CHAPTER 338: A FLEETING MOMENT

A gust of chaotic wind whipped through the Brelmor Plains—an arid, jagged terrain twisted by lingering mana corruption from the long-forgotten Divine-Calamity War. The cracked ground sparkled with faint crimson veins, remnants of long-evaporated ley lines that still hummed with unstable energy.

Aron and Selene, the infamous Chaos Twins, moved like phantoms across the field, cloaked in heavy shrouds, their rather sharp pupils gleaming with malice and raw power. Behind them, the air bent unnaturally as Endless, the Eternal who had long abandoned any shred of humanity, floated with regal malice—his form swathed in a robe of liquid black mist that rippled with the faces of tormented souls.

To his left was Alen, the First Magi turned Dark Magi, who walked in perfect step, his staff pulsing with void-born runes and chaos sigils. His eyes were vacant—but calculating.

"It’s just ahead," Aron muttered, his voice hoarse with suppressed disdain. "The entrance to the fabled Labyrinth Nexus lies beneath the Hollowing Stones... still hidden beneath temporal wards."

"Kael Dragonyx should still be in meditation," Selene added, running a hand through her silky dark hair. "He rarely leaves that place nowadays unless it’s an emergency."

"It’s outstanding how you small flies could discover the Labyrinth and could even get inside" Endless said with an indifferent look on his face.

But then—Endless froze.

His expression contorted.

A pulse—deep, primordial—thundered through the corrupted air.

Something ancient. Something forbidden. Something that should not exist had stirred.

And he felt it.

"...Impossible." Endless whispered.

The twins halted, confused.

Alen, however, instantly flared a protective ward. "What is it?"

Endless’s eyes narrowed, his mouth curling into a savage grimace of disbelief.

"That... that signature." He inhaled deeply—unnaturally. "The Voidcloak... lives?"

The world itself seemed to still around him as his form flickered erratically—momentarily losing coherence—as if the revelation had disrupted even his own existence.

"That can’t be," Selene muttered, warily watching the Eternal. "Didn’t the Celestials and the others—?"

"Eradicate them?" Endless growled. "Seems like that was what they wanted the world to believe. What I was forced to believe!"

His voice dropped into a deadly murmur.

"They must have hidden one... a seed... a fragment of the dark. Those bastards didn’t cleanse it all..."

Then, like thunder, he barked an order.

"Alen."

The Dark Magi turned.

"You will go to the Labyrinth. Speak to Kael Dragonyx. Find a way to awaken what sleeps within him. Bring him over. If the blood of Dragonyx can still stir, we may yet reclaim our roots."

Aron’s jaw tightened. "You want us to split now? What about the plan—"

Endless cut him off with a cold, dismissive glance.

"Plans bend to chaos. Especially when history itself is proving to be a liar."

He raised one hand—and reality buckled.

Rings of runic energy twisted in the air around him, collapsing space with a sickening shriek. His form began to shimmer, consumed by a swirling vortex of shadow mist and fragments of broken reality.

"Where are you going my Lord?" Selene asked warily.

"Where I’m needed," Endless whispered, voice nearly reverent now. "The Deadroot Forest... holds more secrets than I thought."

With a crack of thunder and a pulse that silenced the Plains, Endless vanished—leaving behind a cold void that made even the Chaos Twins shiver.

Only a faint, lingering whisper remained:

"The Void... remembers."

–––––

Meanwhile, the winds that passed through the Nullcarver Hollow at the moment carried an unfamiliar chill.

Kaelen stood beneath the looming stone visage of the Juggernaut of Soaring Wind, his hand gently brushing across the intricate carvings on the pedestal: open wings, flowing feathers, and a faint outline of a swirling vortex.

To his side, Kelvin cracked his knuckles as he stared up at the towering figure.

"So... we take this one alone?" he asked.

Naena nodded, her expression more serious than before. "Yes. Only you both and Lila were chosen to take this test. And Lila..." she hesitated, glancing at the healing tent where the girl lay unmoving. "Still hasn’t awakened. Her spirit is still... caught between grief and clarity."

Kaelen didn’t speak. His gaze was already locked on the Circle of Resonance.

Kelvin took a deep breath. "No fire. No earth. No foundation. Just wind... and memory."

"Just keep your center," Kaelen muttered. "Even if the wind tries to rip it from you."

The two stepped into the Circle. At once, the wind stirred unnaturally—then howled, a high-pitched keening that rattled the leaves and whispered things no one could hear.

Then—they vanished.

After a while, Kaelen found himself suspended in limitless sky.

No ground.

No clouds.

Just air.

Just motion.

He looked down. There was no "down."

The wind screamed around him, tugging at his limbs, ripping through his clothing like talons. His eyes watered, vision blurring.

Suddenly, a voice.

"You’re not flying. You’re falling."

He turned—no one.

Then he saw it.

His younger self, barely ten, falling headfirst through the void. Flailing. Crying. Screaming.

Around him, images ripped from Kaelen’s past spiraled like whirlwinds.

His mother, lying in a pool of blood.

His father, back turned to him as fire consumed their home.

Lila’s father, slain, his sword shattered in Kaelen’s small hands.

