The unnatural golden light of Lavinsk poured through the giant crystal windows of the living room when Silver walked through the door. His footsteps were absurdly silent, yet the shift in the air pressure was immediate.
I was curled up in one of the cushioned armchairs, still feeling sharp stings in my bandaged calf. On the opposite couch, Laura swung her legs impatiently, while a dark-haired boy with a hostile expression — whom I quickly assumed was Arthur — casually cleaned his clothes, completely ignoring my presence. But what intrigued me most about him was his skin: it was entirely grayish, like a wall of polished stone.
I couldn't stop staring at him.
Kânia stood gracefully beside the marble fireplace, watching all of us with a soft smile.
Silver stopped in the center of the room. He didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to. He simply crossed his arms and looked around.
Laura stopped swinging her legs and straightened her posture. An absolute, respectful silence swallowed the room.
"I gathered all of you here," Silver's voice cut through the silence, calm and almost teacher-like, "because starting today, the dynamic of this house changes. Suki is now my responsibility and part of our group."
Arthur clicked his tongue and turned his gaze toward the window. Laura tilted her head, her red eyes glowing with curiosity. Then Silver turned his cold green eyes directly toward me.
"However," he continued, "we have an immediate obstacle. And I will explain why. As you all know, the biology of a god is fundamentally different from that of a demigod. Not only in raw strength, endurance, or cosmic intelligence, but in the very root of vitality itself."
He took a step toward me.
"To give you some perspective, I am one hundred and eighty-nine billion years old. And my body has not even begun to age. Gods simply do not die from the passage of time. Meanwhile, the maximum lifespan of a pure demigod is around ten thousand years."
My mind tried to process that number, but it was impossible. One hundred and eighty-nine billion? The universe in my head suddenly felt too small.
"Wait…" I whispered in disbelief. "How old are you?!"
Laura let out a quiet laugh from the couch.
"Focus on the important part."
Silver ignored the interruption.
"Your vitality is our greatest problem, Suki. Your body developed like that of a mortal human boy, but you are not one. When your divine heritage fully awakens—"
"What?!"
My own voice came out louder than I intended, trembling and filled with panic. The Queen's words in the castle still echoed in my head like a blurred nightmare, but hearing Silver say it out loud so casually made the air vanish from my lungs.
"Divine heritage?!" I grabbed the arms of the chair, my heart pounding in my throat. "What do you mean divine?! My mother used to cook ostrich eggs for me and stayed at home! My father was a blacksmith! Who am I really the son of?! What kind of cursed bloodline is this that—"
"Be quiet and listen."
Silver's voice did not change even slightly, but the pressure in the air crushed my words back into my throat. His gaze darkened, heavy as a mountain.
"I will not answer any of your questions about your lineage," Silver said coldly and definitively. "What you are, or where you came from, is completely irrelevant at this exact moment."
My hands trembled, but I shut my mouth and swallowed hard.
"What matters," he continued as if my outburst had never happened, "is that your muscles and veins, in their current condition, will not withstand the pressure of your own power. You will tear yourself apart from the inside out. But fortunately, solving that is simpler than it sounds."
Still stunned, I managed to murmur:
"How would that even be possible? There's no power capable of changing the structure of a body like that out of nowhere."
"I'm still not finished explaining," Silver interrupted calmly.
Laura leaned forward, practically bouncing on the couch, breaking the suffocating atmosphere.
"Ah! I know what he's talking about!"
Silver gave a short nod.
"Every three hundred years, a festival known as the King's Forest Tournament is held. The grand champion receives what we call the Ancient Potion."
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became heavier, as if the mere name of the prize carried weight. Arthur stopped looking out the window and turned his attention toward Silver.
"This elixir is distilled from the very essence of the King's Forest over the course of three centuries," Silver explained. "That is why it is one of the most coveted treasures in the universe. The Ancient Potion does not merely grant eternal life — it perfectly reconstructs the vitality of whoever drinks it. It is the only thing capable of anchoring your power without destroying your mortal body."
I remained silent. The magnitude of what he was proposing was overwhelming.
"Demigods, legendary monsters, and warriors from countless galaxies travel to participate in this tournament," Silver said, staring directly into my soul. "The next festival will take place in exactly two years. Until then… I will shape you into someone capable of winning."
