First Day

The dining hall slowly began to empty.

After hours of introductions, nervous conversations, and the first taste of life inside the military academy, the recruits were finally sent to choose their living arrangements.

Three hundred people.

One hundred bunks.

Two recruits per room.

The hallway outside the dormitories was louder than the dining hall had been.

Everyone was trying to find their assigned rooms, carrying bags, arguing over who would sleep where, and attempting to make friends before training began.

But one thing quickly became obvious.

Almost every guy had noticed Seraphina.

"She's in our squad, right?"

"I heard she's one of the strongest recruits."

"She's beautiful too."

"Think she'll choose a room with someone?"

A group of boys whispered while pretending they weren't staring.

Riven noticed immediately.

"Oh no."

Kaien looked at him.

"What?"

Riven pointed subtly.

"The chaos has begun."

Kaien followed his gaze.

Several recruits were suddenly fixing their hair, standing straighter, and acting much more confident than they had five minutes earlier.

Seraphina walked past them without paying attention.

She looked at the list posted beside the dorm assignments.

"Room 214."

She glanced down the hallway.

Kaien checked his own assignment.

"214."

Riven looked between them.

Then slowly smiled.

"Oh."

Kaien looked confused.

"What?"

Riven crossed his arms.

"Nothing."

Seraphina picked up her bag.

"Looks like we're partners."

Kaien nodded.

"Yeah."

The hallway immediately became silent.

Several recruits who had been hoping to be chosen stared.

One boy whispered,

"Seriously?"

Another sighed.

"He got lucky."

Riven covered his mouth, trying not to laugh.

Kaien noticed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You keep saying that."

"Because it's funny."

Seraphina looked at the two of them.

"You know, I can hear you."

Riven immediately looked away.

"I said nothing."

The dorm room was simple.

Two beds.

Two desks.

A small storage area.

A window overlooking the academy training fields.

Kaien placed his bag beside his bed.

Seraphina placed hers across from him.

For a while, neither spoke.

The reality of tomorrow finally started sinking in.

At five in the morning...

Their lives changed.

No more academy lessons.

No more normal days.

They were soldiers now.

Or at least...

They were trying to become them.

"You should sleep."

Seraphina's voice broke the silence.

Kaien looked over.

"I'm tired."

"You're thinking."

He smiled slightly.

"You can tell?"

"You've always been easy to read."

Kaien looked away.

"That's not true."

"It is."

A small smile appeared on her face.

"You're terrible at hiding what you feel."

Kaien didn't answer.

Because she was right.

After a moment, she turned off the lantern.

"Goodnight, Kaien."

"Goodnight."

The room became dark.

But Kaien couldn't sleep.

He stared at the ceiling.

The academy was silent now.

Thousands of recruits were sleeping.

Preparing for their first day.

But his mind refused to rest.

Tomorrow...

He would finally learn about Echoes.

The system every soldier in the Allied Coalition used.

Not magic.

Not exactly.

That was how instructors described it.

An Echo was something deeper.

A connection between a person's will, memories, and the unseen energy that existed throughout the world.

Everyone had the potential.

But only a small number could awaken one.

Some soldiers gained abilities that enhanced their bodies.

Some could manipulate elements.

Some could create weapons.

Others developed strange abilities that no one fully understood.

But Echoes were not just powers.

They reflected the person who possessed them.

Their fears.

Their desires.

Their past.

Their identity.

And Kaien needed answers.

Because if anyone could explain the shadows...

It would be the Echo system.

He closed his eyes.

The shadows appeared again in his mind.

Standing before him.

Bowing.

"Master."

His eyes opened.

"No..."

He whispered.

"I need to know."

Why did they recognize him?

Why did they call him that?

Was it connected to the dreams?

The older version of himself?

His uncle?

The Veil?

Everything felt like pieces of a puzzle scattered across the world.

And he only had fragments.

But tomorrow...

He would finally gain a new piece.

An Echo.

Across the room, Seraphina opened her eyes.

She had noticed.

