The darkness was not his enemy… it was merely an empty space, waiting to be filled.
And in the heart of that space, Sajibro walked alone—until, for the first time, he heard a voice that was not his own.
"Do you want some food?"
He looked up and saw a boy with mischievous features and a playful smile, offering him a piece of bread. They sat together and talked… just a little, enough to leave a mark.
"My name is Raizen," he said.
"And I'm Sajibro."
Then another boy joined them, calm in demeanor, measured in movement, named Musayuki.
From that moment, Sajibro was no longer alone.
Through long nights, the three of them sat under a crumbling arch in the Shadow Kingdom, talking about old stories, books they had read, and kingdoms that had yet to be built.
There was an old book, called Weapons of the Millennium, which Sajibro had kept since he was a child… it was mysterious, filled with drawings of weapons that did not exist in reality. But he believed in them.
With the power of his imagination, he began to draw them in the air, until the image condensed into metal, and from the metal, into reality.
This was the beginning of the "Weapons."
The first sword could ignite with the fire of emotion; he gave it to Raizen.
The second was cold as silence, strong as patience; he gave it to Musayuki.
And there was a shield… heavy, dark, unbreakable, unwavering. He made it for himself.
Then the girl appeared.
She was strange… she did not eat, she did not sleep. She spoke as if she were a dream, and could transform in an instant into a sharp blade.
She once said to him:
"I am Liva, your living sword. I exist because you dreamed me."
He did not argue. For within him, he knew… that everything around him was no longer just imagination. It had become a reality shaped by his will.
From those first nights, Sajibro began training Musayuki and Raizen in using their weapons.
The strikes were rough, the smiles frequent, the falls painful… but they learned.
"I am not just your teacher," he said once, "I am the one who will stand with you… until you forget fear."
And so, slowly, Sajibro was no longer just that strange young man…
He became something greater: the beginning.
And we know… every great kingdom begins with an honest moment, between strangers who became brothers.
End of Chapter Fifty-Seven