POV - Emilia
Three months have passed since our first expedition outside Sephros. Three months since I first saw the real threat to the world. Goblins, strange beasts... symbols carved into stone that none of the adults could identify. No one could say whether they were warnings or vestiges of something forgotten. And that unsettled me.
Even so, it all felt... distant now. Like a memory that fades away as other things take its place.
In these three months, routine returned. Training, theory, simulations, physical work. But not everything was as it was before. I wasn't the same as before either.
"Watch out, Emilia! It's coming over the top!"
I jumped back just before the instructor descended with a spinning feint, trying to trip me. I crouched and rolled to the side, stabbing the practice sword into the wooden floor before propelling myself with a spin toward his flank. My movement was precise. I cleanly disarmed him. The instructor's wooden sword flew off and fell to the side.
"Point for Emilia!" shouted one of the cadets.
"Third win in a row..." whispered someone else.
The instructor, one of the veterans of the Sephros defense corps, smiled as he massaged his wrist.
"You're fast. Faster than anyone your age."
"Is that a compliment?"
"...Or a warning," he laughed.
My chest rose and fell rapidly. Not from exhaustion, but from adrenaline. I knew everyone was watching. Some with admiration, others with respect... and some still with suspicion. Because I was still "that girl" who performed a forbidden ritual. "The one who defied the Goddess," as some whispered.
But little by little... those voices became less firm.
And all thanks to my determination.
After training, while the others left, I stayed a little longer. I knew he would come. He always did after class. And I was right.
Luahn arrived with his sword on his back, his hair slightly tousled by the wind, a piece of paper in his hand.
"Ready for another round?" he asked, shaking the paper.
"What's that? A contract for your defeat?"
"It's my list of excuses in case I lose," he smiled.
I laughed. I expected it. It was part of our routine now. We faced each other at least three times a week, training together, polishing our styles. Luahn had improved a lot. Not just physically: his sword style was clean, disciplined, almost elegant. He still had trouble using his element, but the ice responded more and more firmly each time.
And seeing him grow made me happy.
"Hey, Luahn..."
"Hmm?"
"Do you know that I'm already able to put up a fight against one of the adult guardians?"
He glanced at me sideways. He didn't seem surprised.
"It makes sense. You don't train like the others."
"And that's a good thing?"
"It's... admirable. You're afraid of losing, aren't you?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"Only because I train the same way. But you've always been one step ahead."
"Don't say that. I'm not alone."
I looked at him. There was something special in his gaze. He never said anything he didn't feel. And that made him different from everyone else.
"Luahn..."
"Yes?"
"When the day comes... I want to fight with you, not behind you, not in front of you, but with you."
"Together?"
"Always."
He didn't answer right away. He just stood there silently, looking into my eyes. The sunset bathed the training ground in golden hues. And for a moment, the world stood still.
"Then... let's train until that's possible."
I dragged him into one last fight. Wooden swords, heavy breathing, sweat, and smiles. Sometimes I won. Sometimes he did. Sometimes we ended up in a draw, panting on the grass, laughing like fools.
"You have a habit of carrying everything on your shoulders," he said at the end.
"And you have a habit of trying to catch up with me."
We lay side by side under the starry sky. He turned his face toward me. I was already looking at him.
"Thank you for training with me," I whispered.
"Thank you for never giving up on me," he replied.
I felt the heat rising to my cheeks.
"Sometimes... I'm afraid I won't measure up."
"To whom?"
"To you."
He sat up, serious.
"I'm the one trying to catch up to you, Emilia. Not the other way around."
I sat down too, surprised.
"So... shall we keep running?"
"Until the end," he said, holding out his hand.
I took it without hesitation.
"Until the end."
My thoughts that night were filled with emotions. My parents noticed my mood, but they didn't say anything. Mom looked at me with that smile of someone who knows more than she says.
I walked down the hall to my room, Luahn's words still echoing in my mind.
Together. Until the end.
I clenched my fingers, remembering his hand in mine.
One step closer to that dream... to my dream.
*
POV - Luahn
I can't say exactly when it started.
Maybe it was when I turned eight. Or when the cold of the ice no longer hurt me. Or maybe it was simply when I looked in the mirror and this was my second appearance.
Because I'm not just Luahn.
I'm no longer just that mixed-race child with ears and tails that can't be seen.
