The world faded away.
The roar of the wind, the pain, the fear… all vanished.
Ryo floated in a sea without sky or ground — an endless expanse where time itself had no meaning.
The Void.
His sanctuary.
Silence was not emptiness — it breathed, it watched.
Here, time bent, twisted, dissolved.
One minute outside… one month within.
And Ryo remained there for a hundred years.
A hundred years of solitude, pain, and rebirth.
A hundred years facing his memories, his sins, his deepest fears.
Each time he fell, the Void lifted him.
Each time he doubted, the voice called to him.
Gabriel.
He no longer remembered when the training began.
He no longer knew if he still breathed.
But he knew he was changing.
The black flames he once feared now obeyed his will, swirling around him like a living heart.
The fire pulsed softly — echoes of his soul.
And Gabriel appeared, not as a shadow this time, but as a light beyond understanding.
Neither angel nor demon.
Something greater.
> "It took you a hundred years to look at me without fear," said the voice, resonating through every fragment of the Void.
"A hundred years to understand I was never the storm… but the mirror."
Ryo lifted his gaze.
His eyes were calm — sharp, yet peaceful.
> "I kept running from what I am. I thought you were a curse.
But all this time… it was myself I was denying."
The Void trembled.
Rings of energy spiraled around them, merging shadow and light.
Gabriel extended his hand — or perhaps it was Ryo himself.
Their forms met, and the Void exploded into an eternal silence.
> "You have not mastered me, Ryo," Gabriel's voice whispered, serene and infinite.
"You have understood me. That is why I am yours.
True mastery is not the act of domination… but the unity of souls."
A brilliant light enveloped Ryo.
The black flames turned gold, then translucent, before fading into his breath.
Every heartbeat resonated with the world.
The Void slowly began to close.
> "Gabriel…" he whispered, eyes open to the light.
"Let's walk together. From now on, nothing will separate us."
And the voice replied — soft, almost human:
> "Then rise, my bearer. The world awaits you."
---
When Ryo opened his eyes again, he was back.
The gray morning sky shimmered above the village roofs.
The wind brushed against his face.
A hundred years had passed for him… yet only one minute in the real world.
A tear slid down his cheek — not from sadness, but from peace.
The new Ryo had been born.