The students returned to the academy at dawn—exhausted, bruised, and carrying more questions than answers.
Master Olven, head of the academy, waited for them at the front gate. His face was tight, unreadable, but his eyes locked instantly on Kael.
"You went to Vallure," he said.Kael nodded. "We had to. Something is alive there."Olven didn't reply. He simply said, "Come. All of you."
The Hall of Records – Academy Basement
They were led deep underground, to a sealed chamber few students even knew existed. The walls were lined with scrolls and weapons long forgotten.
In the center stood a large crystal—hovering, glowing faintly red.
"This crystal," Olven said, "records memories… from those who've touched the brink of death."
Kael stepped closer. "Whose memories are in there?"
Olven turned. "Ashen's."
The students froze.
"It's time," Olven said, "you knew who walks among you."
Flashback: The Day the Sky Turned Red
The crystal shimmered—pulling them into a vision.
A younger Ashen stood on a blackened battlefield, his cloak torn, his face bloodied. Around him… hundreds of demon corpses.
He was alone.
Smoke filled the sky. Screams echoed from distant villages.
The demon horde had descended on the island like a plague. But one man stood in their way.
Ashen.
"You can't win," a towering horned demon snarled, stepping forward. "You are one. We are many."Ashen didn't blink. "Good. I hate waiting."
He moved like lightning.
With only one arm and a blade forged from pulse energy, he cut through monsters twice his size—blades clashing, fire raining from the sky.
The vision zoomed out: a whole army, ten thousand demons… crushed beneath one man's will.
His body bled. His arm trembled. But Ashen never knelt.
Even when a demon impaled him through the side, he pulled the blade out with his bare hand… and used it to kill its master.
"Is that all?" he whispered to the last one, panting. "Then this island is safe."
And then—Ashen collapsed, eyes burning with quiet rage.
Back to Present
Kael stumbled back from the memory, breathing hard.
Zehr sat on the floor, stunned. Mikaho wiped a tear from her cheek.
"He… he fought them all alone?" Kael whispered.Olven nodded. "And when he woke, he said nothing. He walked away from that battlefield like it was any other day."
Mikaho looked down. "We treat him like a grumpy mentor. But he…"
"He saved the island before most of you were born," Olven finished. "And now... he watches you—because he believes you may need to save it again."
Silence fell.
For the first time, Kael understood.
Ashen wasn't with them to teach.Ashen was with them to protect hope.
That Night
Kael stood on the academy rooftop, wind brushing through his hair.
Mikaho joined him. "You thinking about Ashen?"
Kael nodded. "All this time… I thought he stayed with us because he had nothing better to do. But now…"
Mikaho smiled. "He chose us."
They looked out at the moonlit sky.
Far in the distance, lightning cracked above a forbidden forest.
Something was rising again.
Next Episode Preview:Ashen is gone.A message arrives, carved into stone, soaked in demon blood:"They're awake."The students must now decide—do they follow orders, or follow the storm?