Deep within the heart of the Evernight Sect's inner island, beyond shadowed pavilions and silent courtyards, lay a secluded dungeon carved into the bones of the mountain itself. Here, in a dimly lit cell wreathed with binding seals, sat Grand Elder Shiela.

Her eyes were closed, posture poised in silent meditation, yet her brows remained furrowed with worry. Since the day the Sect Leader had seized her—declaring her actions treacherous for siding with the "wayward" youth named Aaryan—she had been kept isolated. Deprived of information, she had no knowledge of what had become of Meera… or of the boy she had sent her with.

A sudden ripple tore through the stagnant air, disrupting the oppressive stillness of the dungeon.

Light twisted, space parted—

—and Aaryan stepped out, followed by Elder Dharun and a veiled woman whose very presence seemed to distort the surroundings.

Shiela's eyes snapped open, her breath catching. "Aaryan?" she began, confusion flashing in her gaze. "Why are you here? What—"

Then she saw her.

The moment Shiela's eyes landed on Maya, her words died in her throat. Her pupils shrank. The air grew suffocating, thick as lead. Her knees nearly buckled, and even her heartbeat seemed to falter. There was no outward malice in Maya's expression, no aura of violence. But ancient power swirled around her like a slumbering tempest.

Shiela choked slightly, unable to draw breath properly. Just as her body began to tremble, Maya lifted a single finger.

With a flick—

—the cell shattered into mist, and the next moment, Shiela stood outside its confines, the sealing formations having vanished like a dream.

"…What…?" she whispered, eyes darting between them in disbelief.

Aaryan stepped forward, calm but firm. "She's a friend," he said quietly, glancing toward Maya. "You're safe."

Shiela swallowed, still stunned, her hands curling slightly. "What happened?" she asked, voice hoarse. "Where is Meera?"

Aaryan nodded reassuringly. "I sent her with Vayu. She's safe, I promise."

His voice turned colder. "As for the Sect Leader and the other Grand Elders… they're dead."

"All… four?" Dharun nodded, arms folded. "Every last one."

It was unthinkable. Shiela opened her mouth to deny it—but her gaze drifted to Maya once more. That suffocating pressure still lingered on the edges of her awareness, even though Maya remained passive.

There was no room left for disbelief.

Shiela exhaled shakily. "So… it's done."

"Not yet," Aaryan said. "There's still one thing left."

He stepped closer, and the gravity of his words settled between them.

"You should become the Sect Leader of Evernight."

"What?" she recoiled slightly, almost laughing in disbelief. "Me? No. I—I never wanted the position. I only wanted the truth to come out, not rule the sect."

"If you don't," Aaryan replied, "then someone else will. And who knows what they'll unleash from Mount Veinsunder next?"

That name cast a shadow across Shiela's expression.

"You might have guessed, all problems started from there. And now that the sect's upper ranks are gone, no one else is left who understands the risk. You could seal it—declare it a forbidden place—so that no one could enter."

Her lips pressed together. She turned to Dharun, who remained silent but offered a slight, weary nod of agreement.

Shiela raised her hands, beginning to form a long-distance message talisman. "I'll contact my clan. If I'm to take charge, I'll need their support. At least for now."

As glowing characters formed around her, Aaryan turned to Dharun.

"We should get back."

With a subtle nod from Maya, the trio vanished from the dungeon, reappearing moments later inside Dharun's old residence—one of the quieter corners of the sect, far from the prying eyes of outer disciples.

A gentle fragrance of herbs lingered in the room.

There, resting on a soft bed of silks and spirit grass, lay Kalyani.

Her breathing had stabilized, and though her complexion remained pale, she seemed comfortable.

Dharun knelt beside her in silence. Maya watched from a corner, arms folded, gaze unreadable.

The storm had passed. And for the first time in weeks, something resembling calm had returned.

And in that rare moment of stillness… Aaryan let himself breathe.

