizarre dream. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from outside. Someone was approaching the open door. Even the door was strange. It had all the symbols from the stained-glass windows, along with other symbols Marc couldn't decipher.

He looked towards the door to see who the person was who had to enter when his heart stopped. The man who had entered was wearing a black hooded robe. You couldn't see his face, but he was holding a sword and had six wings on his back. The man from the vision.

Marc began to sweat. His heart was beating ten times faster than usual. The man walked slowly towards Marc, but he couldn't move. Fear had paralyzed his legs. The man reached him, but instead of bumping into him, he ran right through him. Marc didn't want to turn around to see where the man was. But after five seconds that seemed like a thousand years, he heard the voice of someone he knew.

“Marc?”

Marc turned as he heard Elie's voice. The man in black was advancing straight towards her. He raised his sword to the sky. Neither he nor Elie could say anything.

“Aregis”

The words echoed throughout the cathedral. With one clean stroke, the man cut off Elie's head and he fell straight to the floor. His body remained upright. The man in black turned back to Marc. Although he had no face, it was easy to tell that he was looking at him. Marc almost fainted in his dream.

“Astreos”

It was the second word he'd uttered. The dream ended the moment Marc fainted. He awoke with a start in his bedroom. This time, it was real. They had to take these visions seriously. Otherwise they were all going to die.

Marc hadn't slept the rest of the night. He kept looking at his bedroom door. To see if the man would come in. Before that, he'd even thrown up. He'd never had such a nightmare. He wondered if the others had too.

Marc was discouraged. He didn't want to investigate the visions anymore. He didn't want to die. He didn't even know if Elie was still alive. He didn't want to know. But he got up anyway instead.

“Oh and then sh.t”

Marc dressed as if he were going to school, but this time, He went to Elie's house. He left his house and took four steps forward, before realizing that he didn't even know where she lived anymore. There were two houses he couldn't decide between. Finally, he took a coin from his pocket, flipped a coin, and rang the doorbell.

The door didn't open immediately. Someone was about to open the door when someone else told him to leave it. It was Elie.

“Leave it, it's for me.”

“But, Elie are you all right? You look pale.”

“I'm fine, Mom.”

“Elie if that man came to hurt you believe me he'll hear me.”

“No, Mum. It's nothing, he's a friend.”

“He's abusing you, that's it. I'm calling the police.”

“No, Mom. Please leave us alone.”

There was a moment's silence. Elie had raised his voice a little too much.

“All right. But if I notice anything. Your boyfriend's going to jail.”

“Mom.”

The door opened at last. Marc didn't even have time to introduce himself to his mother before Elie jumped into his arms. She was crying.

“Are you okay, Elie?”

Elie's mother looked at him so badly that Marc wanted to disappear again. He'd wanted to check on her, but now he wanted to run away.

“Who are you?”

“Mom is ... ? ”

“Leave it. We'll see each other more often now. It's my turn to introduce myself.”

Marc had a way with words. He could put a person at ease with just a few words. But the mission was to reassure the mother.

“Hello, madame. My name is Marc.”

He hadn't held out his hand, afraid she wouldn't extend it in return.

“Why are you hanging around my daughter?”

“I'm not hanging around your daughter...”

It was more like she didn't want to let go of him.

“We're just friends.”

“Why are you here so top of the morning?”

Marc knew how to find excuses as fast as his shadow. That was why he never got frozen or punished.

“I wanted to have a little chat with her while watching the sunrise.”

And bam. Well romantic, well timed, well executed. Everything was perfect and she probably wouldn't suspect a thing.

“Are you sure he's not dangerous, Elie?”

Elie's mother loved her daughter more than anyone. She didn't want to lose her. Especially if she went pale every time she opened the door, she wasn't going to leave her with a guy like him. He seemed like a nice kid. Elie had already told her about him. A quiet boy in all circumstances, playing the fool when in truth he was rather wise and mature. A little too mature at times. You could tell when he was dropping philosophical phrases and everyone was looking at him. Often, he'd deny having said anything and go back to his idiocy.

“Good. Go do your talking away. But if you touch her, you'll hear me.”

“Okay.”

Marc had said this with a big smile, but in reality he wasn't at all serene.

Elie changed, said goodbye to her mother and they both left. Elie's mother watched her daughter walk away, thinking that soon she would certainly no longer be her “little girl”.

Marc and Elie walked on without saying a word. The dream they'd both been having wouldn't allow them to look each other in the face for ten minutes. Finally Marc broke the silence.

“You were there, weren't you?”

“Yes.”

“You made...”

“Yes.”

Marc didn't know what to say. But yet he had to keep talking about it.

“What did you see?”

Elie didn't answer right away.

“I too appeared in this sorts of cathedral . I looked carefully at everything around me, then looked down. I saw Chris in a white coffin covered with black feathers.”

Marc couldn't believe his ears. Chris was there too. Did that mean the others were there too?

“Then I heard footsteps coming from the door. I turned around and saw you. The man in black was walking towards you. I called out to you, then the man in black crossed you and came towards me. I didn't even have time to do anything before he...”

She didn't need to tell the rest. Marc knew what the rest was. They walked a few more steps, then Marc took her in his arms. Elie cried and Marc said nothing. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know if they'd survive or if they'd find a way out. But one thing was certain: they were all in danger.