The sky was covered with thick clouds, as if reflecting the turmoil that was raging inside Adam.
The boy was sitting at the back of the classroom, drowning in his dark thoughts. And it made sense; the contradictions found in someone's coldness could ignite the anger of another person. Everyone was looking at him with annoyance because of his behavior.
But the hardest thing to deal with was tangled emotions; not knowing whether what you were feeling was fear, coldness, shock, or relief.
And perhaps the hardest thing of all was being afraid of losing someone who had become a part of you.
Meanwhile, the teacher was talking about the Seven Spears and their absolute power. Her words reached his ears like distant whispers, as if the outside world no longer meant anything to him.
The Seven Spears...
The Holy Knights...
SS-rank missions...
Words that echoed in his mind without carrying any real meaning to him.
Or so he tried to convince himself.
It was Carla Brown, the teacher with stern features, who was explaining the concept of ranks and missions.
In this world, where magical raids and monsters were widespread, everything was subject to classification.
Missions assigned to beginners and those unaffiliated with the academy ranged between D and C ranks.
As for anyone who attempted to carry out a mission beyond their level, such as B, A, or S, their fate was death.
Execution, even.
Breaking the laws was not something that could be taken lightly.
As for the elite missions carried out by the holders of the Spears and the Holy Knights, they carried the most dangerous risks and were capable of ending a warrior's life in a single moment.
As for SS missions, they were the hardest and most dangerous of all, and were only permitted for those who possessed exceptional strength and experience.
While Carla continued explaining, her eyes carefully watched Adam.
She knew there was something inside him.
Something complicated and mysterious.
Something that prevented him from blending in with others.
At that moment, Adam's eyes rose toward the ceiling indifferently, despite the fact that his inner world was anything but calm.
Why did my parents name me Adam?
The name seemed like a burden resting upon his shoulders, as though it carried a destiny he had neither asked for nor desired.
He was impatiently waiting for night to come, because his father had promised to train him in combat.
But training with his father was nothing more than a repeated series of blows.
As if training had become a permanent means of punishment.
When Adam turned eight years old, his father took advantage of his mother's pregnancy to pour all of his ambitions into him.
He subjected him to harsh and continuous training that knew no mercy.
In contrast, his parents were constantly living in contradiction.
His mother saw him as a great mage in the future, surrounding him with books of magic that he showed no interest in.
While his father wanted him to become a fierce warrior.
And this contradiction made Adam feel helpless and alienated from both of them.
And yet, his parents loved each other deeply.
Any disagreement between them would eventually end up becoming nothing more than a trivial matter.
Let the prince perform his role as a prince, the servant his role as a servant, the father his role as a father, and the son his role as a son.
For commitment is the essence of responsibility, and through it, a person is held accountable for fulfilling his duties.
André, his father, was supposed to take care of Adam, that depressed and indifferent child, and give him hope so that he could follow the right path.
The first step toward freedom is to stop blaming others.
As for Niel, the blond boy who always appeared at critical moments, he represented everything Adam lacked.
He was naturally gifted in combat, and his ability to control his energy was astonishing.
Niel's superiority over Adam was obvious when Adam once saw him fighting someone older than him.
In less than two seconds, Niel defeated his opponent.
And in that moment, something Adam had never felt before ignited inside him.
A faint spark of envy.
Envy...
Those thoughts, feelings, and actions that appear when a person feels that their strong relationship with someone is being threatened by a rival, whether that rival is aware of their influence or not.
It is said that envy is the hatred of sharing what a person believes belongs to them alone.
Niel always acted as though he knew everything.
As though he had been born to become a great warrior or a great mage.
And every time Adam saw Niel, his feeling of inferiority and weakness grew stronger.
But he did not want to live as a prisoner to those feelings.
He wanted to live peacefully with his weakness.
On one occasion, while the two of them were in the school's backyard, Niel approached Adam and asked him:
"Why aren't you like your mother? She's strong. She's a great mage. Why don't you have her abilities?"
Those words were a direct stab into Adam's heart.
He knew the answer well.
But he did not want to admit it.
He wanted an ordinary life.
A life free from the heavy expectations everyone had placed upon his shoulders.
And yet, he could not answer.
Niel smiled coldly and said:
"You have a barrier preventing mana from flowing through your body. Maybe that's the reason. It seems there is something preventing you from discovering your true power."
