Whispers followed Yohan long after he left the trial hall. The marble corridors of the academy, once bright, now felt colder — heavier. Every sound seemed to echo back at him: footsteps, murmurs, even the wind through the banners.
He had felt silence before… but not like this. This was the silence that comes when people fear you.
Outside, the courtyard was glowing with morning light. Groups of students stood together, comparing results. Some were celebrating, others crying, but all of them belonged.
Yohan watched them from a distance. He could still see the glow of their elements — small flames, flowing auras, swirling motes of light — all connected to the world.
When he looked at his own hand, there was nothing. Just faint cracks of dark energy fading under his skin.
"The world loves order," he thought.
"So what happens when something doesn't fit?"
He walked toward the edge of the training fields — a quiet place where few ever went. It overlooked a cliff, and beyond it, the wide sea shimmered like liquid glass.
He sat down, letting the cold breeze brush his face. For the first time in years, he felt small.
A soft voice broke the silence.
"Hey… are you okay?"
Yohan turned. A girl stood behind him — her uniform clean, her aura soft and calm, glowing with the color of pale water. Her eyes were bright but not afraid.
"I saw what happened in the hall," she said quietly. "That was… intense."
He didn't answer.
"I'm Lily," she continued, stepping closer. "You're Yohan, right? The one who broke the circle?"
Her words weren't mocking. There was only curiosity in her tone.
Yohan sighed. "That's what they're calling me now?"
"Well," Lily smiled a little, "it's better than 'cursed monster,' isn't it?"
That almost made him laugh — almost.
For a while, neither of them spoke. The sea below them shimmered, and gulls cried in the distance.
Lily sat beside him, hands folded in her lap.
"I don't think you're cursed," she said softly.
"Elements don't destroy things for no reason. Maybe it was reacting to something else — something hidden."
Yohan looked at her, searching her face for fear or pity. He found neither.
"You don't know what you're saying," he said quietly.
"When people see something they don't understand… they destroy it."
She didn't flinch.
"Then don't let them understand you," she said.
"Make them remember you."
Her words hit something deep inside him — something buried and burning. It reminded him of his master's voice, faint and far away.
When Lily left, Yohan stayed on the cliff until night. The stars above the sea looked like cracks of light in the dark sky.
He raised his hand toward them. For a moment, he could almost feel that strange energy again — the one that had shattered the circle.
It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat.
"Maybe I didn't fail," he whispered to the wind.
"Maybe I just… woke up."