🔱 — ✵ — 🔱

Two days passed like a quiet ripple over still waters, but the Evernight Sect was anything but calm.

The announcement that Grand Elder Shiela had become the new Sect Leader sent tremors through the hierarchy. Whispers darted through every corridor—from outer disciple courtyards to the upper terraces of the elders' halls. Some elders raised voices in protest, citing her being a traitor and a prisoner. But those voices vanished just as quickly.

Shiela didn't argue.

She simply acted.

Within hours, formation keys changed hands, loyal sect forces quietly restructured, and the sect security forces—shocked by the speed—found themselves silenced or "persuaded" into cooperation. And while no word came directly from the Shiela Clan, their influence loomed unmistakably behind the scenes, casting a long shadow of support.

But Aaryan didn't care for any of it.

Kalyani remained unconscious, her breathing stable, her face peaceful beneath layers of warming silk. Maya had assured him she would awaken in time. Dharun too had echoed those words with uncharacteristic certainty.

Still, Aaryan lingered by her side more than anywhere else.

Now, as the sun spilled honeyed light through Dharun's private chamber windows, the boy sat at a low table. Steam curled from delicate porcelain cups filled with soul-calming tea. Maya reclined against a carved beam near the open-air corner, silent as always. Dharun, clad in new robes—his presence subtly more refined, more respected—watched Aaryan sip his tea in silence.

A servant had just bowed and left.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" Dharun asked after a long moment, his voice gentle, but firm.

Aaryan paused mid-sip, letting the silence hang a moment longer. Then he resumed drinking. Only after finishing the cup did he speak, voice low but steady.

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"This place... I am feeling that it was never really for me Staying here won't help me grow."

Dharun raised an eyebrow. "Why? You—"

Aaryan waved a hand lightly, cutting him off.

"What I mean is that I have learnt my lesson." His eyes flicked to the chamber door where Kalyani rested beyond. "I will never sit comfortably with this little power, not until I am strong enough to do what I want to do and not what other forced me to do."

Dharun leaned forward. "But Now with the Grand Elder gone, you can leave peacefully here, no one would dare lay eyes on you after all you have done, we three can live a peaceful life. So why not?"

Aaryan looked down into his empty cup, fingers tightening around it slightly. "Because that peace wouldn't last. It never does. And now that Shiela's in charge, she'll do everything to protect this place—and us. She has to. Because we helped her rise, and she knows it. I gave her the excuse to rule in righteousness—something she couldn't refuse. And now she owes us."

Dharun frowned, tone darkening. "So that's why you insisted on her taking the seat. Not for the sect. For... us."

"Yes," Aaryan said. "So you both can live without any future problems. And so I could leave without worrying."

Dharun tapped the rim of his teacup. "What about Mount Veinsunder? You were the first to bring it up. You think she'll seal it?"

"I don't care," Aaryan said flatly. "Whatever the Grand Elders unleashed or covered up there, it's not my problem. My only concern is that no one drags the people I care about into it again."

His tone was firm, resolute. Dharun watched him carefully.

In the corner, Maya remained motionless. Her veil shimmered faintly in the afternoon light, eyes unreadable behind it. She hadn't spoken a word since they entered, but her presence was like gravity—felt even when unseen.

Dharun's gaze shifted to her, then back to the boy.

"You're already this strong, and you're only ten," he said with a sigh. "Don't carry the weight of the world like some tired old man. You still have time, Aaryan. Plenty of it. You could grow even stronger here. You've got allies now. A home."

Aaryan gave a small, tired smile.

"Maybe you're right," he murmured. "Maybe I could stay a little longer. Train here. Be normal."

Dharun leaned forward hopefully—

"But I won't," Aaryan added, voice sharper now. "This was just the beginning. I can feel it. Whatever path I'm meant to walk… it leads far away from this place. If I'm going to follow it, I might as well start early."

Silence followed his words.

