The book slipped from Karina's fingers and fell to the floor with a faint sound, but to her ears it echoed loudly within the silent library.
She suddenly raised her head.
Her eyes began to wander among the shelves around her… with cautious speed, as if she expected someone to be watching her.
But there was nothing in the place except silence.
And the books.
Yet… her heart did not calm.
She slowly bent down and picked up the book from the floor, her fingers gripping it tightly as if afraid it would slip away again.
She whispered to herself, her voice carrying a confusion she had never known in herself:
"I don't understand… why did I feel this connection…"
She opened the book again, this time bypassing the introduction, until she reached the first actual page of explanation.
Then she began to read.
Her voice was faint… but trembling.
---
Azure Requiem magic.
A rare type of Abyssal Azure magic, indeed in its essence it is a more violent and heavier evolution of the original itself.
This magic is not simply born…
Nor is it easily transferred.
Rather, it forms through the accumulation of immense magical energy across generations, until it gathers in a single body capable of carrying it without collapsing.
A body possessing dense mana, and a network of magical vesicles capable of withstanding the pressure of that energy.
It is a vessel chosen by the power itself.
Records of the Southern Mages' Tower indicate that this type of magic appears rarely throughout history.
For in each century, approximately…
only ten people are born, from different lineages, capable of carrying this energy.
And sometimes… one or two carriers appear every thirty years.
But even among them…
not all reach the stage of awakening it.
---
Karina paused for a moment.
She swallowed.
Then she continued reading, her eyes moving faster now.
---
Characteristics of the Magic:
The Azure Requiem possesses immense combat capabilities, surpassing what the world knows about Abyssal Azure.
But this power does not come without a price.
For it has fatal flaws.
The first…
Absolute sensitivity to black magic.
As soon as black magic energy approaches, the mana vesicles of the Azure Requiem begin to lose their balance.
Instead of resisting it…
they harmonize with it.
And over time… the black magic overwhelms them.
Thus the Azure Requiem vesicles transform into dark vesicles.
And because the number of those vesicles in the carrier's body is extremely large… the resulting black magic becomes far more violent than natural black magic.
And this transformation harms not only the magic…
but tears the body itself.
However…
this process can be stopped.
If purification magic is used or the curse that unleashed the black magic is nullified…
the Azure Requiem vesicles return to their natural state.
---
Karina's fingers were trembling now as she held the page.
Every line she read…
awakened a memory.
An idea.
A possibility.
Something she had long tried to bury.
She raised her hand slightly to her forehead.
Her mind began gathering old pieces from memory.
Why… had her magic never manifested?
Was it…
was it hidden?
Or… suffocated?
She remembered that moment.
In the past.
On the day of the execution.
The moment when energy had burst from her… that no one understood.
She gripped the book tightly.
Then she continued reading.
---
The Second Flaw: Loss of Power.
Among the skills resulting from this magic is a technique known as:
The Azure Storm.
When used, the magic carrier plants their weapon into the ground… and empties all their energy into the soil.
Within seconds of harmony between the body and the energy…
the power suddenly surges.
Immense winds.
Violent magical pressure.
An explosion of blue energy sweeping everything around it.
---
Karina suddenly stopped.
Her breathing became faster.
She could no longer read the words without seeing that moment.
That day.
The gray sky…
the square…
and the energy that had burst from her.
She pressed her eyes tightly.
Then she breathed deeply.
"Calm down…"
She whispered to herself.
"Calm down."
She opened her eyes again… and returned to the page.
---
Awakening Conditions:
The power of the Azure Storm often first manifests under intense emotional pressure.
Tremendous anger.
Deep sorrow.
Or a moment when the carrier faces death.
At the first true release of energy…
a rare phenomenon occurs called:
The Return.
During this phenomenon, the carrier's body returns to the last moment when the magic was completely stable within their body.
This was the result of the body being violently exhausted and drained.
For when the carrier was unable to control the Azure Storm, the power burst beyond the body's limits.
Thus, returning to the moment of magical stability was the only way to save the body from collapse… or death.