Kaien wasn't sleeping.

"You know..."

Kaien looked over.

"I thought you were asleep."

"I was."

A pause.

"Then I wasn't."

He smiled faintly.

"Same."

She turned toward him.

"You're thinking about the shadows."

Kaien became quiet.

"...Yeah."

"Do you think the Echo system will explain it?"

"I hope so."

"But what if it doesn't?"

Kaien stared at the ceiling.

"Then I'll find another way."

Seraphina studied him.

"You really won't stop, will you?"

"No."

There was no hesitation.

Not even a second.

"I need answers."

She understood.

Because she had seen what happened three years ago.

She knew revenge wasn't the only thing driving him anymore.

It was something deeper.

A need to understand why everything happened.

After a moment, she spoke softly.

"Just promise me something."

"What?"

"Don't lose yourself trying to find those answers."

Kaien looked at her.

For a second...

He thought about the way Instructor Owen had looked at him.

"When hatred becomes the only thing guiding a soldier..."

"It can make them blind."

Kaien looked away.

"I won't."

But even he wasn't sure.

Morning came faster than expected.

A loud bell exploded through the dormitories.

BOOOOOONNNNNGGGG!!

Kaien's eyes opened instantly.

Five in the morning.

The academy was already alive.

Outside, recruits rushed to get dressed.

Boots hit the floor.

Doors slammed.

Voices echoed through the halls.

The first day had arrived.

And waiting beyond the training grounds...

Was the first test.

The Echo awakening.

By the time Kaien, Riven, and Seraphina reached the training field, all three hundred recruits stood in formation.

Instructor Owen waited in front of them.

The morning fog surrounded the academy walls.

He looked across the recruits.

"Today..."

He said.

"You will discover something most people never will."

"The power hidden within yourselves."

The recruits became silent.

"Some of you will awaken an Echo."

"Some of you won't."

"Some of you will discover something incredible."

"And some of you..."

His eye narrowed.

"Will discover something you were never meant to find."

Kaien felt a strange chill.

For a moment...

He thought of the shadows.

Owen continued.

"Your Echo is not a weapon."

"It is a reflection."

"It shows who you truly are."

Kaien looked down at his hands.

Who he truly was.

That was the question he had been trying to answer for three years.

And perhaps...

The answer was finally coming.

The bell rang before the sun had even risen.

BOOOOOONNNNNGGGG!!

The sound shook the entire academy.

Kaien's eyes opened instantly.

For a moment, he forgot where he was.

Then reality returned.

The military academy.

The training.

The Echo system.

The war.

He sat up quickly.

Across the room, Seraphina was already awake and putting on her uniform.

Neither of them spoke.

They didn't need to.

They both knew.

Today was the beginning.

Suddenly—

BANG!

The dormitory doors slammed open.

"GET OUT OF BED!"

The voice of an instructor echoed through the hallway.

"YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS!"

Recruits immediately panicked.

"What?!"

"It's five in the morning!"

"I just woke up!"

The instructor stepped forward.

"THIRTY!"

People scrambled out of their beds.

"TWENTY!"

Kaien was already putting on his boots.

"FIFTEEN!"

Riven stumbled out of his room, his hair completely messy.

"I hate this place."

"You've been here one day," Kaien said.

"And I already hate it."

Seraphina walked past him.

"Stop complaining and move."

Riven sighed.

"Even you are against me."

The recruits gathered outside in the freezing morning air.

Three hundred people stood in formation.

Many were still half asleep.

Instructor Owen walked in front of them.

"Your first lesson."

His voice carried across the field.

"Your body will fail before your mind does."

Some recruits looked confused.

Owen continued.

"Your enemy will not care if you're tired."

"They will not wait for you to recover."

"They will not stop because you're scared."

He looked across the formation.

"Move forward."

Then he pointed toward the mountains beyond the academy.

"Ten miles."

A few recruits froze.

"Now."

The moment the command was given, the instructors began shouting.

"RUN!"

"MOVE!"