The next day, something happened that completely changed Niel's life.
His grandmother died after a severe illness, leaving him in a state of shock.
Nevertheless, Niel rejected all offers of adoption and chose to live his life independently and carve his own path.
The last things his grandmother left him were a book and a modest amount of money.
And Niel loved the challenges and difficulties that life imposed upon him.
While Niel's life was changing, Adam's world was heading toward a mysterious turning point.
His father had left on a mission, but he had not returned for a week.
André wanted to stay, but circumstances often play a decisive role in a person's life.
For no matter how strong promises are, and no matter how firmly commitment is rooted, unexpected events or overwhelming forces can change the course of decisions.
On the seventh day after André's departure, something unexpected happened.
The memories of everyone who knew André changed.
As if everyone had forgotten him.
As if he had never existed in the first place.
What happened?
And for the first time, Adam's father disappeared in this way.
At the same time, his mother Mary was about to give birth to her child.
The night was strangely quiet.
In the Ethan family home, the sound of rain struck the windows regularly, while the wind passed through the trees surrounding the house, carrying with it the scent of wet earth.
Nothing suggested that this night would become one of the most talked-about nights in the history of the Continent of Gaia.
Inside one of the rooms, Mary was lying on the bed.
Her breathing was uneven.
But strangely, the pain was not what she had expected.
The birth was...
Easy.
Far easier than it should have been.
Mary slowly opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling.
She felt something strange.
Something she could not describe.
It was not pain.
Nor was it fear.
It was more like the feeling that something enormous was approaching her, something she could not see, yet was already there.
She placed a hand on her belly.
Then she felt a small movement.
She smiled despite her exhaustion.
"You..."
She stopped.
She did not know why she suddenly felt that words were no longer enough.
She knew she was going to become a mother for the second time.
And yet, something was different.
Something that made her heart beat in a way she had never experienced before.
Outside, Adam was sick.
His small body was lying in another room.
He did not know what was happening.
He had a fever, and it had made him so weak that he could not even care about what was happening in the house.
His eyes were half closed.
From behind the wall, he could hear fragmented sounds.
Footsteps.
The voices of women.
Then silence.
Then another sound.
But he did not care.
That day, Adam did not know that something would change his life forever.
He did not know that his sister would be born in the coming hours.
And he did not know that the world itself would remember her date of birth.
Or perhaps...
The world would fear it.
Inside the room, Mary placed a hand on the bed.
Then she took a deep breath.
"The time is near."
The woman helping her said.
But Mary did not answer.
She was staring into empty space.
She felt the air becoming heavier.
Then something strange happened.
One of the candles went out.
Then the second.
Then the third.
The woman raised her head.
"What is this?"
Mary did not answer.
She could feel the energy.
Energy that did not come from outside.
But from within her body.
The floor began to tremble slightly.
It was not an earthquake.
It was something else.
Something that could not be explained.
Then...
The baby was born.
And at the moment she entered the world...
The energy exploded.
It was not an ordinary wave.
It was not a large amount of mana that could be measured.
It was something different.
An aura.
A massive aura spread from the tiny body, piercing through the room and then extending beyond the house.
The woman froze in place.
She could not move.
As for Mary...
She lost 10 percent of her strength in exchange for an easy birth.
She stared at her baby.
She was small.
Quiet.
Not crying.
Her eyes were closed.
Her hair was still wet.
But her mere presence was enough to make the room feel different.
Mary felt something enormous pressing against her chest.
She placed a hand over her heart.
"What..."
She could not finish the sentence.
Her vision began to blur.
She heard a distant voice.
Perhaps it was the woman's voice.
Or perhaps it was another voice.
Then Mary lost consciousness.
Moments passed.
Then minutes.
But Mary did not wake up.
Her body remained still.
As for the baby, she lay peacefully.
As if nothing had happened.
As if the energy that had swept through the place had been nothing more than an illusion.
But it was not.
Elsewhere in the city...
A man stopped walking.
He was carrying a basket of food.
Suddenly, he felt that something had changed.
He looked at the sky.
"Did you feel that?"
The man beside him asked.
He did not answer.
He did not know what to say.
There was something in the air.
Something that had not been there moments before.
