(After Bell and Arin parted ways…)
It was after Bell had met Arin, and the boy was in high spirits. After all, he'd just met someone he admired greatly—someone who might become a true hero.
"Hehe, I am the disciple of the Astralis! hehe!"
He was in good spirits. And that's why he didn't notice the silence that had settled in the forest.
And the 'Silence' that walked along with him.
"So? You became the student of some random guy you met?" she asked, walking beside the child, matching his enthusiastic stride.
"HA?! My master is not some ran…do…m…" Bell fury settled the moment he recognized the voice and face as his eyes settled on the woman. Walking alongside him, arms crossed and eyes closed, was Alfia—the Silence, a literal demon in human form.
"A-Aunt Alfi—GUFA! GOSPEL PUNCH!" Just as Bell turned to address her, a fist came flying at his face, the deceptively slender arm of the woman packing enough strength to shatter castles. Bell hit the ground hard, stars exploding across his vision.
"I will crush you," she said quietly, as she stood there, her hand crossed, her eyes closed.
Bell cried at the unfairness of the situation, "But you already crushed me!" He said.
Alfia's eyes were closed, but the intensity of her presence alone was enough to silence anyone standing in front of her. "Silence. What did I say you should call me? Hm?"
Bell quickly got up, bowing his head and upper body in a perfect ninety-degree bow. "Mother Alfia!" Bell straightened from his bow, hands clasped together. "Please forgive me!"
Ignoring the child's apology, the silence continued to question. "So? Why did you decide to become his disciple? When you already know the history between him and Phi."
Bell shifted uncomfortably as he answered, "But, Mother, wasn't it Mother Phi who was in the wrong then? Even she admitted that. And not to mention, she said, Master has the quality of a hero."
"That doesn't mean you should—" Just as Alfia was about to reprimand Bell for his spontaneous decision, another voice called out.
"Alfia, aren't you being too hard on the child?" Saphira Elmarth—the Dusk Witch—emerged from between the trunks, her black hair stirring in the breeze. Her sharp obsidian eyes meet theirs.
"Phi, did I not tell you to rest back at the camp? Why are you walking around the forest? It's dangerous." Alfia, ever the cold woman, couldn't help but be worried about her friend.
Saphira sighed. "First, stop calling me by that ridiculous nickname. Second, you make it sound like I'm dying. Even weakened, surface monsters pose no threat to me." She turned her attention to Bell. "So. You've met Astralis."
Bell nodded enthusiastically. Saphira's obsidian eyes studied him for a long moment. "And what was your impression of him?"
"He's..." Bell's eyes lit up, his hands gesturing excitedly. "He's exactly like you said, Mother Phi! He has this presence about him, like a real hero! And he's strong—so strong—but he's also kind! He didn't have to help me, but he did! And when he fought the monsters, it was like watching a story come to life! His magic was incredible—blue flames that seemed to respond to his will, and the way he moved was so precise and controlled!"
"Kind," Alfia repeated flatly, her eyes still closed. "The man who almost killed Phi is 'kind.'"
"Alfia," Saphira eyed her friend to stop.
"I'm merely stating facts."
"You're being petty."
"I'm being realistic." Alfia's arms tightened across her chest. "The boy barely knows him and has already made him his master. What if Astralis has ulterior motives? What if he's using Bell to get back at you?"
Bell's face fell. "Master wouldn't do that..."
"Wouldn't he?" Alfia opened her heterochromatic eyes for the first time, her gaze sharp as a blade as it fixed on Bell. "You've known him for what, an hour? And you've already decided to trust him completely? Phi had crossed blades with him and conversed with him, but I only know him from rumours. Rumours that are not all good."
"Alfia, enough." Saphira stepped between them, her presence commanding despite her weakened state. "Bell made his choice. And frankly, it's not a bad one."
Alfia's jaw tightened. "Phi—"
"I was wrong back then," Saphira continued, her voice firm but tinged with something that might have been regret. "I let my pride and my... convictions blind me to what Arin and his companions were trying to tell me."
Alfia's arms tightened fractionally across her chest, but she remained silent.
"I attacked him without understanding. Condemned him without listening. And when he defended himself and proved me wrong..." She paused, something rueful crossing her features. "I deserved every bit of defeat I got." Something flickered across Alfia's usually impassive face—surprise, perhaps concern.
