✴️ Phase I: The Last Step Before the Fall
No one spoke to him.
And no one expected him to do anything.
Even he… didn't expect it.
He sat in the farthest corner of the gray hall, watching the papers being handed out, while the students yawned.The smell of chalk and old swords, used in field lessons, had slipped into his nose without permission.
This was one of those strange subjects, the kind that required neither intelligence nor skill.Just: "Take the hit… then stand up."And that… was exactly what he didn't want to do.
But his name was written on the list of those late for evaluation…And now, under the professor's eyes, he was forced to perform.
He stood up slowly, as if asking the air's permission.They handed him a wooden staff, with a magnetic core — even a faint magical field would run through it.
He was placed opposite another student — stronger in body… weaker in will.
Silence.
The other student raised his staff.The instructor said:
"Two strikes. One straight… and the second a spin. Don't drop the staff. That's all that's required of you, Kalidor."
He didn't answer.
The opponent prepared.He struck the first blow…
Kalidor didn't move.He didn't cry out.He didn't fall.
But his eyes weren't looking ahead.
His eyes… were in another world.
For a moment, he imagined…that this strike wasn't a test,but a threat to Aliana.For a moment, he imagined he could block it.That he would lift the staff, stop the attack, then look everyone in the eye…
Then —he lowered the staff.
And he heard the second strike land on his shoulder.
He didn't fall.But a thread inside him trembled.
On his way to the end of the hall,the instructor said, without looking back:
"It's strange… you show no resistance, and yet you don't fall.That confuses some people."
He didn't answer.
But he murmured to himself:"Because I'm not fighting them… or you.I'm only fighting myself."
He sat down.
It felt as if those around him couldn't see him,but a few glances began to turn toward him,not out of admiration… but suspicion.
In the opposite corner of the hall,he saw another student struck hard and fall to the ground.The instructor didn't move.The students laughed.
He could have intervened.
But he didn't.
He just turned his face toward the window…as if something in the snow was trying to convince him he wasn't really there.
✴️ Phase II: A Light That Doesn't Reach Him (From Lisa's Point of View)
A month had passed since she last saw him rise… only to fall again.
The air in the gray corridors grew heavier than usual, not because of the winter circling the academy windows, but because of those looks… the ones unspoken yet felt.
Lisa watched in silence. Since their arrival at this academic city, she had known that time wouldn't be on his side. Not because the academy was fair… but because Kalidor didn't know how to speak in front of those who weighed people by their voices, not their hearts.
In the "Alternative Spell Analysis" test, he was three minutes late, and lost half his points.In the "History of the Kingdoms' Rise" debate, he stayed silent, and was dismissed even though his written answers were more correct than anyone else's.In the "Mental Stillness Endurance" exercise, he held on till the end, but someone said "his eyes weren't confident enough."
"Since when did doubt become a crime?" — Lisa muttered as she wrote her notes.
Since the start of the semester, she noticed something she hadn't told anyone.He acted as if he didn't want to stay, but when he really approached the edge…something inside him would explode. Something that knew exactly where to strike.Twice, maybe three times, she'd witnessed those quiet explosions. Not outbursts. But sharp moments of clarity… that passed and vanished.
Once, in the "Interwoven Energy Analysis" class, when all the students failed to identify the distortion field…he alone touched the "silent void", and described it.
"This isn't a lack of energy… this is the absence of intent."He said it, then fell silent.
Even the teacher didn't know how to respond.
But after each moment of ascent… he'd dim again.As if the very climb exhausted him.As if something inside him refused to advance, not out of fear of failure… but out of fear of being seen.
One weekend night, she saw Aliana passing through the opposite hallway.
Her face pale.Looking at no one.She looked… the way he did when he first arrived at this academy.
"The reflection is wearing down both sides," Lisa whispered.
She didn't know his true feelings, nor did she claim to understand him.But she knew this kind of internal bleeding:to rise… not to stay, but just so the shadows of others don't gloat over you.
"Soon, he'll be asked to choose a specialty…but, for someone who flees from being seen… there is no safe specialty."
