Reign in the shadows

Yuno woke to the sound of birds chirping gently, as if greeting the sun rising from behind the horizon. He slowly opened his eyes, bathed in golden rays streaming through his window overlooking the garden. He rose lightly from his bed and walked over to the window, where a vibrant landscape stretched before him.

The leaves of the trees glistened with morning dew, dancing in a calm, refreshing breeze. The flowers in the garden bloomed as if smiling at the sun, their vibrant colors deepening in the dawn light. In the distance, the grass glistened with dewdrops like scattered pearls.

Yuno took a deep breath, his lungs filling with the crisp morning air, carrying with it the scent of moist earth and blooming flowers. He stood there for a few moments, enjoying the calm before the start of a new day, immersing himself in this serenity.

"Are you awake then? Come on, breakfast is ready. We have a busy day of training ahead of us." Dante said this to him while standing behind him, staring at him.

Yuno asked, "What time is it?"

Dante: Yupi, after looking at the sundial, it turned out to be eleven o'clock in the morning.

Yuno, annoyed: Damn, we've all fallen asleep. Anyway, go outside. I need to change my clothes.

Dante, with a sarcastic smile: You seem excited to see your changes of clothing. I think I can give you some privacy, don't worry!

Yuno then looked up, raising his eyebrows in dismay: But don't let me hear you talk about that again.

Dante sat at the table, where the dishes were carefully laid out, emanating delicious aromas that whetted the appetite. Breakfast was simple but warm: fresh loaves of bread, sliced ​​fruit, and cups of milk and honey.

Yubi looked up at him and asked curiously, "Is Yuno finally awake?"

"Yes," Dante replied, taking a piece of bread and smearing it with honey, but he wasn't too happy when he discovered the time.

Dabi laughed as he took a sip from his cup. As usual, he couldn't accept the idea of ​​not being the first to wake up!

A few minutes of light chatter passed between them until Yuno finally appeared, his hair disheveled and his eyes half asleep. He sat down in the chair sluggishly, then looked at them, contemplating the food.

"And finally, the Royal Sleeper has joined us!" Dabi said with a sly smile.

Yuno ignored their comments and took a piece of bread. "If you knew how restful my sleep was, you'd be jealous," he said, taking a bite.

Dante laughed and shook his head. "Okay, now that we're all gathered, let's eat quickly... We have a long training day ahead of us."

Everyone nodded in agreement and continued eating breakfast while chatting and joking, preparing for a new day full of challenges.

---

Under the fading sunlight, where the breeze played with the bristles of the grass, Sarah stood firmly, holding her wooden sword in front of her brother Aelin.

Aelin raised his sword with a smile, "Okay, Sarah, let's see if you've improved this time."

She advanced with confident strides, her eyes fixed on his movements. She darted forward, aiming a blow at his side, but he easily parried it. Then a series of attacks ensued between them, with Aelin always one step ahead, as if her movements were an open book to him.

After dodging her again, he said in a calm voice, "My mother asked me to tell you something, Sarah."

She raised an eyebrow, ready for another strike, but didn't stop her training. "What is it?"

He lowered his sword slightly, as if giving her a moment to focus on his words. She said that the healing element wasn't just for healing. It was a powerful tool... it could protect, but it could also be a subtle attack.

Her hand paused for a moment before attacking again, this time more violently, as if rejecting the idea entirely. Our healing is what makes us different. We don't fight, Elaine, we help people.

He simply dodged her blow, then circled around her lightly before aiming his sword at her shoulder, but he didn't touch her. Sarah... even the noblest intentions need a force to protect them.

She narrowed her eyes and didn't respond. She knew the Aziram were pacifists, and that everyone respected their clan for that reason. So why did her mother want to hear that?

Elaine resumed fighting as if nothing had happened, a faint smile on his lips. Sarah tried to push his words from her mind, but they stuck there... like a tiny root deep in the soil, waiting for a moment to grow.

In the middle of the field, under the sunlight reflecting off the wet grass, the sound of wooden swords clashing intensified. The training had turned into something else… a clash between two ideas, between two siblings, between two completely different worldviews.

Sarah said, trying to parry a powerful blow from Elaine, "You're distorting the meaning of our power, Elaine! The healing element isn't for fighting, it's for saving lives!"

