CHAPTER 32 —
The morning mist drifted lazily across the Great Forest, curling around the towering white trees and shimmering mana crystals that pulsed beneath their roots. Normally, dawn in Aetheria brought the gentle ringing of spirit bells and the soft hum of the Skyrail stations charging up for the first passengers of the day. Merchants opened their stalls. Tourists took pictures with Frost statues. Children chased floating lanterns that drifted above the pathways.
It was peaceful.Warm.Alive.
But today, the city stirred under a quiet tension.
Not a visible one.Not something the people noticed over their excitement for the day's first Skyrail departures.Not something written on the glowing screens announcing updated train schedules.
It was a tension that only Haruto, Frost, Lunara, Lyria, and Airi felt deep in their bones.A subtle shift, barely perceptible, but unmistakably wrong.
Haruto stood on the outer balcony of the Grand Skyhub, arms crossed as he gazed over the city. His silver eyes reflected the early morning light, but they carried none of its warmth.
Airi approached him, floating slightly so her steps made no sound.
"Onii Chan," she whispered. "The spirits are worried today."
Haruto didn't turn immediately.
"Because they can feel it too."
Airi landed beside him gently, her hair swaying with the morning breeze.
"You sensed it before sunrise."
Haruto nodded.
"Yes."
Airi reached up and tugged on his sleeve.
"What happened?"
Haruto closed his eyes for a moment, gathering his thoughts.
Then he answered in one sentence that changed everything.
"A train never reached Solaris last night."
Airi's eyes widened.
"What? Which one?"
"Train 7. The one carrying seventy three passengers, three conductors, two guards, and four merchants."
Airi blinked slowly.
"That is… that is a lot of people."
"Yes."
Airi pulled on his sleeve again.
"Where is the train now?"
Haruto finally looked at her.
"That is the problem."
He paused.
"It vanished."
Airi's breath caught.
"Vanished… as in…?"
"No wreckage. No damaged rails. No mana residue. No signal. No emergency flares. Nothing."
Airi whispered.
"…Impossible."
Haruto nodded slowly.
"Yes. Impossible."
But his eyes sharpened.
"Which means someone made it possible."
Airi felt a chill crawl up her arms. She didn't say anything. She didn't need to. Her heart knew this was not a normal incident, and her instincts were never wrong.
Frost stepped onto the balcony behind them, his paws silent despite his size. His voice was low and grave.
"Haruto. Airi. The council is waiting."
Airi took Haruto's hand.
"Let us go."
Haruto squeezed her hand gently.
"Yes."
They walked together into the storm waiting inside the Skyhub.
THE COUNCIL OF AETHERIA GATHERS
The central council room was shaped like a great circular chamber, its walls pulsating softly with mana. It was usually a place of strategic discussion, political planning, or Airi's enthusiastic cookie-based presentations.
But today, the room felt colder.
The elves were silent.The dark elves were tense.The dwarves murmured among themselves.The fairies clung to Lyria's hair for comfort.
When the siblings entered, all heads lifted.
Airi floated to her chair.Haruto walked to his place at the head of the table.
Lunara leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, her wings half-unfurled, her pupils narrowed with irritation.
Lyria hovered near the ceiling, small lights circling her as if trying to protect her mind.
Eli, the financial elf, had three ink stains on her face.
Not a good sign.
Haruto spoke without wasting time.
"Report."
A dark elf scout stepped forward.
"At 23:19 last night, Train 7 departed Station Thirty Nine. At 23:20, it passed checkpoint marker Zeta on schedule. At 23:22, it was gone."
Airi blinked.
"That fast?"
The scout nodded stiffly.
"Yes, Princess. It happened in less than three minutes."
A dwarf chimed in.
"We checked the mana lines. Perfectly intact. No spikes. No drops."
A human envoy added.
"We checked the sand for disturbance. Nothing. Not even footprints."
Airi frowned.
"So it did not crash?"
"No, princess. It simply disappeared."
Airi hugged her legs slightly.
"That is scary."
Haruto lifted a small box placed on the table. He opened it carefully.
Inside was a single burned shard of metal.
Airi leaned forward.
"What is that?"
Haruto placed it on the table.
"This is the only physical remnant we found."
