I had already learned to recognize when the flame inside me grew restless for no apparent reason. It wasn't pain, nor immediate danger. It was like a low, constant, insistent warning. That morning, it was like that.
Vailor was waking up slowly. The movement in the streets was still sluggish—merchants opening their stalls, adventurers arguing over rewards too small for the risk involved. Nothing seemed wrong at first glance, but I felt it. Something was approaching, even if no one else noticed.
Vespera walked a few steps ahead, counting coins in the palm of her hand with her usual concentration—which, in her case, meant getting the count wrong three times in a row.
"This doesn't make sense," she muttered. "We had more money yesterday."
"You spent half of it on new arrows," Elara replied behind me, with the dry tone of someone already out of patience. "And missed every shot in training."
"Technical details."
Liriel came last, floating a few centimeters above the ground out of pure habit. The aura of light around her flickered irregularly, far too weak for someone who was supposedly a goddess. I had already stopped trying to understand how that worked.
"Takumi," she said suddenly. "You're feeling it too, aren't you?"
I nodded. "Since I woke up."
That was enough to change the mood. Elara shot me a quick, attentive look. Vespera stopped counting coins.
"Feeling what?" Vespera asked.
"Pressure," I replied. "Like something is… watching from afar."
It wasn't the first time I had felt this since the dream. The difference now was that the sensation didn't come only from inside my head. It came from the world.
We decided to stop by the guild. We didn't have an active mission that day, but something told me that standing still wasn't an option. The hall was more crowded than usual, and the buzz wasn't the lively kind it usually was. There was tension in the looks, conversations in low voices, closed expressions.
The Guild Master called us over as soon as he saw us.
"You arrived at a good time," he said. "Or a terrible one. I haven't decided yet."
We approached the central table. Several maps were spread out, marked with warning symbols in the northern regions.
"New reports?" I asked.
"Old reports that have started to line up," he replied. "Groups disappearing. Patrols finding structures that weren't there before. Out-of-season cold."
The flame reacted immediately.
"Cold?" Elara asked. "But there isn't enough magical activity for that."
"That's exactly what worries us."
A veteran adventurer seated near the table cut into the conversation. His face was marked by old scars, and his eyes… far too tired.
"It's not just cold," he said. "It's discipline."
Everyone fell silent.
"Monsters don't attack like that. They don't retreat that way. They don't set up defensive positions. That's an army."
The Guild Master took a deep breath. "Are you sure about what you're implying?"
The man nodded slowly.
"I've seen this before. Many years ago. On another frontier."
I felt the chill even before he said the name.
"The General of the Deep Ice."
The flame inside me exploded.
Not physically, but in pure reaction. My chest grew hot, the air around me seemed to vibrate for an instant. Liriel brought a hand to her chest, surprised. Elara frowned. Vespera took a step back without realizing it.
"What?" she asked. "That… that's a title?"
"It's a warning," the veteran replied. "One of the Demon Generals."
No one spoke for several seconds.
"That's impossible," Elara said. "The Generals don't move without direct orders."
"Then someone gave the order," I shot back, without thinking.
The veteran stared at me. His eyes narrowed.
"You felt it, didn't you?" he asked. "When I said the name."
I nodded.
"Then listen carefully, boy. If that General is really active… you are not ready."
Vespera tried to laugh, but her voice came out weak. "We never are, and somehow we always manage."
"Not this time."
The Guild Master interrupted before the atmosphere worsened. "Enough. We're not going to panic over rumors. But we're not going to ignore them either."
He looked directly at me.
"Takumi. For now, no advancing north. If you take missions, stay on the edges. Observe. Report."
"Understood."
We left the guild in silence. The city looked the same, but now I could see the invisible cracks. Everything was too calm.
"General of the Deep Ice…" Vespera murmured. "Flashy name."
"It's not just a name," Liriel said. "It's a concept. Absolute cold. Control. Stagnation."
Elara crossed her arms. "And you're connected to this, aren't you?" she said, looking at me.
"I don't know how," I replied. "But when they said the name… it was like something had been called."
We walked through the streets, each lost in our own thoughts. I felt the flame turning slowly, as if waking from a deep sleep.
That night, when I lay down, the cold returned.
Not in the room. Inside me.
And for the first time since the dream, I was certain of one thing: the General of the Deep Ice already knew who I was.
And that meant time was running out.