When Kael's feet touched the cold floor of this arena, abstracted from reality, the first thing that passed through him… was a shiver. It wasn't the wind or fear. It was the touch of an echo on his skin—something his memory couldn't reach but his heart recognized. The air surrounding the arena was filled with a dull, dense energy. There was no sky here. Above… only a trembling infinity stretched out.
Directly across from him, emerging from the shadows, was that figure… Aleria.
Her stance was graceful yet sharp. Like a deadly detail tacked onto the edge of a work of art. The moment she held her sword without tilting it, a sense of familiarity echoed within Kael, though he couldn't name it. His heart knew her, but his mind denied it.
Aleria #£$#£ (with a clear, steady voice):
"Kael, you haven't forgotten the rules, have you?"
Kael's throat tightened. A word about to escape his mouth was swallowed back. He wanted to say "Big sister"… but he couldn't.
Aleria (her tone hardening):
"Say your name… and take your stance. This isn't a game."
Kael took a deep breath. Trying to stop his knees from trembling, he stepped forward. Without raising his hand, he simply fixed his eyes on her. The rules… Yes, he knew them. This was a war of truth. Here, even words were as sharp as weapons.
Aleria planted her feet. The blue cape on her shoulder shimmered with dazzling light as she raised her sword.
Aleria #$£>$:
"I, Aleria #$£>$… invite you to the war of truth, Kael #£$>$!"
The sky rang out. The ground shook for a moment. The line between light and darkness slipped away from beneath Kael's feet.
At that exact moment, Kael reflexively raised his fingers into the air. His hand was empty, but there was a focus in his mind, as if something was calling… A power, though he didn't know what it was.
Aleria took her first step. And in that instant… the world stopped.
Kael's eyes locked onto the familiar glint shining in his Big sister's eyes. There was pain there. Expectation. Even… regret. But no word, no expression could unravel that gaze. Aleria lunged forward in a flash.
THACCK — The sudden force of her first step hitting the ground dislodged the stone floor. A white gleam shot from her sword toward Kael like an arc. But this wasn't just a physical attack—it was a question mark piercing Kael's indecisive mind.
Kael dodged to the side. Time slowed for a moment. His heartbeat quickened. Every pulse, every breath was shaping a reality. He had to stay on his feet. For his own truth… and for the past he couldn't comprehend.
Kael (gritting his teeth, inwardly):
"Why does this feel so familiar? This fight… her eyes… this voice…"
But before he could finish his thoughts, Aleria's second attack came.
Whoosh!
The sword missed Kael's shoulder, but he felt its sharpness. Even the air had been sliced. Kael rolled to the ground. As he stood, he stumbled, a pain stabbing into his forehead.
Migraine.
A voice… echoed from the depths of his mind.
"Kael #$>£$...Kael #$>£$...Kael #$>£$...Kael #$>£$...Kael #$>£$....Kael #$>£$...Kael #$>£$...Kael #$>£$....Kael #$>£$...KAEL VORN."
Kael collapsed to his knees. Clutching his head, he gritted his teeth. When he heard that name, it was as if the world had cracked. Vorn… It was Kael's lost surname, but why had he remembered it in this moment? Kael wasn't sure, and due to that name, the migraine tormenting him caused him to lose his balance.
Aleria (without halting her attack):
"Focus on the fight, Kael!"
Kael couldn't respond. He just tried to stand. Like a shadow, Aleria loomed over him.
And then… Kael's pupils dilated for a moment. Time seemed to split into lines, becoming tangible. He began to see the world… in a different tone. Colors faded, lines blurred. Reality started to bend. An eye, looking out from within his own eyes. The Eyes of Truth.
Kael felt that the change in his eyes was tied to the power within him. This new vision was deeply mysterious, but it had ignited a spark of hope for Kael.
But this power… was uncontrollable.
The ground had cracked beneath Kael's knees. The Eyes of Truth… had awakened, but wildly.
The boundaries of everything warped, and Aleria's silhouette seemed to shift in fragments. A faint line of light from his eyes left traces in the air.
As ragged breaths escaped his mouth, the voice echoing in his mind deepened:
"You were never alone… never."
