The silence still lingered long after it had broken. Not in the air—sound had returned—but in the way the others looked at him.
Kael Ardyn walked the training grounds like a ghost among the living. Wherever he stepped, eyes slid away. Whispers trailed behind him like shadows.
"That wasn't Resonance…"
"No, it was something else—something wrong."
"He could smother us all without lifting a hand."
Even Rynna kept her distance now. Jorek, usually steady as stone, crossed his arms whenever Kael came near, his expression guarded. Serran offered only short, clipped words, as if too much talk might trigger another collapse of silence.
Darius, of course, had no hesitation in spitting venom.
"You think you're special?" he sneered one evening, loud enough for others to hear. "You're not chosen, Ardyn. You're cursed. And one day, when that silence eats us alive, the masters will put you down like the rabid dog you are."
Kael didn't answer. Words felt brittle in his throat. Part of him feared Darius might be right.
Yet even as the fear of others pressed on him, another presence watched from afar.
Veyron.
The anomaly stood apart during every drill, golden Resonance burning faintly even when he wasn't using it. Where others flinched from Kael, Veyron's eyes followed him with sharp, hungry focus.
That night, as the groups dispersed from training, Kael felt the weight of his gaze again. When he turned, Veyron was there—standing in the doorway, arms folded, smirk curling his lips.
"You felt it too, didn't you?" Veyron said. His voice was smooth, confident. "That power wasn't weakness. It was a void. A place where everything breaks."
Kael tensed. "It's not power. It's a danger."
Veyron stepped closer, his golden aura flickering like sunlight on molten steel. "Danger is power. You think the world crowns heroes because they're safe? No. It bows to those it fears."
Kael clenched his fists, the memory of suffocating silence crawling in his chest. "You don't understand. I couldn't control it."
"Then control it," Veyron snapped, eyes burning. "Bend it. Or I'll be the one who does."
The air between them vibrated — Kael's breath shallow, Veyron's aura shimmering faintly as though daring the Silence to rise again.
For the first time, Kael realized this wasn't just rivalry. Veyron wasn't mocking him like Darius. He wasn't afraid like the others. He was calling him out, demanding he prove himself.
Kael's chest tightened. The fear of being a curse warred with the spark of something else — something fiercer.
Perhaps Silence wasn't meant to smother him. Perhaps it was meant to challenge him.
Orin's voice cut through the tension as he strode past, glancing at them both. "Ardyn. Veyron. Save it for the ring." His tone was sharp, but beneath it lay an unspoken truth: he, too, wanted to see what would happen when abyss met flame.
Veyron smirked, never taking his eyes off Kael. "Soon," he said softly.
And Kael knew — no matter how much he tried to deny it — he wanted that clash too.