[: Caelira POV :]
Two months had crawled by like dying embers, and now we were one week away from departing to Apex Academy.
It was a place whispered with awe by nobles, and though it was meant to be a beacon of glory, for us, it was merely another prison.
Revan had been chosen to attend, and as though fate had sharpened its cruel humour, we had been chosen to accompany him.
It was not as comrades or retainers, but as his slaves, his practice tools, the toys he could torment on the road when the weight of expectation bore down on him.
His inferiority complex was obvious, and in those recent days, his cruelty had worsened, had morphed into something desperate, something manic.
Revan would strike Daniel for the smallest mistakes.
If Daniel didn't bow fast enough, if he failed to clean a blade to his liking, if his eyes held defiance, he was punished.
And when Daniel collapsed from exhaustion, Revan laughed and called him "a motherless dog who should have stayed dead"
While Velroth, that poisonous lord of ash, smiled with approval and muttered how slaves needed to be reminded of their place.
Though I had long buried my hatred beneath duty, that day, when Revan shoved Daniel face-first into the mud and made him bark like an animal, something inside me began to twist—a sickening coil of grief and fury.
But it wasn't only Daniel he hurt.
He spat on Rika, mocked her missing fingers and called her a broken tool only good for cleaning filth.
Once, when she flinched at his voice, he laughed, "I should rip the rest off so you stop trying to act useful."
When Kiel dropped a plate by accident, Revan hurled boiling water at him, scalding his chest, hissing,
"Dumb demon runt, you're only good for burning."
Marnok, who said nothing and endured everything, was forced to kneel in the courtyard for hours, whipped every hour on the hour, just because Revan claimed he "didn't like the way he breathed."
But worst of all was what he did to me.
He once dragged me by the hair across the hall, made me kneel beside his throne, and ordered me to call him Master while he laughed with his guards.
When I refused, he struck me across the face, again and again, until blood ran from my nose, and Daniel—oh, Daniel—he stood there trembling.
But it was not out of fear.
I could tell from his eyes that he was bubbling with rage.
However, I could sense that something inside him was about to awaken.
Something was breaking.
Something that should never be broken.
And at the same time, I sensed that it was dangerous, far too dangerous.
"It's alright Daniel...everything's going to be fine" It was these words and my smile that always made him calm.
Because I felt fear not towards my dear, but towards the unknown power inside of him.
It was never anything like I had ever encountered.
Not even from the Kings or Queens.
But it felt strangely familiar.
[: Rika POV :]
He treated us like insects.
Less than that.
The moment the announcement came that we would accompany Revan to Apex, I knew it would only get worse, and it did.
He would call me a beast in heat, a mongrel not fit to be seen, and once, when I bit my lip to stop myself from speaking, he grabbed my jaw so hard he nearly dislocated it, snarling, "Do you even know how to be silent, mutt?"
But what haunts me isn't just the pain.
It's the memory of the first time I knew Daniel was not ordinary.
Three months ago, Revan punished me by forcing me to crawl across shards of broken glass, and as I bled, I saw Daniel chained to the post, his eyes locked on me, not blinking, not speaking...just watching.
And for a second, the wind died, and the torches around the training yard flickered blue.
I heard a whisper, soft and distant, like the voice of something ancient.
But at that moment, it was the first time that I ever felt true fear.
Daniel eyes...they weren't normal at those moments.
It was as though a predator had cast its gaze upon the world, wishing to consume it.
As a beastkin, my senses were far superior, and I sensed an unfathomable power hiding inside Daniel.
It was only for a moment, but I could tell that if Daniel were ever to be awakened, the world isn't going to be prepared for it.
On the other hand, Revan's flame sputtered.
He didn't notice, but I did.
And I never forgot.
[: Kiel POV :]
I always joked.
Even when I was bleeding.
Even when Revan tore my books and called me a filthy demon with no right to knowledge, I laughed.
It was the only way to keep myself sane.
But the truth is, I knew.
From the day Daniel protected me from that beating and got lashed instead, I knew he wasn't ordinary.
Even if he didn't awaken, even if the seal robbed him of power, something in his soul was not weak.
Once, Revan had tortured me because "You're just a filthy demon that doesn't deserve to exist"
I could withstand the pain, but Daniel, who was standing away from me, looked at Revan with dead eyes.
But even then, I felt it.
That pressure.
It was like the sky pressing on my skin.
It shouldn't have been possible, and even with my powers sealed, I was still a demon that possessed a superior physique.
Yet at that moment, it was without a doubt that if Daniel were to awaken and even if all of my powers were unseal, I would just be killed in an instant.
But I didn't feel jealous.
Instead, I was happy.
I was happy to know that if Daniel could run away from here and awaken, he would live a life that he deserves.
[: Marnok POV :]
Silence is a blade.
I used it to protect them.