He pushed her back with a swift blow, causing her to retreat a few steps, then said in a sharper voice, "And what's the point of saving lives if you don't have the power to protect them?!"

Sarah charged again, her sword moving quickly, as if trying to prove her point with the sword as well as with words. But she wasn't as fast as Elaine, who easily dodged her blow and pushed her aside.

She continued, her tone tense, "We're respected by everyone because we're not a threat, because we don't use our power to harm! The Aziram are the link between the clans. If we start fighting, we'll be like the rest!"

He stood firm, his eyes shining with a different determination, and said in a low but powerful voice, "And what's the point of being a link if we can't protect ourselves? You live in a world you think is peaceful, but it isn't, Sarah. Not always."

She lashed out with her sword again, harder this time, but he easily blocked it, as if to prove his words. Her blows intensified, gradually transforming from training into a real fight, but she was no match for his physical strength.

He continued sharply, blocking her attack, "What you're trying to defend won't hold up if there comes a time when no one is left to be saved. The healing element isn't just an instrument of peace, it's a weapon against destruction."

She shouted, striking him directly. "And you think the world will survive if we, Aziram, start using healing as an instrument of war?!"

Aelin swerved at the last moment, skillfully grasping her arm, then brought her down, pinning his sword to her chest, his breath ragged. At that moment, he was the victor in the fight.

But Sarah, despite her fall, did not appear defeated. She smiled despite the pain and said in a calm but convinced voice, "You won with the sword, but tell me, Elaine... if you truly believe that strength resolves all things, why are we, the Aziram clan, the most respected of all nations, without ever wielding a weapon?"

He froze, unable to find a direct answer, unable to match the simplicity and depth of her question. He knew that strength alone was not enough, and that Sarah, despite her weakness in combat, had won with argument.

He stood to his feet, extended his hand to help her up, and then said with a faint smile, "You always find a way out with words, Sarah."

She dusted off her clothes, smiling back, "And you always find a way out with strength, Elaine."

They stood together, among the fields, their struggle still hanging in the air... an unfinished idea, a battle yet to be decided, but in the end, they both knew that one day... one of them would have to prove their point.

---

Under the shade of giant trees, where sunlight mingled with the mist rising from the damp earth, Louis, the ruler of Gort, walked with steady steps through the dense forest. The atmosphere was charged with an eerie calm, as if the place held a secret he didn't want to reveal.

He was accompanied by a group of lords, their faces grim, their eyes filled with caution and curiosity. Nearby, three women walked side by side, each with a distinctly different aura.

The first, dressed in dark robes, moved silently, her eyes scanning the area as if reading something invisible. Whenever she passed a particular spot, she raised her hand slightly, as if sensing the pulse of the earth itself. She didn't speak much, but when she did, her voice was dry and unsympathetic.

The second, however, was almost her complete opposite. Her bright robes reflected the sunlight, and her steps were less cautious than the others, as if she saw no danger in this forest that warranted caution. She moved her hands as she spoke, explaining her thoughts in lively language. However, her eyes held a gleam of intelligence that showed she was not just a skilled conversationalist, but a keen reader of faces and intentions.

The third was between the two. She was neither silent like the first, nor loud like the second, but measured in every way. There was something in the way she walked, in the tone of her voice when she spoke, that suggested she was not just an ordinary lady, but a woman who knew how to control the course of events.

Louis stood by the trunk of a huge tree, where the bodies appeared before him… distorted in unnatural ways. There was no sign of fire, ice, melting, cracks indicating the earth had shifted, or even the ash that indicated the power of lightning. It was as if their lives had been slowly drained from them, leaving behind empty bodies.

One of the lords bent down to examine a corpse, then looked at the governor with a pale face: "This energy does not belong to any element we know of, my lord."

Silence fell between them until the voice of a woman in dark clothing broke it. She ran her fingers over the ground, whispering in a barely audible voice, "This... isn't something natural. This isn't energy, it's a vacuum."

Louis looked at her, his brow furrowed, before raising his head into the depths of the forest. He knew that what they were searching for... might be much greater than he imagined.

The silence in the forest grew intense, as if it were sucking their breath away, just as something had sucked the life out of the victims before them. Louis, the ruler of Gort, stood looking at the mutilated bodies with a blank expression, but his eyes held a hidden worry.

