The afternoon sun shone on the front yard of the academy. Damian stood on his balcony, his hands resting on the railing. From above, he watched several students practicing in the garden. Their training seemed slow, without the shouts of instructors or the loud clangs of weapons. The atmosphere still felt tense after the previous incident.
Zephyrus felt different. Usually, the school garden was filled with cheers, laughter, and the scraping of wooden weapons during training. Now, all that could be heard was the sound of the wind and cautious footsteps. Damian took a deep breath, as if trying to recapture the familiar atmosphere, but found only a heavy silence.
Liam came through the door, carrying two cups of still-warm tea. He strolled toward Damian.
"Has Master Damian been sitting here since class ended?" he asked, standing behind Damian, holding a tray with two cups of tea on it.
"Yes," Damian replied quietly, accepting the cup without looking away. "I'm trying to remember what it was like back then."
Liam took a small sip of his drink and chuckled. "We used to complain about the hard training. Now, I actually… I miss the chaotic noise of those training sessions."
Damian smiled faintly, his eyes softening slightly. "Lucien would probably be happy to hear you say that."
Liam smiled back. "Lucien was always a bit of a weirdo. He was the only one who truly enjoyed the hard training. Even when everyone else was down, he was still enthusiastic about learning strategy."
Damian finally turned his head to look at Liam. "But without people like him, we probably wouldn't be as strong as we are now."
"That's true." Liam nodded, more seriously this time. "Come to think of it, everything we've been through here… even though it's been tiring, has allowed us to make it this far."
The two were silent for a moment, letting the sound of the afternoon breeze replace words. From the garden, a student's brief cry of a misstep came, followed by the instructor's whisper of correction. Damian watched, then sighed.
"Do you think… can they survive?" Damian asked suddenly.
Liam frowned. "Who do you mean?"
"Our friends. The other students. After everything that happened… Velgrin, Kyle's kidnapping, the ancient artifact… many are afraid." Damian looked down, his fingers lightly tapping on the iron fence. "I feel like this academy isn't the same anymore. And I'm worried they'll give up prematurely."
Liam paused for a moment before answering. "Maybe many have gone home. Maybe some won't. But those who remain here aren't ordinary people. They chose to stay. That's proof enough that they have a reason to keep going."
Damian looked at his friend, then nodded slowly. A small sense of conviction emanated from Liam's words.
The academy bell suddenly rang, signaling dinner time. Its soft echo broke the silence. From the front of his room, Tessa's voice called out.
"Damian! Dinner's almost ready!"
Damian glanced briefly toward the door, then looked back into the garden. He saw the students lining up, concluding their training. The dusk was fading, replaced by the glow of the lamps lit along the path.
"Come on, Master Damian, it's time to eat," Liam said, bowing to Damian.
Damian finally turned and left the balcony. But in his mind, images of the past days—the laughter, the complaints, and the boisterous training—were still vivid. And amidst it all, there was one thought he couldn't shake: their world had changed, and perhaps, that change had only just begun.
Academy Front Yard
From the cafeteria balcony, Damian watched the academy's main gate slowly open. The faint sound of hinges could be heard. A black carriage entered and stopped in front of the hall. An old butler got out of the driver's seat and opened the door.
A young boy stepped out. His academy uniform was fresh, his black hair slightly messy in the wind. His gaze was sharp, sweeping the school garden calmly. His steps were steady, as if he had been prepared from the start.
Damian watched him from the balcony. Something captivated him, the way the boy glanced around. When their eyes met briefly from a distance, Damian felt something strange, as if he had known him before.
Liam also looked down. "A new student, huh. Master Damian?" he asked lightly.
Damian didn't answer directly. He simply muttered, "It seems... he's not an ordinary student."
Academy Gate
The boy stopped a few steps before the gate of Zephyrus Academy. The tall iron gate towered, adorned with the academy's crest, which had stood for centuries. The afternoon breeze blew through the carved gaps, carrying faint sounds from the school garden.
He gazed at the majestic building before him with meaningful eyes. It wasn't the gaze of a stranger coming to study, but rather the gaze of someone carrying something behind their presence.
His lips moved softly, barely audible, but clearly enough to form words. "Zephyrus... I'm coming."
The sentence was brief, but it felt like a sign. There was a sense of certainty surrounding it, as if he hadn't come simply to be an ordinary student.
He closed his eyes briefly, taking a breath. When he opened them again, he confidently stepped forward through the gate.
The old servant who had escorted him stood for a moment, bowing respectfully as his master entered. Afterward, he re-climbed the carriage, patted the reins, and slowly drove the vehicle away from the gate. The sound of the iron wheels faded away, replaced by a silence that emphasized the weight of the new student's arrival.
Inside the academy grounds, several students glanced toward the gate. They didn't hear the boy's words, but the aura of his arrival was enough to make them pause. Some whispered, curious about who this new student was, arriving so late in the afternoon, in such a formal manner.
The boy didn't look left or right. He walked straight toward the main hall. There was no sign of awkwardness, no hesitation typical of a newcomer. All his movements were simple, but each one exuded confidence.
From the school balcony, Damian continued to watch. Despite the distance, he couldn't take his eyes off the boy. His intuition was clear, his arrival was no coincidence.
Liam, standing beside Damian, finally spoke up. "Looks like the new student knows what he's doing."
Damian didn't answer immediately. His gaze continued to follow the black-haired boy as he entered the hall door.
The dusk was fading. The school garden lamps were turning on one by one, replacing the sunlight.
Damian still stood on the balcony, his eyes unmoving from the main gate even though the black-haired boy had long since disappeared into the hall. The sight left something he couldn't explain. A sense of curiosity pressed against his chest.
He straightened up and took a deep breath. Down below, the academy school garden was slowly emptying. The few students who had been practicing had begun to pack up their equipment. Dusk was fading, and the orange glow in the sky was slowly replaced by the darkness of night.
The academy bell rang softly. Its sound echoed in the evening air, signaling dinner time. It was usually greeted by the clamor of students rushing to the cafeteria, but not this time. Only a few footsteps could be heard. The academy wasn't as busy as it used to be; too much had changed in such a short time.
From inside, Tessa's voice called out.
"Damian! Let's eat...!"
The voice brought Damian slightly out of his reverie. He glanced toward the door, then glanced back at the school garden once more. Nothing was different, no sign of anything, only the gate, now firmly closed.
He finally turned around, leaving the balcony with slow steps. But his mind still couldn't completely shake the image of the black-haired boy who had just arrived. That face, that gaze… it was still vividly etched in his mind.
As he stepped into the room, Damian discovered that Liam was no longer there. Apparently, his best friend had already gone down to the cafeteria. Damian smiled faintly, imagining Liam must have already arranged their seats.
He walked through the academy's hallways, which were beginning to become deserted. In his head, he heard the echo of the words he had uttered on the balcony earlier, "I don't know. But it seems… he's no ordinary student."
Those words repeated themselves, reinforcing the feeling that the boy's arrival would be the beginning of something big. Something that would affect not only the academy, but also him and his friends.
Damian finally reached the stairs leading downstairs. From a distance, he could hear the voices of the other students already gathered in the cafeteria. Tessa, Rin, Elric, and even Lucien were probably already waiting at their usual tables. This should have brought him relief. But deep inside, there was a sense of unease that was hard to explain.
He paused for a moment in front of the hallway window. From there, he could see the faint twilight lingering behind the academy walls. The image of the boy resurfaced in his mind, as clear and vivid as if it had just happened.
Damian closed his eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath. Deep down, he hoped that perhaps everything would change again.