And she wrote in her little notebook, before turning off the lamp:
"Some meteors fall not because they weren't made to orbit… but because they were made to be seen once, then disappear."
✴️ Phase III: An Unheard Question (From Talia's Point of View)
Two weeks had passed…and silence was still their way of communicating.
Talia wasn't the type to intrude, nor one to ask "Are you okay?" — she knew some questions are never asked, because the answer is either already known… or too painful.
But in recent days, she would pass by him, letting her eyes follow him without a word.And Kalidor… would pretend not to notice.
Not out of indifference. But because, most likely, he didn't know how to respond to a kind of concern that asks for nothing in return.
One day during training, Talia was practicing alone in the lower arena when she caught sight of him passing by, heading toward the "Gray Knowledge" corner — the place no one went unless the rules had become a personal problem.
She stopped.
She wanted to call out to him. She didn't.
Three days later, they sat in the same wing, inside the herb library, with a long table of manuscripts between them.
No one spoke.
She read. And he pretended to read.
But she knew he didn't see the letters.Just as she knew he was thinking… like someone trying to convince himself no one would notice if he disappeared.
She put the book aside, and said in a calm voice, without looking at him:
"If you choose to stop… I'll understand."
He didn't reply.
So she continued, rearranging some papers in front of her:
"And if you choose to continue… I'll walk beside you, without asking why."
She raised her eyes quietly.
He was still silent.
But he didn't leave.
At the exit door, just before she left, she turned suddenly.
She said, in a tone that didn't sound like her:
"No one here knows your story as it really is…and no one will tell it if you don't start it yourself."
Then she left.
Leaving him with the table, the manuscripts, and an inner voice…he could no longer ignore.
Phase IV: "Two Faces in One Mirror" (From Lin's Point of View)
Another seven days passed…and Lin, as usual, walked one step behind everyone — not because anyone asked her to, but because she always felt that was her natural place.
The royal quarter had grown quieter lately.
Aliana no longer laughed as much.And she no longer finished her training early the way she always did.Even the way she held her staff had changed — no longer firm… but hesitant.
Lin noticed.And because she noticed, she began to think.
In the corner of the white courtyard, she watched her sister Lisa training with one of the visiting knights.Precise strikes. Steady movement.Everything about Lisa seemed to say "I know what I'm doing."
But when she looked at Aliana… she didn't find that sentence in her eyes.
The next day, Lin entered the music room — not because she was good at playing, but because she knew Aliana went there when she wanted to escape everything.
She found her there.
Sitting by the window, her hand resting on the strings of an instrument that had yet to make a sound.
Lin said to her, in a voice closer to a whisper:
"May I… sit?"
Aliana didn't answer, but she didn't refuse either.
Lin sat on the opposite end, then said, after a moment of silence:
"When I was little… I used to wish Lisa were a little less perfect as a sister."
Aliana gave a faint, sardonic smile.
Lin continued, her eyes on the floor:
"But I grew up a little… and I began to understand that perfection doesn't mean happiness."
She fell silent.
Then she lifted her eyes toward Aliana.
And said:
"You… look like someone who has lost her voice, but not her ear."
Aliana looked at her, slightly startled.
Lin went on:
"You hear everything… even the whispers in others' heads.But you don't yet know… how to answer."
A long moment passed.
Then Aliana said, in a faint tone:
"I feel like… I don't know who my brother is."
Lin replied quietly:
"And he doesn't know… who he wants to be."
They didn't continue the conversation.
But the silence between them… was not as heavy as before.
As if it were a silence… that could breathe.
Phase V: "What Wasn't Said in the Message" (From Lisa's Point of View)
⏳ Time: Three days after Lin and Aliana's conversation.📍 Place: The back gray courtyard – at sunset.
The sun wasn't clear.
The air was gray — just like their wing.
Lisa was training herself in sword spins, in a far corner of the courtyard.Watching, as she always did.
Not just for herself… but for everyone.
Her eyes drifted to Calidor's routine:
Late waking, cold performance in lessons, disappearing during breaks.Then a sudden appearance… when he was right at the edge.
He would rise suddenly.As if he remembered something he'd forgotten.Then fade again… as if he decided to ignore it on purpose.
