The golden light had not even faded when the monster before Kael suddenly stopped moving.
Not exactly stopped—more like its body jerked for a brief moment, as though something inside its chest was pressing outward. Its red eyes trembled wildly, then the creature tilted its head slightly to the left. Kael froze as well. His fingers were still gripping the training staff, but now his palm burned hot, as if he had just pressed it against molten iron.
What was happening?
He had no time to think about it.
The monster roared and swung its right claw toward him. This time, the strike was faster than before, fast as a streak of black lightning ripping through a wound in the sky. Kael instinctively ducked, nearly throwing himself to the ground. The claw brushed past his hair and slammed into the wooden fence behind him, shattering it into splinters.
"Kael, back away!" Mira shouted from a distance.
Kael wanted to obey, but his feet felt nailed to the ground. His heart was pounding too hard. His breathing caught in his throat. Before him, the monster straightened its body again, its black form rippling like smoke forced into the shape of a wolf. The stench of rot and coldness filled his nose.
Then that voice sounded again inside his head.
Not clear words. More like a deep echo, like an old door cracking open from the darkness beyond.
Kael felt a sharp pain in his chest.
Golden light spread from his hand across the wooden staff. Fine cracks appeared on its surface, not ordinary cracks, but glowing lines that slowly lit up. The piece of wood that had only been a training tool now felt different. Heavier. More alive.
The monster in front of him hesitated.
And in that chaotic world, even a single second of hesitation was enough to save a life.
"Duck!"
A loud voice sliced through the air.
Kael barely had time to turn before something flashed overhead. A sharp gust swept across his face. The next second, a dark red thin sword stabbed into the ground right in front of the monster, cutting off its path.
The man in the red robe had finally arrived.
He landed lightly in front of Kael, his body still covered in dust and small wounds, but his eyes remained sharp. With one hand, he pulled his sword out of the ground, while the other formed a small glowing circle in the air.
"Kid, get back behind the house!" he said shortly without looking at him.
Kael stood there stunned. Up close, the man seemed older than he had expected, perhaps in his early twenties. His face was still young, but his gaze was already like that of someone who had lived too long in the middle of war.
The monster growled and lunged.
The man in the red robe met it without fear. He shifted his foot, angled his body, then slashed from the side. A line of red light shot out from his sword and cut through the air with a long hissing sound. The monster tried to dodge, but one of its arms was still partially severed, turning into black smoke that scattered across the ground.
Kael backed away, panting heavily. He stared at the man, then at the staff in his own hand, then at the monster still standing.
"I… I don't know why—"
"No need to explain now!" the man cut him off. "If you want to live, stop standing there like a post!"
Kael clenched his jaw. The words were harsh, but for some reason they made his mind clearer.
The monster let out a low sound, then its body began to tremble violently. From its back, two small shadows burst out like fragments of mist, forming new creatures that were smaller but faster. They darted left and right, trying to surround them.
The man in the red robe clicked his tongue softly. "Still have tricks?"
He lifted his left hand. The small glowing circle from before transformed into three red rings floating in the air. Kael held his breath as the three rings spun, then exploded at once into a dozen thin blades of fire that pierced through the air in every direction.
The two shadow beasts were instantly destroyed and dissolved into black smoke.
The remaining main monster roared in fury. This time, it did not attack the man in the red robe. Instead, it turned back toward Kael.
Kael froze again.
Not just from fear. There was something in the monster's gaze that felt different. As if the creature was not merely looking at his body, but at something inside him. Something Kael himself did not yet understand.
The golden light in his hand pulsed once.
The monster leapt.
The man in the red robe tried to cut it off, but he was too late. Kael saw the black shadow rushing at him, claws spread wide. His reflex told him to run. But this time, his body did not flee.
Instead, he raised the training staff with both hands.
Even he did not know why.
When the monster's claw struck the staff, a heavy impact rang out. The ground beneath Kael's feet cracked, and his body was forced backward several steps. His hands hurt terribly, as if his bones were about to break. But the staff… did not shatter immediately.
For a brief moment, a thin layer of light seemed to hold back the monster's attack.
Kael stared in shock.
"What…?"
The man in the red robe also looked surprised. "That's…"
The monster went berserk, pressing harder. Kael gritted his teeth, his legs trembling. He had no strength to hold it back. His arms screamed in pain. Yet deep within him, that echo rolled again—clearer this time, like a pulse from a tightly locked room.
Not a voice. Not words.
