A couple weeks ago on Earth, couple days ago on Woewyn. Natsuki sat alone in her room. Brush in hand. Silence folded around her like a soft blanket she couldn't feel.
On the canvas, Mount Fuji rose — majestic, snow-glassed, piercing through silver mists that curled around mountains like sleeping dragons. A pagoda looking sanctuary stood to the left, traditional and proud, its tiers reaching toward a sky washed in jade light.
An emerald orb glowed softly, the sun, like a second heartbeat in the heavens. Lilac leaves drifted in painted breezes. Silver-blue branches arched like quiet prayers. Turquoise birds traced soft arcs across the sky.
It looked peaceful. Dreamlike. Almost magical. And then, as if struck by her own creation, a trembling smile formed on Natsuki's lips.
Followed immediately by the cold spike of fear.
"He loves me."
The words echoed inside her head with a weight that felt too big for her chest. Warmth swelled first, breath-taking impossible warmth, and then the terror came.
"He loves me. But he's so far away. In a world trying that's trying to kill him, in a world I can't reach. I've... had feelings for him for a couple years but, I never told him. I feel like I've betrayed him, somehow... overhearing Nyra say it before he did."
Joy and fear braided together until she couldn't tell which hurt more.
"How long… am I going to keep this from him?" she whispered.
Her hand froze over the canvas.
A memory floated up without permission, Damon handing her a water bottle after practice, fingers brushing hers for a fraction too long. He'd laughed, awkward but bright, and she'd looked away pretending her chest wasn't doing that fluttering thing.
Another memory followed, Damon playing basketball with the self-confidence of a grandmaster and the actual skill of a baby. He tripped over his own shoe, sprawled, then sat up grinning like he meant to do it.
She'd tried not to smile. She failed. Every time.
Why do these moments hurt now? Why do they feel, kinda, precious... heavier?
She sank onto her bed, burying her face in her hands.
"Why am I like this…?"
For days she wrestled with the confession she'd overheard from Nyra, that Damon loved her.
The more she examined it, the more tangled her heart became.
"What if I misunderstood him? What if he didn't mean it that way? What if I say something and ruin everything? What if… what if…"
Loving someone silently was its own kind of torture. A love that had no wings, just heavy emotional weight. The physical equivalent would be one that could sink a being to the depths of the earth or darkness of the seas.
Finally, when she couldn't bear the thoughts pressing against her ribs anymore, she touched the Shard of Luminaris.
Its surface glowed, shifting like captured moonlight and then a vision bloomed in her eyes.
She saw Damon and a girl — Cythera.
Grace carved into movement. Power woven into her every breath. Her body toned and fluid, her stance effortless, her green aura serene, moving like water before a storm.
Natsuki's breath stuttered.
"She's… beautiful. She looks graceful, and strong. It's like she belongs in his world in a way I never could." A cold wave washed over her.
"I'm just… me," she whispered. "A basketball girl from Earth. How am I supposed to compete with someone like that?"
The shard pulsed again. It acted soft and indifferent.
"…Does Damon… like her?" The question broke out of her, fragile and pleading.
But the shard gave no comfort. Its dim glow, the quiet that followed felt like confirmation to her perspective.
A silence sharp enough to bruise.
Natsukin looked at the shard, holding it up by the necklace. The she lowered it into a drawer in her desk, hands trembling. Her heartbeat felt too loud, too fast, too scared.
The canvas in front of her, closer to her windows, glowed under the emerald sun she had painted, a world peaceful and beautiful. A world nothing like the one inside her chest.
Back on Eternum, on Woewyn...
Cythera and Damon sat on the sand, the untouched half of the Bottomless Basket between them. The sky was melting into amber and rose-gold. The water shimmered like painted glass.
Daichi nudged Damon's elbow sharply.
Damon sighed. "Relax. There's enough meat in there to sedate an army."
Daichi's glare deepened, unimpressed.
Cythera hid a smile as she chewed thoughtfully. "Trineum's classes are… varied," she said. "It's got Aetheric Arts for Eterna manipulation. Physical Discipline for ki and combat. Economics. Social studies for community betterment. Applied Sciences — physics, math, mechanics. History is important. You should take it."
"Why history?"