Bell's eyes widened with each word, his earlier enthusiasm replaced by something deeper—understanding, perhaps, or the first glimmers of wisdom.
"So yes, Bell," Saphira said, looking at him directly. "Arin defeated me. He defeated me thoroughly—not just in combat, but in ideology. And for that..." Her expression softened. "I'm grateful. Because he saved me from becoming the very monster I claimed to oppose."
Alfia's stern expression wavered slightly. "Phi..."
"I still carry my disappointment, Alfia. The memory of our failure against the Black Dragon still burns. But Arin taught me that disappointment doesn't have to lead to despair, and despair doesn't have to lead to destruction." She paused. "Perhaps that's why I told Bell that Arin has the qualities of a hero. Because he sees clearly where I was blind."
Bell's face was flushed with emotion. "Mother Phi... I didn't know..."
"How could you?" Saphira reached out and ruffled his hair gently. "I don't speak of it often. But if you're going to train under Arin, you should understand what kind of man he is. He's not perfect—far from it. He's arrogant in his own way, unconventional to a fault, and sometimes infuriatingly blunt. But from what I have seen, he's also honest, principled, and he sees through pretense and self-deception like few others can."
Alfia was silent for a long stretch. Part of her—the part that had stood beside Saphira through countless battles and darker nights—wanted to hate Arin for what he'd done. For daring to hurt the Dusk Witch, when she was already suffering enough.
But another part, the part that had watched Saphira spiral into self-destruction, couldn't deny the truth: whoever Arin was, whatever his motives, he'd pulled her friend back from an abyss no one else had been able to reach.
And for that, at least, Alfia owed him... not gratitude.
But perhaps the absence of hostility. "Fine," she said at last, sighing in reluctant acceptance. "Fine. If you approve, Phi, then I won't interfere. But—" She fixed Bell with a stern look, "—if this Astralis does anything suspicious, anything that suggests he's using you for his own purposes, you will tell us immediately. Understood?"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"And you will continue your basic training with me as well. Whatever he teaches you will be supplemented by proper foundation work."
"YES, MA'AM!" Bell's voice came out more hoarse than the previous one, as beads of sweat fell from his face, remembering the tortur—training he went through.
As they began walking back toward their camp, Alfia fell into step beside Saphira, her voice low enough that Bell couldn't hear.
"You're different when you talk about him, Phi."
"Different how?"
"Less... burdened." Alfia's eyes remained closed, but there was something almost gentle in her tone. "As if some weight you've been carrying has finally been lifted."
Saphira was quiet for a moment. "Perhaps it has. "Arin showed me that my failure against the Black Dragon didn't have to define my entire existence, that disappointment could be acknowledged without being consumed by it."
"And you believe him? This man who barely knows you?"
"He knew me well enough when it mattered," Saphira said softly. "Well enough to see what I was really fighting—not monsters or gods, but my own inability to forgive myself for not being perfect."
Alfia opened her eyes slightly, glancing at her friend. "I still don't trust him. But if he's brought you back from that dark place you were heading..." She paused. "Then I suppose I can tolerate his existence."
"High praise from you."
"Don't let it go to your head."
They walked in companionable silence for a while, Bell bouncing ahead of them, still muttering excitedly about his new master and all the things he was going to learn.
"Alfia," Saphira said eventually.
"Mm?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For caring. For worrying. For being willing to hate someone on my behalf even when I don't hate them myself anymore."
Alfia was quiet for a long moment. "Someone has to protect you from your tendency toward self-destruction, Phi. It might as well be me."
"I'm not self-destructing anymore."
"Good. Because if Astralis breaks you again, I'll have to kill him, and that sounds like far too much work."
Saphira laughed—a genuine sound that made Bell look back in surprise and delight.
"I don't think he'll break me, Alfia. If anything, he helped put me back together. In his own annoying, unconventional way."
"Then I suppose," Alfia said grudgingly, "he has at least one redeeming quality."
Ahead of them, Bell continued to chatter about heroes and training and dreams, his voice full of hope and determination.
And behind him, two of the most powerful beings in history walked in contemplative silence, each wondering what the future would bring now that Arin Kael had entered their carefully constructed world—and irrevocably changed it.