Aftermath
The air was thick with the scent of scorched earth and burnt mana.
Chunks of marble were scattered like confetti, and the once-pristine courtyard looked like a warzone.
Kael was gone—carried away on a stretcher, his glowing wings cracked like glass, the remnants of a prince who fought a god.
A soft breeze tugged at the silence. And in that stillness, four very unqualified idiots sat behind a broken pillar... still holding their half-eaten pudding trays.
Survivor Debriefing
Rayan blinked slowly. "Okay... real talk. Did we seriously almost jump in back there?"
Cezar groaned, flat on his back. "Jump in? Bro, my soul evacuated. I'm basically a spiritual hologram right now."
Yeon sat with knees to his chest, staring blankly at the cracked ground. "I think I blacked out standing up. Also... I may or may not have peed a little. Emotionally."
Tonio, as always, stayed calm—but even his shirt was slightly unbuttoned. For Tonio, that was basically a panic attack. "We gathered critical information. We adapted. We didn't die. That was... technically a win."
Rayan tilted his head. "You mean the 'plan' where we hid and hoped Kael didn't spontaneously combust?"
Cezar raised a finger. "And it worked! Sorta. Minus the whole 'Kael almost dying' thing."
There was a beat.
Then Rayan looked down at his blade—the Timeless Blade—still humming faintly with a warmth that wasn't his.
"...It pulsed again," he whispered.
Yeon squinted. "Was that... a metaphor? Or do we need to take you to the nurse too?"
"Shut up, Yeon."
Scene Change: Elira Watches
Far above, in the tallest tower of the Academy, Headmaster Elira Vance stood silently at her window. Her flowing robes whispered like smoke in the moonlight.
Her gaze never left the ruined courtyard.
"The blade awakens…" she murmured. Her fingertips shimmered with golden runes—forgotten magic, etched deep beneath her skin.
"The past stirs. And this time… there may be no reset."
Her voice was barely audible.
But the window cracked anyway.
Nurse's Office
Kael lay wrapped in healing silk, his breathing steady but faint. He looked… young. Too young to have taken that kind of hit.
Rayan stood silently by the window, arms crossed. He hadn't said anything since they arrived.
Tonio stepped in beside him. "They say he'll recover. Slowly."
"...He shouldn't have had to fight alone," Rayan said quietly.
Tonio studied him for a moment. "No. But he chose to. To protect something."
Rayan's grip tightened on the window frame. "...What did Elzure want?"
There was a pause.
And Tonio, for once, looked uncertain.
"Maybe not Kael. Maybe not even Elira."
He looked at the blade resting by Rayan's side.
"Maybe it was you."
Flashback: Elzure's Vision
Darkness.
A throne of bones beneath a bleeding sky.
Elzure knelt before it.
A voice echoed like a blade scraping across stone.
"You hesitated."
Elzure bowed lower. "The blade has chosen."
A pause. Then—
"Then the cycle begins anew."
Library – That Night (Dragonoid Revelation)
The group crept into the restricted section of the library, their footsteps muffled by layers of dust and bad decisions.
Tonio set a tattered book on the table with delicate reverence:
The Pact of Dawn and Dusk.
Cezar squinted at the cracked leather. "Man, this thing smells like trauma."
Yeon leaned over, nose wrinkling. "And old socks."
Rayan ignored them, flipping to a page marked by brittle ribbon.
On it, ancient ink swirled into a breathtaking mural:
Twin dragons—one cloaked in golden flames, the other in glacial mist—coiled around a sword bathed in moonlight.
Tonio traced the symbol. "These are the Dragonoids..."
"Wait—what?" Cezar blinked. "Weren't they marked as extinct? Like... fossil-level gone?"
Yeon sat up straighter. "Yeah. I remember reading about them. Historical race. Wiped out in the Great Collapse... no survivors, no records, nothing."
Rayan stared at the page. "…Then why did one show up at the duel today?"
The others froze.
Tonio's breath caught. "You think that thing watching from the rooftops…"
"Tall, glowing eyes, didn't flinch when Kael and Elzure clashed?" Cezar muttered. "I thought that was a hallucination."
Yeon shivered. "Guys. If that really was a Dragonoid—then we've got a problem. A big, ancient, scale-covered, elemental-breathing kind of problem."
Rayan's fingers rested on the drawing. The sword in the mural…
It was his sword. The same etchings. The same curve.
"The book called them Guardians of the Balance," Tonio murmured. "If one's awake… then something's thrown that balance off."
Cezar leaned back, voice dry. "Cool. Love that. No pressure, right?"
Yeon folded his arms, serious for once. "…Then what does that make us?"
No one answered.
But far above, that red star pulsed once more—
Not just watching.
Waiting.
Final Scene: Rooftop
The stars glistened above Arcania—except one.
One that beat like a heart. Red. Alive.
Rayan sat alone on the Academy rooftop, knees up, blade across his lap.
The Timeless Blade pulsed again—soft, familiar, ancient.
He didn't know what was coming.
Didn't know if they'd survive.
But he did know one thing.
He wasn't supposed to be the main character.
And yet—
Here he was.
End of Chapter 17