Nir left the Academy shortly before dawn.
He did not look back.
There was nothing in that place worth a farewell, or so he tried to convince himself.
Behind those walls, he had spent years believing his only problem was a lack of Aura.
He had thought power was the thing he was missing.
And now he realized the problem wasn't that he lacked something.
It was that he carried something the world was not ready to see.
He walked alone along the path stretching between the mountains.
He did not know where it led.
All he possessed was a single sentence the eye had left behind.
Seek the place where the first void was born.
Hours into his walk, Lyra appeared behind him.
Nir stopped.
He did not turn around.
He said:
"You should have stayed at the Academy."
She answered:
"And you should have told me where you were going."
He finally turned to face her.
She was slightly out of breath, but she did not back down.
"This road is not for you."
"And who said it's yours?"
He did not answer.
She stepped closer to him.
"You're still Nir, aren't you?"
He looked at her for a long time.
Then he said:
"I don't know."
It was the first time she had ever heard an answer like that from him.
It wasn't hesitant.
It was honest.
She said:
"Then find out."
Silence fell between them.
Then Nir resumed his walk.
Lyra walked beside him.
He did not stop her.
He knew the road ahead would not be easy.
Yet he did not know that his first test would not come from an enemy.
It would come from himself.
Hours later, they reached a small town at the foot of the mountains.
The town was unlike the Academy.
No massive palaces.
No towering magic spires.
Just ordinary people living their daily lives.
Children running in the streets.
Merchants shouting out their wares.
And elders sitting before their homes.
Nir looked at them for a long time.
Then he said:
"All of them possess Aura."
Lyra answered:
"Yes."
"And they know nothing."
"About what?"
He looked down at his hand.
"About the thing living beneath their feet."
She did not understand.
Yet she did not ask.
They entered the town.
And the moment Nir's foot touched the main street...
Something strange happened.
One of the magical crystals hanging above the gate stopped working.
Then the second.
Then the third.
The guards took notice.
One of them said:
"What is happening?"
The crystals began to go dark one after another.
Nir did not touch them.
He did not use his power.
And yet...
His mere presence was enough.
One of the guards approached.
He raised his hand to summon his magic.
A blue circle formed around his fingers.
But before it could complete...
It vanished.
The guard froze.
He tried again.
Nothing.
He stared at his hand in terror.
As for Nir, he remained silent.
He felt no pride.
Instead, he felt something akin to pity.
The guard said:
"What did you do?"
Nir answered:
"Nothing."
"Liar!"
The guard raised his voice.
A crowd gathered.
Whispers began to spread.
"He has no Aura."
"Is he the cause?"
"Stay away from him."
"Call the mages."
Nir raised his eyes.
Nothing changed on his face.
Yet deep inside...
The void stirred.
Not in anger.
But in response.
Lyra noticed it.
She said quickly:
"Nir."
He stopped.
He closed his eyes.
And took a deep breath.
Then everything calmed.
The crystals returned to life.
And the Auras returned to their owners.
The people stared at him in astonishment.
As for Nir...
He looked at the guard and said:
"I didn't come to hurt anyone."
Then he continued on his way.
No one pursued him.
Yet behind him, their gazes remained locked onto him.
They were terrified.
And that did not surprise him.
For the first time...
He began to understand their fear.
They had lived their entire lives by a single rule:
He who possesses magic possesses power.
And he who possesses no magic possesses nothing.
Then someone appears who can erase that rule simply by existing.
Someone who needs no spellcasting.
No raised sword.
Nor even a fight.
His mere presence was enough to silence magic.
And in a place far from the town...
A man wearing a black cloak watched everything from atop an ancient tower.
Another man beside him said:
"Is it him?"
He answered:
"Yes."
"Are you certain?"
The man looked at Nir from afar.
Then said:
"There is no longer any doubt."
The other asked:
"What shall we do?"
The man was silent for a moment.
Then he smiled.
"We will let him reach the place he is looking for."
"And why?"
The man turned around.
His eyes carried a fear he could not conceal.
And said:
"Because if we try to stop him now..."
He paused.
Then completed:
"We will awaken the thing the whole world is trying to keep asleep."
At that exact same moment...
Nir stopped walking.
He raised his head toward the mountain.
He felt something there.
A distant pulse.
Faint.
Yet familiar.
As if something deep within the mountain...
Was calling him by name.
He looked at Lyra.
Then at the mountain.
And said:
"We found the road."
And he did not know that the road before him...
Was leading him not only to the origin of the void.
But to the very first person who knew the truth of Nir...
Before he was even born.