Lyria drifted closer.
"This metal is twisted… but not by fire. There is no heat signature. No scorch damage. No elemental residue."
Lunara approached with narrowed eyes.
"This was melted using void force."
Airi blinked.
"Void force… like the place we woke up after the accident?"
Haruto nodded.
"Yes."
Airi frowned deeply.
"But Mama Aether said not many beings can use void power."
Lyria whispered.
"Only gods… and those who live outside this world."
Airi's breath hitched.
"Who lives outside…?"
Haruto answered.
"Someone who wants us dead."
THE MARK OF THE ENEMY
The dark elf scout placed a folded cloth on the table.
Haruto unfolded it.
Airi gasped.
The symbol stared at all of them.
A circle.
Hollow.
Perfectly smooth on the outside… but scarred with uneven strokes inside.
And carved within it:
A crooked, slanted smile.
Two sharp eyes tilted downward.
A jagged nose.
A face.
A grin.
A smile that felt wrong.
Sinister.
Mocking.
Alive.
Haruto placed his fingertip on the sketch, expression tightening.
"…This is what I saw burned into the sand."
Lunara's wings froze mid-motion.
"That… thing…"
Lyria's light dimmed.
"No. No, no… that can't be real. That symbol should not exist anymore…"
Airi stared at the drawing.
"It looks like… a smile."
Haruto shook his head.
"It didn't feel like one."
Lyria hovered forward, voice trembling.
"It isn't a smile, Airi. It is a warning."
Airi blinked.
"A warning?"
Lyria whispered sharply:
"A warning from a time before dragons, before nations, before even the first mana forests. A warning from the age when the world was still wild."
Lunara crossed her arms tightly.
"I never thought I would see this mark again."
Haruto narrowed his eyes.
"You recognize it."
"Everyone does," Lunara growled. "Every ancient being. Every dragon. Every spirit older than the first kingdom."
She pointed at the circle's smiling face.
"The Grinning Circle."
Airi repeated softly.
"The… Grinning Circle…"
Lyria shuddered.
"A cult. A society. A monstrous organization from an age so old that even myths fear to speak of it."
Haruto frowned.
"What did they believe in?"
Lyria's wings trembled.
"They believed the world had to be shaped through fear. Through control. Through the removal of anything that threatened the balance they imagined."
Lunara added:
"They defied gods. Defied destiny. Defied the natural growth of life."
Airi hugged her arms.
"That sounds scary…"
"It is worse than scary," Lunara said. "They erased entire tribes. Wiped out spirit forests. Hunted anything they believed was… unnatural."
Haruto's jaw clenched.
"If that's true, then erasing an entire train isn't much for them."
The room fell silent.
AIRIS SECRET TASK: LISTENING TO THE WORLD
"Next," Haruto said, "we must investigate without being noticed."
A dwarf slammed his fist.
"I will take my hammer and bash whoever—"
"No," Haruto said.
A dark elf bowed.
"I can send assassins—"
"No."
A fairy suggested troops.
"Send ten squads—"
"No."
Lunara cracked her knuckles.
"I can incinerate the desert—"
"No."
Airi raised her hand.
"Can I say something?"
Everyone nodded.
Airi smiled softly.
"I can talk to the world."
Lyria whispered.
"Yes. The spirits love you."
Airi closed her eyes.
The air shifted.Lights circled her.Wind curled through the windows.Mana rippled across the room.
She reached into the world with her heart.
"Little ones," she whispered. "Forest. Wind. Sand. Beasts. Show me what you saw."
Frost felt the tremor of magic.Haruto felt the warmth of her aura.Lunara felt an old power stirring.Lyria felt tears rise in her eyes from the purity of it.
Airi opened her eyes again.
"I will send my friends."
She placed her palms forward.
Tiny spirits appeared all around her, flickering like silver snowflakes.
"Go," Airi said softly. "Follow the tracks. Ask the sand. Ask the wind. Ask the darkness itself. We need your help."
The little spirits nodded and vanished in streaks of light.
Eli, the financial elf, whispered:
"That was… terrifyingly beautiful."
Airi took a deep breath.
"Now we wait."
REPORTS FROM THE EMPIRES
Hours passed.
