Astós gave her a look darker than dark and entered the room. The named Palaïós was sitting on a chair at the back of the room. The room was relatively small, only furnished with a few sofas and armchairs, a large glass table in the middle. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, its candles all lit dripping a bit on the floor. When the prince passed underneath it, he got a drop of wax in his neck, he suppressed a groan.

"Well, where do we start?" said the young man cheerfully.

Sklerótes collapsed on a sofa, in a human form Astós had never seen before. The Dnophos was a young red-haired woman, with a slender figure and a delicate face. He felt like he knew her, but he kept his observations and remarks to himself.

She took her face in her hands and began to speak.

"You should sit down, we might be here for a while," she said wearily. (The prince complied). "Where should I start?"

"From the beginning, tell me everything about you, and no more lies," Astós demanded.

"Fine. Let's start with my life then."

"Pardon?" asked the prince, incredulous. "What about your l-"

"Oh! But will you let me talk, yes?" Sklerótes sighed. "I'll continue. When I was young, I lived in a very wealthy family; we lived close to the court and were almost part of it. The day after my fifteenth birthday, I went for a walk by the lake that ran through a forest near my home. There, some men surrounded me and attacked me. There were several of them. They started making very aggressive advances towards me. I refused, I asked them to leave, but of course, they didn't. One of them pulled out a knife, then another copied him. I was really in trouble."

The young woman's voice trembled, as if she were still in shock.

"When one of them approached me and tried to stab me, I hid behind my frail arms. I waited for the blow, but nothing happened. I didn't move a muscle until one of the men near me screamed in horror. When I looked up, a charred corpse lay at my feet. The boldest of the men tried to harm me in turn, and still not understanding what was happening to me, I also tried to push him away with my arm. And another corpse fell at my feet. Unfortunately, this time, immense pain seized me. My arms were in agony, and the white flames they emitted wouldn't extinguish. My heart raced, and it was the beginning of hell."

Sklerótes gasped.

"At that moment, I curled up on the ground and cried. I cried from pain and grief, shame, horror. I had just killed two men. It was more than a traumatizing experience. But the story doesn't end there. Now, my whole body was radiating. With every beat of my heart, a burst of flame was expelled from my body, and the forest inevitably caught fire. When I calmed down, it was already too late. I was paralyzed by the pain of my body scorched by flames, and those that blazed around me were taller than two stacked elephants. I tried to find a way out of this hell, but the blaze eventually overpowered me. Unable to endure it any longer, I simply let myself perish in this fiery prison."

She paused before continuing:

"And I died," she whispered.

Astós' face went through several emotions. First horror, then came incomprehension.

"But? What's next? If you're here, there must be more to it, don't give me some nonsense like 'I died and here I am!'"

"It's almost that, to be honest," added Sklerótes. "When I woke up, my body had been buried in the forest of the property, in a patch not consumed by my flames. I came back from beyond with a feeling of lightness. My body had become intangible, impalpable, and my human appearance was just a distant memory. At least, that's what I thought. I wandered for a long time in my monstrous form, so long that I lost track of the years. I was constantly thirsty, but any liquid burned my throat and tore at my entrails. But one day, I came across a small deer in agony, and blood was flowing from its wound. Without thinking, I threw myself on it and drank. That's when I discovered the only source of food for my kind: blood."

"But you talk about the Dnophos as a species, yet you're alone as far as I can see."

Sklerótes sighed.

"I'm getting to that. About four years (and a few murders) after my transformation - information I learned later - I accidentally met two people on a stormy night. I had settled in a remote corner of the forest and was spending the night sheltered. But that night, not far from me, two other Dnophos were wandering. When one of them stumbled upon me, asleep like a baby, there was no hostility. Especially since the second Dnophos accompanying him was very familiar to me; it was only when she told me her similar story that I completely recognized her."

"Who?" asked Astós.

"My little sister, your mother." 

Astós widened his eyes.

"But, how is that possible?" the young prince asked.

"Listen carefully. Have you noticed the very unusual color of my eyes? Doesn't it remind you of yours?" Sklerótes handed a spoon to the young man who examined himself in it.

"It's true that they look alike... I guess," he admitted.

"The blue is very similar, electric, I would say. But mine glow unlike yours. But haven't you ever seen similar eyes anywhere else in your family?"

"No. But that doesn't mean anything! What you're saying makes no sense! Mother died in an accident while traveling," he snapped.

The Dnophos wagged her tongue disapprovingly.

"But yes, indeed, twice per generation, the descendants of the Basileus family receive a gift, manifested by the unusual color of their eyes. Your mother received it, so did I. You also received it. All those who came before us did too. People like us are called the Heirs. During our lives, we receive or have received a 'gift.' A power called 'Kaiô.' We have all been able to use white flames during that time. But as you may know, there is no gift without sacrifice, and that sacrifice is called Ara. It's an evil we suffer from the moment the gift is activated, compounded by the transformation into a Dnophos upon our death."

"What is your ailment?" Astós inquired.

"My Ara? You should have guessed it already! I believe it was not being able to control the flames I produced, them dominating me rather than the other way around. My ailment was fatal, as you've noticed. Your mother didn't have one in the conventional sense; her Ara wasn't material. When her powers were activated, she heard a voice in her head, received something like a prophecy. This voice whispered to her the following words:

"Your similar offspring will bring about your downfall."

Astós remained silent, deeply perplexed.

"I don't understand," he simply stated. "None of my siblings ever had blue eyes like yours and mine."

"How old were you when your younger sister, Kyria, was born?" Sklerótes asked.

"I was a little over three, I think."

"I see," said the Dnophos, taking her chin in her fingers. "You were lied to. You don't have just five siblings. Your mother gave birth to two babies that night: Kyria and her twin named Kyneos."

The young prince's heart skipped a few beats as he made the connection. Sklerótes continued.

"She said she sent the baby away to live far from all of you, to protect you, as soon as she opened her big blue eyes. She said she didn't want her, she was terrified. A few years later, when she had stopped thinking about Kyneos, she was involved in an accident. She died from it. This part is true."

Astós stared at the young woman, impassive.

"She returned in her Dnophos form, in which she met people like her, like us. All family members, known or not, it was with them that she learned to wield her powers. A little later, the Heirs found me after my death. And I also learned to handle the unusual situation I found myself in. But the Dnophos need to feed, and some of us wreaked havoc in the villages surrounding the region. Your father, the king, had enough. He searched for years for a way to annihilate us, without knowing who we were. A very promising young warrior apprentice caught his attention."

"Kyneos," the prince deduced. 

"Yes," confirmed Sklerótes. "She was only thirteen at that time, but she was already recognized as a skilled knight. It was said that she could wield fire, a devastating white fire, and that she won wars just by demonstrating her abilities. Your father, intrigued, went to see her one day and offered her services, without knowing she was his daughter. For three months, she trained on different terrains with one goal, to exterminate the Dnophos, as your father desired."