I'm also William.
And every day, as I grow up, my memories come back.
They come back to me like the echo of a dream.
Some are clear: my mother Yuri, her songs, her sweet scoldings, the rice with egg she made when she was tired. Lissette, always clinging to me, asking me to read her a manga, to play with her, to protect her from nightmares.
Mia. Kana, voices, laughter, faces.
And then, silence.
I didn't remember my father.
Not his voice, not his face, not a single word he had said to me.
And that hurt more than anything else.
I felt it wasn't just forgetfulness.
I felt like I had lost him... because of me.
"You're distracted."
"I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
Emilia followed me with her gaze as she tied my bandages before our next exercise. It was a simulated combat between cadets. Nothing too formal, but always observed by instructors, and sometimes even by members of the council.
And, as always, my opponent was Emil.
Ever since I awakened my Yang energy three years ago, violently and in front of everyone,
Emil never looked at me the same way again. Before, he used to tease me. Now... he sized me up. He studied me. As if I were his personal enemy.
"Be careful this time. Emil seems quieter than usual."
"That's a good thing, isn't it?"
"No. It means he's planning something."
I nodded with a half-smile. Emilia always cared about what happened to me. She hid it, of course. She disguised it as advice or scolding. But the way she looked at me changed when I was in danger.
The fight began.
My sword clashed with his again and again. Emil was agile, more so than before. His steps were more solid, more deliberate. He used his two elements, wind and earth, intelligently. I noticed it from the start: his control had improved, a lot.
But mine... mine was failing.
The ice wasn't forming precisely. My thrusts fell short. I felt a strange beating in my chest, as if something else wanted to come out. As if the mana inside me was stirring, it was becoming unbalanced.
"What's wrong with me...?"
I knew. It was because of my father, because of my memories, it was preventing me from being in balance so I could control my yin and yang energy, affecting my element.
Not knowing what had happened to him in my other life.
Not remembering anything except the pain affected my concentration.
A blow snapped me out of my thoughts. Emil took advantage of the distraction to launch a whirlwind that knocked me back. Then he hardened the ground beneath my feet, trapping me for a moment.
"You're going to lose this time, half-breed!" he snapped.
I propelled myself backward with ice, breaking the ground. I narrowly dodged him. Emilia shouted something, but I didn't hear her. Emil charged again, aiming his sword at my side.
I acted on reflex.
And I felt it.
The energy. The heat. A white, pure, furious flame burst from my arm.
Emil's sword collided with a wall of fire that shouldn't have existed.
"AAAAAAAH!"
Emil's scream shook me to my core. I had flown three meters backward, crashing hard to the ground. The fire had reached him, partially burning his right arm and leg.
I tried to approach him. Even though I didn't like him, he was a comrade, not an enemy we should hurt.
"Emil!"
"Don't touch him!"
Remin stepped in, his face contorted with contempt.
"Stop it, Remin!" Emilia shouted, approaching.
"I just wanted to help him!"
"This was your fault!" Remin yelled at me. "Your very existence is a danger!"
Everyone around us was silent. All that could be heard were the footsteps of the adults approaching, the crackling of the dying fire... and my heavy breathing.
"This proves it! He's not like us! The founding families said so from the beginning!"
"Oh, really? And what do you know about him?" Emilia replied.
"I know he's an aberration. Yang and Yin should not coexist! What's next? Sending him on missions with us? We could die!"
"Shut up!" Emilia stepped forward.
"He is not one of us!"
"Then neither am I!"
Emilia's words left everyone in shock.
Remin looked at her as if she had just spat on the council.
"You don't understand. This isn't going to end here," he muttered.
Later, as Emil was taken to the healing room, I overheard part of the conversation between the instructors.
"We'll have to report this to the council..."
"That fire... it wasn't normal, it was white flames."
"Too much power for a child his age."
That night, I didn't sleep.
I thought about what had happened. About the fire. About Emil.
About Remin's gaze.
And about Emilia's hand, which had grabbed mine to prevent them from blaming me further.
"I'm with you. No matter what happens," he whispered before we parted ways.
But I knew the damage was done.
Rumors would spread.
Some were already talking about "measures."
That if I didn't show "loyalty to the clan," I could be expelled from the academy.
Expelled from everything.
And, deep down inside... I felt fear.
