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The Silence After the Storm
The western training field was in ruins.
Dust drifted through the air like snow. The sky had gone quiet, as if even the stars held their breath. Burnt earth, splintered stone, and the lingering scent of scorched mana painted a battlefield that should not have existed.
Harvey stood motionless at the center.
The Sin-Eater was gone—banished through a forbidden seal Harvey hadn't used in decades. His body trembled not from exhaustion, but restraint. Power still crackled beneath his skin, demanding to be unleashed.
But his eyes weren't on the wreckage.
They were on Sylvia.
She lay crumpled at the edge of the crater, her blades shattered beside her, blood running from a cut above her brow.
Harvey walked over. Not rushed—controlled, calculated.
He knelt beside her.
She was still breathing.
> "Good," he muttered. "You didn't die… this time."
---
Sylvia's Dream
Sylvia was adrift in her own mind.
A field of white lilies.
A tall woman stood in the distance, cloaked in moonlight. Her face was soft, eyes kind, but ancient. Powerful.
> "My name…" the woman whispered, "was Elowen."
Sylvia's heart pounded.
> "I… know that name."
> "You are my blood. And the world will soon demand its price from you."
> "What price?"
Elowen turned, her figure fading into dust.
> "Him."
And just like that—Sylvia woke up.
---
"You're Hurt," She Said
Her voice was weak, but steady.
Harvey didn't look at her.
> "I'm always hurt."
> "That thing… it knew who I was. Called me—"
> "Elowen's descendant. Yes."
Sylvia blinked. "And you knew?"
Harvey finally met her gaze.
His eyes were colder than the wind sweeping over the battlefield.
> "There's a reason I never asked for your help."
> "Then why didn't you stop me?"
> "Because I needed to see something."
> "What?"
> "If you'd break like she did."
---
Confrontation
Sylvia sat up, wincing, but her voice was sharper now.
> "You used me."
> "Yes."
> "You're not even denying it?"
> "Why would I?"
She stared at him—this boy, this supposed genius with eyes like winter steel and hands stained with blood from a world no one else remembered.
And yet… she didn't walk away.
> "You knew the Sin-Eater would come. You set a trap."
> "I didn't know how he'd come. But yes."
> "What the hell are you really planning, Harvey?"
He didn't answer. Not at first.
Instead, he looked up at the moon, his expression unreadable.
> "The system that governs this world is cracking," he said softly. "And I intend to break it completely."
> "Why?"
> "Because it broke me first."
---
Academy Aftermath
Later that night, the Academy was on lockdown.
Professors tried to cover the battle up as a 'training accident.'
But rumors spread fast. Some said a high-level rogue had infiltrated. Others whispered that the Gravemore name had returned.
One person knew better.
Headmistress Alara Velthaine stood in her private office, gazing over a dozen old files—each stamped with the same sigil: Erased by Order of the Council.
Among them was a name long thought forgotten.
> Harvey Gravemore.
> "So the dead return," Alara murmured. "And war follows."
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