The tunnel eventually opened into a forgotten subway platform, the old rails gleaming faintly in the lantern light. Makeshift shelves lined the walls, filled with tools, scrolls, and mechanical parts.
"This is your hideout?" Kale asked.
"Call it home for now," Elric said, setting down his lantern. "You'll be safe here. The witches' magic can't reach these tunnels easily — too much iron, too many wards."
Kale dropped his pack and sat, exhaustion finally catching up to him. He stared at the stabilizer orb, its blue light now faint, flickering weakly.
Elric crouched beside him. "That device of your father's — it's not just a suppressor. It's a key."
Kale blinked. "A key to what?"
"To your potential," Elric said simply. "He told me once that he built a way to control your power, not just hide it. But he never had time to finish."
Kale's heartbeat quickened. "Control it? You mean— I could use it?"
Elric's eyes narrowed. "Careful, boy. Power like yours isn't meant to exist. There's a reason the Council fears it. Even those of us who've lived long enough to hate them know what happens when mana like yours is unbound."
Kale's gaze darkened. "They killed my parents."
"Yes. And they'll come for you next."
Kale clenched his fists. "Then I'll kill them first."
Elric studied him quietly, the flickering light revealing a storm behind those blue eyes — pain, fury, and something older, deeper.
"Revenge is a dangerous teacher," he said finally. "But if you're going to survive long enough to take it, you'll need more than anger."
He stood, turning toward a cabinet and pulling out a long, slender staff engraved with runes. He tossed it to Kale.
"Lesson one," he said. "Control begins with restraint. Sit. Breathe. Feel your mana before it feels you."
Kale caught the staff clumsily, the wood warm against his palms. As he sat cross-legged on the cold floor, he felt the faint hum under his skin — the same energy that had killed his parents, the same that now threatened to consume him.
His voice was barely a whisper.
"I'll master it. I'll master all of it."
Elric watched silently as the first flicker of mana sparked in the air — blue and trembling.
Somewhere deep in the tunnels, a faint vibration echoed in response.
The witches could still feel him.
That night, when Elric finally left him to rest, Kale sat alone, staring into the dim lantern glow. He turned the stabilizer over in his hands again and again, until the ache in his chest burned more than the exhaustion in his body.
He lifted it to his forehead, closing his eyes.
"I swear," he whispered to the dark. "I'll make them pay. I'll change everything."
The orb pulsed softly — one heartbeat, then another — as if sealing the vow.
Outside, far above the tunnels, lightning split the sky.
And the war began with a single promise.