The ominous weight of Juno's final words settled over the campfire like a suffocating blanket. Kai stared at his mentor, trying to process what he'd just heard while desperately hoping he'd misunderstood something crucial.
"What do you mean it won't be for too long, Juno-san?" Kai's voice cracked slightly, betraying his growing anxiety. "Isn't that wall supposed to be huge? Impregnable? Built from the sacrifice of legendary heroes? What could possibly be wrong with it?"
Juno's violet eyes reflected the dying firelight as he considered his response. When he spoke, his voice carried a weight that made the forest around them seem to hold its breath.
"For several decades now, something... unusual has been happening to the Hiro Wall. It's not under attack, at least not in any way we can detect or understand. The demons aren't trying to break it down, there haven't been any massive magical assaults, and structurally it remains as solid as ever."
"Then what's the problem?"
"The atmosphere around the wall has begun draining its mana." Juno picked up a stick and began drawing more diagrams in the dirt, his movements sharp and frustrated. "It's like the air itself has become hungry, constantly siphoning away the magical energy that maintains the barrier's power."
Kai leaned forward, studying the crude illustrations. "But wouldn't the wall have defenses against something like that?"
"That's what makes this so disturbing. The wall was designed to be self-sustaining, constantly regenerating its power from the sacrificial essence embedded within it. But whatever is causing this drain is stronger than the wall's ability to replenish itself." Juno's expression grew increasingly grim. "It's a chain reaction. The more mana the wall loses, the weaker its defenses become. The weaker its defenses become, the faster the drain occurs."
"How fast are we talking about?"
"At the current rate? Maybe a few more years before the barrier fails completely." Juno tossed his stick into the fire, watching it catch flame with obvious frustration. "And when that happens, every demon in Tenebris will come pouring through like water through a broken dam."
Kai felt his stomach drop. The scope of such a catastrophe was almost impossible to comprehend. "But surely someone's trying to fix it? The kingdoms must be working together to find a solution?"
"Oh, they're trying. The finest magical researchers from all three kingdoms have been studying the problem for years. Unfortunately, understanding what's causing the drain and actually stopping it are two very different challenges." Juno's voice carried a bitter edge. "Some theorize it's a delayed effect of the Dark Spirits' influence. Others believe it might be connected to the natural decay of the heroes' sacrifice after three centuries. A few scholars even suggest that—"
"ATSUYA-KUN!" Juno's explanation cut off abruptly as his eyes fell on something that made his expression shift from grave concern to absolute outrage. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?"
Kai blinked, confused by the sudden change in tone. "What do you mean, Juno-san? I was just listening to your—" He followed Juno's gaze downward and immediately understood the problem.
The food. All of it. Gone.
While Juno had been explaining the impending apocalypse, Kai had apparently been unconsciously stress-eating their entire remaining supply of dried rations. Empty wrappers and crumbs were scattered around him like evidence of some kind of nervous breakdown.
"I... uh..." Kai stared at the devastation, his mind struggling to form a coherent explanation. "I was concentrating really hard on what you were saying and I guess I just—"
"You just devoured three days' worth of food while I was explaining how the world might end!" Juno's voice reached a pitch that probably scared wildlife for miles around. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get supplies in this part of the forest?"
"I'm sorry! I didn't realize I was—"
"Sorry doesn't fill my stomach, you bottomless pit!" Juno lunged across the fire with the graceful fury of an offended cat. "I spend all this time educating your ignorant brain about world history and this is how you repay me?"
What followed was a chaotic wrestling match that would have been embarrassing for both participants if there had been anyone around to witness it. Juno, despite his superior combat skills, was hampered by the fact that he was trying not to actually injure his student. Kai, meanwhile, was motivated by the pure panic of someone who knew he'd screwed up spectacularly and was now facing the consequences.
"Give me back my jerky!" Juno demanded, somehow managing to get Kai in a headlock while simultaneously searching his pockets for hidden food.
"I already ate it!" Kai gasped, trying to escape while also protecting himself from Juno's increasingly creative revenge tactics. "It's gone! Digested! Part of my biological processes now!"
"Then I'll just have to extract it the hard way!"
The absurd battle continued for several more minutes, involving increasingly ridiculous combat techniques and a lot of undignified scrambling around their campsite. Eventually, both combatants collapsed in exhaustion, breathing heavily and glaring at each other across the now-scattered remains of their camp.
"You," Juno panted, pointing an accusatory finger at Kai, "are the most problematic student I've ever had."
"You," Kai replied between gasps, "are the most violent teacher in existence."
"I'm not violent, I'm educational."
"Those aren't mutually exclusive!"
Despite their mutual irritation, both of them started laughing. The sound echoed through the forest, a bizarrely cheerful counterpoint to the apocalyptic conversation they'd been having just minutes before.
