Ace did not return to Eldoria as the same person.
The journey back felt longer than before. The forest's silence followed him all the way to the kingdom gates. His steps were heavy, his eyes hollow.
When he finally stood before Amagi, he didn't speak immediately.
Amagi noticed.
"What happened?"
Ace's voice was quiet. "Vargan is dead."
The words seemed to freeze the air between them.
Ace told him everything—the broken door, the scarred earth, the burn marks, the swords planted into the ground. The way Vargan had died on his knees, supported by both his own blade and Darian's.
Amagi listened without interrupting.
When Ace finished, his fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles had turned white.
"We will not leave him like that," Amagi said firmly. "A warrior deserves honor."
Two days later, beneath the trees of the forest he once protected, they arranged a proper funeral.
Amagi brought ceremonial cloth from Eldoria. Ace cleaned Vargan's armor himself. They placed his sword beside him, polished and upright.
The flames rose slowly.
Ace stood still as the fire consumed the only mentor he had ever known.
No tears fell.
Only silence.
When the flames died, the forest felt emptier than ever.
The search for Darian began immediately.
For days, Ace and Amagi tracked footprints, disturbed earth, and faint traces of energy. Ace pushed his senses as far as he could, adjusting his spell output carefully to conserve strength.
But there was nothing.
No body.
No clear trail.
Only fragments of battle.
On the fourth night, Ace sat alone near the remains of the house.
His thoughts would not quiet.
Vargan had been powerful. Experienced. Strategic.
Who could have defeated him?
And why were both swords planted in front of him?
Darian's sword…
Ace's chest tightened.
What if—
What if Darian survived?
What if Darian had been the last one standing?
What if Darian had… done it?
The idea felt wrong.
But it refused to disappear.
"Why was his sword there?" Ace whispered into the dark.
Doubt is a dangerous thing.
It doesn't roar.
It whispers.
And for the first time, the fire inside Ace was no longer fueled only by grief—
It was fueled by suspicion.
If Darian was alive…
Ace would find him.
And he would demand the truth.