The Crown of Seven Sealed Memories began to form around Yuuta's head.
The spell manifested not as light or fire or any element that mortals could name, but as something older, something that existed in the spaces between thoughts, in the gaps between heartbeats, in the silence that followed a breath.
It was a wheel of pure will, spinning slowly above the child's skull, its spokes made of forgotten moments and its rim forged from the promise of peace.
The air around Yuuta grew thick and heavy, pressing inward as if the very atmosphere was condensing to witness what was about to unfold.
Yuuta stood perfectly still.
His red eyes remained open, fixed on the distant horizon where the World Tree met the sky. There was no fear in them, no confusion, no hope.
There was simply nothing, a blankness that spoke of someone who had learned, through years of relentless suffering, that reacting to pain only invited more.