Very logical.
Karina had returned to the day before Elina's arrival.
For when Elina arrived, the magic was no longer stable; the black magic had begun rising from the moment the curse entered the palace.
Thus the nearest moment when the magic was stable…
was the moment just before Elina's arrival.
Time reverses.
---
The world stopped.
The book fell from Karina's hands once more.
This time she did not bend down immediately.
She stood in place.
Staring at the floor.
Her heart pounded against her chest.
One…
two…
three.
Three signs.
Three truths…
that matched her life.
She didn't know whether she felt fear…
or relief…
or a new weight placed upon her shoulders.
She closed her eyes.
And took a long breath.
Then she bent down again.
She picked up the book.
And opened to the same page.
---
But the next line…
was more violent than what came before.
---
The true advantage of the Return phenomenon is not limited to the carrier's body.
Rather, time returns for everyone who was present in their vicinity when the energy was released.
It is not an individual return.
But a complete reversal of the temporal moment.
And this phenomenon has been recorded in all carriers of this magic throughout history.
---
Her fingers trembled.
But she forced herself to continue.
---
The True Flaw:
If the Azure Storm phenomenon repeats multiple times without the carrier controlling their energy…
one of two possibilities may occur.
The first:
The carrier loses a tremendous portion of their magical energy… perhaps forever.
The second:
They die.
But…
if the carrier uses their energy with full awareness, during combat for example, and is in control of themselves…
then neither of these possibilities will occur.
---
Silence prevailed.
But the page was not yet finished.
---
Throughout the ages…
everyone who carried this magic…
found themselves, sooner or later, at the heart of wars.
Not because they chose it…
but because the world left them no choice.
For a power like this…
cannot remain far from battlefields.
---
Karina remained standing in the middle of the library.
The book open in her hands.
And the silence around her heavier than any sound.
Because what she had just read…
was not merely history.
But perhaps…
her future.
---
That day…
was not just another day in Rina's life.
Rather, it became a fixed marker in her memory, a moment when everything split into before… and after.
On that day she finally confirmed the truth she had not even dared to imagine.
She was not without magic.
And she was not merely an heiress to a noble family with a long history.
But she was… a carrier of the Azure Requiem.
The name alone was enough to weigh down the air around her.
Rare magic, appearing only a few times in centuries…
and power mentioned in books only accompanied by wars and tragedies.
Rina sat in her room, near the high window through which the faint afternoon light entered.
The room was spacious, its walls adorned with Vershi's blue and silver engravings, while light curtains moved slowly with a gentle breeze creeping in from outside.
But despite the calm of the place… there was no calm inside her.
She placed her elbows on the table, and rested her head between her hands, her fingers pressing the sides of her forehead as if trying to prevent thoughts from exploding.
If the curse was suffocating her magic…
then she was forced to break it.
And if that energy was truly inside her body…
then she was forced to learn to control it.
Power like this…
if unleashed without control… might destroy more than it protects.
She sighed slowly.
And she was about to surrender to the spiral of thinking once more…
but the sound of a light knock on her room door cut through the silence.
Knock… knock…
She slowly raised her head.
"Come in."
The door opened slightly, and one of the guards appeared standing at the threshold, wearing his silver armor decorated with the Vershi emblem.
He bowed respectfully.
"Your Highness the Princess… a letter has arrived for you."
He extended his hand with a sealed paper.
Rina nodded and approached him, pulling the letter from his hand.
"Thank you."
She quietly closed the door behind him, then looked at the letter.
It was an elegant paper of the type used in official correspondence, with a light ivory color.
Its edges were adorned with thin blue lines, while the red wax seal bore the Flax family emblem carved precisely.
She smiled immediately.
"Vicki…"
Only one day had passed since Victoria left the palace to begin her journey to the academy.
Rina tore the wax seal with her finger, and the envelope opened with a faint sound.
She pulled the letter from inside.
The handwriting was neat… but carried that gentle haste that revealed the writer's enthusiasm.
She began to read.
