Sunlight filtered through the forest leaves. The coolness of the morning still lingered on the ground when three silhouettes reappeared in the quiet clearing.

Zayn watched them silently. Fatigue was beginning to settle into their bodies, but none of them said a word.

Kael gripped his wooden sword tightly. Selia pressed her fingertips together, trying to feel the energy between them.

Zayn stepped forward.

"Today," he said calmly, "you will no longer work like children."

His voice was not harsh, but the determination within it was undeniable.

🔸 First Training – Kael

Kael stepped forward and swung his sword first to the right, then to the left. Zayn just watched. He didn't correct him even once, which distracted Kael.

"What? Am I doing it wrong?" he asked.

Zayn shook his head.

"No... but you're not angry enough."

Kael's eyes narrowed. Zayn took another step closer and whispered softly:

> "At that camp... there was someone who could have knocked you down with a single blow."

Kael nearly dropped his sword. His eyes widened. "Who?"

Zayn stepped back. 

"You don't need to know. But if someone like him shows up again... you'll kneel before your family." 

Silence fell. The childish expression on Kael's face vanished. 

Not his muscles, but his eyes had changed; they were filled with something new.

He raised his sword again. This time he didn't breathe. He struck. 

Then again. And again. 

He didn't stop even as sweat poured down his face. 

Zayn thought to himself: 

> "It wasn't a lie. But it wasn't the truth either. And it worked." 

🔸 Second Training – Selia

Selia was crouching on the floor. There was a small bowl of water in front of her. Her hands were shaking slightly, but she was focused. Zayn had made a small cut on his arm. It was real, but shallow.

"Put your hands on it," said Zayn.

Selia brought her palms close to the wound.

A warmth began to flow. Slowly. Gently.

But suddenly...

Her eyes widened.

"Zayn! My hands—"

Her fingers began to tremble. A faint blue glow rose from her skin.

Suddenly, too much mana emerged. Zayn's arm tensed involuntarily.

He wasn't in pain, just surprised. 

He tried to lift his arm... but there was no feeling. 

"Stop," he said calmly. "Cut the flow." 

Selia stepped back and stumbled. 

"I... I didn't mean to..." 

Zayn smiled.

"What you meant doesn't matter. If you can unleash this much power unconsciously... it means there's much more inside you."

Selia looked up. There were no tears in her eyes.

Just a question:

> "So is this... good?"

Zayn shook his head.

"It won't save you. But it will change you."

🔸 Sunset

As the sun set, the three of them sat side by side in the clearing again. They were sweaty but not restless.

Zayn didn't look at them as he spoke:

"Tomorrow we'll train differently. But remember this: if you really want to be ready, you need more than muscles. You need intention."

Kael nodded. Selia closed her eyes.

As they rested, Zayn stood up and stepped back.

He stood among the trees just beyond the campsite.

He tilted his head upward.

No stars.

Only silence.

> "This night is peaceful... but it shouldn't be."

Then he felt it.

Small.

Still.

Slow.

But now.

One step.

One breath.

The feeling of being watched.

Zayn slowly turned his head north.

The forest was dark. But familiar.

> "We're being watched..."

He said nothing.

Not yet.

The morning breeze blew through the village's stone streets, and light smoke rose from the chimneys of the houses. Nothing visible had changed. People moved about as usual, children played, and the elderly bought bread.

But Zayn knew.

This morning... was the last peaceful morning.

He walked in the shade, silently.

As if he weren't there.As he passed through the village, a few people greeted him.

One of his neighbors, an old woman, reached out and touched his shoulder.

"You're early today, Zayn. Did your mother send you to the forest again?"

Zayn bowed his head slightly.

"Everyone will be late today," he said simply.

The woman didn't understand, but she smiled. "What a strange child..."

He checked a few more things before meeting Kael and Selia.

He pulled the dried bushes by the side of the road forward.

Not enough to cover the tracks, but enough to make a sound.

The corner behind one of the old barns was still empty.

There, in the first light of morning, he slowly dug under the grass.

He placed a handmade wooden wedge, three fingers thick.

He walked over to the well.

He left three small pieces of stone stacked on top of each other.

It looked like a child's game.

But the meaning was clear:"The passage will open here."

He covered the ground, pressed down carefully, and lost the trail.

He didn't look back twice.

Everything was where it should be.

When he reached the clearing, Kael had already started working.

He was swinging his wooden sword, sweating as he did so.

Each strike was more controlled than the last.

Selia was busy with a few herbs, but her face was tense.

Her fingers trembled slightly as she tried to regulate the flow of mana.

Zayn watched them but said nothing.

Today's training was short.

Kael stopped after a few strikes.

"Am I still lacking?"

Zayn didn't answer.

For the first time, there was unease in Kael's eyes.

Selia approached. "Something happened. Didn't it?"

Zayn didn't shake his head.

But there was something else in his eyes.

A calculation.

A conclusion.

Around noon, he headed toward the edge of the forest.

To the outermost circle of the village.

He marked a few areas that the guards couldn't see.

In some places, he moved rotten logs.

As if at random.

Then he went to the covering in the northeast.

The rotten door of the old barn was about to fall off.

He loosened the soil beneath it.

He checked the knife he had placed there earlier. It was still there.

> "Tonight... I will open this passage."

No one heard him.

Zayn didn't think out loud either.

But the plan was now complete.

As the sun set, he entered the forest.

He headed toward the path he had marked earlier.

He didn't stop when he heard footsteps.

A shadow emerged from between the trees.

It was the man he had spoken to earlier.

Short, pale-skinned, gray-eyed.

He extended a small piece of cloth toward Zayn with his hand.

The corner of the cloth was sewn with thread used in the village.

> "The preparations are complete," it meant.

Zayn merely bowed his head.

He turned back.

The man did not speak.

Because there was no need.

The answer had already been given.

When he returned to the village, it was dark.

Kael and Selia were sitting by the fire.

They were eating their meal slowly, not talking much.

Zayn quietly came over to them and sat down on the ground.

Selia glanced at him.

Kael spoke directly.

"You're acting as if... a war is about to break out."

Zayn shook his head slightly.

"Because some wars are won before they even begin."

Kael stared into the fire for a long time that night.

Selia felt something toward Zayn for the first time.

Not trust.

Not fear.

A kind of... attraction.

That night, when everyone had fallen asleep, Zayn got up again.

He was barefoot. He was silent.

No one noticed.

He went out through the back passage.

He walked in the dark, reaching the door he knew by heart.

He loosened the stone with his hand and removed it.

The earth silently gave way.

The wooden wedge shifted from its place.

The door sagged.

Slowly, but without making a sound, it opened inward.

A cold wind seemed to enter.

But not from outside...

It seemed to be blowing from inside.

Zayn stood at the edge of the door.

For a moment, everything fell silent.

Then he stepped back.

Without saying a word.

Without leaving a trace.

But now everything was ready.

> "The village was still asleep.

But the darkness that had been let in… had already entered."

[End of Chapter Note]

The order Zayn had established was silent. But every piece was in its place.

The path was cleared for the outlaws.

Kael and Selia still didn't know the truth.

And the morning… would change them forever.