Noah had fallen asleep without even realizing it. Fatigue had simply crushed him.

When he opened his eyes the next morning, grayish light was filtering through the curtains of his apartment.

He remained still for a few seconds, then his gaze moved across the room. Debris. Everywhere. Broken wood. Shards of glass. Dark dust. He frowned.

'What the...'

Then the memories returned. The funeral. The anger. The pain. And above all...

Ascension.

'Ah.'

'Right.'

'I think I underwent Ascension yesterday.'

He slowly sat up. His muscles protested immediately. A full night of sleep clearly had not been enough.

'So that power...'

'What exactly was it ?'

The next few hours were entirely devoted to experimentation. For the first time in weeks, Noah found something that resembled his natural state.

Observe test and understand.

Decomposition.

That was the name that came to him instinctively. But a name meant nothing. What mattered was the mechanism.

How did it work ?

He collected several residues left behind by his power. The substance looked like dust. Grayish dust. Fine. Abnormally fine. He let it slide between his fingers.

Then he observed. A few seconds later, it was already beginning to disappear. As if it were evaporating. As if it refused to exist.

'Hum.'

'Interesting.'

He took several samples. Then sat in front of his microscope. Minutes passed. Then his eyes lit up.

'I see.'

'I see !'

The structures had been destroyed. Not burned. Not melted. Destroyed. The bonds themselves had vanished. The molecules no longer existed in their original form. They had disassembled. Fragmented. Been reduced to an unstable state.

A smile appeared on his face.

"Fascinating."

His voice echoed alone through the apartment.

"Decomposition does not directly destroy matter."

He adjusted the lens.

"It destroys the bonds that allow matter to exist."

His eyes shone.

"That is completely different."

The experiments continued until another question emerged.

The energy. That strange energy.

Noah sat in the middle of the improvised laboratory, then closed his eyes.

'This gray energy...'

'Almost transparent.'

'This new sense...'

He inhaled slowly.

'I feel like it has always been there.'

'Like an organ I had never learned to use.'

'Astra.'

The word suddenly felt much more concrete.

He sank his awareness inward. Deeper. Through his body. Through his mind. Until he felt something.

There. Deep inside. A presence. A mass of energy. But not a simple reserve.

No. It was far stranger than that.

The energy was made of countless particles. They moved constantly. Assembled. Separated. Changed shape. Again. And again.

As if they were trying to reproduce an invisible model.

Then an instinctive understanding imposed itself.

'The Node.'

'That’s it.'

'That is my Node.'

He observed the phenomenon. Every movement and transformation.

Then he tried to reproduce it mentally. As if his Astra were circulating according to the same pattern. The same architecture.

Clack.

The sound made him open his eyes. The corner of his table had just cracked.

No.

Decomposed. Part of the wood had turned into dust.

Noah remained still, then a smile slowly appeared.

'I understand.'

'I circulate Astra according to the structure of the Node.'

'And the phenomenon activates.'

His eyes settled on the residue.

'Atomic decomposition.'

He inhaled deeply.

'I’ll have to be careful.'

'Very careful.'

The warning was quickly confirmed. A spoon, a sheet of paper, a piece of plastic.

Noah multiplied the tests. Each experiment taught him something. Each object revealed a new subtlety.

Then suddenly pain exploded inside his skull.

"Urgh..."

He swayed. The world tilted, and darkness swallowed him.

When he came back to himself, several minutes had passed. He remained lying on the floor. Short of breath. The migraine still pulsed behind his eyes.

'What was that ?'

Then the answer returned to him.

The files. The databases. The reports on Ascendants. He immediately grabbed his phone. A few searches later, he found the information. His face froze.

'I see.'

Excessive use of abilities caused : Migraine. Disorders of consciousness. Vomiting. And in extreme cases...Death.

‘This is unsettling’

Total Astra depletion could kill an Ascendant.

Noah reread the passage several times, then continued.

Ascendants were divided into categories.

Lower Ascendants. One to three Nodes.

Intermediate Ascendants. Four to six Nodes.

Superior Ascendants. Seven to nine Nodes.

Then... S Ranks.

Ten Nodes : monsters. Human strategic weapons.

Noah scrolled down the screen. A photograph appeared.

A man. Old, but tall. Imposing. Cold gaze. Haaly Earl. Head of the Iron Dominion. One of the five Thrones. The most powerful beings in humanity. Some military reports compared their power to a rechargeable nuclear bomb.

Noah felt a drop of sweat slide down his neck.

'A nuclear bomb...'

'Rechargeable.'

'They can really reach that level ?'

The idea alone was terrifying. If individuals capable of annihilating a city existed... Then the laws of civilization rested on something far more fragile than he had imagined.

Bzzzz.

His phone vibrated.

A message.

His mother.

Noah opened the conversation.

[Come home for a while. We need to talk.]

He stared at the screen for several seconds, then sighed.

'Ah.'

'That conversation.'

'The one I was hoping to avoid.'

He stood. Grabbed his bag. Then headed for the door.

"When you have to go..."

He exhaled slowly.

"...you have to go."

The family house appeared at the end of the street.

Still the same. The same brick walls, same windows, same garden his father used to spend hours maintaining every weekend.

And yet today, everything felt different. As if the building itself had lost something. As if one of its foundations had disappeared.

'A home. It was a home.'

'Now...'

He looked away.

'Now it looks more like an execution room.'

The rain was still falling when he crossed the front door.

The familiar smell of the house welcomed him immediately. Coffee. Polished wood. And the remnants of his father’s cologne still embedded in some of the furniture.

