Light swallowed Rafe whole.
For a moment, there was no sense of direction — no up, no down, no air, no body. Only movement, like drifting inside a pulse of mana older than memory.
Then—
His feet hit solid stone.
A different chamber.Dim.Quiet.Breathing softly with the same pulse he had felt since entering the ruins.
Rafe inhaled.
The air felt heavier.Thicker.Almost… familiar.
He looked at his hands.
They glowed faintly — not white, not black, but a muted blend of both colors, settling slowly beneath his skin like two rivers finally finding the same channel.
He flexed his fingers.
No pain.No violent clash.Just… presence.
For the first time since awakening in this world, his mana didn't feel like a threat to him.
He barely had time to register the feeling before—
"RAFE!"
Two small bodies slammed into him at once.
He stumbled back, barely managing to keep his balance.
"Mara—?! Lyn—?!"
Lyn clung to him, burying her face against his chest with a trembling breath.
"You're back… you're back… you're back…"
Mara didn't cry, but her fists gripped his shirt so tightly it nearly tore.
"Don't you EVER disappear on us again."
Rafe exhaled shakily, instinctively wrapping one arm around each girl.
"I'm here. I'm here."
Their warmth anchored him harder than any trial in the ruin.
He rested his forehead briefly against theirs.
"I told you I'd come back."
"You were gone for HOURS," Mara snapped, voice cracking at the edges. "Selene couldn't break the walls! Lyn wouldn't stop shaking! I almost—"
She cut herself off, shoving her face against his shoulder to hide the emotion.
Rafe tightened his hold.
"Sorry," he whispered.
"You better be," Mara muttered.
Lyn didn't speak.She just held him.
Rafe stroked her hair gently.
"I'm okay," he murmured. "Both of you… I'm okay."
A third presence approached.
Selene.
She walked slowly, leaning heavily on her staff, her face pale as ash. She stopped a few steps away, her breath unsteady.
"…Rafe."
Their eyes met.
And Selene froze.
Her fingers tightened around the staff.
"…Your aura."
Rafe blinked.
"My what?"
Selene stared — not at him, but through him, as if she were seeing something layered behind his skin.
"It's different," she whispered. "No—changed. Stabilized… but also…"
Her voice trembled.
"…something else is inside you."
Rafe's chest tightened.
The Primordial.
He opened his mouth to explain—
But Selene raised a hand sharply.
"Not here," she said. "Not inside these walls. The Ruins listen."
She stepped closer, examining him like someone afraid to touch a dangerous artifact.
"Rafe… how far did it take you?"
He hesitated.
"Far enough."
Selene's jaw tightened.
Mara finally pulled back enough to look at him.
"What happened in there?"
Rafe looked at her — her fierce eyes, her trembling hands — then at Lyn's tear-stained cheeks.
Then at Selene, whose exhaustion made her seem older than she was.
He couldn't tell them everything.
Not yet.
So he said the truest thing he could.
"I found something I lost."
Lyn looked up."What was it…?"
Rafe smiled faintly.
"…Myself."
The Ruins pulsed — a low vibration beneath their feet.
A signal.
A warning.
A countdown.
Selene lifted her staff, eyes narrowing.
"It's waking up again. We need to move."
"Move where?" Mara asked.
Selene pointed to a narrow archway forming behind Rafe — a door that hadn't been there seconds ago.
"The exit," she said. "The Ruins have completed the Ritual."
Rafe frowned.
"What did the Ritual even do?"
Selene took a slow breath.
"It rewrote you."
Rafe stiffened.
Selene shook her head quickly.
"Not in a bad way. Not in a forced way. It didn't change who you are — it changed what you can be."
Her voice softened.
"It means you survived something you shouldn't have been able to."
Mara crossed her arms.
"Yeah, he does that."
Lyn nodded shyly.
"He always comes back."
Rafe felt warmth sting behind his eyes.
"Not always," Selene whispered.
Before anyone could ask what she meant, the Ruins pulsed again — harder.
Cracks of blue light crawled along the walls.
Selene swore under her breath.
"It's collapsing the trial sector. If we don't leave now, we'll be sealed in."
Mara grabbed Rafe's hand.
"Then what are we waiting for?!"
Lyn grabbed his other hand.
"Run!"
Rafe took both girls and stepped toward the archway.
But Selene grabbed his shoulder before he crossed through.
"Rafe."
He turned.
Her eyes tracked the faint glow beneath his skin — the stabilized mana, the blended colors, the presence that didn't exist before today.
"Whatever happened in there…" she whispered, "you're not the same boy who entered."
Rafe met her gaze without flinching.
"I know."
"Does it scare you?" she asked.
He exhaled slowly.
"It used to."
Selene stared at him.
Then, very quietly:
"…Good."
She stepped forward.
Together, they crossed the archway—
And the Ruins of Arath'Sei sealed the entire chamber behind them, erasing every trace that it had ever existed.