The glowing orbs sent by the Council drifted away from every corner of the Golden Globe, leaving behind an uneasy silence.
At the Flow Star, that silence felt heavier than anywhere else.
Questions flooded Koya's mind. Will the Council accept my choice to stay away? Are they coming for me?
She looked up.
A few steps ahead of her, floating in the open air, was the dark figure from her dreams.
This time it wasn't a dream.
It was real.
Koya exhaled shakily. A cold wave flooded her body as the figure stared straight into her eyes.
It drifted closer.
Koya tried to move, but her limbs refused. She was trapped in a trance. Around her, students and carers continued decorating for the festival, laughing and chatting, but their voices sounded miles away. She tried to scream, to warn them, but no sound left her throat. She could only stare as the dark figure floated forward until it stood directly in front of her.
A strange, soothing energy poured into her chest.
The figure slowly raised its hand and pressed two fingers gently against her forehead.
The moment contact was made, a calm but overwhelming wave of power surged through Koya's entire body. It felt like warm sunlight mixed with something ancient and heavy. The energy rippled outward from her like invisible water, brushing against everyone nearby and drawing startled eyes toward her.
Then the figure vanished.
Koya stumbled forward, breaking out of the trance, breathing hard. For one heartbeat she thought it was over.
A massive energy surge slammed into her like a hammer.
Pain exploded across every nerve. It felt as if her bones were being pulled apart and her blood was boiling. She dropped to her knees, mouth open in a silent scream that finally tore free — raw, broken, and filled with pure agony.
"KOYA!"
Immira's voice cut through the chaos, but no one could reach her. A raging storm of invisible energy surrounded Koya's body, pushing everyone back. Her eyes turned pure white. The power burst outward in a visible wave, shaking the ground and knocking decorations from the walls.
She collapsed.
Faintly, as darkness swallowed her, she heard the screams — Immira desperately calling her name, footsteps running, voices overlapping in panic. Then everything went black.
A calm voice whispered words she couldn't quite understand.
Koya's eyes opened.
She was no longer in the Flow Star. She wasn't even in her own body.
She looked down at her hands — large, calloused, and covered in fresh blood. They were a man's hands.
She tried to move, but the body moved on its own, as if she were only watching through someone else's eyes.
See was in a battlefield which stretched out around her, eerie and silent. Ghostly knights and spectral wolves lay slaughtered across the blood-soaked ground. The air felt thick with death and an ancient, unsettling power. Corpses of both humans and Ekekiri's beasts littered the field.
The body kept walking forward, boots crunching over broken weapons and armor, until it stopped in front of something levitating in the air.
Ikua's arm.
It glowed with a soft, familiar light.
The hand reached out to touch it…
Koya jolted awake with a gasp.
She was lying in a bed at the Flow Star, staring at the wooden ceiling. Her mind spun. No answers came. Only more questions.
Immira rushed into the room carrying a bowl of water. The moment she saw Koya awake, she set the bowl down and sat beside her, placing a gentle hand on her forehead.
"Koya… you're awake. How are you feeling?"
Koya stared at the ceiling, eyes wide and empty. She said nothing.
Immira waited, worry deepening. "Koya… please say something. Are you okay?"
"No… I'm not," Koya whispered, voice calm but laced with pain. "How can I be okay? Why is this happening to me…? Ikua's arm wasn't even near me… and still this happened."
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
Immira's own eyes filled with tears. She gently stroked Koya's forehead. "Please calm down, child… everything is going to be okay."
Koya cried quietly.
Seconds became hours. Hours became days.
Koya lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling in complete silence. She barely moved. She refused to eat. She spoke no words. The questions inside her head never stopped — Was that even a dream? Whose memory was that? Why does it feel so familiar? — but no answers came.
On a calm afternoon, when the Flow Star was quieter than usual, Immira sat alone in the reading room, a book open in her lap.
The door creaked.
Koya walked in slowly, feet dragging, hair falling over most of her face like a curtain.
Immira looked up, closed the book, and rushed over. She pulled Koya into a tight hug, then stepped back with a soft, relieved smile.
"Koya… you finally left the bed. That's wonderful."
Koya stared at her with dead, calm eyes.
"Are you hungry?" Immira asked gently.
Koya hesitated for a second. "I'm fine," she whispered, barely louder than a breath.
Her stomach growled loudly.
Immira let out a calm, warm laugh. "Well, you might be fine… but your tummy isn't." She took Koya's arm gently. "Come on, let's get you something to eat."
She led Koya out of the room. Koya followed without complaint, without resistance.
She had finally gotten up because after days of lying numb, no answers had come — and she hated herself for making Immira worry.
But even if no answers surfaced, she still clung to every question like a heartbeat.
To be continued…