24. Alex

I looked at Ryan, lying unconscious on the ground, his inert figure marking the end of the confrontation. My gaze met Galen's, who, despite the momentary victory, wore a melancholy expression on his face. The room was still vibrating with the residual energy of the battle, and the shadows danced between us as mute witnesses of the complexity of our intertwined emotions.

I decided to take a few steps towards Galen, feeling the weight of our shared experiences. His presence was a mixture of complicity and pain, as if we were both protagonists in a story unfolding between light and darkness. My words were reluctant to emerge, choked by the magnitude of what I had experienced.

"Galen "I murmured, searching his eyes for some sign, some hint of what was resonating inside him. His response was a sigh, as if he carried with him the secrets of a past that we still did not quite understand.