Julian looked down at the restrained Eskar, pity softening the edges of his expression. Eskar's face, once so animated with fury and wounded pride, had changed. The emotion that usually burned there had dimmed; the resentment and guilt remained, but muted, settled into something far more neutral.
After a long moment of strained, expectant silence, Eskar finally spoke.
"I do," he said quietly.
Julian raised an eyebrow. "Then why did you,"
He never finished. Eskar cut him off with a hoarse breath.
"Because I couldn't contain myself anymore," he said, lifting his gaze to look directly into Julian's eyes. He flicked a glance toward Vale, but his stare quickly returned to Julian. "I've acted differently from how I truly felt for the last ten years. I've been pretending, forcing myself into a shape everyone expected me to fit. And when Vale arrived… his strength, his progress, everything, was my final straw."
His expression hardened, the coldness in his voice shocking the silent gymnasium.
"So I snapped. And now I'm prepared for my punishment. I want it. It's the reason I did this in front of everyone. My actions were unforgivable, but I allowed myself to commit them anyway. So yes, I deserve whatever awaits me… even if that punishment is death."
A wave of shock rippled through the students. Some gasped; others simply froze, wide-eyed. The air felt heavier, almost suffocating.
Julian opened his mouth again, but he looked pained. "I'll send you to Rose. She will decide your punishment."
Eskar's shoulders relaxed as if a weight had finally fallen off him. The shadowy chains wrapped more tightly around his body, and darkness pooled beneath him. Like a living, hungry shadow, it swallowed him whole, dragging him away until nothing remained.
Vale stared, wide-eyed, his breath caught in his chest. Korin and Nym exchanged looks of pity before Vale finally murmured, "What's happening to him?"
Korin answered as he reached to help Vale stand. "Teacher Julian's doing. He's a strong shadow user, he transported Eskar straight to Rose."
Nym spoke next, her voice quiet and tinged with sadness. "Even if he tried to kill you… I can understand his frustration. Pretending to be someone you're not while carrying that much pressure? Anyone would crack eventually."
Vale nodded faintly. Eskar didn't seem insane, just exhausted. Done. If he hadn't taken out his rage on Vale, he likely would've broken down in some other, possibly worse way.
Vale gritted his teeth, remembering Eskar's earlier words: 'his parents never even acknowledged him.'
The thought twisted something in Vale's chest. He let out a sharp breath through clenched teeth and pushed himself fully onto his feet.
Julian, who had remained still until now, finally turned back to the students.
"All students," he announced loudly, "return to your dorms immediately. Tomorrow morning we will address this incident, so be present early. For now, rest and recover. That will be all."
His voice held strain, disappointment, guilt, and exhaustion, and then his body blurred into shadow. He vanished.
Vale blinked rapidly. Under different circumstances, he might've been shocked or impressed. But right now he was too overwhelmed, too battered to care.
The other students began filtering out quietly, casting occasional glances at Vale, some full of pity, others of fear or awe.
Nym gently pulled Vale's arm over her shoulder. "Come on," she said softly, "we have to leave before the cleaners arrive."
Korin hovered close, concerned. Vale winced with every step, a hand clutching his bruised ribs.
"You sure you're okay?" Korin asked.
Vale gave him a crooked, slightly delirious smile. "Yeah, man. Totally. I only almost died twice today, so I'm just a little… confused. Or something."
His speech slurred slightly, and Korin gave him an awkward, worried look.
"…Yeah," Korin murmured. "Let's visit Mom before we head back to the dorms."
Vale's expression froze. 'We're going to visit Bianca?'
He imagined her seeing him like this, burn marks, bruises, disorientation, and felt a twinge of embarrassment. Bianca had already helped him once today. Coming back so soon felt almost shameful.
They walked through the moonlit academy garden in silence, the cool night air brushing over them. Vale mulled over his thoughts, debating, until they entered the main building again.
Finally, he sighed. "Alright… fine. Better safe than sorry. Let's visit Bianca."
Korin and Nym looked at him in surprise.
"You only just decided that?" Nym asked.
Vale rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah…"
Both of them chuckled lightly, the tension easing a bit as they continued through the long academy halls. They chatted quietly during the walk, though Vale drifted in and out, occasionally leaning more heavily on Nym.
Eventually they reached the medical wing, a clean, softly lit corridor that always smelled faintly of herbs and sterilizing mist. They approached Bianca's desk, and when she looked up, her eyes lit up immediately at the sight of Korin.
