The sky burned orange.
Not from sunset-but from flames devouring an entire city.
Buildings collapsed in upon themselves, their charred beams falling like shattered bone. Smoke curled up toward the sky, thick enough to choke the stars. The streets were littered with shattered stone, scattered belongings, and fallen soldiers who had tried and failed to defend their home.
Screams had already faded.
Only crackling fire remained.
Amidst the destruction, a little girl knelt beside a still figure. Her small hands were clutched onto her mother's clothes, shaking her desperately.
"Mommy… please… wake up… Mommy…"
Her voice had trembled, thin, cracked, barely carrying over the roar of flames.
Her soot-covered cheeks streamed with tears as she pushed her face into her mother's unmoving shoulder. Her small form shook, her breaths catching and becoming choking sobs.
A shadow fell over her.
Hovering above the ground, enveloped in pitch-black armor, was a horned figure. Its very presence twisted the air cold, unnatural, wrong. The flames leaned away from them, as if afraid to burn too close.
They watched the crying girl with unsettling calm.
Then amusement.
The creature cocked its head to one side, seemingly mesmerized by the raw mix of terror and anger in the little girl's eyes when she finally looked up at it. Her small fists clenched. Her lips quivered.
But her glare… burned hotter than the fire around them.
It was as if the armored figure savored it.
The darkness closed in, then everything broke apart.
---
Kaede jerked upright in her bed.
Her breath tore from her lungs in short, panicked bursts as she clutched the blanket. Sweat dripped from her forehead, cooling down rapidly from the night air. Her heart was racing painfully, like it was trying to punch its way out of her chest.
For a moment, she didn't know where she was.
Not the burning city. Not that night.
Her room.
Primordia.
Safe.
Kaede squeezed her eyes shut, inhaled shakily, and tried to settle the storm in her chest. But the tears on that little girl's face, the hatred in her own eyes, it all lingered far too vividly.
"…Damn it."
She swung her legs off the bed and made herself stand, hands still shaking slightly. She crossed the room and pushed open the window.
A cool night's breeze washed over her face, caressing her perspiration, soaked skin.
She leaned forward, grasping at the frame, and let the wind anchor her.
Anger flickered in her eyes.
Not fear anymore.
Anger.
"…One day,"
She had whispered to nobody.
"One day… I'll settle it."
---
Morning sunlight filtered into the smithy, streaking in bright swaths across scattered tools and glowing embers. Kaede worked with focused intensity, her hammer rising and falling in steady rhythm.
CLANG—SHHHHH—CLANG.
Quietly pulsing electric-blue veins ran along the length of Yukio's long sword, which she reforged and enhanced with each strike to shape the mana channels inside the blade.
The air hummed with heat and with magic.
Then
creeeaaak.
The smithy door swung open.
Tharos stepped inside with his arms folded behind him, his face unreadable beneath his dark beard. He took a look around the room once before his eyes came to rest on his daughter.
He reached for one of Yukio's daggers resting on the workbench and lifted it, turning the blade to examine the edge, all without a word.
".You're getting better,"
He said finally.
"I taught you well."
Kaede didn't look up from her forging, but a small chuckle slipped out.
"Morning to you too, Dad. What brings you here anyway?"
Tharos set the dagger down carefully, raising an eyebrow.
"What? I can't check up on my own daughter anymore? You think you're too grown for me now?"
Kaede snorted, finally setting her hammer aside and wiping her forehead.
"That's not what I meant and you know it."
Tharos leaned in, placing a rough scarred hand on her head. His size and battle-hardened demeanor belied the careful tender touch.
"I'm just here to check on you, sweetheart."
Kaede's expression softened, the memory from the night still lingering somewhere behind her eyes. But she smiled.
"I'm fine, Dad. Really."
Tharos lingered a moment longer, studying her face as if he could read the truth beneath her words.
Then he turned, halting in the doorway. His voice dropped, quieter… but heavier.
"…Don't push yourself too hard."
Kaede nodded once, her smile small but genuine.
