Dinner had concluded amidst the reassuring crackle of oak logs in the hearth and the lingering scent of Elara's spices. Rhaegalur had retreated to his corner, cleaning an old axe with methodical movements that betrayed a millenary vigilance, while Elara tidied the kitchen with silent grace.
Hayjin had curled up on the bench transformed into a makeshift bed, wrapped in a coarse wool blanket that pricked his skin. Through the small leaded glass panes of the window, he stared at the three moons of Alius dancing in the night sky.
Alius, he thought, letting the name roll in his mind like a stone smoothed by a river. This world isn't so bad, if you can ignore the cultists hunting you and the drunken heroes who want to smash your head in.
There was a wild beauty in this place, a purity that the smoky and frantic London he remembered had never possessed. There, time seemed to flow differently, dictated by the breath of the forest and the beat of mana. And yet, a shiver of fear, colder than any wind from Exilia, pierced his heart.
"I must try not to get too attached to this place. I can't afford to call this place 'home'. If I start to feel the warmth of this place as if it were mine, if I start to see Rhaegalur and Elara as a true family... I will never find the strength to leave. This isn't my reality. This is just a cosmic error that I must correct."
But just as his eyelids began to grow heavy, a slight movement beside him interrupted his train of thought.
Zhilian was sitting on a stool a few steps away from him, wrapped in a clean linen blanket Elara had lent her. The dim light of the dying embers reflected in her amber eyes, making them look like two gems set in the dark. She was staring at him with an intensity that made him bolt upright.
"You again?" Hayjin murmured, his voice hoarse from exhaustion. "What is it now? Don't you have a bed to go rest on?"
Zhilian started, as if she hadn't expected him to still be awake. "I... I just wanted to apologize to you again for earlier. For running over you in the forest. It isn't worthy of a princess of Opes to be so clumsy."
Hayjin sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "It doesn't matter, Zhilian. I was hurt much worse this afternoon than by a small collision in the mud. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to try and sleep before the sun rises."
"I've had a quite exhausting day and I'd just like to be able to rest in peace..."
The princess didn't move. On the contrary, she leaned slightly forward, lowering her voice. "I didn't know the Dragon God had a son. The legends say Rhaegalur was the last of his kind to walk among mortals, destined for a solitary eternity. Seeing you here, with him... it's unexpected."
Hayjin felt the usual pang of irritation. His entire existence in this world was a lie built out of necessity, and having to justify it to a stranger was the last thing he wanted.
"The matter is much more complicated than your little head can imagine," he replied with a sharp tone, turning his back to her. "And honestly, you should mind your own business. Is curiosity a vice here in Alius by any chance? Especially when it concerns people like us."
Zhilian remained speechless for a moment, struck by the rudeness of this child who spoke like a cynical old man. "How dare you speak to me that way?" she said, trying to maintain a regal tone despite the offense. "I only wanted to be kind! You helped me in the forest and I am a guest in your home. I was just trying to establish a civil dialogue."
"Then stop asking questions," Hayjin retorted without turning around. "Leave me alone. I just want to sleep."
"Why are you so angry with me?" Zhilian asked, her voice now imbued with genuine confusion. "What have I done wrong to you, besides falling on you? You behave as if my presence were a personal insult."
Hayjin didn't answer. He remained motionless, staring at the wooden wall, hoping the silence would discourage her. But Zhilian was a princess accustomed to getting answers.
"Tell me at least one thing," she said after a long minute of silence. "From what the Dragon God told me, you were at the royal castle? Is it true? How is... how is Wren?"
Hayjin sensed a shift in Zhilian's tone. The arrogance was gone, replaced by a note of melancholy so deep that it forced him to turn toward her again.
"Wren?" Hayjin repeated. "She's probably fine. She seemed like a happy girl to me. Jumping everywhere, trying to smash statues with water bubbles, and she forced me to become her friend in less than ten seconds. I'd say she's in excellent mental health, for a princess."
Zhilian lowered her gaze, intertwining her fingers on the blanket. "I am... I am very happy to hear that. Really." A small, bitter smile curled her lips. "You see, Wren never wants to be with me. Every time I try to get close, she runs away. It almost seems like she hates me, or that I am a reminder of everything she doesn't want to be. The rules, the etiquette, the expectations of the Council... she looks at me and it's as if she sees a kind of cage."
The princess sighed, and for the first time, Hayjin saw the fragility behind the mask of nobility. "I often watch her from afar in the castle. I see her all alone in those decaying gardens, talking to flowers or arguing with magic books. I worried about her. I thought the loneliness was extinguishing her, that the weight of being a 'survivor' of the royal family was taking away her smile."
Hayjin observed her with a new interest. The "stuck-up" Zhilian was giving way to a worried older sister, a role he despite having no siblings could understand on a purely psychological level.
