The twelfth evening on the road felt heavier than the others. The sun dipped low, painting the horizon in rusted gold. The wind was still—unnaturally so.
Ajax slowed his steps at the edge of a shallow ravine, senses taut. The path to Kaelridge should've felt open, safe. But every breath screamed otherwise.
Then—movement.
Four cloaked figures slipped from the tall grass, boots muffled, weapons drawn. They surrounded him in a tight arc.
Ajax's blood went cold.
"You made it easy, kid," one of them sneered. "Didn't even bother to cover your tracks."
Their outfits, he recognized them. On the right sleeve was the insignia of the shadows from the night his home burned.
The same group.
"You were hunting them," Ajax said quietly.
"We still are," the leader said. "You're just unfinished business."
They rushed him at once—no hesitation. One from the left, a second behind. Two more on the flanks.
Ajax's instincts screamed. He leapt back, barely dodging a sweeping staff aimed at his ribs. Another attacker lunged in, sword flashing, but Ajax ducked low and rolled across the dirt. A fist grazed his temple—he stumbled.
Four on one.
No time. No strategy.
Just survival.
He skidded to his feet and threw his hand out. Emotion flared—grief, fear, memory—and met the sharp clarity of glyph structure.
"Create."
A mana sword burst to life in his palm, deep blue and humming.
The attackers halted mid-stride, startled by the glowing blade.
"What in the gods—?"
Ajax didn't wait.
He spun and slashed wide, cutting through the leg of the man closest to him. Blood hit the grass. The man screamed and collapsed.
Three left.
The woman on his right struck with a whip-like chain. Ajax blocked it, but the impact rattled his arm. The others pressed in—one sliced his chest with a dagger, another circled to flank him.
Ajax kicked up dust and dove into a crouch, his blade flickering with frost. He swept low—ice trailing from the tip—and caught the dagger wielder across the thigh. The man shouted and fell to one knee.
Then he drove the sword into his neck.
Two left.
He pivoted. The chain cracked toward his head.
Too slow.
The chain caught his shoulder—pain lanced through him—but he ignored it. He lunged forward, catching the woman off-guard, and plunged his mana sword straight into her stomach. Her mouth opened in shock. Then silence.
Only the leader remained.
He backed away, horror etched into his face. "What are you?"
Ajax's blade flickered. His vision blurred.
Too much mana.
Still, he stepped forward. Bleeding. Shaking. Alive.
The leader turned and ran.
Ajax raised his sword, aimed—
—and with the last of his strength, hurled it.
The mana blade whirled through the air, silent and blue, and slammed into the man's back.
He crumpled mid-sprint.
Silence.
Ajax stumbled forward. His legs buckled. The blade had already dissipated. His mana reserves were gone. Blood dripped from his arm, his mouth.
He fell to his knees, then collapsed face-first into the dirt.
———————————————————
When he woke, the world smelled of damp stone and strange herbs.
His chest burned. Every muscle screamed. But he was alive.
"Easy," said a voice. "Don't move too fast."
Ajax blinked against firelight. A gray-skinned man sat by a flickering hearth, stirring a bowl. Short, dark hair. Ember-bright eyes.
"You're one of them," Ajax rasped.
"A demon? Yes," the man said, unfazed. "But I'm not your enemy."
Ajax tried to sit up. Pain flared through his side. He grabbed at it and found bandages.
"I'm Karian," the man continued. "I found you surrounded by corpses. What you did… no child should be able to do that."
"I have to be able to do that," Ajax said. "They tried to kill my family."
"I know who they were," Karian said gently. "I know what they were hunting."
Ajax looked up. "You knew my parents?"
"I knew what they were," Karian said. "Descendants of Valern. Same as me. The world thinks Valern was a realm of monsters. But the truth… the truth is more complicated."
He stirred the bowl again. The smell was sharp, earthy.
"The Calamity wasn't a war of invasion. We didn't come to start a war. We came to escape a purge. We fled something older, darker. And our people—those with Valern blood—became scapegoats."
Ajax's throat was dry. "Why are you helping me?"
Karian looked toward the wall, where shadows flickered like ghosts.
"I lost my family in the purge too. But I survived. Barely. I hid. Raised a child. And when I saw what you could do…" He met Ajax's gaze. "I realized your future's not something I can ignore."
Footsteps echoed in the small cave.
A girl, no older than Ajax, stepped into the firelight. She had black eyes and ash-colored skin, her gaze sharp with quiet curiosity.
"My daughter, Reva," Karian said. "She's like you. Stronger than she looks. She'll be training with you."
Ajax stared at her, then back at Karian. "Training?"
"If you want to survive," Karian said, "you need more than just power. You need a vessel to match it. Look at how yours left you. You need to build a body that can match your power and I know how."
"Excersize?" Ajax asked.
"Huh," Karian stared blankly, " No it's not just excersize, anybody can teach that!"
"Then what is it?"
"Magic."
"What kind of magic?" Ajax asked, voice hoarse.
"Different from yours," Karian said. "We don't summon. We don't enchant, or whatever magic you used. We augment. Our strength, speed, stamina—they're all enhanced. Our magic doesn't live in the air. It lives in the flesh. You've got the mind. But your body needs to catch up."
Ajax looked at his bandaged arm. Remembered how his muscles had failed after that final throw.
He nodded once. "Then teach me."
Karian smiled faintly. "We have time. You're not going anywhere soon. For now, you must rest."
"I don't have time to rest."
"Ha! You need rest. Even at one-hundred percent you'll be begging for a break in no time. Get some shut eye, Ajax. You're straining yourself to stay conscious."
"Am I?" I started as I began to feel dizzy, "I guess I am."
And then I passed out again.
Outside, the wind stirred the grass again, brushing over the ravine where blood still marked the ground. Kaelridge would wait.
Ajax's journey was no longer a straight road.
It had just split into something deeper.