Words are dangerous in a world ruled by tyrants, so I became their shield, their wall, but I am not blind, and I am not deaf.
Every time Revan struck Daniel, I memorised the angle.
Every time Velroth insulted Caelira, I watched his mouth, his patterns.
I remember the day Revan forced Caelira to sing as he insulted her heritage.
Daniel stood by the wall, silent.
Then, something flared.
I am not a child.
I am old.
I have fought monsters in lands long swallowed by ruin.
And that moment, I felt a killing aura more potent than any battlefield.
It wasn't released.
But it was there.
Waiting.
And today, as Revan raised his hand again toward Caelira, Daniel's rage had echoed.
I'm not boasting when I say that I am my own powerhouse, but the moment Daniel's powers were unleashed, my bloodline was roaring in fear.
I've always taught Daniel what he should know, and I know that he was a kind boy which is why at this moment, I'm proud of him.
I'm proud that at least with this kind of power, he could survive and wouldn't be shackled by another.
[: Daniel POV :]
The moment Revan vanished into the unknown.
He was dragged screaming into a realm beyond reach and vanished.
Like a mission accomplished, the horn that jutted from the side of my head crumbled into dust, my slitted eyes dimmed, and the black-purple glow that had consumed me faded like dying embers swept by the wind.
I collapsed to my knees, clutching my chest, trying to breathe.
The power that had once surged through every vein was gone...no...it was not gone, but asleep again.
I had awakened my bloodline, but now it was sleeping, waiting for me to use it again.
It was terrifying, and it was not a lie to say I felt like I could do anything or even destroy anything on my path.
But now, I didn't know how to explain it.
Not to them.
What would they think of me?
It was unheard of for someone to awaken their powers even before the age of awakening, and perhaps, I was the first to awaken it.
And I'm scared because it felt like I was a monster in that moment.
A being that destroyed souls without raising a blade.
I could still hear their screams...Gavrix and the guards...still feel their fear pounding in the air like echoes of thunder.
I didn't mean to go that far...no...in fact, I wanted.
And now I was terrified.
Not of the power.
But in their eyes.
Would they fear me now?
Would they hate me?
My hands trembled and I couldn't look at them.
I couldn't even raise my head.
"Daniel."
But then...I heard her voice...soft, broken, familiar.
And suddenly, arms wrapped around me.
It was warm.
So warm.
I froze in place, wide-eyed, until I realised it was her.
Caelira.
She pulled me into her chest, resting my head gently against her shoulder, her fingers slowly running through my hair.
"You don't have to tell us anything," she whispered, and her voice cracked just slightly, just enough for me to know that she'd been crying.
"Everyone has their secrets. We're just happy... you're okay."
The moment she said that, something shattered inside me.
Not rage.
But the wall I had unknowingly built.
I didn't even realise I was crying until the tears soaked her robes.
I clung to her tightly, burying my face in her shoulder, ashamed yet overwhelmed.
"You're not afraid?" I asked, voice small, raw, shaking. "You saw what I did… what I became."
"You became someone who protected us," she answered without hesitation, "and I will never be afraid of someone willing to bleed, burn, and break for us."
Her words broke something loose in my throat, and I sobbed into her.
Quiet, muffled sobs that had been waiting for years to escape.
Then I heard footsteps.
And then a voice.
"Yo, that was terrifying as hell," Kiel said, grinning, kneeling beside me, a bandage still taped across his scorched chest.
"I mean, sure, I thought the world was ending, but at least we're alive, right?"
He winked, and behind the smile I saw it...the admiration.
The pride.
"You looked like one of those final boss characters inside a gate... but like, the good kind. The one that only wakes up when someone hurts what he loves."
I choked out a laugh, and even through the tears, I felt something warm spread through my chest.
Then Rika stepped up beside me, her eyes softer than I had ever seen them.
No fear, just quiet strength.
"I knew it," she said, folding her arms but smiling with her eyes.
"Ever since that day I met you. I knew you weren't ordinary. But Daniel…" She lowered herself to one knee and leaned in slightly.
"Extraordinary doesn't mean dangerous. It means you're meant for something more."
She reached out and flicked my forehead gently, like an older sister scolding a younger sibling.
"So don't go crying just because you got a little godlike for five minutes."
That actually made me laugh.
Then Marnok came forward.
He didn't speak at first.
He simply placed one of his large hands on my shoulder.
It was heavy, solid, and full of meaning.
Then, in his deep voice, calm as always, he said, "I was proud of you before today. I am even more so now."
He knelt beside us and looked directly at me, eyes gleaming with quiet resolve.
"You didn't lose yourself to that power. You used it to protect. That makes you stronger than most kings."
I couldn't stop the tears after that.
Not because I was sad.
But because everything...after chains, burns, scars, screams...after all the pain...
I wasn't alone.
They were still here.
With me.