"Follow me," the instructor's brief and commanding voice echoed in the cavern-like space. He marched forward without turning back, the sound of his heavy boots now echoing even deeper on the gravelly ground. All the students, glancing at each other, followed suit.
The composition of the group was now clearly visible. Among the students walking with Luka, three boys had heights and broad shoulders that suggested they were slightly older than him.
There was a sense of experience in their stride, as if they had weathered this kind of pressure before. Behind them were four or five other students whose age and build were roughly the same as Luka's.
Among these peers was a girl whose sharp gaze and steady gait set her apart from the rest of the crowd. However, Luka's attention remained fixed on that same mysterious boy. The boy, who was now just a few steps ahead of Luka, appeared to be exactly his age.
The hair near the nape of his neck was slightly disheveled, and though his frame was lean, there was a sense of hidden agility about him.
They now stood before a massive iron door etched with ancient symbols. The air there held a mingled scent of rust and cold stone. The instructor pulled a heavy lever, and the groan of the doors opening resonated through the entire corridor.
A faint blue light spilled out from within, causing all their faces—especially Luka's shimmering blue eyes—to glow for a fleeting moment.
Far from the depths of the academy, in a deserted corner of the city, time seemed to have come to a standstill. The twilight of evening had now surrendered to a thick, pitch-black darkness. Upon the roof of a dilapidated and broken high-rise, right where a portion of the wall had crumbled away, a figure lay perfectly still.
The milky light of the full moon spilled over the ruins, yet the boy's face remained a mystery. A heavy, thick-covered book rested upon his face, completely veiling him from his nose to his forehead.
As cold gusts of wind slammed against the building, they sent a shiver through the air, but the boy didn't budge an inch in his slumber.
Embedded upon the dark cover of that book were golden letters that shimmered like fireflies the moment the moonlight touched them.
In those glowing characters, the title of the book was clearly legible— 'Angels Mystery'. The gold was so vivid against the silence of the night that its brilliance pierced through the darkness.
A sharp gust of wind surged, causing the boy's loose clothing to flutter violently. Aside from the rustling of his clothes and the distant cry of night birds, there was no other movement.
The book sat upon his face like a shield, as if it weren't just covering his features but also protecting him from the clamor of the outside world. Between the whiteness of the moon and the golden glint of the book, the boy lay sleeping on that high wall like a lifeless statue.
The moonlight spread around the deserted ruins had grown even whiter. Then, the veil of silence was softly pierced by the faint scrape of someone's boots. The steps were steady, like a shadow crawling across the ground.
That 'tap-tap' sound echoed for a few moments and then suddenly, as if the wind had held its breath, the footsteps vanished completely. Only the whistle of the wind passing through the stones and rubble remained.
That moment of peace lasted only seconds. Suddenly, the same footsteps resumed, but this time their pace and intensity had shifted. Now, those steps weren't merely walking; they were advancing rapidly in a definite direction.
The sound of boots striking the pebbles began to move toward the high, broken wall where the boy lay in deep sleep.
A new movement began upon the rough surface of the wall. The moonlight etched a long, slender shadow onto the floor of the ruins. The silhouette's long hair fluttered in the breeze, and the shape of the shadow clearly registered the presence of a girl.
The shadow slowly moved toward the sleeping boy, and now the 'thud-thud' of boots was coming directly from the upper section of that very wall.
The sound of the girl's footsteps came to a halt right next to the sleeping form. Along with a gust of wind, the rustle of her clothes reached the book resting on the boy's face—'Angels Mystery'.
In the moonlight, her shadow now completely covered the boy, and she stood right at his head, her gaze likely fixed on that gold-lettered book.
The sound of the girl's heavy boots came to a sudden, jarring halt right at the sleeping form's head. In the whiteness of the moonlight, her long shadow completely embraced the boy's chest and the book resting upon him.
A strand of her hair fluttered in the wind, grazing the edge of that gold-lettered book.
She slowly leaned her body forward. Both her hands now rested upon her own knees, causing her entire presence to hover over the sleeping boy like a lingering shadow.
The distance between them had grown so small that every breath she took sent a faint tremor through the pages of the 'Angels Mystery' book.
She lowered her head even further, her eyes searching for the face hidden beneath the book. In the silence of the night, her voice echoed like a velvet whisper, carrying a hint of mischief and deep intimacy.
"Hey..." she said, dissolving her voice into the rustle of the wind, "Are you still sleeping?"
Her voice bounced off the walls of the ruins and returned, but there was no movement in the boy's body. The book remained fixed on his face like a shield, as if he were lost in dreams of another world entirely. The moonlight held this frozen moment between them like an image etched in stone.
"Are you really sleeping?" The girl deepened her voice further, but only the silence of the night and the rustle of the wind returned. There was no vibration in the still body, nor did the pages of the book flutter. The girl became convinced that the depths of sleep had fully embraced him.
She removed her hands from her knees and slowly lowered herself, crouching on the balls of her feet. She was now sitting right next to his head.
Her fingers moved slowly through the air, their target being the golden-glinted 'Angels Mystery' book. She was just about to touch it when the rhythm of the atmosphere shifted.
Before the girl's fingers could graze the thick cover, a hand moved with the speed of lightning. The boy swiftly raised his arm and gripped the book firmly. He didn't pull it away; instead, with the pressure of his fingers, he began to slide it slowly downward.
In the whiteness of the moonlight, his disheveled locks appeared first, then his broad forehead, followed by his closed eyes. As the book slid lower, his thick lashes slowly lifted.
In the silence of the night, the brilliance of his eyes was far deeper and more piercing than the golden letters of the book.
As his entire face became clear in the moonlight, he spoke while looking directly into her eyes. There wasn't a trace of sleep in his voice, only a cold and direct inquiry.
"What are you doing here?"