Chapter 1 – Page 3: “The Ritual of Heroes”

Kuro didn’t answer her.

The words hung between them like fog—soft, unreal, yet too heavy to ignore.

He studied her face beneath the flickering torchlight that lined the quiet palace gardens. Elenia wasn’t joking. Her voice didn’t waver. She wasn’t flirting, or teasing. There was something hollow in her eyes. Something familiar.

“Why?” he asked at last.

She plucked a white flower from the bush beside them, twirled its stem between her fingers.

“Because I don’t belong here any more than you do,” she said. “I’ve spent years healing soldiers, pretending to be part of their cause. I thought helping people meant I was doing something good. But all I’ve done is keep broken men alive so they can keep killing others.”

Kuro said nothing.

Elenia looked up at the stars. “You’re the first person I’ve met who isn’t lying to themselves.”

He shifted slightly on the bench. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know enough.”

Kuro turned his gaze back toward the tower, where the other summoned students slept under enchanted ceilings and golden-lined comfort. From here, their world looked like a dream. A gilded cage.

“I’m leaving soon,” he said. “They’ll figure out what I am. What I’m not.”

“I know,” Elenia whispered. “That’s why I want to go with you.”

He stared at her.

She met his gaze. Unblinking.

“I’m not asking you to protect me,” she added. “Just… don’t disappear alone.”

The next morning, the summoned students were roused early and marched into the outer fields beneath the capital walls. Morning dew clung to the tall grass, and the scent of damp earth mingled with the iron tang of weapons being sharpened.

Kuro stood at the edge of the formation again. Always the edge.

“You hear they’re sending us on a field test already?” Ayato asked as he stretched beside him. “They said something about demon scouts sighted near the Northern Vale.”

“They’re testing us like dogs,” Yumi muttered from behind them. “See who survives.”

“They wouldn’t do that,” Kenji said smoothly, stepping into the circle. “They’re trying to prepare us. You think this war gives us time to hold hands and sing songs?”

Yumi narrowed her eyes. “You enjoy this too much.”

Kenji smiled. “I enjoy knowing where I stand.” His gaze drifted toward Kuro. “Unlike some people who still haven’t declared a class.”

Kuro didn’t respond.

Kenji walked slowly around him, studying him like a riddle. “You know, it’s strange. Everyone else was given a class. Even the weakest among us. But the crystal didn’t react to you. Makes me wonder…”

Kuro finally looked up. His voice was cold.

“Wonder what?”

Kenji smiled wider. “Whether you belong here at all.”

Hours later, the students were briefed in the war tent by General Alfric, a grizzled man with a face carved from stone and eyes like ice.

“There are reports of movement in the ruins of Valdros,” he growled. “Scouts suggest a forward cell of demonkin has begun nesting there. Your mission is reconnaissance. Observe. Report. Do not engage.”

Elenia stood off to the side, organizing healing supplies. Her eyes flickered to Kuro for only a moment—but that moment lingered.

Kenji stepped forward. “Should we be armed with enchanted weapons?”

“You’ll be armed,” the general said. “But this is not a full offensive. You are to learn. Not die.”

Kuro’s mouth tightened. “Then why send children?” he muttered.

Ayato clapped him on the back. “Come on, man. It’s finally happening. Real combat. We get to prove ourselves.”

Kuro turned his head slightly. “Some of us don’t need to prove anything.”

Ayato’s grin faltered.

Kenji raised a brow. “You’re not even trying to be part of this, are you?”

“I never asked to be part of it.”

The tent fell into uneasy silence.

That evening, as the caravan prepared to depart, Kuro slipped into the side courtyard of the barracks. The sky was overcast, and clouds clung to the moon like torn silk.

Elenia approached, her boots crunching softly over gravel.

“They’re watching you more closely now,” she said.

“I know.”

“They won’t let you go easily.”

“I don’t plan to ask.”

She looked at him for a long moment. Then reached into her bag and pulled out a folded map. “There’s a route that leads through the Mistral Woodlands. South of the capital. If you left after the mission… they’d be looking the other way.”

Kuro accepted the map without a word.

“I’m ready,” she said quietly.

“You don’t owe me anything,” he replied.

“I’m not doing this for you.”

She stepped closer. “I’m doing this because I don’t want to wait for the day they turn on me, too.”

Their eyes met again. This time, neither looked away.

The next morning, the heroes departed under a rising gray sky. Fog kissed the road as the caravan made its way toward the northern edge of the kingdom.

Kuro rode in silence, seated beside Elenia in one of the wagons. Her presence was a strange warmth. Not distracting. Just… quiet. Familiar.

He didn’t trust it.

Didn’t trust how easily his guard lowered when she was near.

Didn’t trust how human he felt.

Far ahead, in the ruins of Valdros, something stirred.

A hooded figure stepped through collapsed archways, flanked by creatures with eyes like molten glass and claws that scraped stone with each step.

“My lord,” the figure whispered. “The summoned ones approach.”

In the shadows, a presence moved—vast, slow, unblinking.

Let them come.

[End of Page 3 – Chapter 1]