When I woke up that morning, the strange feeling in my chest was still there. The flame inside me, which usually pulsed steadily, seemed restless, as if it were being pushed toward somewhere I couldn't see. I tried to ignore it, convincing myself it was just accumulated fatigue. After so many missions, so much running back and forth, maybe my body was simply asking for rest.
But I knew that wasn't it.
The dream from the night before was still so vivid that it felt like it was continuing to unfold before my eyes as I walked through the streets of Vailor. That deep ice, the white eyes, the cold smile… and that voice saying it had found me. I didn't want to admit it, but it had affected me more than any real battle.
Liriel was the first to notice my silence.
She asked: "Are you okay? Your aura is… strange."
I forced a smile. "I'm fine. I just slept badly."
Elara, who was walking beside us with tired steps, gave me a suspicious look. She always noticed more than she said. "You never sleep badly like this. Something happened."
I took a deep breath, looking away. "It was just a dream. Nothing serious."
Vespera, who was walking just behind us, balancing a shopping basket that clearly didn't need to have half the things she had put in it, commented without any filter: "If a dream left you like this, it must've been really ugly. Like you getting old and bald."
"That's not going to happen," I replied, trying to laugh, but my voice came out far too low.
The city seemed calm that morning. The festival was already over, and merchants were starting to dismantle stalls, take down decorations, and clean the streets. It was the kind of tranquility that should have been comforting… but something in the air told me it wouldn't last.
When I turned the corner of the main square, I noticed a sudden silence. Even the birds had stopped singing. The icy wind that passed between the buildings didn't match Vailor's typically warm climate at all. Vespera shivered.
"Hey… when did it get this cold?"
I felt the flame inside me react. My chest warmed in an automatic response, as if warning me that that cold wasn't natural. It wasn't something that belonged in this place.
Before I could say anything, a blue glow appeared above us, high up, near the banners that were still hanging after the festival. At first I thought it was just a reflection… but the glow began to move. It twisted, spun, and took shape.
A bird.
A bird made entirely of ice.
Its eyes were an intense white, almost the same shade as in that dream. When it saw me, it flapped its wings, and with each beat it scattered crystals that melted before touching the ground. It didn't attack. It made no aggressive movement. It simply hovered in front of me, staring directly at me.
Elara's eyes widened. "This isn't normal. This isn't common magic…"
Liriel took a step back, unsure. "I… I don't recognize this form. It isn't any known spirit."
Vespera, clearly nervous, asked: "Takumi… why is it only looking at you?"
I had no answer. But I knew.
I knew from the moment I woke up.
The bird descended slowly, until it was so close I could feel the cold air burning my skin. Then, with a delicate motion, it flapped its wings one last time and shattered into hundreds of shining crystals. They fell around me like snow, silent.
On the ground, right in front of me, a single piece of ice remained intact. And on it, there was a symbol.
A circle with six straight lines extending outward, like the drawing of a stylized eye. A frozen eye.
I knelt down and touched the ice. The symbol glowed for a moment and then faded, leaving only a cold mark on my skin.
Liriel swallowed hard. "Takumi… this… this looks like… a warning."
Elara replied, her voice tense: "No. This is a threat."
Vespera fell silent. She just stared at me, as if waiting for me to deny it, to say it was a coincidence, that none of this had anything to do with the dream.
But I couldn't.
I closed my hand around the ice and felt the flame inside me pulse violently, almost painfully. The figure from the dream returned to my mind, along with that phrase that echoed at the back of my skull.
I have already found you.
I took a deep breath and admitted what I didn't want to admit.
"He's coming after me."
The silence that followed seemed to swallow the entire city. Even distant sounds—footsteps, voices, hammers—felt impossibly far away.
Elara finally broke the silence. "You… you think it really is the sixth general?"
"Yes," I answered without hesitation. "And he didn't come here by accident."
Liriel touched my shoulder, her eyes full of concern. "So… the peace is over."
I looked up at the sky, where the last crystals were still melting in Vailor's warm air. My chest burned, the flame trying to expand, as if it wanted to break free.
"I think so."
Vespera took a deep breath and, even afraid, tried to smile. "Then… we'll have to get stronger. Because… you're not dealing with this alone."
That sentence hit me harder than the icy warning.
When this arc began, I just wanted to rest. I just wanted a pause. I just wanted quiet days, simple missions, light conversations, good moments.
And we had that.
But now…
Now it was clear that the tranquility was over.
And that something much bigger was approaching.
Much bigger than anything we had ever faced.
I tightened my grip around the ice symbol and murmured:
"Come if you want. I won't back down."
And that was how the arc ended.
With a cold wind that didn't belong in that place blowing through Vailor for the first time.
And with me understanding that the next step would be far darker than everything before it.