I inhaled sharply, feeling my lungs tremble.
"Two years…?"
A chill ran down my spine. I didn't know if it was the absolute certainty in Silver's voice, the idea of fighting monsters from across the galaxy, or the kind of sadistic training waiting for me.
At the end of the day, there was one thing I couldn't forget:
He was still a god.
As soon as the meeting ended, the group dispersed silently. Arthur stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Within minutes, only Laura and I remained in the large living room.
I stood near the window, staring at Lavinsk's shimmering golden sky, almost unable to process the weight of my new two-year deadline and Silver's cutting silence about my parents.
"Are you scared?" Laura asked. Her tone was strangely soft, lacking the usual teasing.
"I think so…" I admitted quietly.
Laura looked down at the polished floor.
"Good. You should be."
I turned toward her. The girl sighed heavily, playing with a strand of her dark hair.
"I don't want to terrify you even more, but the master's training is brutal. If he has to break your bones and destroy your body over and over again to make you stronger… he'll do it without blinking."
A heavy silence settled between us. She let out another sigh and waved her hand dismissively through the air.
"Okay, okay, okay," she grumbled. "But he's not a bad person," she added quickly, as if defending him. "Silver took us in as if we were his children."
A small, genuine nostalgic smile softened Laura's serious expression.
"The only thing he asks in return is determination. If he were like those other gods and masters who demand absurd fortunes or servitude, Arthur and I would probably already be dead. We're really grateful to him… and to Lady Kânia too. That's why we give everything we have during training."
I reflected on her words.
Like children.
"You said he took you in…" I began carefully. "Did you two also lose someone?"
Laura's expression changed instantly. The smile vanished. Her red eyes became cold and distant.
"I don't want to talk about that."
The answer came out sharp and final. I nodded silently and looked away. She clearly hadn't lived an easy life before Lavinsk. Pressing further would have been cruel.
Even so, my mind was a storm of questions.
Where was Silver going to take me? What was he going to put me through?
I could barely think straight after everything that had happened.
Three days passed.
I still had constant nightmares about my parents and the destroyed village. I missed them so much… Sometimes, alone in the silence of my room, I couldn't stop myself from crying.
During that time, the house was filled with restrained chaos. Silver prepared supplies for our journey. Over those three days, curiosity kept growing inside me about where we were going. So one morning, I finally decided to ask.
"Silver?"
He was drinking something hot from a black mug in the kitchen.
"Hmm?" he murmured without turning around.
I struggled a little to climb onto one of the chairs at the table, still feeling slight pain in my leg, and then asked:
"What kind of place are we going to?"
He took a while to answer. When he finally turned toward me, he stared with intense blue eyes.
Wait… weren't his eyes always green? I thought, feeling the hairs on my arm stand up. But what disturbed me even more was the way he looked at me: distant, as though he were seeing someone else sitting there instead of me.
"A forgotten and isolated planet, a few systems away from here," he answered, his voice perfectly neutral. "Far away from everyone in Lavinsk."
I was a bundle of nerves, and although my stomach twisted every time Silver's icy aura approached, a dark and painful part of me desperately wanted to discover how strong I could become.
If it somehow helped me return to my home planet or more importantly… if it allowed me to kill that dragon, I would do it. The monster that burned my home to ashes. In some twisted way, I felt that now I could make a difference, even if it was already too late.
Finally, the morning of departure arrived.
Lavinsk's morning breeze carried golden dust around the gates of the residence, where most of the household had gathered to say goodbye. Silver spoke quietly with Kânia in a corner of the porch; they both seemed worried.
But when I saw Laura, she wasn't the cheerful girl I had grown used to.
Something was wrong with her, and I noticed it immediately.
Her teasing smile and loud energy had completely vanished, replaced by a mask of silence and distance. Her arms were crossed as she stared at the tips of her boots.
What happened to her? I wondered.
Even so, I walked toward her. Despite everything, Laura had been the first person my age not to treat me like an abomination since I arrived there.
"Laura…" I called out.
She didn't answer.
For several seconds, she remained perfectly still, jaw tense, refusing to make eye contact. Then, without saying a single word, she turned her back on me and marched back inside the house, her heavy footsteps echoing across the marble floor.
I stood there with my hand still half-raised, the golden wind slipping between my fingers.
And Arthur…
He didn't even bother showing up.