Chapter 70 ( Part 01)
Castrone did not notice it at first.
The morning bells rang as usual. Students flooded the gates of Castrone High, laughter echoing against concrete walls, footsteps overlapping like the ticking of a careless clock.
The world moved forward, unaware that something important had quietly slipped away.
Only one desk stood empty.
Alok noticed it the moment he entered the classroom.
Third row. Second seat by the window.
Empty.
No bag.
No books.
No familiar presence humming softly in the background.
He paused mid-step.
For a brief, irrational second, his mind rejected what his eyes were seeing as if reality itself had made a mistake.
"…She's late?" he muttered.
Rihan dropped his bag beside his desk and followed Alok's gaze. His brow creased.
"That's weird. Ceya's never late."
The words felt heavier than they should have.
Alok sat down slowly, his fingers brushing the edge of his desk. The wood felt cold. Unwelcoming. As though it had forgotten its owner.
The classroom filled. Seats were taken. Conversations overlapped.
But the empty chair remained.
Unanswered.
A teacher entered, placed her files down, and spoke casually as if announcing the weather.
"Before we begin, I'll inform you that Ceya will no longer be attending this school."
The sentence landed quietly.
Too quietly.
Alok's pen slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor.
His heartbeat skipped.
"…What?" someone whispered.
The teacher continued, uninterested in the emotional ripples spreading across the room.
"Her family has relocated abroad. Please update your records."
Relocated.
Abroad.
Just like that?
Rihan turned sharply toward Alok.
"She didn't say anything to you?"
Alok shook his head slowly.
His mind raced backward searching, replaying conversations, expressions, moments that now felt distorted.
Yesterday, she laughed.
Yesterday, she complained about homework.
Yesterday, she stood right there.
So why did it feel… wrong?
A faint warmth pressed against his chest.
The pendant.
Hidden beneath his uniform, it pulsed once subtle, controlled, deliberate.
Like a heartbeat that wasn't his.
Alok stiffened.
The pendant had only reacted like this before danger.
Before truth surfaced.
Before something unseen moved closer.
Whispers Begin
By lunchtime, the school had already rewritten Ceya's absence into rumor.
"I heard her dad suddenly changed jobs."
"No, they moved to Feilw Land."
"That country? Isn't it full of spirit legends?"
"Someone said her grandma lives there."
Each theory contradicted the last, yet all shared a strange urgency as if the truth refused to settle into a single shape.
Alok listened silently.
Feilw Land.
The name rang hollow in his ears.
Too distant.
Too sudden.
Rihan leaned closer, lowering his voice.
"Alok… this doesn't feel normal."
Alok stared at his untouched food.
"She would've told us."
He was certain of that.
Ceya wasn't the kind of person who vanished.
Unless something made her.
The pendant warmed again this time longer.
A faint echo brushed his thoughts.
Not a voice.
Not words.
A sensation.
A pull.
As though a thread had been stretched between two distant points… and tightened.
Alok pressed his fingers into his palm.
"Not now," he thought.
But the unease did not fade.
Across the Sea Feilw Land
At the same moment, far beyond Castrone's borders, beneath a sky unfamiliar to her
Ceya stood before iron gates engraved with foreign letters.
KUA Girls' High School
The building rose tall and pale, its windows reflecting clouds that seemed heavier than those back home.
She adjusted her bag strap.
Her chest felt… strange.
Like something had been removed without leaving a wound.
Students passed her speaking a language she understood but did not feel attached to. Their laughter sounded distant, muffled as though heard underwater.
She should have been nervous.
She should have been excited.
Instead, she felt empty.
A woman's voice echoed in her memory.
"You'll be safe here."
Her mother's hand had been warm that morning.
Too warm.
Ceya touched her forehead unconsciously.
Why did it feel like she was forgetting something important?
Something precious?
She shook her head and stepped forward.
The gates closed behind her with a metallic echo.
Somewhere far away
A pendant pulsed.
A destiny shifted.
And neither of them realized yet…
This separation was not coincidence.
It was the opening move of something ancient.
Something divine.
Something that had already chosen them both.