Even after the training simulation ended, an unsettling silence hung in the air. Kaen walked slowly behind the group as they returned to the dorms. The academy's halls felt more distant than usual, like echoes of a world that wasn't fully real.
Inside his room, Kaen stood by the window, eyes fixed on the moonlit forest. He remembered something—not a moment from this life, but from before time and space were even born. A time before the stars breathed, before darkness and light had meaning.
A girl.
Tiny hands had held his own under the vast nothingness of pre-existence.
She had smiled at him—not with words, but with a presence that melted even the void.
And then, she was gone.
Kaen didn't need a name to remember her. She was the first. His first pact… and more than that. A presence he had buried deep beneath the silence of eternity.
A flutter of wings pulled him from his thoughts.
Outside, perched on the academy wall, sat a white crow. Its feathers shimmered not with light but with pure stillness, untouched by time. Kaen's gaze sharpened.
"Still watching, aren't you?" he murmured, stepping outside.
The white crow cocked its head, eyes gleaming with an intelligence no bird should possess.
"So… she's awakening," Kaen whispered, voice low. He didn't smile. His eyes carried the weight of endless ages.
Zian didn't know. None of them did.
And the world—this fragile thing of gods, angels, and mortal dreams—was not ready for what stirred beneath the white tree.
The crow gave a soft caw, as if confirming his thoughts, and took flight into the night, vanishing into the darkness.
Kaen turned back toward the dorm. The shadows bowed at his feet.
His memories were whole.
But his truth remained hidden.