The old amphitheater in the North Wing was quiet in the way graveyards were quiet. No birds. No wind. Just the faint echo of something waiting.
Eris and Aerin stepped down the stone steps toward the cracked stage, while Saphine and Meline circled across the upper tier, blades drawn and eyes sharp.
Saphine whispered, "Is it always this dead in here?"
Meline answered without looking at her: "No. Normally it's worse."
Saphine blinked. "…Comforting."
"Wasn't meant to be."
Below – Grand Gaze
Aerin crouched and ran his fingers along a faded sigil carved into the floor. "Old."
"Very," Eris murmured, dusting his fingers across the same mark."Older than the academy itself."
Aerin looked up. "You recognize it?"
"Not exactly." Eris lowered his hand. "Grand Gaze doesn't show me answers. It shows me what I need to see."
He blinked—and his eyes flashed faintly pale.
For a moment, the amphitheater flickered. A spectral image formed over reality:
an entire village where the amphitheater now stood… people laughing… a small girl running in the rain with a handmade notebook clutched to her chest—
Then the vision burned away in flame and smoke.
Aerin straightened slowly.
"You… saw that?"
"Pieces," Eris replied. "Memories. Like broken glass."
The Separation
A small silhouette appeared at the center of the stage — the outline of a child, flickering like candlelight fighting a strong wind.
Before anyone could react, the ground twisted and a shockwave tore through the air —
Saphine and Meline were flung backward, landing near the upper tiers as if the earth itself refused to let them come closer.
"Meline!" Saphine shouted. "What just—"
"Separation field," Meline hissed, dragging her blades free. "Echo-based. Spatial. It's trying to isolate us."
Down below, Aerin raised his spear, expression grim. "Eris?"
"Do not move," Eris said, voice calm. "The field is intelligent. It will only strike back if you force it."
Saphine: "I'm definitely not forcing anything!"
Meline (staring at her): "You're literally gripping a support beam like it owes you money."
Saphine (quietly): "…I'm scared, okay?"
Meline softened just a little. "Good. Stay scared and stay alive."
The Truth Appears
Aerin took one step toward the flickering shape. "Is that the anomaly?"
"Yes," Eris said softly. "Or rather—the echo of someone who should've died a long time ago."
The little silhouette turned slowly. It didn't attack. It only watched him.
Saphine felt something strange — not fear, exactly. Something… lonely.
"How do you know?" Aerin asked.
Eris's eyes flashed a second time — and his voice dropped to a quiet whisper.
"She's showing me. The Grand Gaze is responding to her memory. She wants to be seen."
He tilted his head, as though listening to something only he could hear.
"She died in a fire. Long before the Academy existed. The villagers said it was 'karma.' No one helped. No one listened."
Saphine pressed a hand against her mouth.
Meline's eyes narrowed—not in suspicion this time, but in something closer to sadness.
Eris continued — voice calmer now, softer:
"Her Echo was called Gentle Reaper. It does not allow its bearer to die until they've witnessed a life worth recording."
The flickering girl raised a glowing, spectral notebook — its pages fluttering in a wind no one felt.
A single line of glowing text formed in the air beside her:
Looking…
"She's been wandering," Eris said. "Taking small memories from students. Hoping one of them might be the life she's searching for."
There was silence.
Saphine swallowed hard. "That's… horrible."
Meline muttered, "And extremely creepy."
"Both can be true," Eris replied.
Pressure Rise
The child lifted her notebook again.
A single word appeared.
Afraid.
Then the air shattered.
A wave of crushing resonance blasted outward — dust exploding off the cracked floor, stone crying beneath their feet. Saphine flinched and Meline grabbed her, dragging her behind a stone column as the pressure roared overhead.
Aerin grounded his spear and pushed back with a surge of Echo power, barely holding his footing.
Eris didn't move.
He just stepped forward and raised one hand—not to strike…
…but in a gesture of reassurance, like someone calming a frightened animal.
The pressure stopped instantly.
The little girl trembled — the flickering light around her warping like static.
"She's not attacking," Eris said quietly. "She's trying to decide whether we're worth trusting."
He turned his head — and looked directly at Saphine across the courtyard.
"Saphine."
"She isn't looking for greatness. She's looking for a life that remembers how to be kind, even when the world isn't."
Saphine's eyes widened.
Something warm pressed against her chest — the faint voice again, closer than ever.
Saphine……I'm almost here.
She stepped forward before thinking.
Meline grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"
"…Exactly what she asked," Saphine whispered. Then, louder — voice trembling, but sincere:
"It's okay. You don't have to be afraid.I'm listening."
For one long heartbeat, everything became completely still.
The silhouette flickered once—
—and the pressure vanished.
The spectral notebook opened by itself.
And for the very first time…a new page began to write itself.
To be continued…