The afternoon sun lay across the academy like a gentle hand — warm, sprawling, and alive. Light spilled over the tiled rooftops and the silver-lined windows, glinting on distant towers. The air shimmered faintly from the heat of early summer, but a soft, playful wind wandered through the courtyards, carrying the faint scent of fresh flowers and baked bread from the cafeteria below the eastern wing.
Arios walked quietly beside Lucy and Liza along the central garden path — a meandering trail of white cobblestones that snaked past the training fields and down toward the student park. Around them, other students milled about, but their voices blurred into the hum of background life. For once, he didn't feel the usual tension clawing behind his eyes. There were no exams, no council hearings, no dungeon evaluations to survive.
It was simply… still.
A strange feeling for him.