Then, quietly, Dharun said, "Kalyani wouldn't agree."

Aaryan didn't answer.

Instead, he turned his head slightly, eyes drifting toward the inner chamber where Kalyani lay. For a moment, the façade cracked—just a little. A flash of hesitation flickered in his eyes, a trace of something raw and unspoken.

"…I know," he whispered. "That's why I'm leaving before she wakes up."

Dharun stiffened. "Aaryan—"

"Tell her…" Aaryan interrupted, voice firmer now, yet weighed by something heavy. "…Tell her I died."

He couldn't bear the thought of her chasing his shadow. Better she forget him than suffer waiting.

The room fell silent.

Dharun looked at him in disbelief. "You want me to lie to her?"

Aaryan didn't respond immediately. He simply leaned back, resting the cup on the table, his gaze distant now.

"It'll hurt less that way. At least she won't wait around for someone who might never return."

Maya shifted slightly in the corner—but still didn't speak.

Dharun clenched his fists, the conflict in his heart burning behind his eyes. But the boy sitting across from him no longer looked like the outer disciple he had once shielded. He looked like something else. Something already halfway out the door.

"I will leave tomorrow." Aaryan said with finality.

Sunlight filtered in from above, casting a steady, golden haze across the chamber as the afternoon deepened.

And in the quiet space between words, a farewell began to settle.

🔱 — ✵ — 🔱

The courtyard was quiet, kissed by the last hues of twilight. Crimson clouds drifted lazily overhead, and the wind carried the soft rustle of leaves. Aaryan stood alone beneath the twisted pine, arms folded behind his back. The earlier conversation still echoed in the corners of his mind, but Dharun's parting words—angry, pained, unfinished—hung heavier than all the rest.

The door behind him creaked gently.

Maya stepped out, the faintest shimmer on her veil catching the dying light. Her footsteps were as silent as breath, but Aaryan didn't flinch. He knew she was there.

"You're alright?" she asked, voice quiet as ever.

He didn't turn, only nodded once.

Silence lingered. Distant birdsong drifted in. The air cooled.

Maya's eyes remained on the boy's back. Ten years old. Taller for his age. Tousled hair. And a burden in his posture that didn't belong to someone so young. Her fingers curled slightly by her side.

"You know…" she finally said, "if you want to stay… you should. Dharun isn't wrong. You still have time."

Aaryan slowly turned, his face lit dimly by the fading sky. His gaze wasn't that of a child—it hadn't been for a long time. There was a fire in it now. Not anger. Not defiance. Just quiet, unshakable resolve.

"It's not that I don't want to stay," he said. "I do. More than I let on."

He paused, then glanced toward the chamber where Kalyani slept. "But I know I can't."

He looked back at Maya. "I don't know why. I can't explain it. It's just… something in me keeps pulling away. Like I'm walking toward something I haven't seen yet, but I have to go."

His voice lowered. "And I feel… you probably know the answer."

Maya blinked. A flicker of something—recognition, perhaps even fear—passed behind her veil. But she said nothing. She didn't refute him. Didn't agree either.

Aaryan studied her silence for a moment longer, then gave a half-shrug and smiled faintly.

"Just a hunch," he said, "but it looks like I wasn't far off."

He reached into his spatial ring and pulled out an old, brittle book—its leather binding worn, its edges frayed, its cover etched with symbols long faded into obscurity. He held it out to her.

"This is what the Grand Elder found in Mount Veinsunder," he said. "I tried reading it. Nothing made sense. Not even a single word."

He placed it in her hands. "Maybe you'll understand it. If not… and if all it's good for is what he tried to do with it…"

His gaze hardened.

"Then destroy it."

Maya accepted the book, her slender fingers brushing against his for the briefest second. But her eyes never left his face—not once.

She wanted to say something—tell him to stay, to rest, to be a child again. To smile without guilt. To sleep without nightmares. He'd never had that luxury. And now, when it was finally within reach… he was walking away.

