This time, she pulled the boy along, holding his hand.

They both ran through the palace doors and advanced several meters toward the broken bridge but immediately changed direction toward the side of the path.

They had no time to celebrate when they saw that Clara could indeed leave, as their pursuer burst out of the palace in fury, baring its fangs.

It ran after the path the two had taken. Still, instead of taking the same detour as its prey, the animal continued several meters farther along the bridge before crashing headfirst into an invisible wall.

Izan and Clara watched as a dark mist appeared where it had struck. A second later, the mist disappeared.

"It looks like there's a limit," Izan said in surprise.

The great animal got back on its feet, shaking its head, dazed, and examined the place where it had collided. There was nothing in front of it but air. It sniffed and touched the invisible wall with its paw, disbelief filling it.

"Come on, let's escape now," Clara whispered.

The boy nodded, and they both began to move away slowly so as not to be detected, keeping to the side of the palace. But they had only gone ten meters when the feline once again focused all its attention on them.

"Run, run!" Izan urged when he realized they would soon be chased again.

"How did you beat that thing?" his friend asked as they ran.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I think I used my ability to become stronger... but I don't even know if I'm still alive in the other world."

"What? How can you not know if you're alive?"

"If I'm lucky, I remember something from before I woke up here. I was badly injured..."

Clara looked at him with concern but said nothing more. They now had a greater concern.

The two continued around the Dark Palace until they reached a brick fence with a black iron gate.

Behind the fence was a large garden full of life. There were bushes with blue and yellow flowers, enormous mushrooms of various colors growing among them, and a vine climbing up the palace wall.

Dark gravel paths ran throughout the garden, converging in the center, where a great tree stood with thick leaves, lilac flowers, and thick roots buried deep in the earth.

The two friends pushed the gate open and ran into the garden. Clara ran in a panic, without stopping to notice her surroundings, and did not realize her friend had fallen behind.

Izan forgot about the beast chasing them the moment he found himself standing before the great tree, which reached nearly twenty meters in height.

He did not know how to give shape to the feelings swirling in his chest at the sight. It was a jacaranda tree, the largest he had ever seen.

Before he could begin asking himself questions, he heard his friend's cry, which brought him back to reality:

"Iza! Run!"

But it was too late.

The animal leaped over the wall with ease and landed beside the boy.

He turned to face the feline once again.

As the feline bared its teeth, ready to attack, the boy noticed that the animal's body was different. Before, during their encounter in the wasteland, its ribs had been visible, and its muscles had not been as well defined as they were now. But that was not all: when their eyes met, he remembered everything the animal had lived through and suffered.

Somehow, seeing the beast in better condition comforted him, and he felt relieved for it.

Without realizing it, Izan was transmitting all his feelings to his inner dimension, where all the souls connected with those emotions.

The animal was no exception and also shared that peace and melancholy throughout its entire being.

For the first time in a long while, it felt safe, and its ferocity gradually subsided as it sensed that there was no threat.

When the feline awoke in the Dark Palace, it had found itself disoriented and in danger, and upon seeing the humans, especially the one with whom it had fought to the death, its instincts had put it on alert.

It was still disoriented and uncertain, but the constant feeling of threat had vanished.

Its stomach did not growl with hunger, its body felt strong and light, and the smell of human flesh seemed abhorrent to it. Without feeling threatened, there was no reason to continue the fight.

Backing away cautiously, it sniffed the garden, taking in the sweet floral scent while its slitted eyes surveyed its surroundings.

Clara had also felt Izan's emotions, but she could not understand what her friend was thinking. Still trembling with fear, she tiptoed over until she reached the boy's side.

"What's happening?" she asked in a whisper.

"I don't know, but it seems like it doesn't want to keep fighting."

Izan couldn't precisely decipher the animal's behavior, but after reliving all the memories of its life, he understood it wasn't an evil creature. It was a being that never stopped fighting for its life.

In response to Izan's thoughts, the animal circled the two boys, keeping a prudent distance, and with a display of agility, climbed the trunk of the jacaranda tree until it reached a high, thick branch capable of supporting its weight.

From there, the feline watched them curiously and warily, but without a trace of aggression. Without taking its eyes off them, it crossed its front paws and rested its head on them, lying down as if it were a cat basking in the sun.

"I need a good explanation for all of this," Clara said with a sigh of relief.

"Honestly, Cler, I need an explanation too," Izan replied, shrugging. "So far, I think I've just been lucky. I still don't even know how to use my ability."

"Now that I think about it, that's very strange," the girl commented without taking her eyes off the feline.

"What do you mean?"

"You saw it. When the goddess granted me her gift, the Stellar Words appeared in my mind, and somehow, I understood how that ability worked."

Izan narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and nodded.

"That's true... The God of the Underworld said he granted me his blessing, but I never experienced anything like what you did."

"Could he have been telling the truth?"

An uncomfortable silence fell between them, uncertainty reigning over the two. After a moment, Clara planted another seed of doubt:

"It's the God of the Underworld... What if he's evil?"

"I thought about that," Izan admitted. "Just looking at him gave me chills, but it doesn't matter if he's evil as long as his help can bring you back to life."

Clara bit her lip guiltily.

"I don't want you to revive me at the cost of bringing misfortune upon others," she stated with a penetrating gaze.

The boy avoided eye contact and didn't answer.

"Izan... Listen to me carefully," she insisted. "I'd rather stay dead than..."

"Hey! Are you two all right?" a voice interrupted from behind them.

They both turned and saw the guard who had been attacked by the feline running toward them, without a single visible injury on his body.

"Are you... alive?" Izan asked, thinking about how to phrase the last part.

"Looks like it. It's strange because that tiznardia sank its fangs into me. I can still feel it," the guard said, touching his face.

The man looked in every direction and asked:

"Where's that damned beast? And, by any chance... do you know what this place is?"

Izan and Clara looked at each other, just as confused as they were surprised, realizing that the workings of the Dark Palace held far too many secrets and far more questions than answers.