Darkin's body returns to normal as soon as he approaches his house, where there are several ships in ruins with no life nearby, everything turned into ashes. Suddenly, in his mind, he sees the first creature he faced with a ring on each of its wrists, and something occurs to him, but he is interrupted when he hears footsteps approaching him. He stops and concentrates before turning and asking:
"Who are you?"
"I am the old man with the gift. Am I like you?"
Darkin sees the man in front of him, the same old man who gave him the clothes he's now wearing.
"How did you get here?" Darkin asks, stunned, looking at the man who calmly gazes at him.
"I am one of the cursed of Moamba. I have been able to teleport since I was six. Come, my son, there’s something important you must know before everything you're about to do."
Darkin, with slow steps, moves toward the old man, who holds a glowing cane in his hand.
"Speak. But first, who are you?"
"I am Ghuman Loop. Besides teleporting, I can also see things from the future and create portals."
"And what happened? Can't you make portals anymore?"
"Unfortunately, a child named Venus stole that ability from me 1000 years in the future."
Darkin silently tries to digest what he just heard, but eventually ignores it and says:
"I have to get in here. I feel like my wife and daughter are inside."
"Wait. The creator of the Zralkies is our enemy. We must destroy him as quickly as possible, but first, we need your wife."
"Why do you need my wife?"
"Because she is the only one who knows the entire truth about our future in ruins," the man says with a seriousness that is almost tangible.
"Didn't you just tell me that you yourself can see things from the future?" Darkin asks, turning his face back toward the house, which is partially illuminated.
"Well, I can, but I’m actually losing that ability, and I saw that the person who shares the same curse as I do is your wife, and Ashlem, the hunter who, like me, will also lose it because only one chosen person can carry this curse that the hunters call Futo. Don’t let her die, because we will face the greatest knight of all the planets."
"I understand, but don’t worry, I won’t let my wife die, not in any way," Darkin says, and soon after, he transforms into smoke.
The process of entering the house is very simple for the man because he can slip through any crack in the house. Upon reaching the interior, he hears a light touch near the basement door and doesn’t hesitate to enter.
Inside, he sees a scene he wasn't expecting. A Zralky, with rings on its wrists, trapped in some sort of cell, but already lifeless, and on the other side, his two women, whom he loves most in this world, lying on a luxurious bed, but malnourished and on the verge of death.
"My love!" Darkin says, rushing to the two, who can do nothing more. "Vickyara, daughter..." he says, seeing his 12-year-old daughter, too weak to do anything.
"My-my love!" Darkin’s wife says.
"Vrony, my angel, what happened to you?" Darkin asks rhetorically before saying, "I’ll get you out of here as quickly as possible."
He begins looking around for a way to escape with them alive, but Vrony touches his shoulder when the man crouches to carry her out of there, and she says:
"Take her out of here... For me, it’s too late."
For a few seconds, Darkin, shocked by Vrony’s words, can’t believe what he’s heard and decides to ignore it. But she touches him again on the shoulder, and he recovers all the memories he had lost. Without any explanation, the man gets all his memories back, simply from Vrony’s touch.
"V-Vrony, I’ve recovered all my memories, how is that possible?" Darkin says, not believing it.
"Not everything needs an explanation. Look up, and you will see that the Zvrodies have a purpose for you," Vrony says, then begins to cough weakly.
"True," Darkin says, looking deep into her brown eyes, her dark skin with a cocoa tone. "I love you, Vrony, and rest assured, I won’t let you die here."
They look at each other deeply. Vrony looks horrible, just like Vickyara. Both are skeletal, as if imitating the Zralkies, who are destroying many human lives. Even so, Darkin falls in love with his wife again, the one he always wanted to reunite with.
Her arms, almost automatically, wrap around his neck at the moment she feels another touch on her body, and he then lifts her, slowly giving in to her pale, dry lips. The moment is incredibly slow, as if stretching the eternity, until their lips touch, and something unexpected, inexplicable, and wonderful happens.
Darkin widens his eyes as he sees his wife looking at him with a different appearance. Vrony's skin gains a healthy glow, and her entire body returns to the woman she always was—beautiful, with the body of a model.
Darkin turns to his daughter, but Vrony immediately says:
"Don’t worry about her."
Vrony then kisses their daughter’s forehead, who also returns to normal. Darkin, his eyes wide open, feels the need for an explanation for what just happened before his eyes.
"I love you, daughter," Vrony says as the daughter opens her eyes and sees her parents right in front of her.
"I love you, daughter," Darkin also says and kisses her forehead.
Then, the three of them share a tight and eternal embrace.
"I thought you wouldn’t return," says his wife.
"I wouldn’t let my two women die while I’m still alive. But I feel strange."
"I know. I saw your future, and the truth is, you’re like this because you were infected by a plant from the planet where the Zralkies come from, which were actually sent by the future knight as a way to defend himself from the invasion and wipe out humans once and for all. In reality, you didn’t go to Zraldonkoy to invade on your own, but you were influenced by an entity. And I believe the Zvrodies intervened so that you became the smoke man who, according to Moambian mythology, would face the Future Knight when the skies turn red and open, which is actually the arrival of our enemy."
Darkin and Vickyara listen attentively to Vrony’s words, who seems to know a lot, which makes a lot of sense of what the old Ghuman Loop said.
"The skies have opened, I saw it," Darkin says.
"Then it’s clear. The prophecy will come true because what we thought was just mythology is our pure reality," Vrony breathes deeply and then says, "You are: THE SMOKEMAN."