In a place no one could reach, far beyond paths or distance, the enigmatic sorcerer stood.
The energy around him was calm, layered, and controlled. It did not move wildly. Instead, it flowed in quiet patterns, as if obeying rules older than the world itself. He lifted his head slightly…not because he heard anything, but because he felt it.
Something had shifted.
A small fracture had formed in the fabric of magic.
"So… it has begun," he murmured.
He extended his hand, not to cast a spell, and not to summon power. The air parted gently, revealing faint arcane symbols—unfinished circles, broken lines, and dim shapes that looked more like memories than light.
This was not magic being created.
It was magic being reminded.
Scenes formed before him, not as images, but as impressions. A battlefield locked in silence. Figures standing still. A power hesitating…unsure whether it should fully awaken… or collapse.
He smiled, not with pride or fear, but with certainty.
"Zevyr," he said quietly.
"The experiment that was never completed. The one that refused to stay buried."
The air remained still, listening.
"This awakening," he continued, "may destroy everything… if it happens too soon."
The energy around him shifted, responding not to words, but to intent. A silent call traveled through magic itself, reaching the Shadow that was watching the battlefield.
The Shadow stiffened.
It felt the message directly within its existence.
"Either you intervene," the voice said, "and stop him here…
or you accept the consequences of letting him continue."
A pause.
"If he completes the transformation," the voice finished, cold and absolute,
"no one will leave alive."
For the first time, the Shadow hesitated.
It looked back toward the field-toward Zevyr, toward Ryan, toward Eileen…realizing the choice was no longer simple.
Before anything could be decided,
Rafa lightly tightened her grip on Sera's arm.
"Sera...
this is not our conflict."
Sera did not look at her immediately.
"It is."
Rafa:
"You're acting as if you chose this place."
Sera exhaled slowly,
then said in a steady voice:
"I did not choose the forest."
Rafa turned toward her.
"Then?"
Sera:
"I was exiled to it."
"The forest is not a refuge,
nor a school,
nor merely a testing ground...
it is a prison."
Rafa lowered her voice:
"And that is why you want to leave."
Sera:
"And that is why I am not fleeing now."
She lifted her gaze toward Ryan and Eileen.
"The power they carry...
I have never felt anything like it before.
A power that does not submit to the law of the forest,
nor to the hierarchy of the world."
Rafa:
"Do you trust them?"
Sera:
"No."
Then she added quietly:
"But I believe they are the key."