The rain fell without pause for three days.Not loud. Not storming. Just… endless.Like the sky wasn't crying — it was remembering.
Kael stood at the edge of the dormitory's roof, arms crossed, letting it hit his face.
His claws had returned to their chain form, but something inside them had changed. They now whispered to him when it rained — not in words, but in feelings. Dread. Regret. A voice lost in time.
🏫 Back to Class, Not Quite
Unit Null was now separated from the rest of the Academy.No regular classes. No public duels.Their room was deep underground, where sunlight didn't reach.
"We're like cursed royal prisoners," Benny complained, spinning his Clownhammer."Why do we get the creepy dungeon and not the upper floor with the good food?"
"Because we survived a Shade," Mikaho said flatly."And because we're not normal anymore."
Virel entered the room without warning.
"Mission time."
🕯️ The Forgotten Memorial
The team was taken beyond the southern gates of Ashfield — into the marshes of Old Vale, where ruins of the First Demon War still stood.
There, they found a forgotten memorial stone half-swallowed by vines and mud.
Virel handed Kael a damp scroll.
"This place was once a resting site for fallen Null-class students.""You will clean it. Restore it. And listen to what it wants to say."
"Stones don't talk," Kael muttered.
"This one might."
🌧️ The Stone Whispers
As the team worked in silence, Kael touched the center of the stone.
And time… paused.
Not for the others.
Just for him.
The rain froze in mid-air. The trees became blurred shapes.And in front of him stood a ghostly girl, no older than ten, with long hair and stitched eyes.
"You're late," she said."We waited, Kael. But you never came."
He stepped back.
"Who are you?"
"The first to die for the curse you carry.""And not the last."
Her form flickered. Her voice cracked like thunder.
"Find the Well Beneath the Sea.""Or you will drown before the flood comes."
Kael blinked — and she was gone.
The rain moved again. The world returned to motion.
Mikaho noticed his pale face.
"Kael? What happened?"
"Nothing," he lied."Let's finish this."
🧩 Meanwhile… Zehr
Back at Ashfield, Zehr stood alone before a sealed archive.His burning map had shifted again — revealing a new name carved into its edge:
Kael of the Broken Bond.
"So the island has marked you already," Zehr muttered.
He placed his hand on the lock.
"Then we better move faster."
🌓 Back in the Dorm
Night fell.
Kael sat in the dark, staring at his weapon.
"Why me?" he whispered."What did I do before I was even born?"
Mikaho sat beside him.
"Maybe nothing.""Maybe everything."
She leaned her head on his shoulder — just for a moment.
No romance. Just warmth in a world too cold for ten-year-olds.
🎬 Next Episode Preview: Chapter 8 – Echoes from the Well
The clue from the ghost girl leads to a sealed chamber near the coast. But opening it may reveal more than truth — it might awaken something buried since the island's first curse.
Some voices weren't meant to be heard.But Kael has always heard them anyway.