_____MI'KAEL SERAPHANE_____

The sun was high, casting its gentle warmth across the winding paths of the village.

 

The cobbled roads, edged with moss-covered stones, were alive with movement—laughter, footsteps, voices that rose like birdsong into the morning sky. 

Children raced down the streets, chasing after a sleek, humming drone that zipped above them like a playful bird.

The drone—shaped like a crescent moth with bioluminescent wings—ducked and weaved between trees, its light patterns blinking in rhythm with the children’s excited shouts. 

I found myself smiling faintly. It wasn’t just the joy on their faces, but what it meant.

Back on Vel’Serah, technology was dominant. Cold, artificial, segregated from the living world. 

But here… here it flowed with nature—cradled in it. The air smelled of damp wood and sweet pollen, not recycled steel. Even the sky felt different—real. Like the world was breathing alongside them.

It made me ache.

Couples walked hand in hand down the winding paths, their touches unhurried, conversations soft. I caught a glimpse of one pair—her hair golden like firelight, his gaze locked on hers as if she were the only thing in existence.

Aeris.

Her name swept through me like a whisper. I could still remember the way the morning sun caught her hair, how her laughter felt like it could warm entire worlds. 

Her sapphire eyes—calm, knowing, a storm beneath still water.

Even after everything—after the blood, the betrayal, the loneliness—I still wanted to see her again. To stand before her and let the mask fall. Tell her the truth. Not the warrior’s truth. My truth. That I had never stopped thinking of her. That I had wanted to run with her through fields like these. 

No titles. No clans. Just... us.

And maybe—just maybe—I could become someone worthy of walking beside her again.

The thought was still lingering in my chest when a scream shattered the air.

Panic-stricken. Real.

The scream tore through the village like a blade through silk.

My body moved before my thoughts caught up.

Branches whipped past me as I sprinted toward the forest’s edge. The woman’s voice rang in my ears—

“They’re going to kill him!”

—and even as I caught her, as her tears stained my shoulder, I knew this peace had never been mine to claim.

I handed her to the villagers. My boots hit the earth again. Leaves parted. The underbrush tore at my legs.

I skidded to a halt just before the clearing.

Steel rang out.

Not wild.
Not panicked.

Precise. Measured. Familiar.

Ravyn stood alone at the center of the clearing, back half-turned toward the village, blade moving in tight arcs that cut air and flesh with equal economy. Blood darkened his side, soaking through his tunic, but his footing never wavered.

Four of them lay already broken.

Five more circled him.

Seraphane.

My chest hollowed.

Ravyn shifted his stance the moment he saw them spread — not retreating, not advancing, but angling himself between the attackers and the village.

Always the same lesson.

Survival isn’t about you.

One of them lunged.

Ravyn met him halfway.

He didn’t strike to kill. He struck to end. The blade slid beneath the man’s guard, severed something vital, and moved on before the body hit the ground.

Another came in low.

Ravyn pivoted, letting the spear glance past his ribs — accepting the wound — so he could drive his elbow into the attacker’s throat. Bone cracked. The man collapsed, choking.

I felt it then.

The way Ravyn was moving.

Not desperate.

Deliberate.

He was buying time.

Something inside me snapped.

[Boost]

Power surged through my veins like a slammed breaker. The world slowed. Sound stretched. My heartbeat became a drum.

I exploded into the clearing.

The first man never saw me.

I took him from behind, wrenching his blade free and driving it through his chest in one clean motion. Sparks screamed as his sigil shattered, scattering fragments across the dirt.

I didn’t stop.

Another turned — too late.

I disarmed him with a twist Ravyn had beaten into me a hundred times, drove my knee into his sternum, and sent him crashing into a tree hard enough to snap bark.

The rest faltered.

Ravyn took that hesitation and punished it.

He stepped forward and cut through two of them in a single motion — not wide, not flashy — just a brutal, perfect line that ended both fights at once.

Blood sprayed.

Silence fell.

One remained.

He raised his weapon at me.

Ravyn moved first.

Too slow.

The blade pierced him clean through the side.

My breath left my body in a sound I didn’t recognize.

I killed the last man before he could pull it free.

_____RAVYN SERAPHANE_____

My legs gave out before the pain did.

That was how I knew it was over.

Mi’kael caught me before I hit the ground. His hands were shaking—too much force, not enough control. Still trying to save something that had already decided its price.

“No—stay with me,” he said. His voice cracked, raw and unguarded. “You’re not done. You can’t be.”

Poor boy.

He was still measuring endings by how much they hurt.

Blood filled my mouth. I swallowed it back and forced my eyes to focus on his face. Older now. Sharper. Harder. And still carrying far more weight than any blade should demand.

He was crying.

I hadn’t seen him cry in years.

“You changed,” I managed. “That last strike… you didn’t hesitate.”

He shook his head violently. “I didn’t want to. I just—”

“I know.” I tightened my grip on his wrist. Not strength. Habit. “That’s why I taught you the rule.”

His breath hitched.

“Survival first,” I whispered. “Morality second. Revenge never.”

He squeezed his eyes shut.

“But you broke it,” I continued. “Not today. Long before this.”

He looked at me then, desperate. Like a child again.

“I didn’t want to lose anyone else,” he said. “I didn’t want to feel that helpless again.”

There it was.

Not hatred.
Not cruelty.
Fear.

I smiled despite myself.

“That’s why this hurts,” I said softly. “You don’t kill because you must anymore. You kill because you’re afraid of what happens if you don’t.”

His tears fell onto my chest, hot against the cooling blood.

“Promise me something,” I said. Each word cost more than the last. “When the time comes… when revenge asks for everything… promise me you’ll know you’re the one choosing it.”

He nodded immediately. Too fast.

“I promise.”

I knew then.

He meant it.

And that one day, he would realize he couldn’t keep it.

“One last thing,” I said. “When you cross that line—don’t lie to yourself about why.”

His grip tightened.

Then loosened.

The forest blurred. Sound faded. And for the first time in years, the weight lifted.

Mi’kael was alive.

That would have to be enough.