The Silver Dawn

Silence.

That was the only thing Ariel could hear.

It wrapped around him like a heavy shroud, pressing against his ears, his skin, his bones. He stood in the center of the training ring, breath uneven, heart pounding.

Everyone was staring.

Erik still lay on the ground, groaning as he tried to push himself up. A faint scorch mark darkened the front of his tunic where Ariel's fist had landed, and his expression was twisted in a mixture of shock and anger.

Ariel wasn't sure what had just happened.

One moment, he had been losing. Badly. The next, something inside him had shifted—a flicker of instinct, a pulse of something deeper. His body had moved on its own, weightless, effortless, unnatural.

And then…

Power.

It had surged through him, responding to his desperation. But now it was gone, like it had never been there at all.

The instructor finally spoke. "Match over."

The barrier surrounding the ring flickered and vanished.

Ariel barely processed it. His hands were still trembling. Not from exhaustion, but from something else.

From fear.

Not of Erik. Not of the others.

But of himself.

What had he just done?

A Storm of Whispers

The moment Ariel stepped out of the sparring ring, the whispers exploded.

"That wasn't normal."

"He was losing, then suddenly—boom."

"I saw it—his body moved like a shadow for a second."

"Did you see his eyes? I swear they were glowing."

Ariel clenched his jaw. It didn't matter. He had survived worse than whispers.

Still, the weight of their gazes pressed into him with every step.

Arthur fell into step beside him, hands tucked behind his head as if nothing had happened. He whistled. "Well, that was dramatic."

Ariel said nothing.

Arthur smirked. "You really like making an entrance, huh?"

Ariel ignored him.

Arthur sighed, dropping his arms. "Alright, alright. You're the brooding type, I get it." He glanced at him from the side. "But seriously. What was that?"

Ariel's fingers twitched. "I don't know."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

Ariel exhaled slowly. "It just… happened."

Arthur studied him for a moment before shaking his head. "Damn. And here I was hoping you'd tell me you were some lost prince of an ancient bloodline or something."

Ariel gave him a flat look.

Arthur grinned. "Well, whatever it was, you might wanna figure it out. Soon."

Ariel frowned. "Why?"

Arthur jerked his chin toward the far side of the training grounds.

A group of knights in gold-trimmed armor stood at the edge of the field, their expressions unreadable. But Ariel could feel their scrutiny.

Watching. Calculating.

And in the center of them, Elder Isolde.

Ariel's breath slowed.

The whispers weren't the only thing he had to worry about.

Under Scrutiny

They didn't give him time to rest.

The moment training ended, Ariel was called to the Elder's Hall.

He now sat in a cold, stone chamber—small, bare, with only a single iron-cast table in front of him. The room felt like a prison cell disguised as an office.

The door creaked open.

Elder Isolde entered first. Behind her stood the Knight-Commander, the same woman who had found Ariel in the ruins of Eldrin.

Ariel kept his face blank. He didn't trust either of them.

Isolde took a seat across from him, folding her hands on the table. Her golden eyes studied him, sharp and thoughtful.

"You caused quite a stir today," she said.

Ariel didn't respond.

The silence stretched.

The Knight-Commander finally spoke. "That power you displayed. Explain it."

Ariel hesitated.

"I don't know what it was."

The Knight-Commander's expression remained unreadable. "Lying won't help you here."

Ariel clenched his fists beneath the table. "I'm not lying."

Elder Isolde tilted her head. "You moved faster than the human eye could track. You struck with enough force to knock down an opponent twice your size. But your mana signature remained…" She trailed off, choosing her words carefully.

"…Unstable."

Ariel's pulse quickened.

Unstable.

That wasn't good.

Isolde exhaled through her nose, leaning back. "We will be observing you more closely from now on."

The weight of her words sank into his chest.

He wasn't just an anomaly anymore.

He was a threat.

The Weight of Expectation

Training the next day was different.

Ariel was no longer just another recruit. He was under a magnifying glass.

Every movement was analyzed. Every mistake noted. The knights watched him, not with curiosity, but with expectation.

They wanted him to prove himself.

Or they wanted him to fail.

Ariel clenched his fists. He wouldn't give them either.

The day's lesson was mana control.

The instructor—an older knight with a sharp gaze—explained the exercise. "You will learn to circulate mana properly through your pathways. Without control, power is meaningless."

Arthur nudged him. "Hope you were paying attention."

Ariel exhaled.

He focused.

Mana. The invisible energy that made Legacies possible. It flowed through the body's pathways, like water through a river.

Except his river was broken.

Ariel tried to draw upon it. Immediately, his body tensed.

The energy within him was wrong.

It didn't flow. It didn't obey. It fought him.

A sharp pain lanced through his veins. His vision flickered, silver light dancing at the edges.

A whisper brushed against his mind.

"Not yet."

Ariel's breath caught.

And then—his mana shattered.

The force of it sent him sprawling backward.

The field fell into silence.

The instructor stared down at him. "Unacceptable."

Ariel gritted his teeth, pushing himself up.

Again.

He tried again. And again. And again.

Every time, the same thing happened.

His mana wouldn't listen.

His body rejected it.

By the time training ended, his muscles ached, his head throbbed, and his frustration boiled beneath his skin.

Arthur, standing beside him, sighed. "Well, that was painful to watch."

Ariel shot him a glare.

Arthur smirked. "Don't worry. You'll get it."

Ariel looked away. He wasn't sure he believed that.

Under the Moon's Gaze

That night, Ariel sat alone on the Citadel's rooftop, staring up at the sky.

The moon watched him back.

He exhaled.

The words of the Moon Goddess echoed in his mind.

"Power comes at a price."

What was the price?

What was he missing?

His hands clenched at his sides.

He had to figure it out.

Before the Order decided he wasn't worth the trouble.