AURELIA jolted upright in bed as the sharp toll of the castle bell echoed through the walls of her room. It was a clear signal that the lecture with Professor Clint was about to begin.
"Argh! Why now?!" she groaned, smacking her forehead in frustration.
Panic surged through her as she scrambled to get ready. She rushed through her morning routine, skipping breakfast entirely in her haste. There was no time.
She was already late.
Last night, she had trained alone in secret. She hadn't realized how late it had gotten, all because Hierra, one of the Elites, had taken forever to leave the training ground. It was nearly dawn when Hierra finally walked off—only after being fetched by a knight. That was the only time Aurelia had managed to begin her solo practice.
Now she was paying the price.
Aurelia sprinted through the grand hallways of Celestial Academy, her shoes tapping urgently against the polished floor. Other students from different classes turned their heads as she rushed past, wide-eyed and whispering among themselves.
"You are so dead if this reaches your mom!" she muttered to herself, her voice laced with panic.
Finally, she stood outside the massive lecture hall. From within, she could already hear Professor Clint's deep voice lecturing.
"…and that's when the living veins surrounding the Cursed Forest revealed its true nature ..."
Aurelia's hand hovered over the doorknob. She swallowed hard.
Should I open this… or just stay out here and hope no one notices? She wrestled with her decision in silence, heart pounding.
Then—click.
The door suddenly swung open on its own, revealing the full view of the lecture hall.
Aurelia froze.
Every single student turned to look at her. The room fell silent. All eyes—including those of the Elites—were on her.
Professor Clint stood at the front, his expression is unreadable. Theara and Hierra shot her sharp, annoyed glances, clearly displeased at the interruption. Raon didn't even bother acknowledging her presence. Pierro, on the other hand, looked straight at her, brows drawn slightly in concern, as if silently asking, What happened to you?
Her breath caught in her throat.
"Well?" Professor Clint's voice cut through the silence, calm but firm. "Are you coming in, or would you rather stand there in the doorway all morning?"
Aurelia quickly shut the door behind her and rushed to her seat, ignoring the cold glares of those she passed by.
She was used to it. Everyone hated her. To them, she was weak and didn't belong in the higher classes. They thought she was just the pampered daughter of the High Enchantress—nothing more.
At the front of the room, Professor Clint cleared his throat to regain the attention of the class.
"As I was saying earlier," he continued, "the Cursed Forest is surrounded and protected by living, pulsing veins—thick and powerful. These veins don't just serve as protection, they imprison the monstrous and deadly beasts inside. Each border, the furthest edge of the forest, is wrapped tightly by these cursed veins."
The students leaned forward, curious, captivated by the topic. One girl raised her hand. The professor nodded, allowing her to speak.
"Then Professor, how did the Ninth Elites enter the forest if it's so heavily guarded?"
The class murmured in agreement, eager to hear the answer.
Professor Clint looked down for a moment. He had trained himself at night to know which stories he could safely share—without triggering the curse within him. He had learned the hard way, the curse only reacted when he mentioned the Black Tiger and the figure with the red and blue eyes.
He gave them a bittersweet smile.
"We entered the forest when the Red-Bloodied Moon was visible in the sky," he began, voice softer. "We thought we were ready but we were wrong. That night, the veins guarding the forest were weak. We thought it was luck... But that night... that night was the last time I would see my comrades smiling."
The room went still.
Not a single soul dared to speak.
The professor chuckled quietly, trying to shake off the heavy air, but his eyes betrayed him. The pain was still there.
"The Cursed Forest is dangerous," he said. "The roots of dead trees move. Monstrous beasts roam freely. They are more terrifying, more powerful, more hungry than anything we'd ever faced."
Gasps filled the room.
"The fog is thick... and the mist is poisonous. We weren't prepared for it. Some of my comrades got caught in it. Their powers and bodies were paralyzed."
He paused and exhaled heavily, the silence heavier than before.
"But the most dangerous thing in that forest isn't the monsters," he said slowly. "It's the voices."
Everyone stiffened.
"You'll hear them... everywhere. A child crying for help. A mother's desperate plea. Soft whimpers. Screams. Begging. And then..."
He clenched his jaw. "You start to lose yourself. You start to believe the voices. That's when it becomes deadly."
The class was frozen.
Even the elites—Theara, Hierra, Pierro, Raon, and Theo—were quiet, visibly shaken. Not by fear of the forest, but by the weight of what the professor had lived through.
Hierra clenched her fists as tightly as she could, her nails digging into her palm. The painful truth settled in her heart—she wasn't strong enough to enter the Cursed Forest like the Ninth Elites had.
Theara gripped Theo's arm tightly as her gaze remained fixed on Professor Clint. Guilt crept into the twins' hearts like a growing shadow. They had never imagined the burden their professor carried was this heavy—that it was this painful to speak of the past.
Raon continued to write down every word the professor said, his focus unwavering. He wasn't simply recording information—he was preparing himself. One day, he planned to enter the Cursed Forest himself. He needed to. That forest held the rare herb that might be the only cure for his mother's illness.
