"When will you go back?" she asked softly.

He did not turn. He had plans that were sharp and clean in his mind, like knives lined and ready.

But he felt, faint and sudden, a catch in his chest that he had not expected—the small tenderness he had once pushed away. He felt her loneliness in the space.

"Soon," he said. "I will go back. I have things to demand. I will make them answer."

She bowed her head, and for a moment the ruin held them both like two stones in a river. "Do not forget me," she whispered.

He answered, but the word was not a promise. It was a fact. "You are me. How could I forget?"

Her eyes lit for a breath with something like hope and then settled into the long patience that had been her companion for ages.

They turned from the horizon together and walked deeper into the ruin once more—not to hide, not to rest, but to continue the shaping of a weapon the world would later call a man.

When he returns, he will become a creature that will be feared by many.

Aramith had plans.

Plans to find those he had been separated from—Lia and Kesha.

And he wanted to know what kind of person Mozrael would have been had she not been shackled to him.

In all this, he learned one great weapon he would have to wield carefully—pretense.

People sometimes feared those who knew too much, and he wasn't going to let that be his ruin.

But he didn't fear anymore.

He had power.

And power was all he needed in this world that devoured the weak and respected the strong.

As he prepared to leave the realm, he wondered how strong he truly was in that moment, compared to those bound by gates.

In the room Aramith lay in, only one person sat by his side—mozrael.

And the moment he stirred, she felt it.

Aramith's eyes snapped open.

In that instant, an invisible force burst outward from his body, rippling like a silent shockwave. It tore across the academy, shattering the calm and spreading in a thousand-meter radius before anyone could even react. Then, as if unsatisfied, the pressure doubled.

The air itself was stripped bare. Every trace of Youm in the surroundings was ripped from its resting place, streams of essence convulsing like raging rivers in a storm.

They converged upon him—wild, unstoppable—sucked into his core, devoured by the endless abyss of his cultivation realm.

The academy trembled. Students collapsed against walls or dropped to their knees, gasping as though their lungs had been crushed.

Some clawed at their throats, eyes wide, while others staggered to windows and courtyards, searching desperately for the source of the suffocating weight pressing down on them.

It was the feeling of a mighty cultivator descending upon them—one far beyond their level, one that could end them with a mere flicker of intent.

Panic broke out in hushed voices, but no one could locate where the force originated. It came from everywhere and nowhere, seeping into their bones.

Mozrael had been sitting by his side, but when the wave erupted, it slammed into her like a tidal surge. Her chest seized; her breath fled.

She gripped the edge of the bed with trembling fingers, fighting the urge to collapse. The force pinned her in silence, her lungs burning.

Only after long, shuddering moments did the pressure finally ease from her shoulders. Even then, she struggled, breathless, dragging air into her lungs in ragged gulps.

Her lips parted as if to speak, but no words came out—only a harsh cough as her body tried to steady itself.

It took time—too much time—before she found her voice again, soft and unsteady, her breathing uneven as her wide eyes turned toward him.

Even as all this was sucked by his thirsty being, he could feel that all this energy was a tiny addition to his boundless cultivation realm.

At the moment, the four Fathers were out of the academy and had no inkling to what had happened.

Students were left breathless after Aramith had sucked the air dry.

Aramith sat up, feeling the darkness. He tested it.

Just as I thought. I don't have full control outside the realm. But this should be enough.

His gaze shifted to Mozrael. Forced to be by my side, huh…?

It took a few minutes before Mozrael was close to being calm and collected, though the stress still strained her slightly.

Aramith thought of how he'd unintentionally unleashed so much power that it knocked people to the ground.

If I had willed it, that pressure could have broken bones. Shattered minds. And yet I hadn't even tried. Guess I'll have to suppress myself a little.

"How long have I been away?" he asked calmly.

Mozrael searched his face, worried for any sign of pain. He looked calm. Too calm. And that force from earlier. What happened in his unconsciousness?

"How long was I unconscious?" he corrected.

"Five days," Mozrael replied.

Aramith frowned. Then, unexpectedly, his lips curved into a smile.Five days here. A whole year there. So that's how it is.

"Mozrael," he said.

"Yes?"

"What were your thoughts when I didn't wake up?"

Her eyes softened. She looked down, fingers brushing her arm. "I was afraid you wouldn't wake. I didn't know what to do."

Bound…

"And how do you feel now?"

She smiled faintly. "I feel… okay. Now that you're here, I don't have to worry anymore."

He nodded. Calm. Almost too calm. "Do you… remember Lia?"

Mozrael tilted her head. "Who's Lia?"

So you truly have no memory of her.

He clenched his fist but let no emotion show.

"I just had a dream," he said smoothly. "There was a girl named Lia. She played with us. I thought you'd know her."

Mozrael frowned. "Are you… okay?"

"I'm fine." He swung his legs off the bed, stretched, then fixed her with a sharp look. "Do you remember Lynnor?"

"Yes," she said quickly. "Why? Is something wrong?"

He turned toward the window, violet eyes reflecting its light. "When she parted from us, she said we weren't students until we saw her again. Do you remember?"

Mozrael hesitated, then nodded.

"She assured us of our attributes. Told us we would be under her. And yet… since we came here, have you seen her once?"

"No…"

"Exactly. Which means we aren't students of this academy at all."

Mozrael's breath caught as the realization unfolded in her mind.

Aramith's voice was calm, but the weight behind it was cold and certain.

"This academy isn't what it shows us. The Fathers are not just supervising. There's more. Much more. And we've only seen the surface."

After learning so much and developing mentally, his eyes had opened to the world around him. It was time to start making his own choices.

Mozrael stared at him and felt a tremble in her body. Aramith was...different.

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