The morning was cold and dry, as if the air itself was tired of living.
Sai walked beside Grandpa along a narrow path that ran alongside a grey hill, sparsely covered with grass.
"You are ready."
Sai didn't answer. He just walked, feeling the crunch of stones under his feet and a kind of emptiness in his chest.
Grandpa was the first to stop.
The wind lifted the edges of his old cloak, and his grey hair swayed slightly. He pulled a leather pouch from an inner pocket and handed it to Sai.
"Money, documents, a phone. Everything you need to be accepted into the Academy. Don't waste it on nonsense."
Sai took the pouch but didn't open it.
"You… you're not coming further with me?"
Grandpa smirked.
"I'm too old for new adventures. Besides, if I show up near the Academy, half the old bureaucrats will think a new war has started."
He looked up at the sky. "I'm going back. I have one more thing to do, a promise I never kept."
Sai wanted to ask what it was, but didn't. He had already learned—if Grandpa didn't say it straight away, it wasn't time yet.
They stood in silence. Two shadows—one long, trembling, old; the other—shorter, sturdier, but not yet confident.
"When you reach the city," said Grandpa, "go to the western gate. The Academy's reception will be there. Don't show your power without reason. Let them think you're just an ordinary guy."
He smiled slightly. "And then prove them wrong."
Sai nodded.
"Understood."
"And one more thing," Grandpa added, "don't forget. Power without reason is chaos. But reason without resolve is a prison."
He clapped Sai on the shoulder, turning away. "That's it, go on. I'll live a little longer yet. Maybe I'll even have time to grow truly old."
Sai watched as he walked back, towards the house. And for the first time, he understood just how much he didn't want to let him go.
He didn't say "thank you" or "goodbye." Only quietly:
"I will return what you lost. I promise."
---
The road to the city was long and grey.
Sai walked on foot, feeling the wind blowing his thoughts away. Along the way, he passed ruined villages, half-collapsed signposts, abandoned cars.
379 years after that war, and the world still looked sick.
Sometimes he saw traces of monsters—deep scratches on stones, shreds of grey cloth, frozen as if petrified. The Echo inside him stirred quietly, as if recognizing these places.
He remembered how it all began. Fear. The orphanage. Helplessness.
And now… now he was different. Not a hero—just a person who had stopped running.
---
By evening, he reached an old road leading to the southern outskirts of Tarnel—one of the Federation's frontier cities.
Lights flickered in the distance, like stars scattered on the ground.
Sai took out the phone, turned on the navigator—Grandpa had already set everything up. The route led straight to the Academy's reception.
He was about to continue when he heard a scream.
A woman's.
Sharp, frightened, but not desperate. The cry of someone who was still trying to fight.
Sai froze. His heart hammered several times.
The Echo responded—inside him, like an echo in his skull.
He ran.
---
The slope leading downwards revealed a view of a broken road. There, where a carriage had apparently passed recently.
Now it lay on its side, a wheel torn off, the horses dead.
Near it—three men. One headless. The other two—broken, like dolls.
And between the bodies—a girl. Young, no older than him, in a light cloak, torn to shreds. She held a short blade in her hands and was fending off creatures that looked human but were too elongated, with ragged mouths and empty eyes.
Rift monsters.
Sai recognized them.
His body reacted before his mind.
He stretched out his hand—and the Echo burst forth.
The shadow stretched, like smoke, and surged forward. In an instant, the first monster disintegrated, as if erased from the world. The second lunged at him, but the Echo stopped it with a blow—soundless, invisible, but devastating.
Sai ran closer, shielding the girl with his body.
She was on her knees, breathing heavily, her eyes—the color of cold silver—glittered in the moonlight.
"Get away!" she shouted. "There are more of them!"
"Too late," he replied quietly.
Another one burst from the shadows—huge, like a twisted tree.
The Echo stepped forward, taking form—a black silhouette of Sai, without facial features, but with the same resolve.
Sai gripped Grandpa's blade. A strike. A second. The shadow mirrored his movements.
The air grew thick, viscous.
When it was over, only charred bodies lay around.
Sai stood, panting. The Echo dissolved, like smoke, retreating back under his skin.
The girl stood up, swaying.
"You… who are you?"
"Just… a passerby," he answered.
She looked at him for a long time. Then she said quietly:
"My name is Ariana Velt."
The name rang a bell in his memory—Velt. One of the oldest Federation families, the ones who controlled the Academy.
He didn't show his surprise.
"Will you come?" he asked. "The city isn't far."
"Yes… if you don't mind," she said quietly. "I don't want to be alone again."
He nodded.
"Let's go."
---
They walked in silence. The moon shone through the clouds, silvering the road.
Ariana kept glancing at him furtively. At his white eyes, at the strange shadow that seemed to move separately.
"Your power… it's…" she began, but Sai interrupted:
"Don't ask. I don't fully understand it myself."
She nodded.
"But you saved me. That's more than many strong people have done."
He didn't answer.
He just walked, feeling for the first time in a long time that someone alive was walking beside him—not the Echo, not a ghost, not a shadow.
---
When they reached the city, the gates were already closing.
Sai approached the guard, showed his documents.
"The Academy?" the guard asked. "Reception is in the west wing. Go ahead."
He looked at the girl.
"Let her in too."
The guard raised an eyebrow, but saw the emblem on Ariana's pendant and immediately straightened up.
"Lady Velt… of course! Please!"
Only then did Sai understand who he had saved.
---
Later, as they stood by a fountain waiting for a guide, she looked at him and said quietly:
"I don't know who you are. But I won't forget this day."
He lowered his gaze.
"No need. Just keep living."
She smiled—for the first time that evening.
"And you?"
Sai looked at the sky, where the stars slowly twinkled.
"And I… will just try not to disappear."
The wind carried the distant smell of smoke.
Somewhere beyond the mountains, Grandpa was probably already walking back to his old house.
And in that moment, Sai felt that his journey had now—truly—begun.