"Well, don't worry too much," Hayjin said, involuntarily softening his tone. "We spent hours together today. We played, talked... we even joked about how boring the Sages of the kingdom were. She showed me her spells and I gave her some advice on the... 'physics' of magic. She was smiling, Zhilian. She was laughing so loud I think they heard her at the borders of the kingdom."
Zhilian looked up, and her eyes seemed to shine with a new light. "She laughed? With you?"
"Yes. She even taught me the basics of water magic. She said I'm a 'stubborn beginner', but she seemed proud of me when I managed to condense a drop from the air."
The tension in Zhilian's shoulders visibly melted. She let out a long sigh of relief, leaning her head against the doorframe. "Thank you, Hayjin. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Knowing she found someone with whom she can simply be herself... makes me more relaxed than you can imagine. Maybe you're right, maybe it's just a matter of time before she stops seeing me as an enemy."
She rose from the stool, adjusting her blanket with an elegant gesture. "If you ever decide to return to the castle... know that you will be welcome. Even if you do it only for Wren, I will be happy to receive you. Opes needs people who know how to make a lonely princess laugh."
"Especially after everything that happened."
Hayjin, who until a few moments before was ready to drive her away with another insult, found himself caught off guard. The anger he felt toward her "nobility" had dissipated, leaving room for a reluctant respect.
"Alright," Hayjin murmured, settling under the blanket. "I'd like to come. Not for the castle or your banquets, but... Wren was kind to me. And I suppose another afternoon smashing statues isn't the worst way to spend time on Alius."
Zhilian smiled at him, a warm and sincere smile that had nothing to do with royal protocols. "Goodnight, Hayjin. And thank you for your honesty. Despite your blunt ways, I think you are the best person my sister could have met."
"Goodnight, Zhilian," he replied, finally closing his eyes.
As silence returned to reign in the cabin, Hayjin felt that a part of the wall he had built around himself was starting to waver. He wasn't ready yet to call Zhilian or Wren "friends," nor Alius "home," but for that night, the thought of returning to the royal garden to play again no longer felt like a betrayal of his old world.
He fell asleep like that, lulled by the warmth of the hearth and the steady breathing of a princess who, in one way or another, had managed to chip away at his armor of cynicism. The journey toward his return was still long and dangerous, but for the first time, Hayjin no longer felt the need to walk it alone.
[The Awakening]
Dawn on Exilia did not rise with the shyness of ordinary worlds. It was an explosion of sapphire and gold filtering through the giant canopies of the forest, transforming the dew on the leaves into myriads of luminous prisms. Inside the cabin, the silence was deep, broken only by the steady breathing of Hayjin, who had finally surrendered to a sleep free of nightmares. For the first time since he had been thrown into that child's body, his adult mind had allowed itself a truce, lulled by the residual heat of the stone stove and the sense of security that, despite everything, this place was beginning to convey to him.
He dreamed of his world. He dreamed of the taste of bitter coffee on a rainy morning and the sound of tires on wet asphalt. It was a vivid dream, almost tangible.
BOOM.
A titanic roar, like the thunder of a cannon ripping through the chest of a mountain, shook the foundations of the house. Elara's dishes rattled dangerously on the shelves and Hayjin was tossed out of his wool bed, falling clumsily onto the wooden floor.
"The Cult!" he screamed, his heart beating in his throat like a crazed bird. "Rhaegalur! They found us!"
Without even putting on his shoes, short of breath and with his vision still blurred by sleep, Hayjin threw open the door of the cabin and dashed onto the porch, ready to see flames, black cloaks, and steel. But the scene before him was the furthest thing from an invasion.
The meadow in front of the house was flooded with morning light. Elara was sitting on a stone bench nearby, intent on peeling a basket of forest potatoes with methodical calm, while a ray of sun illuminated her auburn hair. At the center of the clearing, however, Zhilian stood with a posture that exuded power. Her hands were raised toward the sky and the smell of ozone typical of large magical discharges still hung in the air. In front of her, a large dry oak trunk had been literally pulverized, reduced to a pile of smoking sawdust.
"Good morning, Hayjin!" Elara exclaimed, raising a small knife in greeting. "You finally woke up. I feared you would sleep until noon."
Zhilian turned, her amber eyes shining with a residual energy that made the air around her tremble. "Good morning! I hope I didn't disturb you too much. I was convinced I had contained the shockwave."
Hayjin stood with his mouth open for a few seconds, looking first at the crater where the trunk once was and then at the two women who greeted him as if it were any ordinary Sunday morning. The terror vanished, leaving room for a piqued anger.
"Disturbed? I almost had a heart attack!" Hayjin barked, running a hand through his messy hair. "I thought they were razing the house to the ground! Don't you ever do that again, for heaven's sake. In this world every loud noise feels like the announcement of the end of times."
Zhilian lowered her hands, visibly embarrassed. "I apologize, Hayjin. I got carried away. I wanted to test the density of the morning mana; it's much purer here than within the walls of Opes."
Hayjin sighed, trying to calm his heartbeat. He looked around, noticing the absence of the imposing figure that usually dominated the environment. "And Rhaegalur? Where did the woodsman go? Don't tell me he went hunting before breakfast."
