登入At that exact moment… The classroom doors opened.The teacher stepped inside.Instantly, the scattered conversations died.Students hurried back to their seats as chairs scraped against the floor. Books were pulled open, pages rustled, and quills were quickly placed upon desks.Within seconds, the room settled into silence.The teacher's gaze swept across the classroom."Good morning, everyone.""Good morning, sir."The response came almost in unison.The lesson began.But the boy wasn't listening.His eyes remained fixed on the empty seat across from him.Anastasia's seat.The teacher's voice continued in the background, but the words barely reached him.Beneath his desk, his fingers tightened around the strap of his satchel.The gift was still inside.And now, so was his decision.He was going to find her… He was going to visit Anastasia.No matter what it took!… Meanwhile… Deep within the wilderness…A completely different kind of excitement had erupted."There!"Anastasia poi
The next morning arrived beneath a pale golden sky.The final day of the family's hunting season had finally come.By now, the camp was already alive with activity.Their belongings had been packed, the horses saddled and ready, their weapons secured, and the remaining supplies carefully gathered for the journey home later that day.As they had done the previous morning, the two guards who had accompanied them remained behind to watch over the camp while the family ventured into the wilderness one final time.But Anastasia seemed to have forgotten all about the journey home.Her attention was fixed entirely on the hunt.She practically bounced on her feet, barely able to contain the excitement bubbling inside her."We're hunting again!"Her voice rang across the camp, bright and unrestrained.Whatever had happened the previous day had completely vanished from her conscious thoughts.The fear…The confusion…The strange emptiness where part of her memory should have been…None of it se
Night had already settled over the ancient forest.The towering pines stood like dark silhouettes beneath the moonlit sky, their enormous canopies swallowing most of the stars. Beyond the small clearing, the forest had fallen into a deep, watchful silence, disturbed only by the occasional rustle of leaves and the soft crackle of the campfire.Inside the tent… Anastasia still hadn't woken.She lay beneath the blankets, her small body utterly still, her face peaceful despite everything she had witnessed earlier.Anana remained at her side.She had barely moved since they returned to camp. Every few moments, she dipped a small towel into a bowl of cool water, squeezed out the excess, and gently pressed the damp cloth against her daughter's forehead.Slowly… Carefully… With the quiet tenderness of a mother who had nowhere else she needed to be.She brushed a few damp strands of hair away from Anastasia's face, letting her fingers linger briefly against her daughter's cheek before lifting
Lucien searched her eyes for a long moment.He wasn't searching for certainty.He was searching for something to believe in. And somehow… He found it there.His fingers slowly tightened around hers.He didn't answer… He simply held on.After a while, Lucien's gaze drifted across the clearing once more. It eventually settled on the witch's lifeless body.He slowly rose to his feet.For a long moment… He simply stood there, studying her in silence.His eyes moved patiently over every wound that scarred her body… Not one of them was shallow and not one of them belonged to a one-sided battle.Every wound told the same story.She had been forced to fight for every breath.The faintest smile touched Lucien's lips."...You had quite a battle of your own."His voice was quiet, almost thoughtful.His gaze never left the battered corpse."...You gave her one hell of a fight."There was unmistakable admiration in his tone.For another moment, he remained silent, his eyes tracing the countless in
Lucien emerged from the ravaged battlefield and made his way towards the clearing where he had last sensed Anana and Anastasia.His pace was calm and measured. Yet his eyes missed nothing.The forest had become a graveyard.Broken branches carpeted the ground almost like they were shattered bones of the ancient pines. Fresh gouges scarred the trunks of towering trees, some cleaved clean through, others blackened by magic. The scent of blood hung so heavily in the air that it smothered the earthy fragrance of the forest.Bodies lay everywhere.Black Wanderers had fallen where death claimed them, their limbs twisted at unnatural angles, their weapons scattered beyond lifeless fingers. Blood seeped into the forest floor, soaking roots, stones, and leaves until the earth itself seemed to have turned red.Lucien's gaze drifted over the carnage in complete silence.Every corpse, wound and shattered weapon… Each one of them told a story.Then...His eyes settled on a familiar face.The witch
The remaining Black Wanderers had witnessed everything...Every.Single.Moment.They had watched the witches unravel into drifting crimson-black embers.They had watched the giant stagger… watched his colossal legs buckle beneath him... watched the invincible warrior crash to his knees.And then… They witnessed the impossible.The being they had believed could never be defeated… The monster they had believed stood beyond death itself… The pillar upon which their courage had always rested… Disappear right before their very eyes.Then...Silence!A crushing, suffocating silence swallowed the battlefield whole. It came so suddenly that it felt unnatural.Hundreds of Black Wanderers stood frozen where they were, unable to tear their eyes away from the empty place where the giant had stood only moments before.It was as though the entire battlefield had forgotten how to breathe.Their minds simply refused to accept what their eyes had witnessed.The giant… Was gone! The very foundation
She immediately jumped to her feet and spun around.Her gaze swept across the clearing… Left! Right!Nothing! Just trees, rocks and more trees.Her brows furrowed.Had she imagined that?The voice had sounded real… Far too real.Then…A figure shifted on the opposite side of the massive boulder bes
Anastasia was both angry and frustrated.The moment the bullied boy ran out of the classroom, something inside her refused to settle.It wasn't just irritation. It was that awful feeling of knowing something was wrong and being unable to do anything about it.She needed space. Somewhere private. So
Now, the entire classroom was focused on him. Every student… Every pair of eyes. Even Anastasia couldn't herself but listen attentively.The teacher's gaze swept across the room, taking in the anticipation that had settled over the class.He could see it clearly. Dozens of young minds hanging onto
The room froze immediately. Several students turned instinctively. Others followed a heartbeat later. And just like that, dozens of eyes landed on Anastasia.Even students who had managed to forget her presence during the lesson suddenly remembered exactly who was sitting in the classroom with the