Kael lifted his head. His empty hand still hung in the air, but his fingers… were tensed as if grasping something.
And at that moment… a faint shimmer appeared.
Something felt like it was emerging from within his ribcage…
Accompanied by a ding sound, resembling the beat of his heart…
A shape materialized in the void. Metallic yet spiritual, sharp yet formless—a sword was being born.
The sword hadn't fully come into existence.
It was like a memory leaving a trace.
Torn from Kael's mind, born from his essence.
Aleria narrowed her eyes and stopped. She cut her attack short.
She saw the sword. Or rather… she recognized it.
Aleria (whispering faintly):
"…No. This is impossible. That weapon… how could you summon that call…"
The light flowing toward Kael's right hand finally took form.
Its hilt was a deep black, weightless yet present.
Its blade double-edged, with an ancient script in the center, almost invisible.
Readable only by one whose eyes could see "Truth."
It didn't feel like the first time Kael had held a sword.
His joints knew it. Muscle memory kicked in.
He pulled his left foot back, swung his right hand diagonally…
And the first gleam from the sword split the arena's darkness in two.
Kael (inner voice):
"This… this isn't my sword. But it knows me."
The sword had no name yet.
But as Aleria looked at it, a bitter smile settled on her face.
Aleria:
"This is an echo… a call from your essence. If its voice found you, your path has already been drawn."
Kael's knees still ached, but his stance was now clearer.
He raised his sword, preparing not from his heart this time, but from instinct.
Aleria closed her eyes for a moment. Then she released her breath.
Aleria (in a formal tone):
"Then… now we begin. The true war of truth."
And at that moment… everything sped up again.
Aleria lunged like lightning. Kael raised his sword, and the first clash came:
CLAAANG!
The impact threw Kael back. He barely kept his hands steady.
But he fought back. His body moved on its own.
One step, a diagonal right swing, a crouch, a turn…
The sword's tip reached for Aleria's shoulder, but she had already ducked.
Aleria (to herself):
"Reflexes. They're still in you… despite being suppressed."
Kael (gritting his teeth):
"What is this woman talking about… Have I… have I done this before?"
The fight had now found a rhythm. Kael was learning.
Each attack taught him something new.
But his head was still throbbing.
His eyes… the Eyes of Truth… revealed the lines behind everything, but they also burned reality.
He could now see the emotional traces left by Aleria's movements.
The second clash.
Zinnnng!
Kael's sword struck Aleria's armor and bounced off.
But for a moment, indecision flickered across Aleria's face.
Kael saw it. The Eyes of Truth… they read feelings too.
Kael (in a hoarse voice):
"…There's something gnawing at you too, isn't there?"
Aleria flinched at Kael's words.
She stepped back. Her eyes avoided Kael's.
But this indecision didn't turn into a weakness.
Quite the opposite… a bitter resolve settled on Aleria's face.
Aleria:
"Then… I'll show you the painful truth, Kael."
And then… the real battle began.
Aleria
(with a fury turning into a war cry)
"KAEL VORN!"
The vibration in her voice pierced the air. At that moment, Kael's ears went deaf, time bent, and a whirlpool of memories pulled him in. Everything blurred.
Kael's sword shattered into pieces as Aleria charged at him. Before Kael could navigate the thin line between shock and tension, his eyes fixed on what was before him.
Something… something dazzling was definitely being summoned toward his hands. As if his fingertips had torn through the void to reach a truth.
The sky… no, above was only that strange vibration. But a scratch opened there. A rift in reality. And something descended from it, slowly, gracefully, yet bending time itself with its weight. Seeing this object coming down, the Eyes of Truth activated unconsciously.
A sword.
A word written in fine silver lines on its pitch-black hilt…
VERITAS
Kael's eyes widened. His hand reached forward with an instinctive urge and grasped the sword. The energy seeping into his palms was familiar yet unexplainable. As if he had found a piece of his essence, a severed limb reclaimed.
Kael
(inwardly, in a near-whisper)
"Veritas…"
At that moment, Aleria's eyes narrowed. They flared. Then… an unquenchable rage erupted from her pupils. Looking at Aleria's reaction, Kael was certain this sword was the completed form of the earlier glimmer. At that moment, Aleria's lips moved.
