Three days passed.
The academy moved differently now. Masters spoke in hushed voices. Training drills became stricter. Even the youngest students could sense it—something was about to change.
Kael, Mikaho, Zehr, and three other students were assigned to a field squad. Their mission: travel to the ruins of Vallure, the northern village where the seal trembled.
Ashen didn't come with them.
Before they left, he pulled Kael aside.
"Don't be brave. Be smart," Ashen said."We'll be careful," Kael replied.Ashen shook his head. "No. You won't. But that's how you learn."He paused. "If anything calls to you… don't answer. Not yet."
The Road to Vallure
The group walked quietly. The forest air felt heavier as they moved north. Birds no longer sang here. Even the trees bent strangely.
Kael glanced at Mikaho. She hadn't said much since the ridge. Her hand often stayed near her belt, where her dagger rested.
Zehr, meanwhile, mumbled nervously.
"I don't like ghost villages," he said. "They're always filled with cursed stories, broken things, and... rats."
Kael chuckled. "If we see any rats, we'll let you fight them alone."
Zehr grunted, not amused.
The Ruins of Vallure
By sunset, they reached Vallure.
Once a proud village, it was now a skeleton. Burnt rooftops. Collapsed homes. And silence—deep, unsettling silence.
Kael stepped ahead carefully. "Stay close."
The signal stone hadn't blinked, but all of them could feel it—something watched them.
They searched the ruins. Nothing alive. Just ash, broken furniture, scattered tools.
Then, near the village center, Mikaho called out: "Over here!"
She stood near an old well. Its wooden cover had been torn away. On its stone rim—fresh claw marks.
The kind demons left behind.
Kael looked down the well. Too dark to see anything.
Suddenly, a whisper:
"...Leave..."
The group froze.
Kael stood firm, staring into the dark well. "Did you hear that?"
Zehr nodded slowly. "Y-Yeah. It said... leave."
Mikaho's eyes widened. "There's something down there."
Inside the Well
Despite Ashen's warning echoing in his head, Kael tied a rope around a stone pillar and began climbing down.
Mikaho followed.
Zehr, trembling, came last.
The walls were damp. Cold. Strange vines crawled upward like veins. At the bottom—they found a wide cavern hidden beneath the village.
In the center: a stone slab with an ancient symbol glowing faintly.
Kael stepped closer.
The moment his foot touched the cavern floor… the slab cracked.
A shadow slipped out.
"You... aren't the ones I was waiting for…""But you'll do… for now."
The three of them were thrown back by a sudden shockwave.
The cave began to collapse.
Kael shouted, "Climb—go! NOW!"
They scrambled up the rope as rocks rained down. The well collapsed behind them just as they rolled out onto the ground above.
Dust. Silence. And that same whisper again—
"Soon…"
That Night – At Camp
The team made camp a mile away from Vallure. No one spoke for a long time.
Finally, Zehr broke the silence. "That thing… it wasn't a demon."
Kael nodded. "It felt… older."
Mikaho whispered, "I think the seal didn't just break. I think something replaced it."
They all stared into the campfire, quiet.
Above them, clouds moved unnaturally.
A storm was coming.
Next Episode Preview:Back at the academy, the truth is slowly revealed.One of the masters knows more than he admits.Kael begins to dream of a woman with silver eyes… and the truth of the third flood edges closer to the surface.