That night, after Elric fell asleep in his chair, Kale sat awake staring at his hands. He replayed the surge again and again—the raw power that had flooded through him, the weight of it, the terror.
He stretched out his fingers. A faint glow formed between them, just enough to light the space around him.
For a moment, it almost felt peaceful.
Then something flickered at the edge of the light.
A whisper—soft, echoing from nowhere and everywhere.
"You can't hide forever, Kale."
The light in his palm shattered. He jumped to his feet, scanning the darkness, but there was no one there. Only the still air of the tunnels, the hum of old magic, and the pounding of his own heart.
But he knew what he'd felt. That voice hadn't come from outside.
It had come from within.
The next morning, Elric found him pale and silent, staring at the stabilizer orb.
"You look like you saw a ghost," Elric muttered.
Kale didn't answer. He just whispered to himself, too quietly for the older man to hear:
"Maybe I did."
Outside, far above the earth, the Witch Council gathered in their marble hall.
A crimson-robed figure opened her eyes as a mirror of mana flared before her.
"He's awakening," she said.
"The curse is beginning to stir."
Every time Kale closed his eyes, he heard it — the whisper.
Sometimes soft, sometimes sharp like glass scraping against his mind.
"You're wasting it."
"They fear you because they know what you can do."
He tried to ignore it, burying himself in training with Elric.
But the more he fought to silence it, the stronger it became.
"Again," Elric commanded.
The air in the tunnel shimmered with heat as Kale summoned a faint orb of blue mana between his palms. Sweat dripped down his neck.
"Keep it steady. Focus."
"I'm trying—"
"Don't try, do."
Kale grit his teeth, the orb flickering wildly. The whisper slid back into his head like smoke:
> "He doesn't understand. You were never meant to control it. You were meant to become it."
The mana flared uncontrollably, forcing Elric to throw up a barrier. Sparks crackled through the air.
"Enough!" the old wizard snapped. "You'll bring the ceiling down!"
Kale gasped, hands trembling as the energy fizzled out. The walls dripped with condensation, the air heavy and charged.
Elric's glare softened when he saw Kale's expression—half terror, half despair.
"I can't do this," Kale whispered. "It keeps… talking to me."
Elric froze. "What?"
"The mana. It has a voice. It knows things."
The older wizard's face darkened. He motioned for Kale to sit. "That's not your mana speaking, boy. That's something else — something bound to it."
Kale frowned. "Bound?"
Elric sighed. "Long ago, when wizards still had power, there were experiments. Spells meant to merge souls with mana sources, to create infinite reservoirs. Every one of them ended in madness or death."
Kale's stomach twisted. "You think I'm one of them?"
"I think," Elric said quietly, "you're carrying something that was never meant to exist."
Silence filled the space. Kale stared down at his hands — the faint blue veins pulsing just beneath his skin.
"He's lying," the voice hissed inside him. "He's afraid of you."
He clenched his fists. "Stop…"
"What?" Elric asked.
"Nothing." Kale forced the word out, standing abruptly. "Let's train again."
Elric studied him for a long moment before nodding. "Fine. But we change methods. If you can't control it by will, we'll start with intent. Magic isn't just energy — it's purpose. You must decide what your mana wants to do."
That night, after hours of practice, Kale sat alone by the lantern light.
He took out his father's stabilizer orb, watching its faint pulse mirror his own heartbeat.
"Why me?" he murmured.
The whisper answered.
"Because you are what they fear most — a balance they cannot destroy."
Kale's eyes glowed faintly, the blue deepening to violet for the first time.
He didn't notice the rune embedded inside the orb shift — a faint symbol unlocking itself in response to his words.
Somewhere above, in the Witch Council's sanctum, a dozen mirrors flickered at once.
The crimson-robed witch's eyes widened.
"The seal… is cracking."
And deep in the tunnels below, Kale felt something stir — like a heartbeat echoing from the center of the earth.
"Soon," the voice whispered. "We will become whole."