Aleria
(with a cracked venom in her voice, a suppressed anguish)
"…You still carry that sword."
(her breathing quickening)
"And you still don't know what to cut… or what you've already cut."
Kael recoiled. The words stabbed into the voids of his mind. A momentary lapse in focus…
And in that instant, Aleria moved.
With a move that exploded like a supernova, she appeared at Kael's side as if she'd teleported.
The Eyes of Truth were active… Kael had opened them involuntarily. But those eyes were still too novice to bear the truth.
A split-second mistake.
A glance held a moment too long.
Reality crashed down upon him.
CRACK!
Aleria's sword struck Kael's left arm.
In the blow wrapped in white light, there was no sound… only silence.
Then the pain came.
Searing. Scorching.
Kael's scream licked the dome of the arena.
Not blood, but light flowed from his arm. Something had been torn from the essence of reality.
Kael fell to the ground. His left arm… was no longer there. But he still held Veritas in his hand. His right hand gripped it tightly. There was no hesitation now.
And… something changed. Veritas had responded to Kael's emotions.
Kael
(inwardly, with resolve in his eyes)
"If this sword… is the echo of my path… it will strike not the shadow of the past, but the truth of the future!"
Aleria paused for a moment. She faltered.
But then she straightened again. There was a collapse, a disappointment on her face.
Aleria
(with a trembling voice, a half-finished sentence)
"With that sword… that child—"
She stopped.
Her tongue seemed tied.
Or memories were strangling her throat.
Kael now stood with only one arm. But his stance wasn't hunched. Veritas glowed, as if responding to Kael's determination. At that moment… the balance of the battle shifted.
Aleria suppressed her anger. But her eyes remained locked on Kael.
Kael, for the first time in this fight, whispered inwardly with resolve.
Kael
"This is my path… and now I'm fighting not with you, but with myself."
Kael,
(inwardly with resolve, his eyes locked on Aleria again)
"This will be the end. This time… I'm cutting the past."
He didn't drag his steps but took them forward with weight. His left arm was gone, but Veritas glowed in his right hand like a living oath. Aleria stood still, but her eyes were tense. Two beings, two echoes, two truths… were about to clash once more in the center of the arena.
And then… they moved.
The arena's floor cracked. Truth seemed to twist and clash from both sides. Kael advanced with one arm but without hesitation. Aleria's sword sliced through the air like a shadow, while Kael swung Veritas like a gleam. Each clash was like an echoing vow.
Light and darkness, resolve and regret…
They fought in an endless cycle.
Kael's eyes slowly began to change. The Eyes of Truth trembled involuntarily. They saw things he shouldn't see. Aleria's silhouette flickered for a moment. Behind her… there was a child. A crying face. Resembling Kael… but younger.
For an instant, time froze.
And in that void, Kael made a choice.
He raised Veritas.
Aleria stood motionless. Kael approached. Their breaths mingled. They locked eyes.
No words were spoken.
And then Kael… thrust the sword.
Veritas pierced Aleria's chest. But… there was no blood.
Only light.
Aleria's body trembled with a vibration but didn't fall. Her eyes remained locked on Kael's. Then… she smiled. And tears streamed from her eyes.
Aleria
(whispering, after a sob)
"You're ready now, little brother… I'm sure this time will be different…"
(the tears falling from her eyes evaporating into light)
"Finally, the old you is gone… and that sword now responds to different emotions."
Veritas trembled in Kael's hand. Then… it slowly began to fade.
The sword slipped from Kael's grasp and dissolved into the air, dispersing like an echo.
And at that moment…
The trial ended.
The sky cracked. The ground gradually faded. Reality seemed to recede.
A voice descended over everything. Cold but clear. It carried a divine authority.
Unknown Voice
"Sufficiency test successfully completed."
"Origin essence verified. Entry to Adastra prepared."
Kael stood alone in that place. As Aleria's silhouette slowly merged into the light, Kael whispered silently.
Kael
(inwardly, an echo, almost like a prayer)
"…Aleria… if I keep striving to learn my past… will I see you again?"