The silver words lingered in the air.
HE HAS RETURNED.
No one breathed.
The shattered fragments of the Heart Mirror floated motionless, glowing like tiny stars suspended inside the great hall.
Master Caelum slowly lowered his head.
His hands trembled.
"The prophecy..."
He whispered the words as though afraid they would awaken something.
"It was real."
Students outside the hall stared through the open doors.
Confused voices spread rapidly.
"What happened?"
"Did the Heart Mirror break?"
"Who returned?"
No one had an answer.
But before rumors could spread further—
The silver words dissolved.
The crystal fragments fell harmlessly to the floor.
The hall became silent once more.
Kai looked at his reflection in one of the broken shards.
For an instant...
He saw the same unfamiliar man with white hair and eyes like endless night.
The reflection smiled.
Then it became Kai again.
He blinked.
The vision vanished.
"...Did anyone else see that?"
Ashren studied him carefully.
"What did you see?"
Kai hesitated.
"I don't know."
Ashren didn't press further.
Instead, he turned toward Master Caelum.
"The academy still keeps the old chamber?"
Caelum nodded grimly.
"It has never been opened."
"Not since the First Ascendant sealed it."
The old wanderer's playful smile disappeared.
"So..."
"It really survived."
Lyra frowned.
"What chamber?"
No one answered immediately.
Even Ashren seemed reluctant.
Finally, he spoke.
"Beneath the Ninth Peak..."
"...rests something the First Ascendant refused to destroy."
A deep tremor shook the mountain.
Not violent.
Deliberate.
As though something far below had shifted in its sleep.
Every instructor turned pale.
Caelum immediately barked orders.
"Seal the lower passages!"
"Activate the Nine Locks!"
"No student is to approach the Ninth Peak!"
The instructors vanished in flashes of light.
Kai felt the bracelet on his wrist tighten.
The silver thread burned against his skin.
It was pulling him.
Downward.
Toward the Ninth Peak.
Lyra noticed.
"Kai?"
He looked toward the distant mountain.
"...Something's calling me."
Ashren closed his eyes.
"I was afraid of this."
"The chamber isn't reacting to you."
"It's recognizing you."
Hours later...
The academy had fallen into a tense silence.
Students were confined to their assigned peaks.
Protective barriers shimmered across the valleys.
Even the great beasts circling the mountains had disappeared into the clouds.
Night fell.
Kai couldn't sleep.
Every time he closed his eyes...
He heard footsteps echoing beneath the earth.
One...
Two...
Three...
Always stopping beneath the Ninth Peak.
Unable to ignore it any longer, he quietly left his room.
The academy corridors were empty.
Moonlight reflected off polished stone.
As he approached the bridge leading to the Ninth Peak—
A voice spoke behind him.
"I knew you'd come."
Kai turned.
The silver-haired girl he had seen earlier stood beneath a lantern.
She wore the academy's black-and-white robes, with a silver crest embroidered over her heart.
A sword rested at her side.
"My name is Seris."
Her crimson eyes studied him carefully.
"I've been waiting for you."
Kai frowned.
"We've never met."
"I know."
She smiled faintly.
"But I've dreamed about you."
Before Kai could respond—
A violent explosion echoed from beneath the Ninth Peak.
The entire mountain shook.
The protective barriers flashed brilliantly.
Then one of them shattered.
A pillar of black light erupted into the sky.
Students poured from the surrounding buildings in panic.
"What happened?"
"The seal!"
"The Ninth Peak seal is breaking!"
Master Caelum appeared above the academy.
"Everyone stay back!"
His voice thundered across all nine mountains.
"No one is to approach—"
A second explosion interrupted him.
The ground beneath Kai cracked open.
Ancient stairs spiraled downward into darkness.
The silver bracelet around Kai's wrist glowed brightly.
One by one, glowing runes lit the stairway.
As though welcoming him.
Ashren landed beside Kai.
His expression was unreadable.
"It has chosen."
The old wanderer arrived a heartbeat later.
"I suppose fate grew tired of waiting."
Seris stepped beside Kai without hesitation.
"If you're going down..."
"I'm coming too."
Lyra crossed her arms.
"So am I."
Ashren sighed.
"This is exactly how disasters begin."
The old wanderer grinned.
"And exactly how legends begin."
From deep beneath the Ninth Peak...
A low, resonant voice echoed through the darkness.
Not loud.
Not threatening.
Almost... relieved.
"At last..."
"...the final key has come home."
The ancient stairway trembled.
Kai looked into the abyss below.
The darkness did not frighten him.
It felt...
Familiar.
He took the first step downward.
Far below, hidden beneath layers of forgotten stone...
Something opened its eyes.
Not with hatred.
Not with joy.
With recognition.