It was warm.
Not in the way the sun scorches your skin, but in the way peace soaks into your bones when the world forgets, just for a moment, to be cruel.
Shinzo was throwing pebbles at the academy pond again. Each one skipped exactly three times before sinking. He said it was about technique. I said he was just lucky.
"You're never gonna beat my record," I teased, lying back on the grass as Cyprus flopped beside me, tail wagging against the soil. His fur was coarse but oddly comforting against my hand. Loyal as ever. The good kind of constant.
Selene sat a few feet away under the shade of the academy's old sunberry tree, her nose buried in a book far too dense for a relaxing afternoon. She always read like the world was going to take the words away if she didn't finish fast enough.
"You ever think about it?" she asked suddenly, not looking up.
"About what?"
"One day… when we won't have to worry. No monsters, no politics, no scripts, no fate. Just us." She finally glanced up. Her eyes were softer than usual. "You think that day will come?"
I didn't answer. I wanted to. But every time I imagined that future, it slipped further away like the horizon itself. The wind rustled through the trees. Cyprus gave a lazy bark.
And then-
"Uh… Professor Dorian? You okay?"
Damien Danitz's voice snapped me back to the present. My pen had stopped mid-word. The chalkboard behind me was only half-filled. The rest of the classroom blinked at me.
"We're at the last chapter of Arcana Law II, sir," he added.
"You were talking about defensive measures in ritual-grade barriers," Artemis, always the diligent one, said as she flipped back through her notes.
"Ah… yes. Class, my fault," I said, adjusting my coat and rubbing my temples. The daydream still clung to me like fog.
I carried on, wrapping up the lecture with a few demonstrations and a reminder about their affinity channeling test next week. Most of them groaned. A few smiled. They were good students.
When the bell rang, I lingered. I pulled out the celestial calendar tucked in my drawer. Just two days left.
Two days until the first day of the Torching Sun. The House of Asolde would throw its great parade once again. An effort to unite Dicartha, Asolde, and Servantia into one continent, one nation.
A utopia in theory. A target in practice.
Normally, I'd slip into the shadows. Change my coat. Avoid recognition. But not this time.
Up in the war room beneath Castle Asolde, Headmaster Merlin and Gray were already meeting. I could feel the hum of their arcanian scripts even from here. They were preparing. Tracking. Watching.
Merlin's grimoire floated beside him, each page flipping with a mind of its own. He raised a hand. "Call Kaneda," he instructed quietly. "If Zedd is truly on the move, the acting Head of Dicartha must be informed. He was trusted with leadership for this very reason."
Gray stood over the Arcanian Projection Circle. With a series of sigils and spatial runes, he summoned an illusion of the continent and its border flare signals.
"There are ten confirmed Fateweavers," Gray said grimly. "Seven Sins. Seven Detainers. Each Fateweaver commands one of each. That's their trinity."
Merlin's expression darkened. "Zedd has the Sin of Gluttony, Beelzebub and the Detainer Moira. They've begun raising blood soldiers at the Dicarthan border."
Kaede, silent at Merlin's side, clenched her jaw. "I'll notify the Angels and the Dicarthan Army. They'll hold… for now."
Meanwhile, I had taken a rare moment to breathe.
Tess and I stood by the quiet waters beyond the Asolde cliffs, Grandmaster Albeuro, well retired Grandmaster now, greeted us with his usual gruff smile.
"You finally brought her," Albeuro said, waving at Tess and I. "I missed the maid."
"I prefer the term acquaintance Albuero, I'll have you know I graduated with a degree in swordsmanship and received the Knights Valor back when I was in the mage academy "
Albeuro laughed, scratching his head. "Then I must've been royalty in a past life."
The old man was growing on me. He had an ease about him, like someone who had fought enough wars to earn peace.
"Enough about that, what's the new trick you were talking about last week?"
I looked toward the stream. Time to show off.
With a swirl of mana, I whispered the incantation of a spell I had been refining for months.
"Whirlpool: Minor Vortex Conduction."
A spiral of wind and water twisted from my palm, hovering above the river and sweeping through it gently.
Dozens of fish rose to the surface, stunned but alive, gathered in a perfect ring. Albeuro whistled. "You're gonna ruin fishing for the rest of us."
Albeuro waved as we prepared to leave the lake, a few freshly caught fish wrapped in parchment. I nodded back, the wind stirring lightly at my coat's hem. Tess fell in step beside me, arms crossed, squinting up at the sky.
"You really just show off your magic like that to people, boss?" she teased, bumping my shoulder.
"It's just an act of friendship," I said, grinning slightly.
Tess rolled her eyes. "Or ego."
The breeze whistled softly through the trees, too soft, too quiet.
For a brief second, I turned my head, half-expecting the sound of padded paws racing behind us. That familiar bark. A tail thudding happily against the ground. I didn't even realize my hand had lowered toward my side, the spot where he used to trot along loyally.
But there was only silence. No Cyprus. No weight brushing against my leg. Just the ache in my chest, small and constant, like a splinter too deep to remove.
As we walked back toward the road, she pulled out my itinerary.
"You've got the mentorship program during the Torching Sun," she said. "Three students. Personalized training. Big parade. Big responsibility."
I nodded, tightening my cloak. "Then it begins."
Elsewhere, Zedd dipped his quill into blood. The ink never ran dry. His fingers, gloved in cursed vellum, danced over parchment older than most kingdoms.
"Fifteen archmages left on this continent," he whispered, each word dripping with amusement. "But only one that matters."
His crimson eyes glanced toward a portrait torn from a spellbook.
Fateweaver's Hitlist:
Archmage Shinzo Nakamura. Beside him, another sketch.
Master Selene Valeria.
"Let's see how far they've come."