"Because you don't know anything. For example you don't even know that the reason you won't find any animals in Woewyn except bonds and horses is because long ago we all lived together but beasts caused more deaths than wars even. So, we decided to give them their own share of Eternum, thrive in cannibalism. The horses begged though, their leader asked to stay in Woewyn because they want peace and they will be for the people not as slaves but companions. So... yeah." she said simply.
Damon raised a brow as he tried to process it. She shrugged and he laughed softly.
She told him about Trineum's divisions, how they grouped the smarts and the "dumbs" of each intellect class. How each year has students grouped into intellect classes from the "dumbest" to the smartest.
"That's wrong," Damon said.
Cythera blinked. "Wrong?"
"Not the grouping itself but recognising people as "dumb." No one's dumb in my opinion. People just shine in different places. Just because someone can't explain non-linear power progression doesn't mean they're stupid, just means they aren't good at that thing in particular."
Her lips parted in surprise, then something warmer. She looked away before he noticed. He noticed anyway.
"The extras are there because of that," she said. "Anything can be an extra class, or group, if the Headmaster approves of and if there are funds for it. Woewyn is the largest kingdom on Eternum so to have some sort of balance the Queen formed Trineum and provides a home for the foreign royals to stay, here, for school."
Damon look confused "Wait, Headmaster?"
"Archon Voren."
Damon grimaced. "Sounds… intense."
"He is, sometimes," she admitted. "But mostly he's calm. He is my grandfather after all."
"...he's your grandfather?"
She nodded.
"So… Cythera Voren?"
She raised a brow. "What about it?"
"It doesn't sound as stern as your gradfathers," Damon said. "Sounds… calm. But kinda hard not to notice."
A silence stretched. It was soft and subtle but charged. Daichi plopped himself between them like a furry chaperone. The sun dipped lower.
Damon stood. "Let me walk you home."
"Why?"
"My mother said to always make sure a lady gets home safely."
Cythera shot him an unimpressed look.
"You wouldn't want me to disobey the Queen, would you?" Damon added.
She clicked her tongue. "…Fine."
They walked together with Daichi on his head like a white cap.
The Voren estate rose from like a noble stone citadel, its weathered blocks fitted with precision of old craftsmanship. Broad staircases, arched doors, and tiered balconies layered the structure, while warm lanterns washed the stone in gold, giving the place a ceremonial glow.
Heraldic shields lined the walls—a crowned lion, an uncrowned lion, a great tree, and other emblems—were etched onto them. Tall, narrow windows glimmered softly from within, and the surrounding mountains and moonlit forest framed the estate with an elevated stillness, making it feel like the home of a powerful family.
It also had plants for decorations.
At the path leading to a wide wooden arched door, Damon gave a quiet, respectful bow. "Goodnight, Cythera." He turned to leave.
She nodded, composed, until she turned as a guard opened the door. Her cheeks warmed instantly.
"Was that the prince himself?" her mother asked gently.
"No," Cythera said, far too quickly. Her cheeks were too pink.
The guards closed the gates behind her.
He knows where I live now… Will this become a routine? The thought startled her, and warmed her.
Damon returned to his room. Sat on his bed and held Daichi in both hands, then placed him on his chest. Daichi was already long gone into dreamland or wherever creatures like his did when they sleep.
Damon waited. And waited. And waited.
"Natsuki?" he whispered into the dim light. Silence answered.
He stayed awake the whole night. No drowsiness touched him. Only worry.
Is Natsuki okay? Did something happen?
The more his darker night grew, the longer time passed, the stronger the ache in his chest became.
And as the moon slid into the horizon, the sun rising pale behind it, Damon felt something he rarely allowed himself to acknowledge:
Fear.
For a moment, watching gold streak the water outside his window, Damon felt the world split.
He thought of two things:
On one side — the boy he had been. Who laughed at bad basketball plays. Who shared headphones with Natsuki on late bus rides. Who wanted a simple life, a small dream, a quiet happiness.
On the other — the person he was becoming. Growing too fast. Hurting too often. Changing in ways he didn't understand.
He swallowed hard. "If I keep changing like this… will the people I love still recognize me?"
He closed his eyes. "Will Natsuki?"
The question sat inside him like a shard of light. Bright, sharp, impossible to pull out. Damon waited for her to activate the Shard of Luminaris as he constantly changed position in his bed.
She didn't. And that silence was the heaviest part of all.