The woman in dark clothing stepped forward, placing her hand on the muddy ground, muttering barely audible words before raising her head and saying in a quiet but decisive voice, "There's nothing here... no fire, no water, no air, no lightning, no earth... even the shadows don't react. What we witness before us is not the loss of life, but its complete absence.

Louis turned his gaze to her, then spoke her name for the first time since they had begun their journey: "Lady Eleanor, do you mean this isn't energy?"

Eleanor stood up, brushed some of the dust from her hands, and looked at him with her deep gray eyes. "I mean this isn't just another force... but its opposite."

One of the lords shook his head in exasperation. He was a heavyset man with a trimmed beard and dark eyes that bore the experience of decades of battle. "I doubt it," he said in a gravelly voice. "We know how forces work. We know how they kill, how they destroy, how they burn... but this?"

He turned to Louis, his voice growing more serious. "Louis, this isn't just a mystery. This is a threat we don't understand."

Louis looked at him and nodded, then said slowly, "I know that, Lord Gregor."

"Gregor, always a pessimist!" came the brightly dressed woman behind him, observing the corpses without a hint of disgust or fear. She took a few steps forward, then said in a light but analytical tone, "Instead of worrying, perhaps we should ask ourselves who could do something like this? There is no action without a source."

Louis said without turning to her, "Lady Verena, do you think this action is... human?"

Verena shrugged, before bending down to examine one of the bodies. "Human, or otherwise... no one has the ability to hide the traces of their power like this."

A harsh voice chuckled behind her, followed by a tall, gray-haired man, despite his obvious youth. He said in a mocking voice, folding his arms, "Haven't you considered that some powers don't need to be seen?"

Louis looked at him with annoyance, then said in a neutral tone, "Lord Reiner, do you have a theory?"

Reiner smiled wickedly before kneeling on the ground, his finger touching the spot where one of the bodies had been. He said in a soft but cold voice, "Perhaps we're not trying to understand this from the right angle... Perhaps, instead of searching for the element that caused this, we should ask ourselves: What if there wasn't an element at all?"

The silence fell again, but this time it was charged with thoughts no one had dared to utter.

Finally, the third woman, who had until now been watching them silently, spoke. She was different from the others; she didn't carry the aura of mystery like Eleanor, nor the liveliness of Verena, but she was the most steadfast. She advanced slowly, her gaze measured, and said in a voice that was calm but carried a special weight: "If that's what I think... then we must be prepared, because nothing can confront nothingness."

Louis looked at her before saying her name: "Lady Margaret... Do you think we're already too late?"

Margaret didn't answer immediately, just stared into the shadows that stretched between the dense trees, then, after a moment, she said, "I don't know... but something tells me we're not the only ones searching for an answer."

---

The place was like a cemetery of time itself. A vast hall stretched into darkness, lit only by a pale glow coming from the cracks in the ancient walls, as if trying to breathe after centuries of inactivity. The massive columns that once supported the ceiling of this great hall had fallen to the ground, shattered into fragments, telling the story of a civilization long forgotten.

The statues, finely carved in the past, were not spared; some were missing their heads, others were completely shattered, leaving only shattered limbs stretching like forgotten ghosts amidst the dust. The floor, once adorned with polished stones, was covered in cracks, as if it had suffered from years of pain and suppression.

In the center of the hall, where the light was dimmer, stood the man with the deep voice, surrounded by shadows that seemed to breathe with him. Facing him was the newcomer, standing silently, his eyes roaming the deserted stronghold, where past and destruction intertwined in a canvas of forgotten grandeur.

In pitch-black darkness, undisturbed by light and unbroken by sound, slow footsteps echoed, and the void vibrated with a deep, solemn note, as if it had emerged from the depths of the earth itself.

"A new member has joined us. You are now one of us."

His words echoed between the cracked walls, as if they hadn't heard a human voice in centuries. There was no body to be seen, no definite location, only the void... and the voice.

"Leave your past... leave your name... From this moment on, you are no longer that person."

The words echoed, as if the invisible walls had absorbed them and then spat them out again. There was another figure in the shadows, standing silently, neither responding nor protesting. He didn't need to; the decision had already been made.

"Now... prove your loyalty."

In that moment, everything disappeared—the voice, the shadows, even time itself.