It was in the Academy that I found them-
the two souls who became more than brothers.
Melken and Merlik.
We were inseparable, a trio bound by the weight of our swords and the fire of our ambition.
Until the first mission changed everything.
We were sent to patrol the borders,
a routine sweep, our mentor Veylan said.
But the world had other plans.
The enemy waited in the tall grass-silent, hungry.
A trap.
Fifty men against three students and one teacher.
Father's lessons screamed in my bones.
Steel met steel, and blood painted the ground I once thought was sacred.
My hands shook around the hilt.
For a moment, the world narrowed to the sound of clashing steel and the screams that weren't mine.
And then...
the world shattered.
I saw them fall.
I saw the chaos consume the two people I trusted most.
Melken and Merlik stayed behind, blocking the path, their blades flashing in the dark to give me a single chance to breathe.
"Run, Draven!"-their voices echoed, or maybe it was just the wind.
I ran because they covered my back. I ran because they gave their lives so I could have mine.
I ran until my lungs burned and my legs gave out,
until their screams became memories etched in my mind forever.
I thought I was the only survivor.
I thought I had lost Melken and Merlik to the shadows of that forest, forever indebted to a sacrifice I never asked for.