In the training grounds, two young men were fighting.
One of them carried a sword.
The other carried a spear.
The swordsman advanced.
Then attacked.
But his foot suddenly slipped.
He fell to the ground.
His head struck the stone.
The fight stopped.
Everyone stared at him.
"Are you okay?"
He did not answer.
In one of the alleys, a man was preparing to return home.
His day had been going normally.
Until that moment.
He put his hand into his pocket to take out the key.
But he could not find it.
He searched his other pocket.
Then the third.
Then he returned home.
He later discovered that he had left the key inside the door.
He laughed at himself.
He did not know that this was only the beginning.
In one of the markets, a man was buying a gift for his daughter.
It was her birthday.
He chose something carefully.
He paid for it.
And carried it with great care.
He imagined her smile when she saw it.
But on his way home, someone rushing past collided with him.
The gift fell.
The box broke.
And what was inside it broke as well.
The man stood silently.
Then looked at the broken pieces.
He did not become angry.
He did not shout.
He simply said:
"Why today?"
He did not know.
At the same time, someone else was going through something worse.
A magical spell had gone out of control.
The mage was trying to stop it.
But something happened.
The direction of the magic changed.
And his body became unable to move.
People fled the area.
And in an attempt to survive, he was forced to face a massive wild bear that had emerged from the forest.
He was unprepared.
He was not at full strength.
And the result was catastrophic.
Elsewhere, a competition was being held inside one of the associations.
The number of participants was large.
Everyone was waiting for the results to be announced.
The official said:
"Since the result is tied, the winner will be chosen by lottery."
The names were placed inside.
The lottery spun.
Then stopped.
The official opened the paper.
Silence.
"What?"
Someone approached him.
"Who is the winner?"
The man continued staring at the paper.
Then he said:
"No one."
Voices erupted.
"How can there be no one?"
"There's a mistake!"
But there was no mistake.
In a way no one could explain...
There was no winner.
As the hours passed, the incidents began to multiply.
Someone lost a battle he had been certain he would win.
Someone else was injured during a simple game.
Another person lost something he had spent the entire day searching for.
Someone was waiting for an important business deal to succeed, but the deal collapsed at the last moment.
Another was waiting for the election results, only to lose by a margin no one had expected.
Even the leader of one of the cities was suddenly struck by an illness.
The illness was not fatal.
But it came at the worst possible time.
People began to notice something.
The misfortunes...
There were simply too many.
More than usual.
Then came the news that made some people stop laughing.
That day, a number of children were born in different places.
But some of them...
Did not survive birth.
One child here.
Another there.
And each time, the doctors tried to save them.
But the result was the same.
Death.
The news began to spread.
And no one knew that another birth had taken place at the same time.
The birth of a single girl...
Who was different from everyone else.
Inside a small house, Niel was lying on his bed.
His body was burning with fever.
But he was not thinking about the illness.
His eyes were fixed on the book.
The book his grandmother had left him.
The last real thing he had left of her.
He reached out toward it.
But he could not reach.
He breathed with difficulty.
"Not now..."
He wanted to read it.
He wanted to know what was inside.
He wanted to open its pages.
But he could not.
He closed his eyes.
For the first time since his grandmother's death, Niel felt truly helpless.
He did not know that his illness that day was not an isolated incident.
It was part of a day much larger than him.
A day no one understood.
And somewhere else...
A musician sat before his instrument.
The competition had begun.
He had known this instrument for years.
It had been a part of his life.
He placed his fingers in the right position.
Then stopped.
He could not remember the melody.
He tried again.
He failed.
He tried a third time.
His fingers moved, but his mind no longer followed them.
He looked at his opponent.
Then at the audience.
Then at the instrument.
He knew how to play.
He was certain of it.
But something...
Had disappeared.
And in the end, he lost the competition.
In one of the houses, an old man sat on a chair.
He was ninety-nine years old.
He had been ill for some time.
Everyone expected that day to be his last.
But death did not come.
The day passed.
Then the next.
Then his illness continued.
Day after day.
Forty-five days.
And when that period ended...
He died.
His death did not occur on the day Mila was born.
But his life became one of the stories connected to that day.
People began talking.
At first, they were merely coincidences.
An accident here.
A loss there.
A sudden illness.
A birth that ended in death.
