The sun is out.
Not warm.Not comforting.
Just hanging above the trees — as if the island is pretending to be normal after the night.
And in front of us…
three figures.
Dark armor. Heavy boots. Sabers at their hips.
The first keeps his weapon lowered. He looks at us like we're some kind of error.
"Who are you?" he repeats, slower this time. "Students?"
His tone isn't aggressive.
Just… confused.
The second studies our soaked uniforms. Our hollow eyes. The dirt beneath our nails.
"What the hell is this…" he mutters.
The third steps forward, lifting his helmet slightly.
"Are you… lost?"
They don't understand.
They think we're children.
And for a second—
it could stay that way.
A misunderstanding.
An absurd encounter in the middle of a twisted test.
Then I see the insignia.
The engraved plates.
The colors.
The markings.
Earth.
The Earth Kingdom.
My stomach tightens.
My heart skips.
Mud.Screams.Fire.Blood.My father falling.My mother shouting.Kyirk swallowed by night.
Mana wakes inside me.
Not calmly.
Not cleanly.
Like something that's been caged too long.
Brask shifts beside me.
"Aydan…"
I don't hear him.
I step forward.
The soldier raises a hand.
"Easy. We're not going to—"
Carmine Fire erupts along my arm.
Red.
Dense.
Silent.
A blade forms.
I cut.
One motion.
His throat opens.
Blood bursts into the morning air.
He drops to his knees, confused, clutching at nothing—
then falls sideways.
Silence.
Brask steps back.
Serah covers her mouth.
Even Oryn stops smiling.
The remaining soldiers look at their comrade.
Then at me.
They no longer see a student.
I breathe hard.
"Where is the Earth Master Warrior?"
One of them swallows.
"What?"
I step closer.
The blade hums faintly.
"Where is he."
Recognition hits.
"Shit… It's an Arin! Fire soldier!"
The ground erupts.
Stone plates slam upward, snapping shut around Brask and Oryn.
"Earth Cage!"
Brask is trapped to the waist.
Oryn roars in fury, slamming uselessly against stone.
One soldier pulls a flare from his belt.
"No—" Serah whispers.
The flare shoots skyward.
A red scar through the air.
Kaïros speaks quietly.
"They've alerted their unit."
I rush the soldier.
Steel flashes.
His saber crashes against Carmine Fire in a burst of sparks.
He staggers.
I drive a knee into his stomach.
He throws up a wall of stone instinctively.
It holds.
"You're not invincible, kid," he says, shaking.
A shadow moves behind him.
Kaïros.
Silent.
Efficient.
His blade opens the soldier's throat before the man even understands.
He catches the fallen sword smoothly.
The last soldier panics.
Massive stones rip from the ground and launch toward us.
I cut.
One splits.
Another shatters.
He stumbles back, terrified.
I strike with the flat of my blade.
He collapses unconscious.
Silence returns.
Too quickly.
Too heavy.
Brask and Oryn stare at me from inside their stone prison.
They don't recognize me.
Kaïros turns his head.
"Footsteps."
I listen.
Many.
Running.
"At least twenty," Kaïros says.
Brask strains against the cage.
"Aydan, we have to go!"
I stare at the unconscious soldier.
The Earth insignia.
The armor.
"No."
Brask's eyes widen.
"What do you mean, no?!"
"This is personal."
I grab the unconscious soldier and drag him toward the cave.
Kaïros curses.
"They're coming!"
Inside the cave, I throw him down.
Tie him.
He wakes slowly.
Sees the blade.
Sees the blood.
"Where is the Earth Master Warrior?"
"I—I don't know—"
The knife presses against his hand.
"If you lie, you suffer."
"I swear—"
I cut off a finger.
The scream echoes against stone.
"Where."
"He's— probably in the capital— I don't know!"
Outside, boots pound closer.
Kaïros appears.
"They're here."
I exhale.
Then I slit the soldier's throat.
Clean.
Efficient.
Kaïros looks at me differently now.
Not curious.
Not analytical.
Something else.
"Move."
We run.
Earth soldiers burst through the trees.
Stone slams into Brask.
Into Oryn.
Into Rhaen.
They fly.
Crash.
"BRASK!"
I try to go to him.
Kaïros grabs me.
"If you turn back, we all die!"
I tear free.
Charge.
Three soldiers block us.
Stone surges.
I dive.
Cut one.
The second launches a massive rock.
It hits me full in the face.
Blackness.
I wake halfway through being dragged.
Blood in my mouth.
Kaïros is burning one soldier with Celestial Fire.
Blue flame, silent and merciless.
Stone spikes tear into us.
We break through.
Barely.
We collapse into brush.
Hidden.
Breathing hard.
Far away—
Brask.
Oryn.
Rhaen.
Dragged like prisoners.
I try to rise.
Kaïros presses me down.
"Stay quiet."
We crawl to another cave.
Smaller.
Pathetic.
But alive.
Serah shakes.
Selene is hollow.
Kaïros leans against the wall, exhausted.
And I fall.
Into darkness.
But before everything fades—
Kyirk.
My father.
My mother.
That night.
And that face I never forgot.