"Nelvan Aetherion,"
The voice rang in the boy's mind, not through his ears. For a moment, Nelvan thought it was just a figment of his own thoughts—something born from the depth of his heart. But it wasn't.
"You've arrived," The voice said again. Nelvan, still confused, could only nod.
"Is this… really Eclothera?" He wondered aloud, his voice barely above a whisper. Yet the voice returned.
"No. But it is the gate. You are just one step away from entering it truly," It replied.
He stared at the doorway. Something inside him trembled—fear, hope, doubt. And also, a strange sense that his life, long a puzzle with missing pieces, had finally found its first perfect fit.
"If I step through," He said quietly, "I can't return to who I was, can I?"
The figure smiled. "That is no longer your choice. The version of you that lived in Nliyff has already been left behind. Here, you will be shaped into someone strong, someone brave. Be ready."
The figure spoke without opening her mouth, her voice echoing gently in his mind.
Nelvan took a breath. He touched his grandfather's pendant, tightened his grip on the dagger at his belt, and called his father's face to mind one last time.
Then he stepped forward.
And the moment his foot crossed the threshold of light, the world around him collapsed and reformed.
***
As the light of the gate faded, Nelvan fell into silence.
Not silence like the night in the woods, nor the calm before a storm. This was a void—a pure emptiness, as if time itself was holding its breath. There was no ground beneath him, no sky above him. Only himself... and the feeling of floating between two worlds yet to be born.
Then, light stirred. Not from outside, but within.
The pendant around his neck vibrated softly, casting a glow upon Nelvan's chest. And in a single pulse—
—reality returned.
He stood in the center of a vast hall, with crystal walls that reflected not his own image, but the sky itself. And that sky… it did not belong to the world he knew.
The sky of Eclothera was layered in color—flowing blue like water, violet shimmering like the aurora, and fine silver lines weaving living patterns through the clouds. In the distance, tall towers floated, defying gravity. Some housed hanging gardens, while others glowed from within, as if lit by captured stars.
The structure he stood in was unlike any he had ever seen—part stone, part metal, part something that seemed to have grown from the earth itself. Curved pillars held up a dome that radiated gentle light. Carvings on the walls depicted strange creatures—some human-like, others resembling birds or dragons—telling stories not yet written in any book.
"Welcome, Nelvan Aetherion," the voice came again. This time, clear and aloud, from a grand staircase at the front of the hall.
Someone was descending.
A tall woman in a deep blue robe with silver lining at the collar. Her hair flowed like night, long and wavy, and her eyes—there was no white in them, only golden irises floating on darkness.
She held a slender staff made of blackwood, its tip pulsing softly with blue light, like a second heart.
"I am Elyara," She said. "Warden of the Eastern Gate. And now, one of your guides."
Nelvan swallowed. He wanted to reply, but his tongue was stiff. His heartbeat slowed. His body froze. His face, filled with fear.
Elyara could read such expressions easily—she'd seen them often in the eyes of Eclothera's newest candidates. Almost all of them looked like Nelvan when they first arrived.
"There is no need to be afraid," Elyara continued gently. "You're not the first to arrive with open eyes and a locked mouth."
She raised her hand, and the hall around them changed.
Not disappeared—just shifted.
The towering pillars shrank, the ceiling lowered, and now they stood in a cozier meeting chamber. A deep red carpet stretched across the floor. Candles floated in the air, and a long wooden table was filled with inviting foods—honeyed bread, softly glowing fruits, roasted meats laced with herbs.
There, children sat.
They looked to be around Nelvan's age, but none of them looked like villagers.
A silver-haired girl with eyes like crystal ice gave him a quiet nod. Beside her, a sharp-eared boy—clearly of Elfair descent—played with a feather quill using magic at his fingertips. A short boy with curly hair mumbled to himself, and a small firebird perched on his shoulder nodded politely at Nelvan.
"Another one of us?" The Elfair boy muttered without turning his head. "Right on time. We were about to bet you'd gotten lost in the enchanted woods."
Nelvan walked toward an empty seat already prepared for him, passing by the other arrivals who had made it here before him. Honestly, it made him feel awkward. As he sat down, he was next to the Elfair and a boy who looked like a regular Hamoursh. But that one, too, already had magic like the Elfair.
"Wait, you're an Emyerlf?!" the boy exclaimed in surprise. Nelvan nodded.
"What's your magic affinity?" He asked next.
The question made Nelvan uneasy—it wasn't openly hostile, but it clearly chipped at his confidence.
"Not yet," Nelvan replied.
"What do you mean, not yet?" the Elfair shot back.
"I haven't developed a magical talent. But I can fight—with a dagger," Nelvan said.
There was no response. But the looks they gave him made it clear—they didn't think he belonged here.
Elyara interrupted the moment with a sharp tap of her staff on the floor.
"Introduce yourself, Nelvan. This is your new family."
He looked around at them all, then spoke quietly.
"I... am Nelvan Aetherion. From Nliyff. Half-human… and—"
"I already know," interrupted someone across the room.
A tall boy with a stern expression. It was unclear whether he disliked Nelvan's presence or something else entirely. But Nelvan finished his introduction with a quiet smile, then sat back down.
Elyara stepped into the center of the chamber, addressing the selected candidates. These were the ones the academy had chosen—each of them to be tested and shaped into great sorcerers.
"You were not chosen for what the world sees," she began, her voice calm but strong, "but for what the world never sees. Each of you holds the key to the balance between two worlds: the Real and the Magical."
She looked at each of them in turn.
"And Eclothera will be your trial—and your answer. Here, you will not only learn to wield magic. You will learn to see."
Something stirred in Nelvan's chest.
It felt like… home. But not the home he once knew. A new home—perhaps the one he had always been meant to find.
Here, his journey would truly begin.
And here, he would discover who he really was meant to be.
***