She knew something was moving inside him.
Something unspoken, and unasked.
She tightened her grip on the sword hilt,executed the final strike perfectly,then walked toward him, where he was sitting alone, near the eastern hall steps.
He sat as the invisible sit…Shoulders forward, head down, eyes following nothing.
She said softly, without preamble:
"No one blames you for your weakness."
He lifted his eyes to her, surprised.
She continued:
"But they're waiting for one thing from you…To choose whether you'll stay that way, or not."
He stayed silent.
Then he spoke, in a low voice:
"And you… what are you waiting for?"
She smiled faintly and sat beside him, without looking at him.
"Me?I watch.Because I promised I would."
She paused, then added:
"But… that doesn't mean I don't feel."
A moment passed.
Then he asked her quietly:
"Aliana… how do you see her?"
She replied, standing up:
"As someone waiting for you to give her back her voice."
Then she finally looked at him, her eyes steady:
"But she won't scream first.And if you expect her to come back to you…you'll be waiting a long time."
She didn't say another word.And she didn't wait for his answer.
She walked away with steady steps,leaving behind a calm… that felt like a very particular kind of silent reproach.
Calidor remained where he was.
He didn't move.
But this time… his eyes weren't looking only at the ground.
They were looking at himself.
Phase VI: From Aliana's Point of View
She looked at him…from afar.
Not like someone who longs,nor like someone who waits,but like someone who wants to forget yet lacks the means to neglect.
In the first month,every time he fell… she felt relieved.
In the second month,every time he rose, she grew uneasy.
And in the third month…she stopped passing judgment.
She didn't know if he had changed,and she didn't care if he was training.But something inside her had shifted:
She no longer saw him as "the shame" that needed to be erased.
Maybe… because he hadn't died.Despite all the falls.
In the recent evenings,when she returned from her advanced lessons,she would pass by the courtyard,and sometimes see him at the edge of the drills,holding a sword,or a book,or just… watching.
And she wouldn't come closer.
Lin had noticed it,and once asked her:
"Do you plan to talk to him?"
She answered without turning:
"No. Not yet… and I'm not even sure he's still there at all."
When she slept,she didn't think of him.
But in the hallways,sometimes…she would glance at his empty seat in the lecture hall,and occupy herself with the question:
"Who will be the next to fall?"
And one day,she passed by the Specialization Counciland saw his name on the list of "Unclassified Until Further Notice."
She didn't comment.She didn't whisper.But she felt — for a single moment —that silence was more dangerous than curses.
And she walked on.
As if everything… was postponed.Not forgotten.Not forgiven.
Then the day ended.And the sun set.And like every night,a light rain fell…without making a sound.
🧭 Phase VII – "The Roar Behind the Walls"
The roads were not paved.But they knew the feet that had walked them.
In a corner of the Grand Guild City,Neron sat in a suffocating tavern,sweat clinging to the walls,voices crashing against the ceilings.Men with weary eyes,women with patched swords,children running between legs, chasing the crumbs of battles.
He wasn't here as a student.Nor anyone's son.Nor a ward of any institution.
His name was written on a different list:"Dispatched by secret recommendation — classified as independent observer."
The mission?No written instructions.Just the short phrase spoken by the man who received him at the guild:
"Watch what they don't say… not what they do."
Behind every bottle,and behind every fabricated tale,Neron picked up what no one dared to say outright.
He heard about movements of minor fiefdoms,about weapons shipments passing without permits,about an eastern sorcerer who bought three vampire-slaves at a high price…and about a fleeting rumor:
"The Grand Queen… no longer sends only her eyes, but her tongues as well."
Neron chuckled at the phrase.Tossed it into his mind,and jotted it down in his small black notebook.Then he scratched a note beside it:
"Might be a lie… or might be the seed of coming blood."
On the fifth night there,when more wine was spilling on the floor than into cups,a man entered carrying nothing… but a sealed paper.
He handed it to Neron.Spoke not a word.
He opened it — no signature.Just instructions:
"Stay in the shadows until further notice.Do not return.Stop sending written reports.The danger is not in what you hear… but in who reads along with you."
