The return… was not a return.
The same path,
The same trees,
And the sky whose clarity had not changed…
But only one thing was no longer as it was.
**Him.**
Nir moved in the lead with calm, steady steps, carrying neither haste nor hesitation.
Behind him, a clear distance remained; not far, but enough to be spoken without words.
No one walked beside him anymore.
In the past, they stayed away from him because he possessed nothing.
But now… they stay away because he possesses that which cannot be understood.
The silence finally broke.
"We must report everything that happened to the Academy."
Sern said it with a strained voice, like someone anchoring himself to a single idea.
"What we witnessed… exceeds the boundaries of the familiar."
Nir stopped.
He turned slowly.
He gave him a single look… and the rest of the words died before they could be spoken.
"The familiar…"
Nir said in a faint, calm tone,
"…was for my existence to be ended since the very first day."
Silence fell.
"From the moment I was born without an aura."
He did not raise his voice, nor did he show anger.
But the truth came out naked… just as it was.
Sern found no answer.
Lyra took a step forward.
"But that didn't happen."
She said it with a steady tone.
"And we… are still here."
His eyes met hers.
For a fleeting moment, it was as if something almost returned…
Then it vanished.
He did not answer.
Because a part of him… no longer trusted that sentence.
Hours later, the Academy appeared.
Towering walls,
Silent spires,
And a gate that had long represented the boundary between safety… and the world.
But this time…
It did not seem like a sanctuary.
It seemed like a shackle.
"Halt."
The voice came from above.
Several figures appeared atop the walls in their official robes, their auras distinct… though tinged with a hidden agitation.
"No one advances."
The gate did not open.
Instead, vast magic circles erupted at their feet, tightening the ring around them.
Sern took an involuntary step back.
As for Cain… his tension tightened.
As for Nir…
He understood before it was even said.
"Identity confirmation."
One of them said coldly.
"Nir."
"Is now classified… as a threat."
He showed no surprise.
Instead, a faint, cold smile traced his lips.
"That was expected."
Lyra turned to him sharply.
But before she could speak—
The restraints lunged.
Threads of light shot out from the circles, seeking to bind him.
And as they neared his body…
They vanished.
As if they had never been created.
A heavy silence fell.
One of the teachers atop the wall retreated.
"…Impossible."
Nir raised his gaze to them.
"Is this… the best you can do?"
It wasn't mockery.
It was a statement.
"Activate the Second Seal!"
Another circle emerged, wider and more complex. It did not lunge at him…
Rather, it clamped down on him from above, like a sky closing shut.
He vanished within the light.
"Nir!"
Lyra surged a step forward.
But the light—
Went out.
No explosion.
No resistance.
It vanished… simply.
And in its place—
He stood.
As he is.
But not as he was.
A heavier depth settled in his ash-grey eyes, as if something within him had been resolved.
He slowly raised his hand.
The circles cracked.
The sound was like glass shattering from the inside.
"Stop!"
But it was already over.
In a single moment—
Everything faded away.
The circles.
The auras.
The very trace of magic.
A strange stillness followed…
A stillness that does not belong to a world inhabited by powers.
Nir looked at his hand.
Then at the Academy.
At the place where he had once tried to be like them.
And he said quietly:
"…You are too late."
And in that moment…
They all realized—
That they were no longer standing before a student of the Academy.
But before an entity…
That cannot be returned to what it once was.