---
Hello Rinaaa!
I've finished preparing everything, and I'm now on my way to leave.
Finally… I will depart.
But this time… not an escape.
Rather, freedom.
I wanted to tell you that I am very happy with you…
and thank you from the bottom of my heart, my friend.
Thanks to you, I now have a path to walk.
And when I graduate… I will visit you specially.
Because you are my most precious friend.
I will become free.
And I will achieve my dream with my own effort.
And I also wish for you…
that you pursue your dream.
Victoria Flax
---
Rina remained looking at the words for a moment longer.
A calm smile appeared on her lips.
A faint warmth passed through her chest… that kind of warmth that reminds you that something good has happened in this world.
She sat down and wrote a short reply.
A simple letter… but full of encouragement and the humor they were accustomed to between them.
She folded it carefully, then handed it to one of the servants to send.
She returned to her room.
The calm returned once more.
She lay down a little, intending to rest on the bed…
but her eyes suddenly fell upon a paper thrown near the table.
She stopped.
She stepped forward two steps.
Then she bent down and picked it up.
And the moment she saw the seal…
she froze.
It was Damian's letter.
The letter that had arrived days ago.
The letter that…
she had completely forgotten.
She quickly opened it and began reading the lines.
Every word made her heart sink a little.
Attendance… compulsory.
And the deadline…
the beginning of the week.
She suddenly raised her head.
Her eyes widened.
Then—
"Whaaaaat?!"
The echo of her voice bounced off the room's walls.
The day after tomorrow…
was indeed the beginning of the week.
And she hadn't told anyone.
And she hadn't even thought… how she would convince her father to allow her to go.
She placed her hand on her head.
"Oh my God…"
---
In another place…
dawn had barely begun to color the sky with a pale gray hue.
The city was still half asleep.
The air was slightly cold, and silence wrapped around the alleys like a light blanket.
Inside a wide room lit by faint light…
Damian was lying on his bed.
His usual tense features had completely relaxed in sleep, as if all the world's weight had temporarily disappeared.
He slowly turned to the other side.
Then he heard a sound.
Faint.
Distant.
"Meow…"
Then again.
"Meow… meow."
A small black cat lightly jumped onto the bed, its tail moving slowly as it approached him.
It was Mocha.
The cat he had raised since it was barely the size of his palm.
It approached his face and began rubbing against him insistently.
He moved slightly.
Then he slowly opened his gray eyes.
And when he saw the cat…
he smiled.
A bright smile that no one had ever seen from him.
He lifted it in his hands and patted its head.
"You look hungry…"
He said in a sleepy voice, much calmer than his usual tone.
He sighed.
"Well… let's wake up."
Then he muttered sarcastically:
"It's good that you woke me… and not annoying Selina."
He sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his hair.
"It seems I'm really starting to get tired…"
He went to the table, opened the food container, and poured a little into a small dish.
He placed it before Mocha, who began eating enthusiastically.
He ran his hand over her soft back.
Then he went to get dressed.
After a few minutes, he left wearing a mask that concealed his face.
He rode a small black carriage that carried him through the city streets, which were slowly beginning to wake.
The carriage finally stopped before a towering stone building.
A tall circular building touching the morning mist.
The Southern Mages' Tower.
One of the most important centers of magic in the region.
Damian descended from the carriage.
His steps were quiet and steady on the stone pavement.
He opened the large door and entered.
Inside…
the place was bustling with activity.
Mages moving quickly between tables.
Papers flying.
Tense discussion voices.
Books being closed hastily.
Damian raised his eyebrow slightly.
He said coldly:
"What is happening here?"
Everyone stopped.
Many heads turned toward him at once.
Confusion filled the place.
Then one of them said in a tense voice:
"You…"
Then voices exploded together.
"Yuri Vershi is about to return!"
"If he sees us being lazy, he'll kill us!"
"No one wants to anger him!"
Whispers rose, and movement became chaotic.
As for Damian…
he remained standing in his place.
Silent.
And behind the mask…
his eyes gleamed slightly.