He looked around.Nothing had changed.
Same noise.Same faces.Same heat, same stench, same gambling.
But suddenly…he realized that the quiet of the academywas more suffocating than all this chaos.
He went back to his seat,scribbled in the margin of his notebook:
"The loudest sound… is the one unheard."
Then he closed the notebook,and left the tavern without paying.
Outside,the moon was hidden…but the city glowed —not because of light,but because its darkness wasn't ashamed of itself.
🧭 Phase VIII – "On the Edge of Choice"
👤 Key Characters: Kalidor, Alyana, the Inner Court Council📍 Location: Inner Court Hall – Luminia High Academy🕰 Time: End of the academic year, 1763 PK
Silence.
Silence filled the hall,as if it were the only true actor here.
The seats were crowded with robed officials,students lined up before the judgment platforms,and all eyes fixed on those whose names would be called… to decide their fates.
**
Kalidor wasn't called first.Not even in the first ten.But he was… the weakest among them all.
**
He had survived expulsion three times,each time proving he was "not ordinary,"but also "not fit."
**
On the side benches,Alyana sat among her royal-track peers.In her white uniform and golden sash,she gazed at the platform without turning her head.
**
She saw him… but he didn't see her.Or so he chose to pretend.
**
And despite everything… she felt the weight of what had passed between them,the words she'd said… still strangled her memory.But since that day,she hadn't tried to approach him again.
**
She stopped trying to understand.She decided to let him choose…to fall or to rise…and she would not be part of that decision.
**
— "Kalidor Arvalor," the voice called.
He rose from his seat,his steps steady… but not confident.He stood before the Inner Court Council.
**
A faint voice inside him whispered:
"You have four options… choose one, or leave the academy."
**
He looked at the four symbols carved into the pillars behind the council:
⚔️ The Sword (Combat Track)🔥 The Flame (Magical Track)👁️ The Eye (Intelligence & Administrative Track)⚖️ The Scales (Judicial Track)
**
Each path led farther and farther awayfrom what was once called "family."
**
The council gave him extra time.But he said nothing.
**
The students behind him began murmuring.The teachers watched with unease.
**
Then… a messenger entered through the side door.In his hand, a sealed envelope.
**
He handed it to a council member,who opened it… read the lines, then looked up at Kalidor.
**
— "You have received a special invitation to join the Flame Program – Special Magical Division."
— "The invitation bears a high seal."
**
Whispers swept through the hall.A royal invitation?For Kalidor?The student who failed more than half his tests?Who belonged only to the shadows?
**
But the council kept its composure,then one member said coldly:
— "You are free to accept… or refuse."
**
Kalidor remained silent.Though his face showed a trace of shock, he did not display it.
He looked upward.His eyes passed over the names written on the ceiling of the court — names of those who chose… and either failed, or succeeded.
**
Then his gaze fell…just for a moment.It stopped at Alyana.
**
She was looking at him… for the first time in months.
No anger.No apology.No plea.
Just… a still gaze.Accepting.As if saying: "Do what you see fit… I won't be the cause of your fall again."
**
He didn't smile.He didn't gesture.
But his next step… wasn't backward.
**
He took a single step forward,then said:
— "I accept the invitation."
**
Just like that… in a calm voice.Not out of revenge.Not to prove anything.Just… a decision.
**
And the applause began.
But he didn't turn.He left the hall with steady steps.
**
Behind him, in the corner of the hall,Alyana sat motionless.
**
In her hand… a torn piece of paper.A copy of the original invitation.
She had been the one who sent it.But she told no one.And never would.
**
— "I chose to stay away… but not so far as to watch him be erased from the academy."
**
And so…the next year began.
But for Kalidor and Alyana…it hadn't begun yet.
**
Perhaps it would start…when they speak again.
**
Or perhaps… it would never start at all.
🕯 End of Chapter Twelve
📜 AfterWord
This chapter was the penultimate.The next chapter will be the finale,where we will shape our future…and the future of this story,along with the rest of the characters who belong to this world.
We will also continue the journey of our main character,to uncover their final secrets,and always leave room…for your support in this effort,and to continue this tale with you.
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