Alain staggered to his knees on the frozen bank, lungs tearing at the air. The lake in front was a black mirror, fog curling from its surface in thin, colorless threads.
His hands trembled against the frozen ground. His breath came in short bursts, every inhale colder than the last.
The spot where Theo had fallen was already closing—black water sealing over, smooth and unbroken.
He couldn't hear anything. No struggle. No voice.
For a long moment, he stared at the surface. His mind was blank, caught between disbelief and panic.
Then he moved.
He pushed himself up, legs weak, every nerve screaming from the cold. "Theo!"
No answer.
His throat burned as he shouted again, louder. "Theo!"
A voice came from behind him, hoarse and steady.
"Don't."
Alain turned.
Kai'el stood a few meters away, half-drenched, frost clinging to his cloak. His expression was unreadable, but his tone carried finality.
"It's…it's over," he said quietly. "He's…gone."
Alain's breath hitched. The words didn't register at first, just the shape of them, the emptiness behind them.
Kai'el's gaze flicked between Alain and the lake opening.
"The water's below freezing. He's not breathing down there. You'll only waste yourself!"
The air went still.
His fingers curled.
"You think I care?"
Kai'el took a step forward. "Alain, listen—"
Alain's voice came out low, shaking, almost feral. "YOU THINK I'M JUST GOING TO WATCH HIM DIE?"
Kai'el flinched at the outburst, speechless.
Alain's turned back to the lake. His breath came ragged, eyes wide, pupils narrowing.
"I'm not losing anyone else."
He ran straight to the edge and leapt.
…
Silence… it felt as if all his senses were stripped away except one.
The cold. The cold seeped in, it wasn't painful. It felt like…nothing.
Every nerve went silent, every thought blinked out. The water wasn't even water anymore—it was weight, crushing him from all sides, pressing until he couldn't tell where his body ended and the cold began.
His lungs convulsed. His heartbeat faltered, growing slower with every pulse.
Managing to move his head, he barely managed to see something. There, a shadow, a silhouette—sinking.
The stillness crept in. The kind that made thoughts start to fade. His eyes were so heavy.
And then, somewhere between the cold and the dark, another image surfaced.
Smoke choking the air. The red glow of a collapsing wall.
Lia's hand gripping his, small, shaking. Another boy ahead of them, turning back. He couldn't see his face anymore. Only the bright light behind him
"Run. Make sure to remember me, will you?" the boy smiled.
Alain remembered screaming something back, remembered the sound of a gate closing, the shrieks and bangs of the monsters outside.
He'd buried that day somewhere deep, under years of noise and survival.
But now the lake felt the same. The silence, the finality, the helplessness.
His body refused to relive it.
He forced his eyes open. The shadow below was still falling, slipping away.
But this time, it wasn't the same. He had power now—power that could burn, that could fight, that could change things.
Please…
He forced his eyes open. The cold stung, but he didn't care.
Please, just once. Don't take him too.
The words weren't spoken, just felt. A prayer, a plea, a desperate bargain flung into the void.
The rune beneath his ribs flickered weakly—once, twice—like something trying to wake.
"Come on," he whispered, bubbles spilling from his lips. "You answer to me, don't you?"
Nothing.
…
He pressed his palm to his chest, trembling. With a last desperate call, he yelled at the top of his lungs.
"I WANT TO SAVE HIM!"
The mark blazed.
ᚷ—Gebo (Exchange)
Light erupted, flooding the water with gold. Heat tore through his veins, violent and alive.
His body screamed back to life. Muscles unlocked, lungs burned, heart roaring against the cold.
He kicked once, and the lake trembled.
Every motion boiled with warmth, each stroke faster than the last. Theo's shadow came into view again, drifting down through the dark.
Alain reached out, hand burning bright beneath the surface.
The light brushed Theo, his entire body started to glow, heat flaring so strong it turned the surrounding water into a hazy shimmer.
Theo's eyelids fluttered. A faint sound escaped his throat, barely audible through the bubbles.