"Korin, darling! How are you?" she said warmly. "Oh, and you brought Vale and Nym. Have the three of you become friends already?"
Korin flashed an awkward smile. "Kinda, yeah."
Bianca's expression shifted suddenly, confusion settling in. She sniffed the air.
"…Why does it smell burnt?"
Korin stiffened.
"Well… uh…" He hesitated, then blurted everything out in a rush. "Eskar tried to kill Vale so I stepped in and blocked the flames."
Bianca froze, eyes widening. Then her expression crumpled into something painful.
"You're lucky you're so resistant," she whispered, closing her eyes. "If anything happened to you after your father… I don't know if I could bear losing you too."
Korin looked down, ashamed and guilty.
Bianca inhaled shakily, then straightened, forcing professionalism back into her tone.
"Sit down, all of you," she said firmly. "I'll check you each one at a time."
Each of the three silently pulled up a chair and sat down beside Bianca's desk. None of them dared to speak. Vale, especially, seemed painfully awkward around her, though the awkwardness wasn't the only thing clouding his thoughts.
Even as he sat there, the memory of Eskar's words pressed against the back of his mind like a weight he couldn't lift. He kept replaying them, unable to let them go.
Bianca reached for Nym first, gently placing her hand on the exposed side of her neck and closing her eyes as her magic worked. While she examined Nym, Vale's thoughts drifted again.
"Do you know how that made me feel?"
Eskar's voice echoed in his head, accusatory, raw, and hurt. Those specific words haunted him because Vale already knew the painful truth: he didn't know how Eskar felt. How could he? Vale had only arrived at the academy recently, and luck, or fate, seemed to bend in his favor without him ever asking for it.
People called him blessed. But Vale didn't feel blessed. He felt like he'd been dragged into a role he wasn't meant to play, thrust into expectations he didn't earn.
And he certainly never wanted Eskar to hate him.
Yet Eskar did.
'Why?' Vale thought bitterly as Bianca finished with Nym and moved on to Korin. Why hadn't Eskar acted the way he truly felt? Why had he bottled everything up until it exploded? Why had his own parents treated him like a stranger instead of a son?
A somber expression slowly overtook Vale's face as the questions twisted inside him. Eskar's pain made Vale angry, not at Eskar, but at the world that shaped him, at the people who ignored him, at the pressure that crushed him.
He clenched his teeth. 'Why did all of this have to happen?'
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fully understand Eskar. Vale wasn't wired that way. His thoughts were governed by logic first and emotion second. He had feelings, but they rarely guided him, they were usually drowned beneath rationality.
He exhaled slowly as Bianca finished with Korin, then finally reached for him. Her hand settled softly on the side of his neck. Vale closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, something caught his attention.
In the glass cabinet beyond Bianca's desk, he expected to see the faint outline of his own reflection, yet instead he saw a man.
A tall figure with long, sleek black hair cascading down his back. Chains, countless chains wrapped around him like living serpents, tightening and loosening with each slow breath. His skin was pale, almost luminescent, and his eyes glowed with a deep, impossible gold.
He stared at Vale… and showed him Vale's reflection as if he were the mirror.
Vale's brows furrowed. The strange man felt familiar, unnervingly so, though Vale couldn't place why. His earlier thoughts about Eskar vanished as he stared, captivated and confused.
Then a doctor walked past, blocking the reflection for a heartbeat. And when the man moved out of the way,
the chained figure was gone.
Only a normal mirror remained.
A mirror that showed nothing at all, because Vale had no reflection.
At that same moment, Bianca lifted her hand from his neck, finishing her examination.
"All right, you three," she said with a tired but relieved voice. "None of you have major injuries. You should be fully recovered by tomorrow morning, just get a proper night's sleep. I'll be heading out as well."
The three of them stood, exchanging looks, and Korin bowed his head slightly.
"Thanks a lot, Mom," he said quietly.
Vale and Nym followed with small bows of their own.
"Yes… thank you," they echoed.
Nym turned to Vale. "You know how to get to your dorm, right?" she asked.
Vale offered her a faint, lopsided grin, still distracted by the mysterious reflection he'd seen moments earlier.
"Yeah, of course," he said, pulling out his cellphone to guide himself.
And with that, the three of them waved goodbye and went their separate ways, each heading toward their own rooms and their own thoughts, carrying the weight of everything that had happened that day.