But she didn't speak.

Because they both knew.

Whatever peace he found here wouldn't last. The storm would eventually come. And when it did, Aaryan would have to face it. Not as a child, but as who he was truly meant to become.

The wind stirred again, whispering through the courtyard.

Aaryan turned away, looking toward the mountain path beyond the sect walls.

Tomorrow would come soon enough.

🔱 — ✵ — 🔱

The sun had long dipped below the horizon, and the courtyard, touched by twilight's final embers, seemed to hold its breath in stillness. A lone breeze whispered past the twisted pine, swaying branches in quiet farewell. Aaryan remained beneath it, his gaze distant, when footsteps approached once more.

This time, they came with voices.

Shiela appeared first, lantern light catching on her silver-threaded robe. Behind her followed Elder Kiyan, Rudra, and Vayu. Beside them, walking quietly was Meera.

Her posture was straighter, her steps surer. Whatever she had found in the company of her family these past days had softened something within her. The shadow that once lingered in her eyes had thinned, letting a quiet strength show through.

"Aaryan," Shiela said softly. "I heard you're leaving."

He turned. "Tomorrow morning," he replied.

A beat passed. The group fell silent. Each face showed something different.

Dharun, who stood nearby leaning against a pillar, scowled and muttered something under his breath. His arms were crossed, but his eyes remained fixed on Aaryan with a stormy glint—worry buried beneath frustration.

Rudra looked away briefly, his jaw clenched. What he saw in Aaryan had shifted these past weeks—from annoyance, to guilt, to a fierce, reluctant admiration. A rival worth chasing.

Vayu stood still, his gaze steady. There was no competition in his eyes. Only gratitude. A brother whose family had been saved.

Meera watched him too, the light in her once-lifeless eyes dimming again. She said nothing. But her silence spoke louder than most goodbyes ever could.

Only Elder Kiyan—arms behind his back, expression placid—breathed a quiet sigh of relief, as though a thorn had finally been dislodged from his side.

Then Vayu stepped forward, and without a word, clasped Aaryan's hand in both of his.

His voice, though calm, carried the weight of an oath.

"Brother Aaryan… what you did for me, for my sister, for my family—words will never be enough—

But know this. If you ever call on me… even once… and if I, Vayu, hesitate even for a breath, then may the heavens strike my soul with divine thunder."

Aaryan blinked, startled. He opened his mouth, then closed it. There was no trace of insincerity in Vayu's face—only a raw, clear gratitude that struck deeper than most confessions of loyalty.

"Brother Vayu," Aaryan said at last, "you don't need to say such things. I didn't do it for a debt."

"I know," Vayu said simply.

Before the moment could grow too solemn, Rudra stepped up and clapped Aaryan on the shoulder—hard, as if trying to bury emotion in bravado.

"Next time we meet," Rudra said, grinning with that familiar crooked smirk, "you'd better be ready. I plan on leaving you in the dust."

Aaryan raised a brow, his smirk lazier. "Oh? You planning to reincarnate a few more times before then?"

Rudra's eye twitched, but he burst into a short laugh. "Tch. Smartass."

Vayu chuckled too. Even Aaryan let a small, genuine laugh slip. For a moment, the air felt lighter—like boys before a parting, not warriors walking separate roads.

They lingered a while longer, but eventually the night grew deeper, and the moment to leave arrived.

One by one, they turned to go.

All but Meera.

She stood there, her gaze unmoving. Then, wordlessly, she stepped forward, took Aaryan's hand, and without explanation began walking.

None of them had ever seen her do that before.

Vayu took a step, instinctively wanting to follow—but Shiela reached out and placed a gentle hand on his arm. "Let her," she whispered.

Aaryan glanced at Meera's face. She still said nothing. But her grip on his hand was firm. He didn't know what she meant to show him—but for once, he didn't resist being led.

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