"I won't. Promise."
Tharos gave a last glance, half concern, half pride and went out.
The door shut softly.
Kaede exhaled, grasping the long sword once more. The electric blue veins pulsed beneath her fingers, reflecting faintly in her eyes.
"…I won't push myself."
The grip of her hands tightened.
"But I won't run from it either."
CLANG.
The hammer fell.
---
The common room of the inn was abuzz with its usual morning mayhem: clattering plates, laughter from half-asleep adventurers, merchants haggling loudly over goods before their breakfast, and the smell of steaming bread wafting through the air.
Yukio slumped over his plate like a dying plant at a corner table.
Bags beneath his eyes.
Listless expression.
An entire aura of regret.
Opposite him, Michibiki calmly ate her toast.
"You look awful,"
She said matter-of-factly.
Yukio groaned, stabbing his breakfast with a fork.
"That's what I get for using the Threads yesterday… I feel like my brain got wrung out and stomped on."
Michibiki sipped her tea.
"That's because you did use them foolishly."
"Hey! In my defense, I thought I could manipulate the fates however I wanted."
Michibiki raised an eyebrow.
"And you were wrong."
Yukio's eye twitched, and he let out a long, miserable exhale.
He remembered the system window.
The golden warning text.
"If you pull on fate, fate will pull back with equal force."
He buried his face in his hands.
"Ughhh… I feel like I got hit by a truck."
Silence.
Michibiki stared at him.
And meanwhile,
A voice echoed in Yukio's mind.
A girl's voice.
Soft. Familiar.
Slightly amused.
"You did get hit by a truck. That's why you're here."
Yukio froze.
Slowly… ever so slowly…
He lifted his head.
Michibiki blinked.
"…Why do you look like you just saw a ghost?"
Yukio pointed at his head.
"She said it again."
Michibiki sighed.
"The girl in your head? The one from your 'system'? The imaginary one?"
"She's real!"
Yukio snapped.
"And she's mean!"
---
Inside of Kaede's shop, the door chimed as Yukio and Michibiki stepped in.
"Kaede?"
Michibiki called out.
Footsteps echoed from the back room—steady, confident.
Kaede emerged proudly with both of Yukio's weapons in hand:
the Twin Jade Daggers, glowing with an emerald aura; the silver-blue long sword, humming anew with energy.
She set them down gently on the counter and flashed a self-satisfied grin.
"Morning, you two."
Kaede's smile broadened when she could finally get a good look at Yukio's face.
"…Whoa. You look like a ghoul. Sleep well?"
Yukio let his head fall to the counter with a dull thud.
"Yeah, amazing sleep. I'm overflowing with energy,"
He said flatly.
Kaede snorted.
"Okay, Mr. Grumpy Pants. Look! I outdid myself, didn't I?"
Michibiki bent nearer, peering closely at the weapons.
Her eyes widened.
"This is… a huge boost. Honestly impressive work, Kaede."
Kaede immediately puffed her chest out, hands on hips.
"That's right, praise me more."
But then she glanced back at Yukio… still face down on the counter.
Her proud expression softened into concern.
She walked around the counter, crouched beside him, and lifted him gently by the shoulders.
"Come on, Yuki-boy. I don't like seeing you like this."
Yukio groaned weakly.
Kaede smiled.
"Let's go to Candessa's. I'll buy you an advanced mental recovery potion. That'll clear the fog."
"…Okay…"
Yukio mumbled.
Michibiki tucked the enhanced weapons into her pocket inventory with a flick of her fingers.
Meanwhile, Kaede crouched down and swung Yukio onto her back like a backpack.
"You comfortable, buddy?"
Yukio nodded into her shoulder, too exhausted to talk. Michibiki let out a heavy sigh, arms across her chest.
"Such a baby. I'm supposed to be the one who carries you."
Kaede smirked over her shoulder.
"Heh. Maybe next time."
And with Yukio clinging to her like some sort of half-conscious koala, the three strode out into the morning sun, bound directly for the Candessa shop.