The sun had not yet risen when I stopped a few meters away from him.
The fifth general stood in the middle of the road, as if that place had been carefully chosen. Behind him, in the distance, the entire camp remained still. No soldier advanced. No creature made a sound.
Only the wind.
He was taller than I had imagined. He did not wear heavy armor like the other generals. He wore something simple, dark, almost like ordinary clothes. That made everything even stranger.
"So you came," he said.
His voice wasn't loud. Even so, it seemed to fill the entire space.
"If I hadn't, you would have attacked the city."
"I would have."
He didn't try to deny it.
I stepped two paces closer.
"Do you want to fight?"
"No."
That caught me off guard.
"Then what do you want?"
He tilted his head slightly, observing me carefully.
"I want you to understand something before it's too late."
I remained silent.
The sky was beginning to lighten slowly behind us.
"You defeated my companions," he continued. "The eighth. The seventh. The sixth. You did something no one has done in centuries."
"I know."
"You don't."
The way he said that sent a chill up my spine.
"You think you defeated brute strength. You think you overcame power. You think this is about battles."
He took a step forward.
"It isn't."
The wind intensified, lifting dust from the road.
"You haven't realized what is happening around you. The world is moving because of you. Kingdoms are drawing closer. Races are forming alliances. Kings are betting on you."
I didn't answer.
Because he was right.
"The king of the dwarves placed treasures from his own kingdom into your hands, didn't he?"
My body went rigid.
"How do you know that?"
He ignored the question.
"You stopped being just an adventurer. You became a symbol. And symbols… change the course of things."
The sun finally began to rise on the horizon.
The light touched his face.
His eyes were completely different from the other generals. There was no fury there. There was awareness.
"I did not come here to fight, Takumi. I came to warn you."
"Warn me about what?"
"What comes after me."
Silence weighed between us.
"You think the demon king is just a stronger enemy. That's not how it works. He is not strength. He is consequence."
A strange tightness gripped my chest.
"Consequence of what?"
"Of the world having reached where it has."
He gave a faint smile.
"You are accelerating something that was already bound to happen. Your existence is pushing the pieces faster than they were meant to move."
"You're speaking in riddles."
"I'm speaking the truth no one told you."
The wind suddenly ceased.
Everything became too quiet.
"When I attack, it will not be today."
I frowned.
"You're going to retreat?"
"I will wait."
"Why?"
"Because you are not yet ready to understand what you are truly facing."
That irritated me.
"You think I can't defeat you?"
"You can. You might even succeed."
He looked straight into my eyes.
"But defeating me changes nothing."
The weight of that sentence was heavier than any threat.
He began to walk away.
"Wait," I said.
He stopped.
"What do you want me to do with this warning?"
He turned his face slightly.
"Observe the world. Observe how it reacts to you. Observe who draws closer. Who steps away. Who smiles too much. Who helps too much."
My heart beat faster.
"Because, when the time comes, you will realize that the demons will not be the only problem."
That left me silent.
He continued walking.
"The next time we meet, it won't be to talk."
I stood there, watching him move away.
The camp began to stir. Tents being dismantled. Creatures retreating.
They were leaving.
I returned to the city with my head full.
When the guards saw me approaching, they opened the gate quickly.
I climbed the walls.
They were all there.
Elara was the first to speak.
"What happened?"
"They're leaving."
"What do you mean leaving?" Rai'kanna asked.
"He didn't want to fight."
Vespera frowned.
"Then what did he want?"
"To talk."
Liriel watched me in silence.
Lyannis was the one who spoke.
"Do you believe him?"
I thought for a few seconds before answering.
"Unfortunately… yes."
We went down together.
The entire city was beginning to realize that the enemy army was retreating. The atmosphere was one of relief, but I didn't feel it.
I felt something else.
Weight.
We returned to the mansion.
We sat in the living room.
I told them everything he said.
No one interrupted.
When I finished, the silence grew heavy.
"So he doesn't see us as the biggest problem," Elara said.
"No."
"He sees something else coming," Vespera added.
"Yes."
Liriel crossed her arms.
"That explains a lot."
"What?"
"Why the whole world is moving around you."
Rai'kanna sighed.
"I hate it when villains make sense."
Lyannis rested her chin on her hand.
"Maybe he isn't the main villain."
That sentence echoed in my head.
The rest of the day passed slowly.
No attacks.
No noise.
No threat.
But with a constant feeling that something much bigger was forming, beyond our field of vision.
At night, I lay in bed exhausted.
The five of them were there with me, in silence.
I closed my eyes.
And then the dream came.
I was in an empty field.
The sky was red.
The fifth general stood before me.
But behind him… there was something I couldn't clearly see.
A gigantic shadow.
An overwhelming presence.
He pointed behind him.
"That is what you need to understand."
The shadow moved.
And, for a second, I saw visions.
Kingdoms in flames.
Cities destroyed.
My group scattered on the ground.
The sword broken in my hand.
I woke up with my heart racing.
The room was still dark.
Their breathing calm around me.
I stared at the ceiling, trying to organize my thoughts.
It wasn't an ordinary dream.
It was a warning.
I turned my face toward the window.
The first ray of sunlight was beginning to rise.
I took a deep breath.
Something much greater was only just beginning.