"Well," Juno said finally, sitting up and surveying the chaos around them, "I suppose we'll just have to hunt for breakfast tomorrow. Hope you've gotten better at not dying horribly, because I'm not sharing anything I catch with you."
"That seems fair," Kai admitted, feeling genuinely guilty about his unconscious food consumption.
They spent the next hour setting up their sleeping arrangements in sullen but companionable silence. The fire had burned down to glowing embers, casting everything in a warm orange light that made the forest seem almost peaceful despite the ominous knowledge now weighing on both their minds.
As Kai settled into his makeshift bed of gathered leaves and moss, he found his thoughts drifting away from impending doom and toward more personal concerns. The weight of everything he'd learned over the past few days pressed down on him like a physical burden.
*Why was I summoned here?* The question had been nagging at him since his arrival, but now it felt more urgent. *If I really was brought to this world for some purpose, what am I supposed to do about any of this?*
He stared up at the star-filled sky, noting constellations that definitely didn't exist in his old world. Everything here was alien, from the magic-saturated air to the casual discussions about demons and apocalyptic barriers. Even Juno, for all his companionship and training, was essentially a stranger who'd decided to help him for reasons Kai didn't fully understand.
*I'm acting happy,* he realized with uncomfortable clarity. *Playing along like this is all some kind of adventure. But deep down, I'm completely lost.*
The truth was that despite Juno's presence and protection, Kai felt profoundly alone. He had no friends here, no family, no connections to anything familiar. He was floating in an ocean of strangeness with only one person keeping him from drowning—and even that relationship was built on circumstances rather than genuine understanding.
*What if Juno gets tired of helping me? What if something happens to him? What would I do then?*
These troubling thoughts followed him into sleep, coloring his dreams with uncertainty and isolation. But as the night deepened, his restless mind was interrupted by something else entirely.
He found himself standing once again in that surreal realm of silver and violet sky, surrounded by the impossible vastness he remembered from his first night in this world. The air hummed with power, and distant stars spun in patterns that hurt to observe directly.
And there, in the distance, stood the same mysterious figure who had spoken to him before.
The being's form remained indistinct, wrapped in robes that seemed to be woven from starlight itself. But those celestial blue eyes were exactly as Kai remembered them—ancient, sad, and filled with a terrible knowledge.
When the figure spoke, its voice carried across the impossible distance with perfect clarity.
"Time... is running out."
The words hit Kai like a physical blow, carrying implications and urgency that his conscious mind couldn't fully grasp. He tried to move toward the figure, to ask questions, to demand explanations, but found himself frozen in place.
"Time is running out," the voice repeated, and now Kai could hear something else in those words—desperation. Fear. The sound of someone who had carried an impossible burden for far too long and was finally reaching the limits of endurance.
The vision began to fade, reality bleeding in around the edges like water soaking through paper. Kai tried to call out, to ask what he was supposed to do, but his voice made no sound in this place between worlds.
The last thing he saw was those blue eyes, filled with an apologetic sadness that made his heart ache.
Then he was awake, gasping and disoriented in the pre-dawn darkness of the forest. His heart hammered against his ribs, and cold sweat covered his skin despite the mild temperature. The dream—or vision, or whatever it had been—felt more real than the physical world around him.
*Time is running out.* The words echoed in his mind with the weight of prophecy.
Kai lay there in the darkness, staring up at the gradually lightening sky and trying to make sense of what he'd experienced. The coincidence was too much to ignore—first Juno's revelation about the weakening wall, and now this mysterious warning from the same figure who had appeared when he was first summoned.
*It's connected somehow. It has to be.*
As the sun began to rise, painting the forest in shades of gold and green, Kai heard movement from the other side of their camp. Juno was stirring, his internal clock apparently as reliable as everything else about him.
"Morning, Atsuya-kun," Juno's voice called out, already carrying that familiar note of cheerful sadism. "Ready for another day of not dying horribly while I try to beat some competence into you?"
Kai sat up, brushing leaves from his hair and trying to shake off the lingering effects of his disturbing dream. Despite everything—the apocalyptic revelations, the mysterious visions, the profound uncertainty about his place in this world—he found himself smiling slightly at Juno's predictable greeting.
"Same routine as always, Juno-san?"
"Same routine as always," Juno confirmed, already beginning to stretch in preparation for whatever torments he had planned. "Though today we'll have to add hunting to the curriculum, since someone decided to eat our entire food supply while I was trying to educate them."
As Kai prepared to face another day of training, combat, and slowly growing stronger in a world that seemed determined to test him at every turn, he couldn't shake the echo of those words from his dream.
*Time is running out.*
Whatever was coming, whatever role he was meant to play in the events that would follow, he was going to need every ounce of strength and skill he could develop.