The sky was still orange from the falling sun.
But nothing about this moment felt warm.
Ren and Noah stood frozen, their bodies still tingling with residual pressure from the divine light. The air around them felt heavy, thick with something that wasn't magic — something higher. Deeper.
Truth.
No words passed between them at first.
Just a look.
That was enough.
They had both been chosen.
The mythic lights had settled, and seven people across the planet had been selected. The War of Myths — once only whispers in ancient records and bedtime legends — was now real. Alive. Unstoppable.
Noah's fingers trembled slightly as he stared at his best friend.
Ren's… smile.
It wasn't a normal smile. Not the kind Noah knew from all their teasing, rooftop talks, or quiet classroom jokes.
It was the kind of smile that hid a storm.
A flash of silver.
A glint of metal.
Ren drew a pocket knife from his coat and pointed it directly at Noah's chest.
"Don't move," Ren said, voice flat. "Not a muscle."
Noah blinked. "Ren... What the hell?"
"You know me," Ren said calmly. "We're friends. But if you try anything stupid… I will kill you."
Noah raised an eyebrow, not out of fear — but confusion.
"You're really pointing a knife at your only buddy?" Noah said with a half-smirk. "Doesn't seem very friendship-like."
Ren didn't budge.
"You think I'm stupid?" he said. "You'd use that fake surprise to get close, throw me off balance with some dumb judo trick, and knock this knife out of my hand."
Noah's grin widened.
"Wow," he said, half-impressed. "You saw through me that fast, huh? Always two steps ahead. You really live up to your name, GENIUS."
Ren's voice was dead serious.
"This isn't about you. Or me. Not anymore. I'm going to forge my own path, with or without you."
They stood there in silence.
Neither blinked.
Neither dropped their guard.
Then Noah sigh, stepping just slightly back.
"So, what now?" he ask. "You going to stab me to get the way of your victory?"
"No," Ren said. "Not if I don't have to. But I will if you get in my way."
"You really are desperate to win this, huh?"
Ren just glare at him and say nothing.
Noah exhale slowly, then try to smile again. "You're grumpy as hell when you're scared, y'know that?"
"Don't push me," Ren warn.
Then, to Noah's surprise, Ren raise his left hand.
]Vondek].
A whisper. A spark.
Suddenly, a crackle of icy wind coiled around Noah's legs. Frost webbed across the ground in spiked veins, creeping fast.
Noah's eyes narrowed.
"You really want to do this?"
"Just making a point." Ren mutter with a smile.
Noah smirk. "Fine. My turn."
[Tianit]
Suddenly, a jet of flame burst from his right foot, cancelling the frost. The two spells hissed against each other in a white mist.
Ren smile faintly.
"I guess the guy who got betrayed in love still remembers how to fight."
"And you," Noah said sharply, "are still trying to kill every mage on Earth just because of a bad past and some Daddy issue."
Ren's smile vanish.
A flash — faster than before.
[Von'dek]!
This time, the ice didn't form around Noah.
It formed inside him.
His veins lit up blue for a split-second, and he gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his temple.
"Shit…!" he cursed, then clenched his fists.
[Tia'nit]
A sudden pulse of inner fire radiated from him, evaporating the invasive cold. He coughed once, then gave a tired grin.
While both ren and noah look each other and smile.
"Okay, okay, little ice kitten… I get it," Noah said. "You don't wanna talk about the past."
Ren lowered his hand slowly, exhaling.
A long pause.
Then—
"How about a truce?" he said. "Just for now."
Noah tilted his head. "Did you just suggest an alliance?"
"I'm not planning to die. Not this early," Ren muttered.
Noah grinned and offered a handshake.
"Temporary truce it is."
Ren stared at his hand… then finally took it.
But as he turned away, he muttered, "Don't get too comfortable. I will kill you in the end."
"I'd be upset if you didn't try," Noah said with a wink.
With that, they say nothing more and parted ways, heading down separate streets to their dorms, both feeling the heaviness of this moment like a new scar on their back.
The War had started.
And no one was ready.
And across the world, someone else felt it too.
Akansha froze as the world tilted—not physically, but within.
Her mother was back to moving, the lights flickered again, the fan rotated above like nothing had happened.
But she remembered.
That moment — a flash of blue, a light entering her chest, the freeze of the world, her heart pausing mid-beat. She could still feel the echo of it somewhere inside her.
She turned to her mother. "Mom… something weird happened. I think I—"
"Let me guess," her mother interrupted, flipping through TV channels. "You watched too many K-dramas again, right? That's why you're dreaming during daylight."
Akansha pouted, groaning.
"Ugh, you never take me seriously…"
"Go take a nap. No more dramas for today."
Grumbling like a cartoon character, Akansha stomped toward her room.
Her pink-and-blue panda pyjamas were already laid out. She changed, jumped into bed.
She buried herself under the blanket, whispering, "What even was that…?"
A question unspoken in words—but heard by something beyond.
Somewhere above the Earth, beyond the veil of thought and matter, something stirred...
– A Higher Reality where matter and energy don't exist everything have its own new way of existence.
Beyond the atmosphere. Beyond stars. Beyond the veil of our existence.
That place again — the erased zone in space — began to shift.
From the same void where the blue divine light had descended, something new began forming.
Not a light.
Not a voice.
A structure.
A container.
Shaped by intent.
Filled with silence and judgment.
Forged in the higher layers of reality where myths were born and fates were sealed.
It didn't come down to Earth.
Not yet.
It simply waited.
Because the time had come —
for choices to be made.