Meanwhile, Pierro remained unreadable—no emotion flickered in his face. Unlike the others, he already knew the truth. He had overheard his father speaking with the Celestial Castle Inspector, bribing him to gain details of what happened to the Ninth Elites.
Aurelia trembled in her seat, her skin pale as snow. Her lips parted slightly, but not a single word left her mouth. Is this what it means to be an Elite? To face unimaginable horrors with your life constantly on the line? She had always known the role was dangerous—but not this dangerous.
Suddenly, a hand rose. All eyes turned to Pierro, whose voice cut through the silence.
"If it was that dangerous," he asked calmly, "then why didn't you escape?"
A heavy silence followed, until Professor Clint gave a small, bitter smile. His eyes drifted to the group of young elites in front of him.
"We didn't have a choice," he said, his voice steady but laced with sorrow. "We were the only trained Elites available at the time. Even the Chosen were still children... not yet ready to face the monsters that awaited in that forest."
Everyone froze.
The weight of the professor's words slammed into them like a tidal wave.
Raon stopped writing, his pen frozen above the page. "They were sent... instead of us?" he thought, his heart pounding.
Theara's breath caught in her throat. "If the Ninth Elites hadn't accepted the mission... then we'd be the ones who'd never returned..."
Theo looked away, unable to meet the professor's eyes. "They sacrificed everything... for us."
Hierra's bloodied hand trembled slightly, her nails digging deeper into her already wounded palm. "So that's why… Father gather those people. He made sure I wouldn't be sent to that cursed place."
And Pierro? He didn't flinch. He already knew. He had heard everything that night—the bribes, the politics, the cruelty. The council had deliberately chosen the Ninth Elites to spare the younger ones.
To spare them.
And now, they had to live with that truth.
Professor Clint looked at the stunned faces of the young Elites. He didn't want them to carry the blame for what had happened in the past. But back then, no one among the Ninth Elites had the power to say no, or the chance to run away. Even if they had tried, no one would've helped.
The ones they were up against… were the Four Great Kingdoms themselves.
"If we hadn't gone," he thought bitterly, "they would've sent the young children to their deaths. And no parent would ever allow their child to walk into their own grave."
There was a time when Clint hated the kingdoms. He had burned with anger, demanding justice for the comrades he lost. He wanted the four kingdom to pay for what they had done. But as the years passed, the fire cooled—and understanding crept in. He realized that the moment they accepted the badge of an Elite, they had already placed their lives at stake.
Beacuse... once a person accepts the badge of being an Elite, their fate is already sealed. Nothing can change that.
And maybe... the reason he survived, was to make sure the world knew just how deadly the Cursed Forest truly was.
Then, from the back of the room, Raon hesitantly raised his hand. His eyes flickered with uncertainty, his lips slightly parted, unsure whether he should speak.
Professor Clint noticed—and gave him a gentle smile, nodding in encouragement.
Raon's voice wavered.
"Then... how did you survive?"
At once, the air shifted.
Silence swallowed the room whole. No one dared to breathe too loudly, as if even the walls leaned in to listen.
Professor Clint opened his mouth. Then paused. He was weighing everything, one wrong answer and the students in his class would know his secret
"I…" he began, his voice low.
"I survived… to tell you how dangerous the Cursed Forest is," he said firmly, his gaze burning with the weight of his memories.
And just like that—RIIIIINGGG—the school bell echoed through the halls.
Still, no one moved.
The students lingered in their seats, hesitant, torn between wanting to know more and not daring to ask.
But then Professor Clint spoke again, his voice steady, "Why are you still here?"
Slowly, one by one, they stood up. And without a word, they left.
Their footsteps were soft. But the heaviness in their hearts was louder than any sound in that room.
But not Aurelia.
She remained seated long after the others had gone, her hands clenched tightly in her lap. Her heart felt unbearably heavy—so many questions swirled in her mind, yet she couldn't find the will or strength to voice them.
Professor Clint had turned to gather his things when he noticed her still there.
"Why are you still here, Aurelia?" he asked, his voice echoing slightly in the now-empty room.
"I..." she hesitated.
"Yes?" he prompted gently.
Aurelia raised her gaze, her voice suddenly steady despite the storm in her chest.
"At what cost?"
The question hung in the air like a blade.
Professor Clint's eyes darkened as he looked at her—really looked at her. A long silence passed before he finally answered.
"For everyone's future, Aurelia," he said firmly. "The Ninth Elites fought the monsters until their last breath, just to keep them from escaping the forest."
Luna's lips parted in shock.
The Ninth Elites... they were heroes. But no one remembered them. No songs, no stories, no statues bore their names. They were buried in silence.
"But the kingdoms..." she tried to argue, her voice faltering, "they said—"
"They took the credit, Aurelia," the professor cut her off. His tone was cold and sharp, like steel. "And besides, dead people can't speak."
With that, he turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing down the empty corridor.
Aurelia remained frozen, staring blankly at the floor.
The truth settled like a weight in her chest.
The four kingdoms… they claimed they were the ones who suppressed the monsters inside the cursed forest.
They lied.
To be continued...