Eventually, Riven said, "But… he never had magic. He never even got an affinity reading."
Lira's lips pressed into a thin line. "Maybe he never needed one. Or maybe whatever gave him that class didn't care about our tests."
"That's not possible," Riven muttered. "Heroes are summoned. Not born."
She glanced at him. "Then maybe Wade is something different."
Another silence.
Then Riven let out a breath that was half a laugh. "He jumped in front of us."
Lira looked at him.
"That idiot," Riven continued, shaking his head slightly. "He actually jumped in front of us. Screaming like an idiot. Hands outstretched like that'd do anything against a demonbeast. I thought… I thought he was going to die."
His voice cracked.
Lira's eyes burned again, but she forced a smile.
"So did I."
They sat like that a while, until the sky began to dim into the softer purples of evening. The clearing looked no better—still scarred, still too quiet. But in the center of the devastation, Wade's chest continued to rise and fall, steady and alive.
And in that silence, for the first time, Lira felt the first curl of fear.
Not for the monsters.
Not for the future.
But for what their little brother might become.
Riven sat in silence, his eyes distant, watching as Wade's body shifted minutely in sleep—too still for comfort, too peaceful for what had just happened. Lira watched the same thing, but her thoughts were traveling deeper.
He had screamed when it happened.
Not in fear. Not in pain.
It was something primal. Protective. The kind of scream that belongs to someone standing between life and death, drawing a line in the dirt and saying "No further."
That line had been drawn in fire and wind.
"Do you feel it too?" she asked quietly, still watching Wade. "The air. The mana. It's… different now."
Riven nodded, slowly. "It hasn't settled."
"Like the world's holding its breath," she said.
"Or like it's watching."
They fell silent again, but the quiet wasn't still. Somewhere deep within the forest, something howled—not the monster kind, but smaller predators, awakened and agitated. Birds circled overhead at an uneasy distance. Even the bugs had gone silent. Nature itself was uneasy, perhaps trying to understand what had just happened in this pocket of the world.
"Do you think this is why he was born here?" Riven asked suddenly, his voice low, almost embarrassed by the question.
Lira turned to look at him.
Riven didn't meet her eyes. "I mean, do you think… maybe Wade isn't like us because he's meant for something else?"
It wasn't just awe in his voice.
It was guilt.
Lira softened. "He's not not like us. He's our little brother."
Riven finally looked at her. "But he is something else now, isn't he?"
She didn't answer.
Because she didn't know.
Wade stirred slightly, his head shifting toward the crook of his arm. His breathing remained slow, but his lips moved. Muttering. Dreaming.
Lira leaned in, her hand gently brushing his hair from his forehead.
His skin had cooled a little. The burning fever from earlier was ebbing, though a strange warmth still radiated beneath his skin—like a forge that hadn't quite gone out.
She tried to make out the words.
"…sorry…"
"…I wanted to…"
"…save…"
Her throat tightened.
"Wade," she whispered, fingers tightening against his shoulder. "You did save us."
A tear slipped down her cheek. Not from fear. Not now.
But because she knew—everything would change.
They couldn't go home after this. Couldn't return to their quiet little cottage at the edge of the woods. News of a monster's destruction this massive would spread. People would investigate. Questions would be asked.
And when they found out a boy with no known magic destroyed a class-four demonbeast…
Lira bit her lip.
The questions wouldn't just come from curious villagers.
They'd come from scholars. From guilds. From the Sanctum.
She'd studied enough to know how this would go.
And if word got out about the Hero system…
"Riven," she said quietly. "We have to leave."
He blinked. "What?"
She looked at him, serious now. "We can't stay here. Someone's going to come. They'll feel this mana from miles away. Once they see what happened…"
He frowned. "But mom and dad—"
"I know," she said quickly, cutting him off before he could say more. "We'll tell them. We'll take Wade back. But we can't stay in that house, Riven. Not after this."
Riven glanced down at his injured arm. His body stiffened at the reminder—at how useless he'd felt when it happened.
"He saved us," he said again, quieter this time. "Wade."
Lira nodded.
"And now we need to protect him."
A rustling sound broke through the trees behind them.
Lira was on her feet in an instant, knife drawn, though her hand shook slightly from the exhaustion.
Riven tried to rise but slumped back with a wince.
From the trees stepped a single figure—hooded, limping slightly, a hunting spear slung over his back. It was an old man, skin like bark, beard wild and bristling, eyes sharp beneath a fur-lined hood.
He stared at the ruined clearing with something between fear and awe.
"Gods above…" he whispered.
Lira's blade remained raised. "Who are you?"
The man raised both hands slowly. "Just a trapper. I felt the explosion from my cabin four miles out. I came to see if it was a mana storm."
He glanced down at Wade's still form, then back at Lira and Riven.
"That… wasn't a storm."
Riven coughed beside her. "No," he muttered. "It was my little brother."
The old man's eyes narrowed. "The boy did this?"
Lira didn't answer.
He took a step closer, then froze, he had seen something faintly glowing hovering above wade, but he couldn't make out what it was.
He hadn't seen it but he knew it was something special.
His eyes darted back to Lira, " I understand now, you have every reason to be on guard."
Still, she said nothing.
The man looked again at Wade.
Then back to her. "You need to move. Now. People will feel this. Hunters. Guild agents. Scholars. Maybe worse."
Lira lowered her knife slightly. "We know."
"Do you have somewhere to go?"
She hesitated.
The man nodded toward the east. "There's a creek that runs toward the mountain paths. Follow it. Stay off the roads. If you can get to the edge of Sereth Vale, there's a monastery there that won't ask questions. Not for a while."
She studied him. "Why help us?"
He looked at Wade, and for a moment something older than pity stirred in his eyes. "Because the world's always waiting for something to change it. And sometimes it comes in forms nobody expects."
Then he turned and vanished back into the trees.
Lira and Riven stared at each other for a long moment.
Then Lira looked down at Wade.
Still sleeping.
Still warm.
Still glowing faintly beneath his skin, like the spark of something massive just beginning.
And somewhere deep inside her, she realized—
This was only the beginning.