More like a memory that was not his own.
Kael felt something flowing through his chest. Warm. Deep. Then his palm shone even brighter.
The golden cracks in the training staff widened.
And the monster was hurled backward.
Not by Kael's strike.
More like by an invisible force that burst out from within his own body.
The monster rolled across the ground, its black form breaking apart into smoke. Kael staggered, almost falling. His vision blurred. He looked at his own hand in disbelief, then at the monster now shrieking in rage.
In the distance, the sound of quick footsteps could be heard. Eron finally appeared from the village road, carrying the long wooden staff Kael had always thought was only a walking stick. The old man's face was cold, far more serious than before.
"Kael!" he shouted. "Don't force it out again!"
Kael turned in confusion. "What was that just now?"
Eron did not answer immediately. He planted his staff into the ground, and something strange happened. Faint blue lines spread from beneath his feet, forming a thin circle like a complex net. Kael had never seen magic like this before. Not an explosion. Not fire. More like a sealing formation—quiet, but immensely powerful.
The monster leapt again, but the moment it touched the edge of the blue circle, its body jerked violently. As if it had slammed its head into an invisible wall.
"Now!" Eron said.
The man in the red robe moved like lightning. In a single step, he appeared at the monster's side. His sword spun in a red arc that was almost beautiful, then sliced through the creature's neck right in the middle of its motion.
This time, the monster did not stand a chance.
Its body tore apart into fragments of black smoke that dispersed into the air, then slowly faded away like ash scattered by the wind.
Silence.
For a few seconds, the village was filled only with the sound of panicked breathing and the faint crying of a few people hiding behind their houses. Smoke and dust hung in the air. Kael still stood there with the training staff in his hand, his knees nearly giving way. His palm ached, burned, and throbbed, as if a second heart had just awakened there.
The man in the red robe let out a long breath, then slid his sword back into its sheath. He looked at Kael differently now. Not just as a reckless village boy. There was something in his eyes like sharp curiosity.
"What's your name?" he asked.
Kael was still slightly dazed. "Kael…"
The man nodded slightly. "I'm Riven."
Mira came out from behind the house, still pale and trembling. "Are you okay?" she asked Kael.
Kael nodded weakly, though in truth his body felt like it had been beaten repeatedly. "I… maybe."
Eron walked over. His gaze dropped to the training staff in Kael's hand. The golden cracks on its surface had already begun to fade, though not completely.
"Get inside," he said curtly.
Kael looked at him. "What was that just now?"
"Inside. Now."
"Eron—"
"I said inside."
The old man's tone made Kael swallow the question that was about to escape his lips. Mira immediately pulled his arm, and in the end, he obeyed. The three of them went into the house, while Riven remained outside, checking the surroundings and making sure no other shadow beasts were left behind.
Inside, the atmosphere felt cramped and stifling. Kael sat on a wooden chair, still unable to steady his breathing. Eron stood in front of him, while Mira paced back and forth anxiously.
"I saw light in his hand," Mira said quickly. "That was magic, right? But he hasn't awakened yet."
Kael looked at his own palm. The warmth was still lingering there. "I didn't do anything."
"That's exactly the problem," Eron replied.
Kael looked up. "What do you mean?"
Eron was silent for a moment, as if choosing the safest words. Then he let out a slow breath.
"There are powers that do not grow in the ordinary way," he said. "Sometimes they appear first, before the body, mind, or soul is ready to bear them."
Kael stared at him, confused and wary. "What kind of power?"
Eron did not answer immediately. He looked at the training staff in Kael's hand, then into Kael's eyes.
"I'm not sure yet," he said at last. "But if my guess is right, you are standing on the edge of something far greater than the awakening trial."
Kael felt his throat go dry. "Greater than what?"
Eron answered in a low voice, almost like a whisper.
"Greater than your life in this village."
Outside, Riven called from the front of the house, his voice serious. "You'd better come out soon. The rift above the hill still hasn't disappeared."
Kael rose almost reflexively. Mira also turned toward the window.
Eron closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. His gaze was sharp, hard, and this time there was something strange inside it—as if an old decision had just been forced awake.
"Kael," he said softly, "from this moment on, do not think of today as an ordinary day."
Kael looked at him.
Eron turned toward the hill in the distance. From there, the cracked sky was still visible, thin but real, like a wound that refused to close.
Because in the world of Eclipsia, wounds like that never appeared without reason.
And if something had already begun to awaken within Kael, then his life would never return to being simple again.