Damon's healing had finished. He stood in his room. The rich, dark wood was silent beneath his bare feet. He walked to the soaring window. A thin, slant scar, stark gold against his skin, ran across his V‑taper.
It was not a battle mark to Damon. It was fascinating. Damon still couldn't stop staring at his golden scar. He didn't feel like a prince or a warrior. He just felt… unprepared.
He looked up. He focused, listening. He sensed them. Natsuki and Daiki.
'Natsuki?' The thought was a whisper in his mind, crossing worlds.
Her voice, immediate and shocked, echoed in his skull. "Thank God you're okay!" They continued speaking telepathically through the Luminaris Shard.
"More importantly, how are you? Did you go to the doctors? What did your parents say?" Damon asked.
"Damon, calm down. I'm fine. Well… my dad kinda knows about you."
"Well, I figured some people would see me."
"Yes, but thankfully it was just my dad... That I know of. My mom convinced him it was his imagination. How did you even survive?" Her voice carried undertones of concern.
"It's complicated. I knew what I was doing… but I also didn't know what I was doing," He replied.
Natsuki's words pressed in again, quieter but urgent. "The military came to the school. You're lucky the gym has no cameras — or at least, they don't really work. If they did, they'd have seen everything."
Damon's reply was steady, almost dismissive.
"Well, I should be fine. The military can't lock down everywhere at this time of day on Earth, just to investigate something they don't understand. Something only the people around saw. Besides, it's been seven days for you, right? They'll probably just scan for proof of whatever that beast was. And when they don't find it, they'll permit everyone to continue with their days."
"I hope you're right," she whispered.
Then silence stretched.
"Yeah, about before... If you saw my eyes go a bit dark, I errm.... I'm sorry if I scared you. I didn't really know what I was doing. It's kinda like what you told me when you're really in the mood to play, and you're focused. Mine's just a bit... darker." Damon explained.
"That's the zone... Damon." She said, then paused.
Natsuki's telepathic voice was somewhat gradual, sharp, yet spoken like a whisper.
"As soon as I came back to my senses," she said, "I began wondering if you were actually the same person. I wasn't entirely scared. I just... You felt different, but I was mostly hoping you were safe."
"The demon was terrifying, though, I actually thought it was gonna kill me," she chuckled.
'He just fought a demon, and he's worried about what I'm feeling...' Natsuki thought.
"You know I can hear your thoughts, right?" Damon teased. She blushed lightly. "But I'm glad you're okay. Why isn't Daiki saying anything?" he asked.
"What's The Zone?" Daiki asked, muffled, confused. "Why could I hear you say 'zone' in my mind?"
Damon almost laughed.
"Damon entered his own Zone when he was fighting," Natsuki explained, calmer now. "Daiki, remember I told you? Damon was the one who saved us from a beast… at the gym."
"I guess Daiki found the clues," Damon thought, deflecting.
"Knew it," Daiki snapped back, instantly proud. "He made me get chased by kids!"
Damon looked up. A calm laugh escaped his lips. "I'm hungry," Daichi barked.
"So the talking dog... is real," Daiki's voice was pure shock.
"Well…" Natsuki's thought trailed off, amused.
A sharp rap at the door. It was Nyra. "Brother, we have to go now. For your training."
Damon turned from the window. "Natsuki, listen. Could you activate the Luminaris a week from now?"
"A week? Why a week?" Her voice was immediate, soft, calm, sweet, yet sadness layered the edges. "Do you have to leave so soon?"
"One day on Woewyn ends then. And yeah... I've gotta go now." The answer was simple.
I hate making her worried, he thought.
"Alright. You'll hear from me in a week." Natsuki whispered, pulling the Shard of Luminaris from her chest, though it remained there through the necklace's chain. Her presence, warm and familiar, suddenly slid away from Damon's mind.
'I didn't know the shard could do that. We can hear each other's thoughts. So did she hear mine?' Damon thought. The silence left by her absence was heavy.
'I wish I could speak to her longer. Talking to her makes me feel like myself, I guess. Like, my life hasn't completely changed, and I'm still kinda connected to Earth. But I guess it has changed. Fortunately... It's not too bad. Well, at least it doesn't seem that way. My tutors seem interesting too, though I feel like I'll die before we even begin.'
He walked out, and Nyra was waiting outside his door. A couple of maids passed, bowing their heads slightly. Nyra waved. Damon gave a slight bow. Politeness, habit.
"Where are we going?" Damon asked.
"The soldiers' abode," Nyra said, her face set with grim determination.
They reached the massive structure. One training hall of Woewyn. A wide, towering room, colored light blue inside. The expanse stretched wider than a battlefield, large enough to contain a thousand soldiers at once, though Woewyn held far more.
Its ceiling arched high, carved with dragon motifs and other icons that glowed faintly on the walls when Eterna was channelled.
The air was alive with raw energy, humming from the devices lining the walls and floor. The room was divided down the center by a transparent yet physical barrier.
The scale of it hit him. This wasn't school. This wasn't a gym. This was where warriors were made, and he wasn't one. Not yet.
The door hissed shut behind them.
Bravira walked in. Varnex and Thorpax followed. Draven and Cythera were already waiting.
Varnex grinned widely. "Well, well. Get ready, Prince Damon, to dance with fire. I'm not losing this bet."
Cythera murmured, voice low. "You people are still on this bet thing?"
