The day after the Trial of the Forgotten Forest, the Grand Academy of Etheria was buzzing more than usual.
The hallways were flooded with students still discussing the previous day’s events — some laughing, others comparing their results in hushed voices, but one name kept coming up again and again.
Raizen.
He walked through the corridor in silence, hands in his pockets, indifferent to the whispers following him.
— That’s him.
— The boy from the special class?
— They say he beat that giant creature.
— Alone?
— Almost.
He paid no attention to any of it.
Only one thing occupied his mind: his power.
He kept thinking back to the moment his shadow had moved without him commanding it.
Something lived within it — something he didn’t yet understand.
He stopped in front of a large window and studied his reflection.
For a second, he thought he saw again the frightened child he had once been, years ago.
Then the image faded, and he clenched his fist.
I have to become stronger.
— You seem far away.
Raizen turned around.
Zayden stood behind him, Kaira at his side, her axe resting against her shoulder.
— I was thinking, he answered.
Kaira smiled.
— About your shadow?
— Yes.
Zayden’s face grew serious.
— Yesterday, it reacted before you even gave it an order.
That’s not normal.
— I know.
— Do you think it’s dangerous?
Kaira asked.
Raizen lowered his eyes to his own hand.
— I don’t know.
She stepped closer, straightforward as ever.
— Then we’ll find out.
— Why do you always say “we”?
She smiled again, more softly this time.
— Because you’re not alone anymore.
He said nothing.
But something inside him eased, just slightly.
The Three Strongest Students The academy bell rang.
The flow of students headed toward the main training arena, and Raizen, Kaira, and Zayden let themselves be carried along by the crowd.
Entering the arena, they found the professor already there — but not alone.
Three students stood at his side: the same ones they had crossed paths with the day before.
The silver-haired boy, surrounded by faint sparks; the girl whose mere presence made the surrounding temperature drop; and the silent boy, surrounded by small stones suspended in the air.
The professor raised his hand, and silence fell.
— Yesterday’s trial revealed something important.
Some of you possess extraordinary potential.
His gaze swept over the crowd before settling on Raizen.
— One student in particular.
Several heads turned toward him.
Raizen frowned as the professor continued.
— Raizen’s performance was unusual.
His power evolved during the trial at a speed rarely seen in the academy’s records.
A murmur rippled through the arena.
Raizen stayed silent — but this time, the silence weighed differently.
The silver-haired boy stepped forward.
— Then let me test him.
— Kael, the professor said simply.
The boy smiled.
— I’m curious, that’s all.
— Yesterday, you refused to fight me, he said to Raizen.
Today, I’m asking again.
Kaira stepped forward.
— You really don’t know how to leave people alone, do you?
Kael burst out laughing.
— I just want to know how far his strength goes.
Raizen walked past Kaira without a word.
— It’s fine.
— Raizen…
— I want to know too.
He entered the arena to a rising wave of cheers from the crowd.
The professor raised his hand again.
— This will not be a real fight.
The academy’s barrier will prevent serious injury.
Kael raised his arm.
Threads of lightning began running along his skin.
— Don’t hold back.
Raizen took his stance.
— I wasn’t planning to.
The professor lowered his hand.
— Begin.
Lightning Against Darkness Kael vanished.
BOOM!
A bolt of lightning tore across the arena.
Raizen dodged just in time — the attack passed within inches of his face.
He leapt backward, but Kael was already behind him, a fist crackling with lightning driving toward his side.
Raizen raised his arm.
A shadow formed between them.
CRACK!
The lightning struck the darkness.
The impact threw him back violently, his soles scraping against the arena floor.
Kael smiled.
— Faster than I thought.
Raizen watched the shadow wrapped around his arm.
It was trembling.
His lightning is powerful.
Kael resumed his assault — one strike, two, three.
Raizen kept dodging, again and again, until he leapt over the third and landed several meters away.
Kael gave him no respite.
Lightning burst from his body and set the whole arena ablaze with light.
The students shielded their eyes.
Raizen stared at the incoming attack.
He raised his hand.
The shadow beneath his feet spread outward.
Then — The darkness swallowed the lightning.
The arena fell into total silence.
Kael’s smile vanished.
— What…
?
Raizen looked down at his own hand.
The darkness was absorbing the lightning — he didn’t understand how, but he could feel it: his shadow was learning.
He closed his fist.
The absorbed energy exploded outward.
Kael was thrown across the arena.
BOOM!
He landed on his feet, sliding several meters.
The crowd’s murmurs turned into shouts.
— He absorbed the lightning!
— That’s impossible!
— What kind of magic is that?
Kael looked at Raizen.
For the first time, his smile was gone — replaced by something far more serious.
— You’re not normal.
— Neither are you, Raizen replied, calmly.
Kael laughed again.
— Good answer.
He raised his hand to strike again, but — — That’s enough.
The professor stepped between them.
The barrier disappeared.
— The trial ends here for today.
Kael lowered his arm.
Raizen rejoined Kaira and Zayden.
— Not bad, Kaira smiled.
— I lost control for a moment, he answered.
— But you got it back, Zayden added.
Raizen cast one last glance at Kael, who was still watching him.
Something had shifted between them.
It was no longer just rivalry — it was the beginning of something far bigger.
A New Challenge As the students gradually left the arena, Kael approached Raizen.
— Raizen.
He turned around.
Kael held out his hand.
— Next time, I’ll win.
Raizen looked at the hand for a moment, then shook it.
— Then I’ll become stronger before next time.
— I’ll remember that, Kael smiled before disappearing into the crowd.
Kaira watched him go.
— You just made yourself a rival.
— Good.
— Good?
Raizen nodded.
— A rival is one more reason to grow stronger.
— I think this academy is going to grow on you, Zayden smiled.
Raizen looked up at the academy’s massive building.
For the first time since his arrival in Valthera, he no longer felt quite so alone.
But deep within him, a strange feeling lingered.
His shadow was still moving — slowly, almost imperceptibly, as if it were watching something he himself could not see.
He looked down at it.
— What are you hiding from me…
?
The shadow went still.
Then, for a brief instant, two small red glimmers lit up within it.
Raizen’s eyes widened.
The glimmers vanished at once.
He stepped back.
— Raizen?
Are you okay?
Kaira asked, worried.
He looked down at the ground.
Nothing.
Just his shadow.
— I’m fine.
But he knew it wasn’t true.
Something had awakened within it — something even he did not understand.
And far from there, in a place the academy knew nothing of…
A sealed door suddenly shuddered.
BOOM.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
A silhouette, standing before the door, slowly opened its eyes.
— So…
A faint smile crossed its lips.
— The boy is finally starting to awaken.
It turned toward the darkness.
— Then it’s only a matter of time now.
Silence fell once more.
And at the Grand Academy of Etheria, Raizen kept moving forward, still unaware that his destiny had just shifted.
To be continued…