The silence in the arena was not the absence of sound, but a heavy, suffocating blanket that pressed against the eardrums of everyone present. Professor Krayn stood as still as a statue, his eyes darting from the unconscious Cyrus to Kael's trembling hands. High in the stands, the students remained frozen: their reality had just been shattered by a boy who didn't exist in their world of mana. Kael himself stood in the center of the sand, his chest heaving, his mind a chaotic whirl of confusion. He looked at his own fist as if it belonged to a stranger. He didn't understand how he had extinguished a storm. He didn't understand the void that had roared within him.
With a stiff, mechanical motion, Kael turned away from the fallen mage. He didn't wait for congratulations or insults. He walked toward the shadows of the exit tunnel, his legs feeling like they were made of cooling lead. Every step was a feat of willpower. The moment the cool darkness of the stone corridor swallowed him, away from the prying eyes of the Academy, the loan was called in.
The electric blue energy vanished.
Kael's knees buckled. He slammed against the damp stone wall, a choked gasp escaping his lips. It wasn't just pain: it was an internal rupture. Every muscle fiber that had been artificially held together by Grael's pill seemed to fray at once. He slid down the wall, his vision blurring into a grey haze. The agony was sharp and rhythmic, like a thousand heated needles stitching through his nervous system.
"Kael!"
A frantic voice echoed in the tunnel. Footsteps approached, rapid and light. Mina slid to a halt beside him, her face pale with a mixture of terror and white-hot anger. She reached out to touch his shoulder, but he flinched, a low groan of agony vibrating in his throat.
"You idiot," she hissed, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "What did you do to yourself? Your pulse is erratic, and your skin is freezing. We're going to the infirmary. Now."
She tried to hook her arm under his to lift him, but Kael found a sudden, desperate surge of strength. He grabbed her wrist, his grip weak but insistent. "No," he croaked, his voice raw. "No infirmary."
"Kael, you're dying!" Mina shouted, her voice breaking. "Look at you! You can't even breathe!"
"The Pit," Kael managed to yell, though it sounded more like a desperate sob. "Take me to the Pit. To Grael. Only him. Please, Mina... don't let them see me like this."
Silas and Leo appeared at the entrance of the tunnel, breathless and wide-eyed. They had followed as soon as they could break away from the stunned crowd. When they saw Kael slumped on the floor, Leo let out a low curse.
"Is he burned? Did Cyrus hit him that hard?" Leo asked, stepping forward to help Mina.
"It's not a burn," Silas whispered, his keen eyes noticing the way Kael's body was shaking. "It's something else. Something internal."
"He wants the Pit," Mina said, her voice trembling with frustration. "He wants that man, Grael. Help me carry him."
Silas and Leo hesitated, exchange a look of profound confusion, but they didn't argue. They each took one of Kael's arms, hauling him up. Kael's head hung low, his feet dragging in the dust. As they navigated the winding, dimly lit paths toward the outskirts of the campus, Silas tried to ask questions.
"Kael, what happened out there? The wind just... stopped. Was it a tool? An artifact?"
Kael remained silent. He squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to let even a moan escape. He couldn't tell them. He didn't have the words, and he didn't have the right. Every question felt like a stone added to his burden. Leo tried to lighten the mood, but his voice was tight with worry: "Whatever it was, man, you leveled him. Alaric looked like he'd swallowed a lemon."
Kael didn't respond. He focused only on the rhythm of his own agonizing heartbeat.
They finally reached the entrance to the Pit. The air grew colder, smelling of iron and damp earth. Grael was there, sitting on a crate in the center of the training area, a single dim lantern casting long, jagged shadows against the walls. He didn't look surprised. He didn't even stand up.
"You took longer than I thought," Grael said, his voice as dry as parchment.
Mina stepped forward, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "He's falling apart! What did you give him? What kind of monster are you to let a boy do this to himself?"
Grael's gaze shifted to Mina, cold and unimpressed. "Leave us," he commanded. "He doesn't need a healer. He needs a blacksmith. And you have no place here."
"I'm not leaving him!" Mina snapped.
"Mina, please," Kael whispered, looking at her with hollow eyes. "Go. Just for now."
Reluctantly, Silas and Leo pulled her back. They retreated toward the tunnel, looking back over their shoulders with faces full of unanswered questions and growing suspicion. Grael waited until the sound of their footsteps faded before he stood up and walked toward Kael. He grabbed Kael by the chin, forcing him to look up.
"The pill," Grael said. "The debt is being paid. The catalyst forced your nervous system to handle the Silence before your flesh was ready. You traded tomorrow's health for today's victory."
Kael slumped against a support pillar. "Was it worth it? I don't... I don't even know what I did."
"You manifested the true nature of your existence," Grael replied, pacing slowly around him. "The mana didn't just break; it recognized its master. In a few hours, the tremors will stop. The pain will fade into a dull ache. But the consequences in the Academy will not. You are no longer a ghost, Kael. You are a threat."
"Mina is furieuse," Kael murmured. "They all are. They deserve to know."
"They deserve to live," Grael corrected him sharply. "Knowledge of the Silence is a death sentence for those without the strength to hold it. You are a void in a world of light, Kael. If they get too close, they will be consumed by the same shadows that hunt you."
Grael leaned in, his voice dropping to a low growl. "You used a shortcut today. Never again. From now on, your body will be the only catalyst. No more blue pills. Only blood and iron."
Suddenly, a sharp gasp echoed from the corner of the Pit, near a cluster of shadows behind the weapon racks. Grael froze, his eyes narrowing.
Mina stepped out of the darkness, her face streaked with tears but her expression hardened by a terrible, newfound clarity. She hadn't left. She had hidden, listening to every word, every secret, every cold calculation.
"You're killing him," she whispered, her voice shaking with a rage so intense it seemed to hum in the air. "You're turning him into something that isn't human. And you," she said, turning her burning gaze to Kael, "you lied to me. Every single day."
The silence that followed was heavier than the one in the arena, for this one was filled with the sound of a friendship breaking.