Thorpax scoffed. "Why not? Are you not?"
Cythera looked away. Silence was her answer.
Bravira pressed a button to open the large glass and grabbed Damon, Nyra, and Daichi with a physical and abrupt force. She threw them into the training grounds from above, where they all stood.
Surprisingly, they all landed gracefully, the impact absorbed. Damon, still weak, almost fell, but caught himself. Nyra landed like it was routine.
Damon lifted his head. The first thing he saw was Daichi landing straight on his face. THWUMP. The nearby soldiers in training, disciplined and low in Eterna, laughed.
Damon moved Daichi off his face, pressure easing.
Tolrex entered quickly. "Daichi, you have to come with me. We need to sort out some things in relation to your wolf awakening."
Damon, calm and friendly, spoke to the dog. A brief encouragement about getting stronger. Daichi wagged his tail once, obedient, and followed Tolrex.
Damon turned back. "What exactly am I supposed to do?"
Bravira and the other tutors had already come down into the hall.
"Training with the five of us will be intense. You can barely bring out any Eterna output, and you have a frail excuse for a body."
Natsuki seemed to like my abs, Damon thought. His defensive pride flickered mentally.
One of the soldiers, one of the brothers who had attacked him on Earth, grinned at his thoughts. "Well, she only liked yours cuz she hasn't seen mine."
The soldiers laughed again. Damon's eyes narrowed. The mind‑reading was instant and unfiltered.
"How are they reading my mind so easily?" Damon asked in a flat tone.
Varnex continued Bravira's lecture. "Some people on Woewyn tend to have certain gifts. Their's is the mind reading, and this proves you have barely any knowledge of how Woewyn works."
Barely, Damon's mind echoed. Knowledge. I have to get more knowledge. To do that, I'll have to learn. That means I'll have to read.
His internal sigh was immense. That means… school.
Cythera, reading his groan perfectly, added calmly, "You'll also need to attend school after the break is over."
Damon's face twisted instantly. "Ughhh. School. I don't like school."
Thorpax noticed. "Why does he have that look on his face?"
Draven added, amused, "Yes, your mother told us you were quite the learning expert."
Damon met their gaze. "Just because I'm good at it doesn't mean I particularly like it."
All his tutors wondered silently, "What exactly does the Prince like?"
The silence was shattered. An energy blast shot directly at Damon's side.
He flipped high and backward, leaping over it. The white electric blast aimed at Damon cracked the floor where he had been standing. It almost grazed his hair when he flipped.
The commander of the Suited Knights, Laros Korrin, stood tall in his exosuit. Heavy armor thrummed. Broad shoulders filled the frame of blackened steel.
His visor glowed cold crimson, a commander's presence carved into steel. He was no general—his orders came from above—but when he spoke, the Suited Knights obeyed.
"My name is Commander Laros Korrin," he said, taking off the helmet on his suit. "And I am sorry. I was just testing you, Your Grace."
Damon landed, breathing hard, hand-checking if his hair was okay. "What if I had been hit?"
'Jeez... I'm too slow. I don't really like that. Luckily, my hair's fine though,' he thought.
Laros was unmoved. "Then you get back up. That's what we train our soldiers to do."
Thorpax's thick voice rumbled. "You should get used to random attacks from people like Laros here."
Laros cut to the chase. "Why don't we start by sparring our upper‑end soldiers?"
Damon countered. "We should start from the lower, don't you think?"
Laros shook his head. His voice was cold, definitive. "There are eight stages:
Stage 1: Ember.
Stage 2: Spark.
Stage 3: Blaze.
Stage 4: Aegis.
Stage 5: Crest.
Stage 6: Ascent.
Stage 7: Aeon. And finally...
Stage 8: Sovereign.
One being the warriors who know basic combat. Eight being elite. The power gap between each stage is a lot; however, we can't make tens of them, so we rely on 8. The stages from Aegis to Sovereign have the greatest power gaps. Most people feel blessed if they can even reach the Aegis Stage in their lifetime."
Commander Laros glanced at Damon's five tutors, noticing Thorpax taunting Bravia, Draven comparing heights with short Varnex, Cythera watching them like she was the older one, and he formed a warrior's smile. Surprisingly... it was warm.
"I can assure you, you are in good hands, my Lord. Not in the sense that you are safe, you will never be around your tutors. However, they will make sure you reach your peak."
'I don't think I can get used to how they've gotten used to not feeling safe. Practically telling me to be on alert at all times. Do I have to sleep with an eye open now?'
He gestured to the soldiers. "You've proven you can beat those at the high Ember stage, dealing with those two brothers. And you seem stronger since fighting the demon, even if only a little. So you should be at the Spark stage."
Damon argued. "I have no training. How am I supposed to beat someone at the Blaze stage?"
Cythera's voice was calm. "You shouldn't be aiming to beat them. We are doing this to study you, and you should study your opponent. Buy time. If you beat him, that is fine."
His opponent walked forward, polished suit gleaming though his helmet was off, short orange hair falling forward to hide his eyes.
The men gave Damon and his opponent space. The tutors continued watching from the far side. The soldier's suit lights flared instantly. Damon's fists lit with the faint, unstable glow of his light.
Damon exhaled in quiet and internal acceptance. Ready or not… this was the life he had to live now.
Bravira's voice cut through the humming air, absolute and final. "Begin."