A competition with no winner.
A broken gift.
A man who lost control of his magic.
A musician who forgot what he knew.
But when the stories began to pile up...
Coincidence no longer seemed convincing.
In hospitals, doctors began talking.
In markets, people began talking.
In academies, mages began talking.
And in places far away from Itrajan, the news arrived.
The same question kept being repeated:
"What happened that day?"
No one had an answer.
As for the Ethan family home...
Mary woke for a moment.
She opened her eyes.
Everything was blurry.
She saw the baby.
She moved closer to her.
She reached out her hand.
She touched the little girl's face.
She was warm.
Quiet.
Then Mary felt that sensation again.
The aura.
Her hand recoiled slightly.
She was not afraid of her daughter.
But she could not understand her.
"Who are you?"
The question escaped her lips without thought.
The baby did not answer.
Of course.
She was only an infant.
But for a moment, Mary felt...
As if the world itself was waiting for something from her.
Then she lost consciousness again.
In the other room, Adam opened his eyes.
He was still suffering from the fever.
He heard voices.
He did not know what was happening.
He tried to get up.
But he returned to his bed.
He did not know that his sister had been born.
He did not know that his mother had lost consciousness.
And he did not know that the outside world had begun to change.
To him...
It was simply another day of illness.
A day in which he understood nothing.
And perhaps that was for the best.
Because the truth taking shape around him was far too great for an eight-year-old child to understand.
The hours passed.
Then evening came.
Then people began to realize something else.
That day...
And some of them began giving it different names.
The Day of Fortune.
The Day of Misfortunes.
But the name that would remain in history had not yet appeared.
In the following days, the news continued.
Every city in Itrajan carried a story.
Every family had an incident.
And every person had something that happened to them that day.
As time passed, fear began to creep into people's hearts.
They did not know the reason.
But they knew one thing:
That day had not been normal.
And in some regions, people began to pray.
No one knew to whom they were praying or what they were afraid of.
But they would say:
"Let it pass peacefully."
And yet, no one knew the truth.
They did not know that all of it had begun at the moment a single girl was born.
Mila Ethan.
They did not know that she was not merely a child.
As for Mary...
She was still unable to understand what had happened.
She remembered how easy the birth had been.
She remembered the energy.
She remembered the aura.
And she remembered something else.
A strange feeling...
As if she had been holding in her arms something that did not belong solely to this world.
But she could not find the right words to describe it.
Then something else happened.
Something that brought the silence to an end.
Let us move away for a moment from Itrajan.
Let us leave the house.
Adam.
Mary.
Mila.
And let us go to a place far away...
Very far away.
To a city that did not yet know what awaited it.
The city was living through a quiet night.
People were in their homes.
The shops had closed their doors.
The guards stood at the gates.
And the streets were almost empty.
No one knew that this city would not see the next morning as it always had.
There was silence.
A strange silence.
A silence resembling the moment before a storm.
Outside the city, mountains stretched into the distance.
They were covered in mist.
The rain fell heavily.
And the wind howled between the rocks.
At the top of one of the mountains...
A person stood.
He did not move.
He was wearing dark clothing.
His features were unclear.
Mist surrounded him from every direction.
He stood there as if waiting for something.
Or someone.
Then he raised his head toward the sky.
He remained silent for a long time.
Until a faint smile began to appear on his face.
He said in a low voice:
"He has been born..."
He stopped.
His eyes were fixed on the distant city.
Then he said:
"The Sacred Key has finally been born."
The wind blew violently.
His clothes moved.
But he did not move.
He remained standing.
Then he added in an even quieter voice:
"Let us complete the mission..."
He fell silent for a moment.
Then smiled.
"Although it seems rather difficult."
At that very moment...
Thunder roared above the mountains.
Lightning illuminated the sky for an instant.
And in that brief flash...
The man's features disappeared into the darkness.
As for the distant city...
It was still asleep.
It did not know that its fate had already been decided.
And that the coming hours would make its name part of a much greater story.
A story that had begun...
With the birth of a girl.
A girl who absorbed fortune.
A girl who caused misfortunes to spread throughout a single day.
A girl whose true nature no one knew.
A girl...
Whose birth had been awaited by someone for a very long time.
Mila Ethan.
The Sacred Key.
And that was...
Only the beginning.