Aetheria buzzed with tension.
Solaris sent back its findings.
Nothing.
Dominion sent mana search drones.
Nothing.
Velnar sent ice tracking mages.
Nothing.
Abyssion sent shadow beasts.
Nothing.
It was as if the train had never existed.
Haruto clenched his jaw.
"This enemy is not normal."
Lunara agreed.
"They do not follow world rules."
Airi hugged her knees.
"They steal trains like toys."
Lyria drifted closer.
"And they leave symbols like warnings."
Eli scribbled frantic calculations.
"And this will destroy our insurance system."
Haruto ignored that part.
THE FIRST SPIRIT RETURNS
At sunset, as Aetheria's lanterns flickered to life, a tiny spirit shot through the window like a burst of wind.
Airi stood immediately.
"Little one!"
The spirit trembled violently.
Haruto approached.
"What did it see?"
The spirit hovered weakly.
Airi held out both hands, warmth enveloping the frightened little creature.
Its voice echoed telepathically.
"We followed the tracks… and found nothing. No dust trail. No broken mana stone. No scent of beasts."
Airi frowned.
"What then?"
The spirit quivered.
"We found… a door."
Haruto's eyes narrowed.
"A door."
"Yes. A door that did not belong to the sand. A doorway drawn in the world. A hole with no shadow."
Airi whispered:
"A void door."
The spirit nodded weakly.
"And something pulled the train in."
Airi tightened her grip protectively.
"What pulled it?"
The spirit shivered violently.
"Not a beast. Not a person. Not a monster. Something without a shape. A shadow with no owner. It whispered without words."
Haruto clenched his fists.
"Void entities."
Lunara growled.
"They are using void creatures? That is forbidden magic."
Lyria trembled inside her glow.
"This is beyond forbidden."
Airi held the spirit close.
"You did well. Rest now."
The spirit flickered softly and disappeared back into her aura.
Silence settled over the room.
A heavy, terrifying silence.
THE SECRET ORGANIZATION: MOVING IN THE SHADOWS
Far away, beyond the reach of empires, beyond the desert dunes, beyond the mortal world…
In a place where the sky twisted unnaturally…
A massive obsidian spire floated above a sea of nothingness.
Inside it, masked figures gathered around a giant circular sigil, the Grinning Circle.
A hooded figure stepped forward.
"The test is complete."
Another bowed.
"Aetheria's Skyrail is powerful."
A third hissed.
"And the children are becoming too influential."
The first figure raised a hand.
"The girl speaks to the world. The boy commands death. They defy prophecy."
A deeper voice rose from the shadows.
"Then we must erase their chapter."
The spire trembled.
"We will send the first hand."
"The Silent Fang?"
"No."
A pause.Cold.Terrifying.
"We send the First Herald."
Even the masked figures stepped back at that.
"The Herald will drag their world into the void."
"And if the boy resists?"
The leader smirked beneath his hood.
"Then we will break him first."
Their voices echoed in unison.
"For the Grin."
"For the Circle."
"For the path the world must follow."
And the void shuddered as something enormous awoke.
BACK IN AETHERIA: RESOLVE
Airi looked at Haruto, eyes determined.
"Onii Chan… they are coming for us."
Haruto kneeled down in front of her.
"I know."
"But we will not run."
"I know."
Airi reached for his hand.
"We will protect Aetheria."
Haruto held her hand firmly.
"We will protect each other."
Airi nodded.
"And the world."
Haruto's expression softened.
"Yes."
Lunara cracked her knuckles.
"Let them come. I will snap their bones."
Lyria fluttered nervously.
"I… I will help too…"
Frost stood tall.
"They will not pass."
Haruto looked at all of them.
"No matter what happens… we stand together."
Airi squeezed his hand.
"When you fall, I will catch you."
Haruto whispered back.
"When you cry, I will hold you."
They said together:
"And when darkness comes… we will face it together."
Aetheria's heart glowed that night.
But in the distant desert, a dark flame ignited.
The Circle had marked their next target.
Not a train.
Not a city.
But two siblings.
Two promises.
Two children who refused destiny.
And the world braced for the storm that was coming.
END OF CHAPTER 32 — The Circle That Watches