"Silas left at dawn," Elara replied, returning to her work with the potatoes. "He went to Opes. He wanted to personally inform the Sages of the Council that Princess Zhilian is safe with us. He wanted to prevent them from launching a search throughout the forest, which would have drawn too much unwanted attention. He will return this afternoon to escort Zhilian home."
Hayjin arched an eyebrow, looking at the princess. "And why didn't he take her with him this morning? Wouldn't that have been more logical? One trip instead of two."
Zhilian crossed her arms with a challenging smile. "I'm the one who insisted on staying. I wanted to spend a few more hours in this place. And, to be honest, I wanted to take advantage of the peace of Exilia to train seriously. At the castle I have too many distractions... servants, ceremonials, duties. Here there is only nature and raw power."
Hayjin leaned against the porch railing, observing the girl. "And this training... what is it for? Are you trying to perfect your magic? Is it like Wren's? Water magic?"
Zhilian shook her head, and for a moment she seemed to emanate a light of her own. "No. Wren has a fluid affinity, linked to change and adaptation. My magical affinity is Light. It is a more rigid power, more destructive if not controlled, but extremely pure. What you felt earlier was a low-frequency beam. I've almost perfected it."
She paused briefly, her gaze turned toward the treetops. "In a few years I will finally be able to take the exam for the World Association of Mages of Alius. If I pass it, I will obtain my official High-Grade Mage license."
Hayjin frowned, remembering the fragments of information received from Wren. "Wren mentioned an academy. I thought once you finished that, you were set."
"The Academy is only the beginning," Zhilian explained in a tone reminiscent of a university professor. "I finished it recently. Wren is still in the middle of her path; she has little left to conclude the academic year. But the Academy only gives you the theoretical basics. The Association license is what really counts in the outside world. Without it, you cannot participate in official missions, you cannot trade magical artifacts, and above all, you cannot legally cross the borders of the continent of Exilia. Those who travel without a license are considered renegades or bandits."
"A bureaucratic system here too, eh?" Hayjin commented with a hint of sarcasm. "No license, no exploration."
"It's not just for the rules," Zhilian continued, becoming serious. "I want that license because I want to become a Combat Queen. I don't want to be a sovereign who hides behind the castle walls waiting for heroes or dragons to solve problems. If a threat like the Demon King's servants were to knock on the doors of Opes, I want to be the first line of defense. I want to protect my kingdom with my own hands."
Hayjin remained silent. There was a nobility of intent in Zhilian that he couldn't help but admire. Despite her apparent stuck-up nature, the girl possessed a determination that reminded him of his years of "mad and desperate" study in London to obtain his research grant.
"It's admirable, Zhilian. Really," Hayjin said, straightening up. "But now that my heart has returned to a normal rhythm, I think I'll go back to sleep for another hour. Talk of kingdoms and licenses makes me sleepy."
Zhilian blocked him with her gaze before he could go back inside. "And you, Hayjin? Rhaegalur says you are special. Tell me, are you already attending the Academy? How is your magical path?"
Hayjin stopped on the threshold, feeling a sting of humiliation burn in his stomach. "I haven't attended any academy yet. And as for my magic... well, the only spell I've learned and not even that well is that small water drop Wren taught me yesterday. I still have to find my true magical affinity. Without that, I can't even enroll. I don't want to enter a school just to be told I'm useless or incompetent. I want to go when I'm already ready, so as not to fall behind anyone."
Zhilian approached him with an expression of absolute seriousness. There was no trace of mockery in her eyes, only a firm will.
"I understand. The pride of those who do not want to be protected, but want to protect. It's the same feeling I have." She took a step toward him, extending a hand charged with a soft, warm light. "Listen, Hayjin... you are the son of the Dragon God or whoever you are to him. Rhaegalur is my hero, but I see that between you there is a bond that goes beyond legend. I would do anything to help his lineage."
She leaned down slightly to be at his eye level. "Stay here with me today. Before returning to Opes, I will help you. Together, we will explore your mana flow. We will find your magical affinity, whether it be light, water, fire, or something never seen before. I won't let you enter the academy as a beginner. When you go there, you will already be a force of nature."
Hayjin looked at the princess's hand, then at Elara who gave him a knowing nod while she continued peeling potatoes. He felt the weight of the invisible Mark on his neck, but he also felt a spark of curiosity that he couldn't extinguish.
"Alright then," Hayjin replied, with a tone that tried to seem indifferent but betrayed a new hope. "Let's try. But if you make something explode near my face, I swear I'll ask Rhaegalur to kick you all the way back to Opes."
Zhilian burst into a crystalline laugh, the same one Wren had, but more mature. "It's a deal, little mage. Let's start right now. The morning light waits for no one."
As the sun climbed into the sky of Exilia, the two prepared to challenge the laws of mana, ready to discover what truly lay hidden in the soul of a man come from another world.