A dense silence fell over the ceremony hall, but Raine was not expecting anything.
The Emperor's words spilled like black ice:
"You will head to the Eastern Front and stay there until the color of the soil changes."
He didn't ask for an explanation, nor did he argue. He simply bowed and left.
Arl stood by the door, her hand on her chest, staring at his back that seemed heavier than mountains. She wanted to speak, to say: "Wait for me, don't go alone."
But he passed by her without looking.
Before he completely walked away, he paused for a moment, then lifted his gaze towards her. His left eye closed briefly…
And inside her, something suspicious stirred.
⸻
(1) A Burning Eye
In the first week at the front, the smell of burning flesh was part of the air.
Arl fought alongside Raine, despite orders to stay with the rear lines.
The ambush was filthy… a light magic cut through the distance like an invisible beam.
Before she could react, a white wave crashed into her…
Then darkness.
When she opened her eyes again, she was on the ground, Raine's hand pressing her neck to stop the bleeding.
Everything was still… except the left side of her face.
She didn't cry. She just tore a black strip from her clothes and tied it around her head, hiding the eye that would never open again.
⸻
(2) When Titans Dance
In Lower Silvar, the sky was destroyed.
Three generals from Aron faced four from Darkol, among them those who had reached the degree of "Fusion."
The air split with indescribable explosions.
Fires defied gravity and closed spaces.
Sounds shook as if joints were being torn apart.
Crystal shields shattered and reformed in an instant.
The soldiers' screams were like dust behind collapsing walls.
Raine did not join. He stood far away, watching… memorizing…
learning.
⸻
(3) Death That Feeds the Shadow
In a nighttime attack on a village allied with Aron, Raine faced a high-class sorcerer using a rare power of awareness: "Perception Frequency."
The fight lasted minutes.
When the enemy finally collapsed, a shadowy mass moved behind Raine like a living being.
Then, in a terrifying moment… it swallowed the corpse.
At night, while writing in his old notebook, he heard a whisper:
"Whenever they fall… I continue."
He was not shaken. He only took out the forbidden book and opened the page that had changed.
⸻
(4) The Year of Blood
A year passed.
Every week, a city falls.
Every month, a front collapses and is rebuilt.
Darkol fights with its teeth. Aron bleeds gold and soldiers.
Arl stayed with Raine.
At first, she was his aide, then his shadow, then something else… neither she could name, nor he allowed her to name.
She looked at him as she used to look at her brother… then she began to look at him as "him."
He was the one who saved her. The one who gave her strength. The one who held her pulse when she slept.
What she didn't know… was that all those looks, all those feelings, were deeply engraved inside her.
He planted them himself… and watered them again whenever they began to wither.
⸻
(5) The End? Or the Beginning of Something Else?
On the last night of the first year, Arl was near a small fire, drawing something in the dirt with her only clean finger.
She whispered:
"When the war ends… will you stay?"
Raine didn't answer.
He stared at his hand, where a drop of blood had fallen… without any wound.
Then he replied, his voice dry as truth:
"If nothing remains… then yes. I will stay."
Then he opened the book.
A new page appeared:
"The Black Wave Gate – When your shadow swallows the souls of the dead, the 'Inner Shaping' phase begins. The mind becomes a gate. Feeling becomes a weapon."
He lifted his eyes toward the shadow standing at the edge of the flame,
And deep inside, he realized:
He was no longer himself.
⸻
(Internal Appendix: Degrees of Mastery)
⸻
Degrees of Mastery of Magical Powers in Darkol and the World
Seed: The formation stage, where power is acquired but cannot be effectively controlled.
Form: Flexible use of power, with the ability to direct its flows and immediate effects.
Essence: Understanding the detailed structure of magic; the user can affect the properties of energy.
Mind: Magic interacts directly with thought, without movements or words.
Law: The ability to merge powers or locally control a law of nature.
Separation: A rare stage where the user transcends the body itself… and begins to affect reality itself.