"FASTER!"

The three hundred recruits sprinted.

The first few miles weren't too bad.

Most recruits kept a steady pace.

Some even looked confident.

Then the hills began.

The path became steeper.

The air became thinner.

The confident expressions disappeared.

Sweat soaked through uniforms.

Breathing became painful.

"Keep moving!"

An instructor shouted.

"No stopping!"

A recruit stumbled.

"I can't..."

"GET UP!"

The recruit forced himself forward.

By the fifth mile, people were struggling.

Some collapsed onto their knees.

Others threw up beside the trail.

A few recruits cursed under their breath.

"This is insane..."

"We just started!"

"This isn't training!"

"This is torture!"

But Kaien kept running.

His legs burned.

His lungs felt like they were on fire.

Every step hurt.

But he continued.

Because pain was nothing compared to what he had already lost.

Every time his body wanted to stop...

He remembered the burning village.

His mother's final smile.

The reason he was here.

Keep moving.

That was the only thought in his mind.

Riven ran beside him, breathing heavily.

"How..."

"Are you..."

"Still going?"

Kaien didn't look over.

"Because stopping won't change anything."

Riven laughed weakly.

"That's the most Kaien answer ever."

Seraphina ran slightly ahead of them.

Even exhausted, her pace remained controlled.

Unlike many recruits...

She understood.

This wasn't about speed.

It was about endurance.

After the ten miles...

The recruits barely had time to recover.

Many collapsed immediately.

Some lay on the ground staring at the sky.

Then Owen arrived.

"Good."

Everyone looked horrified.

Good?

They could barely stand.

"Next."

A few recruits looked up.

Owen pointed toward the lake beside the academy.

"Five miles."

Silence.

"...Swimming."

A wave of disbelief spread through the group.

"You have got to be kidding."

"We just ran ten miles!"

Owen stared.

"Did I ask?"

Nobody spoke.

Within minutes...

They were in the water.

The cold shocked everyone awake.

The lake felt like ice.

Kaien pushed forward.

Stroke after stroke.

The distance seemed endless.

Some recruits slowed.

Others struggled to stay afloat.

Instructors followed nearby, watching carefully.

Not because they wanted recruits to fail.

Because soldiers who couldn't handle pressure didn't survive.

By the time they reached the shore...

Many recruits could barely move.

Riven crawled onto land.

"I think..."

"I just died."

Kaien sat beside him.

"You talk too much for someone dead."

Riven opened one eye.

"Still making jokes."

They weren't finished.

The final test waited.

A two-mile crawl.

With another recruit on their back.

The strongest carried the weakest.

The lesson was simple.

A soldier never fights alone.

Kaien was paired with a smaller recruit who had nearly collapsed during the swim.

"Sorry."

The recruit looked embarrassed.

Kaien shook his head.

"Don't be."

He lowered himself.

"Get on."

The weight pressed against him.

His arms trembled.

His knees scraped against the dirt.

But he crawled forward.

One movement.

Then another.

Pain.

Exhaustion.

But forward.

Always forward.

By lunchtime...

The recruits looked like they had survived a battlefield.

They dragged themselves into the dining hall.

Everyone expected a feast.

Instead...

A single sandwich.

One bottle of water.

That was it.

The room went silent.

"That's lunch?"

Someone asked.

An instructor nodded.

"Yes."

"We burned thousands of calories."

"And you're giving us this?"

The instructor stared.

"Your body wants comfort."

"A soldier learns discipline."

Nobody argued after that.

Kaien sat down with Riven and Seraphina.

Riven stared at the sandwich.

"I think this is the saddest meal I've ever seen."

Seraphina took a bite.

"It's food."

"It's betrayal."

Kaien quietly ate.

He was exhausted.

His body begged for rest.

But his mind was focused.

Because this wasn't the real challenge.

This was only the beginning.

Soon...

They would awaken their Echoes.

And Kaien would finally discover whether the power inside him could reveal the truth behind the shadows.

The shadows that called him...

Master.