The door clicked shut behind him as Zephyr stepped into the quiet stillness of his room. Afternoon light seeped in through the arched window, casting a pale golden colour across the floor. He tossed his outer robe aside, jaw clenched tight as the day's humiliation echoed through his mind.
"Trash."
"Aetherless."
"Daring to show his face again."
He kicked over a stool, the wooden legs splintering as it struck the wall.
'Let them laugh', he seethed silently. 'Let them mock me now. I'll bury that laughter one day' so.
He pressed a palm against his temple, trying to suppress the fragmented memories that had returned since he rejected that leash given to him. His thoughts were a tangle of pain, vengeance, and a hunger to claw his way out of the pit they'd thrown him in. It seems after he awaken his Aether his soul has settled on the body and has inherited everything. His pain, his sorrow and vengeance.
A soft knock interrupted the storm in his head.
The door creaked open. Serena stepped inside, eyes lowered respectfully, a faint smile on her lips. She held a scroll case in her gloved hands.
"I thought you might want this," she said gently, offering it.
Zephyr took it with a frown, brows drawn as he opened the seal and unrolled the parchment.
Academy of Elden Vow And Aethercraft Enrollment Form – Signed Candidates Accepted Directly
His eyes widened. "This is… an open enrollment slot."
"A direct slot," Serena said. "Once you sign your name, you're guaranteed a place. No family approval needed. No bloodline verification."
He looked at her, suspicion dancing behind his eyes. "Where did you get this?"
"It was given to me," she said simply. "By the clan. They wanted me to enroll next season."
"You—?" Zephyr blinked. "You were going to the Academy?".
She nodded. "But I don't want it anymore".
Zephyr stared at her. "You.... Don't want it anymore".
"Yes". Was all she said as she turned he gaze down.
"Why?". Zephyr was genuinely thrown, from his memories he knew about how she always appeared when he climbed from the pit, how she would sneak him food, but he didn't know why she did it, not once in his memory had he helped or rewarded her, he was confused as to her actions. So when he asked 'why' he wasn't only asking about now but also about all she has been doing for him.
"I know I might sound cowardly but I don't want to be a fighter". She said, embarrassment clear in her voice. Her answer was simple but he was still not convinced.
"Then why were you training hard this morning, I could see the conviction in your eyes". Zephyr wasn't buying it.
She looked away, a faint blush rising to her cheeks. "The part about not wanting to be a fight is true but that's not the only reason. There's a boy. Here, in the clan. I love him. I want to live forever with him. But the clan insisted… and I followed orders."
"And now you disobey them?"
"I'm giving this to you, young lord" she said firmly. "I know the clan will be mad... But I want you to have it."
He studied her carefully, the scroll in hand. "That's not the full reason, is it?"
Serena hesitated.
Then, quietly, she spoke. "The real reason I turned it over to you is… because I pity you."
Zephyr blinked.
"I saw the way you have been treated ever since your failed awaken—even when everyone spat on you. You didn't break." She smiled softly. "You've always had fire, even when you had nothing. I saw you survive what no one else could. I saw you fight through humiliation and pain, never losing the fire in your eyes, even when the world pretended you didn't exist. And I think… the Academy will either forge you into something greater—or give you the tools to protect yourself from the people who did this to you."
The room fell into silence.
'Pity, do I want to be pitied'. His mind answered the question for him. 'Not at all, I don't want to be pitied.... Should I accept it, accepting is the best for me but this opportunity was got through pity, a emotion I hate from both lifes. He looked at her and he could see the purity in her, he could see eyes that for once held pure emotions, held clean pity, not the kind of pity the other clan wore, pitying him that he would die brutally, no the kind of pity that came from a heart that didn't hold an ounce of hate. And most of all.
'But I need this... I need this. Not for pride. But for freedom.'
Zephyr looked back at the form, thoughts swirling. The Academy… it's where the clans place their elite. Where the royal family grooms its next generation. Where monsters become legends.
He pictured the gates, the inner sanctum of Aether knowledge, and the endless possibilities that lay beyond.
A spark ignited in his chest.
"He is lucky". Was all he could say to her. Her faced heated up, becoming flushed all over but she didn't retort.
"I'll go". Zephyr whispered "and once I'm there… I'll carve out a place so high they'll be forced to look up just to curse me."
Serena's smile was proud, and joyful, she joyfully handed him a pen
Serena joyfully offered a pen. "If you sign your name, the spot becomes yours. No binding clause. And most of all it's your choice."
Zephyr stared at her, then at the parchment.
A deep breath filled his lungs. He stepped toward the desk, laid the form flat, and slowly uncapped the pen.
For the first time, he would sign a document not as a prisoner, not as a scapegoat, but as someone choosing his own future.
The ink bled across the page with every stroke of his name:
Zephyr Demios.
He looked up, the form now complete. His fate finally pulled back into his hands.
"Thank you," he said, voice low but genuine.
She bowed lightly and left the room.
Zephyr sat down, staring at the now-signed form.
The path ahead would be brutal. Filled with enemies, politics, and danger. But for the first time… he saw a way forward.
A chance.
And he would take it—no matter the cost.