"A...lain?"
The golden light pulsed again, brighter this time.
"Stay with me," Alain mouthed, tightening his grip.
He kicked upward, muscles screaming, the water hissing as heat poured from his veins. Every motion left trails of steam and gold.
The light above them grew closer, trembling against the black abyss.
He had to get out of there fast, Theo's body was deteriorating. The last of his air burst from his lungs as they broke the surface.
They both took a big inhale, with Theo stabilizing, coughing out much of the water that had gotten to his lungs.
Alain dragged them toward the nearest sheet of ice, his arms numb, the warmth in his veins flickering in and out.
Theo wheezed beside him, voice rough. "You… you came back for me?"
Alain didn't answer. He couldn't. His lungs burned, his throat raw, every breath scraping like glass.
Then a shadow fell over him.
Kai'el stood a few paces away, cloak snapping in the wind, frost clinging to his hair.
"Hold still," he said quietly.
Alain looked up, dazed. "What—"
Kai'el pressed a hand against the ice. Pale green lines spiraled outward from his palm, forming a runic circle beneath them. The symbols flared briefly,
ᚨ — Ansuz (Wind)+ ᚱ —Raido(Push)
The ice cracked but didn't break. Instead, a wave of air surged upward, Alain felt his body lift, sliding across the frozen surface as if carried by invisible hands.
They had reached shore. Both Alain and Theo laid there shivering.
"Brrrr….my…my ring," Theo muttered in between breaths, pointing to a gold band on his finger.
Kai'el had realized immediately and plucked out the ring from Theo's hand. He touched the ring and suddenly his whole hand went through distorted space.
He dragged it out again along with a makeshift globe. He threw it down onto the floor, breaking the glass and immediately, a small tent unfolded itself in the matter of seconds.
Kai'el didn't waste time. He grabbed both of them by their collars and half-dragged, half-pushed them into the shelter.
The warmth hit all at once, thick and heavy after the cold. Theo collapsed near the wall, gasping, his face ghost-pale.
After a while, Kai'el managed to get a campfire steady with the help of Alain's fire.
Theo was asleep, curled near the warmth. Kai'el sat with his back to the tent wall, eyes half-closed, exhaustion carving lines into his face.
Alain sat between them, staring into the flame. The light flickered gold against his skin, but the warmth barely reached him.
His rune was fading.
He could feel it, an invisible thread loosening under his ribs.
Then, faintly, a glow took shape in his vision—an outline hovering over his right hand.
An empty circle. It then started to fill with gold light flowing clockwise until it finally wrapped around and completed itself.
A voice suddenly rang in his head.
[Rune recognized. Exchange complete. New link established.]
[Welcome back, my successor.]
He blinked once. The message was gone.
He blinked rapidly, looking around the tent, half expecting Theo or Kai'el to react. Nothing. The fire still burned softly between them.
"What—" He stopped himself. His own voice sounded distant, like it didn't belong to him.
How's this possible? I thought the system only existed in a Revelation? Is it like...stuck to me? And Rune recognized, what's that supposed to mean?
He looked down at his right hand, but there was nothing there now. No light, no circle. Just his own skin, pale and faintly trembling.
Then the pain came.
A sharp pressure bloomed behind his eyes, forcing him to clutch at his temple. It wasn't physical—more like something was pouring in. Thoughts and images he didn't recognize but somehow understood.
Snowfall. The silence of frozen air. The stillness between heartbeats.
It wasn't a memory. It was a definition.
He gasped as the sensation burned down his spine, stopping at his left hand. Something pulsed beneath the skin there, cold and alive.
A faint glow slipped through his fingers, white and thin like moonlight refracted through glass.
And in that moment, he knew what it was. Not through study or instinct, but through inheritance.
Words formed in his mind, unbidden and absolute.
A state without movement. Stillness given form.
Alain exhaled, breath fogging the air. His voice came out low, almost reverent.
"Realize…Isa."
Then the glow intensified, a soft white-blue light.
ᛁ — Isa (Ice)