"I still couldn't see my face."
It was the next day's morning, Velmir stared at the mirror, behind him, a familiar silhouette appeared, mirrored back. He reached his hand instinctively, but recalled it.
"Give my body back." The figure of the real Velmir haunted him, asked him, and also... begged him.
His face turned pale, and he froze, trying to ignore it. Yet, the voice echoed through his soul. Like a knife, it plunged deep, leaving Velmir bleeding for his choice.
He didn't say much, yet his actions proved his guilt.
Maybe the cost of this body was Velmir's life.
He tried to run, run hastily to escape the reality that he had done to Velmir.
Lost in thoughts, Velmir came to the entrance door- until a cry broke through his heavy mind, "Gah!" - a girl blurted out. Velmir wasn't paying attention and bumped into her.
Luckily, he was fast enough to catch the girl. They stared at each other, straight in the eyes, and that's when he realized, this girl has the same face as the dragon-horn girl he had seen!
Though they looked alike, this girl had black hair instead, and there were no horns or the mysterious energy that the other girl gave.
Just as Velmir was about to bow, Lucas appeared behind him, bowed along with him, and spoke.
"On behalf of my younger brother, Luminian Valdric, I offer you our sincerest apologies, Lady Cielfir." His voice was gentle and full of respect.
"Oh, so you were the mysterious brother of Lucas? For 16 years, no one had seen you! "
She returned a friendly smile, and beneath it, held a trace of curiosity. Unlike the cool manner of the white hair girl.
Yet still, her presence had a strong pressure in it.
Quickly enough, she then went to the garden after greetings.
As for Velmir, he was confused and questioned.
"This is one of my identities? No...it couldn't be...Was he created this identity on purpose? But 16 years...how?
The mystery that was shown in front of him quickly swept away his guilt, but it was just temporary.
"This is your name when you join Niren Academy. I've organized a party to announce your arrival, and it will start in a week."
The news was surprising, but it wasn't all. "Oh, forgot to tell you, your studies will begin after a month," Lucas added.
Velmir couldn't hold in, he blurted out.
"But you told me that it would take about a year. Was the scheduled time earlier than it was planned?"
Lucas' expression shifted, his lips shook once as his worried eyes fell into pain.
"You've slumbered for nearly a year."
Velmir wasn't expecting this answer; in his mind, things happened in seconds.
What caused him to sleep for almost a year?
Was the conflict that painful?
He didn't reply or question anything, but came to Lucas's private training area with him.
In the garden pavilion, Elize Cielfir sat down alone, chewing cookies while looking at Velmir with glittering eyes.
"...You fool... You left me for 8 years... I thought you were dead...you liar."
She couldn't breathe, her heart pounded loudly as tears dripped from the edge of her eyes. Eyes of pain, but also love.
Through the stone path, Velmir followed Lucas until they stopped at the stone estate. The two stood opposite each other, and Lucas was the first to speak.
"I can guarantee that you will study in A class, but to secure your rank, you have to learn spear technique and our ancestral art of movement, Starsborn Art: the Farcasted Flow. I'll perform it first."
To Velmir's surprise, he could learn a moveset that was not taught to an outsider. This convinced him more about the reason behind Lucas's act. "He owned me? Or was it something more important?"
While he was still trying to put forward a theory, Lucas started.
He formed a blood spear, without a specific stance, he moved in an unexpected way, just like he gave his body to nature, becoming a flow of water.
Every time he takes a step, all the unnecessary action is removed; he does it over and over. It was only about 15 different ways to take a step, yet they were arranged perfectly, from the 1st move to the 15th move, complicated but also freely arranged.
That's when Velmir realized.
"Those moves are what I've seen, so that's its orders. No wonder I can't fully mimic him."
Slowly, he asked Lucas to do it over and over while inspecting thoroughly, each gesture, each look of Lucas, the way he changed his center of gravity, all was perfectly observed.
Velmir entered the focus-state while reminding himself, "Only if I could survive, Velmir could." The world around was faded into silence, leaving only Lucas and him whispering.
"Water..flows? The currents...?
Hours passed, and in his attempt to memorize and analyze the moves, he finally stopped.
Velmir took a spear and tried it out for the first time. First step to the right, lower the center of gravity, moved his leg to create advantages and speed up, all perfectly copied, yet he did not succeed and fell onto the ground.
"It was...my body."
Everything was told without a mistake, but he felt it; his body couldn't.
It wasn't about his talent; he was doing great, but the thing that held him back was his body.
It's an untrained body for a year, compared to a normal person, it'd be a great one, which can even oppose a hard-working guard, but was it flexible and durable enough?
Even if his mind could keep up with the movements, would his body?
The core answer was there, so he changed his direction.
The books he had read were just glazing over the old kings; they were not useful enough. Now, he knew what to do.
"I have to train my body," - Velmir said with ambition in his voice as he slowly stood up, then quickly turned to Lucas.
"Can you hel-" .... He stopped. Lucas wasn't there. That's when he realized the moon was high; he was focused so much that he wasn't aware of time.
"Forget it, I'll ask him tomorrow."
He then came back to his room and took a bath. Velmir wore a luxury set of sleep clothes and went to the balcony with a glass of red wine. He talked to himself and to the stars.
"Stars, I always love watching it....I wonder, are they watching it too?"
"I miss you all, wait for me..."
In the dark midnight, moonlight shone through everything, pointing at Velmir, revealing a tormented face - breaking the mask he always wore.
He clasped his hand as his fingers shook lightly, and raised his head, looking at the moon with despairing eyes that turned red at the corners.
"Velmir...I'm so sorry...forgive me...I can't..."
Under the same sky, Lucas sat on the rooftop, looking at Velmir.
Grief carved lines into his face as he quietly observed.
Behind, a person with a face that had similar features to his asked.
"You don't want to talk to him?" a deep and similar voice to Lucas's questioned him, while he remained the same. Still, the man replied.
"It's fine, but can you promise me? Protect him..."