Fragments of the past flicker through his dream like broken glass, each memory cutting deeper than the last.Familiar voices echo in the distance, warped and fading as he tries to reach them.Shadows of what once was twist around him, replaying moments he cannot escape.And in the silence between them, he feels the weight of everything he lost.
"It should be me...the one who have to die"
Who are you?
"It should be me..."
Why me and ...what is my name?
"Live for him..."
Why.... For whom? The surroundings here...
"From now on your name is..."
My name is...
"Kira..."
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Kira's eyes snapped open, his breath uneven as the remnants of his dream clung to him like shadows. For a moment, he didn't move—his gaze fixed on the wooden ceiling above, faint cracks running through it like silent scars. Soft morning light slipped in through a half-open window, painting the room in a pale golden hue. Dust particles drifted lazily in the air, and the curtains swayed gently with the passing breeze.
The room itself was simple, almost too quiet. A narrow bed, slightly worn but clean. A small wooden table stood beside it, cluttered with a few books, a glass of water, and a dimly burned candle. Against the far wall, a shelf held scattered belongings—nothing extravagant, just the bare essentials of someone who never truly settled in one place.
A faint shift broke the stillness.
Kira turned his head slightly.
There he saw a figure standing and looking towards him with a concern.
"You're finally awake."
The voice cut through the silence. Kira turned his head slowly, his gaze adjusting until two figures came into focus beside him—Draves, standing firm with his usual composed expression, and Elvin, arms folded, watching him closely.
Kira blinked a few times, trying to piece everything together. The last thing he remembered was chaos… a mission… Lisa enters—
His eyes widened slightly. He pushed himself up, ignoring the protest of his body.
"Lisa… where is she?"
A brief silence filled the room. Elvin glanced toward Draves but said nothing.
Draves stepped forward, his voice calm yet heavy. "She's gone to the Elders. Reporting the incident… along with the principal."
Kira froze.
He was speechless nor having any word to say.
"It is my fault...", Draves spoke up tilting his head downwards.
"I shouldn't have send both of you.", He said.
Kira gazed at him with his brown eyes and then looked towards the Elvin who was sitting beside him.
"It is not your fault...", Kira spoke up, helping himself to pull his back up.
"I was careless and stupid who was overwhelmed in his past, even in that dangerous situation and cause injuries to both of us... wait where is Riya, Kira said as he realized that Riya was not in the room.
"She is in her room, resting", Elvin spoke up.
The room seemed to grow colder.
"Oh..., and anyway you were the one who send Lisa to check on us right.", Kira spoke up.
"Yeah... but", a crack in the voice was seen in Draves voice as he remembers something from his past.
"Anyway, let's take an air from outside. I also want to ask something to Lisa.", Kira spoke up as he was standing from his bed.
"Eat first, your body will need some energy first.", Elvin said looking towards Kira.
"Why, Isn't I just waking up two to three hours later after that incident."
"You are a fool man. It seems like your body doesn't remember but you woke up two days after that incident. The reason for it was your mana poisoning, I guess which caused you to get unconscious. I really thought you were gone, bro"
"Really....", a shock came to Kira brain as he realized that he was asleep for two whole straight days.
Draves stood there firm as he looks towards both of them passing through the door and gave a big sigh.
"....."
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At Roundtable room.
The great chamber of the Elders stood in absolute stillness, its towering pillars casting long shadows across the polished stone floor. At the far end, seated in a semicircle of authority, were the Six Elders—silent, unmoving, their presence alone enough to suffocate the air.
Lisa stood at the center, her posture straight but her hands subtly tense at her sides. Beside her, the principal remained composed, though even he could not completely mask the weight of the moment. Before them, an old parchment floated slightly above a pedestal, its edges burnt and uneven—as if it had barely survived whatever journey it had taken.
One of the Elders raised a hand, and the letter unfurled on its own.
"A letter from a royal guard," a deep, echoing voice spoke. "Read."
The words seemed to echo not just in the hall, but in Lisa's mind—
I do not know how long I can remain hidden… I have seen enough to understand part of their plan.
Lisa's eyes narrowed slightly as she listened.
They are not finished. Their next move… is the town. They seek human corpses—to gather, to use… to expand the despair further.
A faint murmur rippled through the chamber before dying instantly under the Elders' silence.
The principal's expression hardened. "Human corpses… for expansion? This is no longer a mere threat. This is preparation for something far worse."
Lisa clenched her fists. "Then we don't have time to wait. We need to act before—"
"Silence."
The word alone cut her off. One of the Elders leaned forward slightly, their eyes glowing faintly in the dim light.
"We decide when action is taken."
The air grew heavier.
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Far from the chamber, hidden deep within the ruins of a forgotten place, a lone guard crouched in darkness.
His hands trembled as he wrote the final lines of the letter, ink blotting slightly with each uneven movement. His breath was shallow, controlled only by sheer will.
Behind him…
The fire flickered.
Severed human heads—his comrades—hung suspended, engulfed in unnatural flames that did not consume, only burned endlessly. Their hollow eyes seemed to stare into nothingness, frozen in their last moments of terror.
The guard's eyes watered, but he did not look back again.
"I'm sorry…" he whispered under his breath, finishing the letter. "This is all I can do."
A faint sound echoed behind him.
Footsteps.
Slow. Deliberate.
The guard froze.
His grip tightened around the parchment as a shadow stretched across the ground, creeping toward him. The flames behind him flickered violently, as if reacting to the presence that had just arrived.
Someone had entered.
The guard didn't dare turn around.
The air itself seemed to whisper—
He wasn't alone anymore.