Not of being excluded.
But that they would do it to protect others from me.
*
POV - Melhe
The council chamber was silent when I arrived.
Too silent.
The members of the three founding families were already present, as were the eight wise elders and the representatives of the City Guard. They were all standing, surrounding the stone circle. Despite its title, the Council was not a democratic body; it was a mixture of tradition, duty, and political power.
And the atmosphere... was heavy.
As if everyone was waiting for someone to strike first.
"Priestess Melhe," said Feyra Matriarch of the main family house of the North, one of the oldest members, "we thank you for coming on such short notice."
I nodded calmly.
"I received the message about the incident during training. I came as soon as possible."
"So you already know what happened."
"I know that Luahn reflexively activated an unknown elemental ability, resulting in the injury of another cadet, Emil."
"A serious injury," added another elder.
I took a second before responding.
"Yes. But not lethal. And according to the reports I've read, it was an accident. Self-defense."
A murmur ran through the room.
"What is concerning," interjected Remar, patriarch of the main family house in the East, one of the families that had always opposed Luahn's presence at the academy, as well as Remin's father.
"Is that a half-breed with control over Yin and Yang could pose a real danger to everyone if no limits are placed on him."
"Place limits on him? As if he were an uncontrollable beast?" I replied sharply.
"What he means," said Farlom, a commander of the Guard, "is that there is no precedent for something like this. There has never been a recorded case of a being capable of carrying both energies in balance... and with opposing elemental abilities at such a young age."
"Exactly." Remar crossed his arms. "We're not talking about just any child. We're talking about someone who disrupted the flow of a sacred ceremony years ago. Who awakened the Yang without the guidance of any ritual. Who now, without prior training, has manifested a white fire... that we do not recognize."
His words were carefully chosen.
They wanted it to sound like a threat.
Not because of what Luahn is, but because of what he could be.
"And what do you suggest?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
This time Garien, patriarch of the main family house in the West and Emil's father, spoke up.
"More rigorous control. Constant supervision. Perhaps... a limitation on his participation in future missions until his stability is guaranteed."
"Stability?" I scoffed. "You're afraid."
Remar and Garien pressed their lips together.
"Justified fear. We don't know what it is."
"He's a child," I said.
"One who has grown up among us. Are you going to condemn him for having something that none of you understand?"
Silence.
Then a more moderate voice spoke: the wise old Arken.
"Melhe... do you think he can control it? That it's not a potential mana bomb?"
"I don't know," I said honestly.
"But he's no different from any young person who discovers their gift. How many of our warriors have not hurt others during their awakening?"
"None with two opposing energy sources. None with abilities that are not recorded in the records."
There it was.
The fear.
It wasn't about Luahn.
It was about the power they didn't control.
"You fear he will surpass your children," I said calmly.
"You fear that if Luahn, a half-breed, a child without lineage, becomes stronger than your heirs... your authority will weaken."
Some couldn't hold my gaze.
"We're not here to debate that," Garien replied through clenched teeth.
"We're here to decide what to do with him."
"Nothing," I said firmly.
"Nothing?"
"No punishment, no isolation, no repression. Luahn has shown discipline and progress. This incident must be recorded, yes. But it cannot be used to impose chains disguised as surveillance on him."
"What if Dievas disagrees with his existence?" Remar asked, in a last-ditch attempt.
"Dievas has not spoken out against it," I replied.
"And as far as I know, his silence is acceptance."
A new murmur.
They knew they couldn't contradict that.
Then Arken spoke again.
"I suggest we maintain observation... without direct intervention. Let him remain in the academy. But with regular reports. For now."
I nodded.
It was a half-victory, but a victory nonetheless.
"And remember this," I added before leaving, "the more you try to hold on to what you don't understand, the more likely you are to lose it."
That night, in my sanctuary, I sat in silence.
Staring at the white flame of a special candle.
"Luahn..." I whispered.
"They're going to try to tie you down. Control you. Define you according to their fear. But you... you were chosen for something greater. You don't know how much yet."
I clenched my fingers. One night, Dievas gave me a message written in the air, which I never showed to the council.
And there, written in her heavenly handwriting in front of me, was a phrase:
"He is not what they expect.
He is a guide, a steady horizon."
And at that moment, I knew.
The conflict had only just begun.