And finally—Kaelen, alone in the academy courtyard, the Blade of Eternity stuck into the ground before him, unmoving, uncaring.

"You’re not a hero," the wind whispered. "You’re not a savior." "You’re a failure."

Kaelen gritted his teeth and tried to speak—but the wind stole his voice. Every time he tried to shout, to affirm his will, the wind stripped it away.

He tried to reach for his sword—but there was nothing. Not even mana. Not Qi. No ground to root him. No flames to fuel him. Only directionless pressure, pushing him to lose everything.

---

Kelvin, elsewhere in the same sky, spun through an endless gale.

He tried to anchor himself with his blood-red Qi, tried to sense the Orb of Chaos within him—but the storm was too loud. Too overwhelming. His body bled from unseen cuts, as if the wind itself was slicing into him.

Then the voices began.

"You let your sister die." "You were weak. Always weak." "Even now, you’re leeching off others. Kaelen’s shadow... his strength..."

He clenched his jaw.

"Shut up," he whispered.

But the wind laughed.

Then he saw her—his sister, barely 13 based what he could still remember of her image, sitting on a cliff’s edge, her black hair blowing in a wind too strong for such a small girl.

"I was proud of you, you know," she said softly.

"Liar!" Kelvin roared. "You shouldn’t have protected me—I should have protected you!"

But no answer came.

The girl vanished into the mist.

And the wind claimed his tears.

---

Outside the Circle of Resonance, Naena watched with narrowed eyes.

The statues of wind trembled subtly, their ethereal halos flickering.

Morris stood beside Guinevere and Ethan, tense. "Something’s wrong."

Then—it ended.

With a violent burst, the Circle flared—and expelled Kaelen and Kelvin from its depths.

Both of them landed hard, gasping, drenched in sweat. Their bodies bore no wounds, but the look in their eyes told a deeper story.

Naena approached, placing a hand on both of their shoulders.

"Although I have to commend you for staying longer than." she said gently. "But this path is unlike the others. It doesn’t just test your will—it tries to scatter your identity."

Kaelen stared down at his trembling hands.

"I had no sword... no voice."

Kelvin wiped his face and sat back. "No footing. No fire. Nothing to hold onto."

Naena gave a grim nod.

"That is wind. It gives no foundation. It carries... and it tears away. It demands clarity—and punishes hesitation."

Both boys were silent.

And the silence was heavy.

Finally, Kaelen looked up at the statue.

"We’ll try again," he said softly.

Kelvin grinned, weak but real. "Damn right we will."

"But that will be when you have stabled yourself. Right now if you stubbornly go into the trial without any form of rest or meditation..." Naena said with a solemn look on her face. "You will die"

As soon as Kaelen and Kelvin heard her, they immediately became stiff while falling silent. As for Morris and the others, they involuntarily gulped down hard their own saliva.

While all these was going on....

Within the quiet tent nestled at the edge of the Nullcarver Hollow, a faint breeze stirred the edges of the cloth as night continued its solemn watch. Lila lay unmoving, her breathing shallow, her skin glistening with cold sweat. The effects of the failed trial of Soaring Wind still lingered, trapping her mind between dream and reality.

Then... something changed.

Her eyelids fluttered.

And suddenly—

Everything was white.

An endless void.

No sky. No ground. No breeze. No sound.

Just her.

Lila floated in a weightless expanse, her long hazel nut hair drifting behind her as if underwater. She spun slowly in place, eyes wide, heart pounding.

’Where... am I?’

She tried to step, but there was no ground.

She tried to call out, but her voice echoed into the endless blankness, swallowed whole.

Then, without warning, a soft chime sounded in the air—clear, delicate, like the tolling of a crystal bell.

A moment later, a voice. Ethereal. Angelic. Warm, yet piercing.

"You have wandered far, my daughter."

Lila whipped around.

There, just a few paces in front of her—though distance had no meaning here—a figure began to materialize. At first, she was light. Pure light. Then slowly, her form took shape—a woman, cloaked in white, her hair a radiant waterfall of moonlight, her eyes glowing with serene luminescence.

Lila’s heart clenched. Her hands balled into fists.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "Where is this? What—"

"Relax, my star..." the figure said gently, a smile on her face that ached with familiarity. "...I am your mother."

Silence crashed into the void like a tidal wave.

Lila’s breath caught in her throat since she could still remember the only particular sentence that she heard back in her tender age.

"My star....."

Her legs buckled slightly beneath her, even though she floated.

"...What...?" she whispered.

The woman only took a graceful step closer, arms opening.

"You were never meant to walk Aetheris alone, Lila."

Tears welled up in Lila’s eyes—not from sorrow, but from the terror of hope.

"Mother...?" she croaked.

But before she could reach out...

Before she could close the space between them...

The void began to collapse.

Cracks of blackness tore through the white like shattered glass fracturing reality itself. Winds howled—real winds this time—ripping the illusion apart.

The woman’s face contorted, not in fear... but in urgency.

"Wake up, my daughter and be ready, the truth is now in arm’s reach."

"Truth? What truth?!" Lila screamed.

The woman reached forward one last time, touching her forehead.

And whispered—

"Remember who you are."