His heart tightened. The living room appeared before him. And he stopped moving. His mother was sitting on the edge of the sofa. Waiting for him.

Obviously. Her eyes met his immediately.

'Ouch.'

'She looks angry.'

'Very angry.'

Noah forced a smile.

"Hello, Mom."

No answer.

"How are you ?"

Still nothing.

"Is there a problem ?"

The look his mother gave him instantly told him that the question was stupid.

Very stupid.

"I called the hospital."

Noah already felt the disaster approaching.

"Your father had listed you as the person to contact in case of a problem."

Hit directly.

"Yes."

"I see."

Her voice remained perfectly calm. Too calm.

"How long had you known ?"

Noah briefly closed his eyes.

'I knew it.'

'That’s exactly why she called me here.'

'And judging by her reaction that day...'

'The old man never told her after all.'

'Wonderful.'

'Now I’m in a beautiful mess.'

"He told me about it around a month ago."

The silence that followed was almost painful. Then his mother slowly nodded.

"I see."

She looked at the floor.

"And you chose not to tell me."

"No..."

"No need."

The interruption was immediate.

"No need to explain yourself, my boy."

She stood.

"I understand."

A smile appeared. A strange smile. Polite. Controlled.

Completely fake.

"Everything is fine."

Noah watched her walk toward the kitchen.

'You can say that...'

'But it looks like the exact opposite.'

"Really ?"

She did not even turn around.

"I also have the right to have my secrets."

Her voice echoed from the kitchen.

"You are not the only one who has them."

Then she disappeared.

Noah remained still.

'Ah.'

'This is not fine at all.'

Near the window, Sereina had not moved. Not since the beginning. She was sitting in her corner. Earphones buried in her ears. A thick constitutional law textbook resting on her lap. Closed.

She was not even reading. She was simply using it as a wall. As a fortification. A way of telling the entire world to keep its distance.

Noah approached.

"Sereina."

No reaction.

"Sereina."

She finally removed one earbud.

"What ?"

"How are things at university ?"

"Nothing interesting."

Then she immediately put the earbud back in. Conversation over.

Noah sighed.

'She’s sulking too.'

'Perfect.'

'Such a mess.'

A hand then landed on his shoulder.

Mark. His younger brother. The only human being in this house who did not seem to want to strangle him.

"Good luck."

A tired smile stretched Mark’s lips.

"You’re not out of the woods yet."

Noah let out a joyless laugh.

"And you ?"

Mark raised an eyebrow.

"Me what ?"

"You’re not angry with me ?"

His brother thought for a few seconds, then shook his head.

"No."

He leaned against the wall.

"I know the old man."

A smile briefly appeared.

"He must have told you something like :"

Mark took on a caricatured voice.

"'It changes nothing.'"

Then another.

"'Keep this to yourself.'"

Noah could not help smiling. That was exactly what had happened.

"In your place..."

Mark shrugged.

"...I probably would have done the same."

The smile disappeared.

"I noticed he was getting weaker."

His voice grew lower.

"Little by little."

"But he acted so tough that I never imagined it was that bad."

His gaze drifted into the distance.

"And even if I had known..."

Silence settled.

"...I couldn’t have done anything."

The words hit Noah head-on. Because they were true. Brutally true. Because they perfectly summed up his last month.

Helplessness.

Again and again, that helplessness. Mark gave his shoulder a light tap.

"Give them time."

He pointed toward the kitchen.

Then Sereina.

"It’ll work itself out."

His smile returned.

"In the meantime..."

He held out his fist.

"...hang in there, big brother."

Noah gently bumped his fist against his.

"Hang in there."

But even after that conversation, something remained stuck in his chest. A pressure. An invisible weight.

The house suddenly felt suffocating.

Every room reminded him of his father. Every piece of furniture, photo or memory.

So he left. Without warning. Without making a sound. The door closed behind him. The fine rain kept falling. 

Noah walked for a long time. Without a clear direction. His legs moved on their own. Then he realized where they had brought him. The Sugar Cloud. The ice cream shop. The one where his father used to take them. Him, Mark and Sereina.

All three of them. After school. Before the world became complicated. Before Holes, Ascendants, and death. 

The chime of the bell announced his arrival.

Kay immediately looked up.

And smiled.

"The usual, Noah ?"

Her smile was shy. Sincere. Normal. A normality that had become almost foreign.

Noah nodded.

"Yes."

A moment passed.

"Thanks, Kay."

A few minutes later, he was sitting near the window. Strawberry ice cream in front of him. Pink. He dipped his spoon in. Then tasted it. Cold exploded on his tongue. Then sugar. Then strawberry. 

And against all expectations... He felt better. Not much. Just a little. But enough to notice. Like an anchor. Like something tying him back to the real world.

'As usual.'

A sad smile appeared.

'Delicious.'

For a few moments, he almost forgot everything else.

The illness, death, arguments, Ascension. Only the ice cream. The taste. The cold. The memory of afternoons spent with his father.

A small victory. Tiny but real. A victory of life against grief. 

Then the question inevitably returned.

'What am I going to do now ?'

His reflection in the window stared back at him.

The laboratory ?

No.

The house ?

Even less.

His old life was crumbling piece by piece. Just like the objects touched by his Decomposition. His spoon stopped moving. Noah slowly finished his ice cream, then watched the rain fall beyond the glass.

'Helplessness.'

His fingers tightened.

'I never want to feel that again.'

And for the first time since his father’s death, a direction began to appear before him.

He was going to understand Ascension. No matter how long it took. No matter the price. Because deep inside him, a certainty had settled.

Science alone was no longer enough. And the mysteries of this new world had only just opened before him.