A desert.
Endless. Silent. Burning.
The wind stirred the dunes like waves frozen mid-crash. Heat shimmered off the sand in violent ripples, and the air itself seemed to scream.
Everything burned.
And Sosuke didn't move. Couldn't. His fingers twitched against the searing ground—barely enough to matter.
So that was it, huh? All that effort… wasted.
A voice cut through the haze. "Hey! There's someone here!"
Boots crunched over sand. Shapes moved—shadows against the light. Someone knelt beside him, muttered something he couldn't catch. Arms slipped under his back. Voices overlapped.
Then nothing.
He woke choking on air that smelled of dust and dried herbs.
Sosuke shot upright, eyes wide, hands clutched at his chest. Bandages wrapped his torso like a cage. Every breath stung. Sweat soaked the sheets beneath him, and the canvas tent around him groaned as wind tugged at its edges.
He wasn't alone.
Outside, muted voices traded soft words near a low-burning fire. Metal clinked. Sand shifted. He steadied himself, swung his legs off the side of the bed, and stepped out.
The camp was small—four men, one fire, a few weather-worn tents circled like a protective ring in the desert's maw. A single camel chewed lazily on a cloth sack near a post.
"He's up," one of the men said, standing. The others paused. Watched. Didn't smile.
One of them approached. Younger than the others, short beard, sharp eyes. A worn scarf coiled loosely around his neck like a snake at rest.
"You alright?" the man asked.
Sosuke coughed once before answering. "Yeah. I think so."
"Sit," the man said, gesturing to a flat rock near the fire. The others quietly drifted back to their tents without a word. "Don't mind them. Strangers make people nervous out here. I couldn't just leave you to cook in the sun."
His voice had a lilt—desert-born, but not local. Something else layered beneath it.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Sosuke," he said. "Sosuke Estrella."
The man went still. Not tense—just… still.
"Estrella," he repeated, almost under his breath. Then he blinked and smiled like nothing happened. "Right. Well. I'm Axel Grey."
He reached behind him, pulled a water flask from a canvas satchel, and handed it over. "You looked half-dead when we found you. Figured you'd be thirsty."
Sosuke nodded in thanks and drank. The water was lukewarm and metallic. Still, it was the best thing he'd tasted in days.
"There's a town east of here. Small. Honest. I'll take you when you're strong enough to walk. I patched you up myself, by the way. Not the cleanest job, but it'll hold."
"You're a doctor?"
"Sort of. Enough to keep people alive." Axel tilted his head. "You don't talk much."
"There's a lot on my mind."
Axel nodded. "I saw you come out of a portal," he said, almost casually. "Felt the energy ripple from miles away. Like thunder in still air."
Sosuke didn't answer.
"You're not just anybody," Axel went on. "I've seen power before. Yours feels… heavy."
Sosuke looked down at his hands. Blisters crusted over fresh scars.
"It's not power. Not really. It's more like… a curse with good PR."
Axel laughed once—a dry, amused sound. "That's a new one. So. Guilt, then? Or responsibility?"
"Neither. Or both. I don't know." Sosuke exhaled slowly. "I didn't ask for any of this. I just didn't want to be his son. I wanted to make something of my own. Not live in someone else's legacy."
Axel didn't respond at first. The fire cracked. Wind howled low against the dune ridge.
"And yet, here you are," Axel finally said. "Bleeding into the sand and still chasing something."
Sosuke turned to the horizon, where the last trace of sunlight dipped below the dunes. The desert swallowed the light without ceremony.
"You woke up late," Axel said. "Figured you'd need the rest. You can stay as long as you want. Not like you could go far in your condition anyway."
He stood, brushing sand from his pants. "I've got to be up early. The desert doesn't wait."
Axel turned toward his tent, then paused.
"If you hear howling in the night," he said, "don't answer it."
Then he was gone.
Sosuke staggered toward his tent, every step a silent scream through torn muscle and searing nerves. He didn't make a sound. The pain was old news now—just another part of him.
At the entrance, he snatched a second bottle of water without looking. His hand trembled. He sat down hard on the edge of the bedroll, the canvas beneath him creaking from the sudden weight.
His hand drifted up, hovering over the bandage that covered his right eye.
The wound there was… different. It didn't pulse like the others. It ached, in the kind of way that felt permanent. Like the pain wasn't in the flesh, but in the soul itself—quiet, cold, and endless.
He didn't cry. He stood.
And ran.
The cold slapped him in the face the moment he left the camp behind. The desert at night was a different creature—no longer burning, now biting. Stars blinked high above like they didn't care who bled beneath them.
Sosuke pushed his broken body beyond its limits, sprinting into the open dunes until his legs collapsed beneath him. Sand rushed up to meet him like a grave waiting with open arms.
He hit the ground hard, rolled once, and lay there.
Then he screamed.
The sound tore from his chest like it had been caged for years. It echoed across the dead silence, cracked and raw, a wordless cry that didn't ask for help—it just needed out.
He slammed his fist into the sand. Again. Again. The grains didn't give.
He hunched over, gripping his skull like he could squeeze the thoughts out. A strangled sob slipped through his clenched teeth.
"I've wasted two years…"
The words felt foreign—like a confession, not a thought.
"I chased a goal I never had a chance of reaching. I believed I could do something great, something real."
His voice cracked. He didn't care.
"I'm a failure. A fraud!"
He clawed at the bandage over his eye, fingers curling tight against it. "My Star Eyes… will they even work now? Did I tear away a piece of myself for nothing?!"
He waited. Nothing answered.
"No light. No guidance. They've always shown me the way. Always. Every time. Every fight. And against Julius…"
He paused. The wind shifted.
"…they said nothing. Not even a flicker. Not a single path forward. Was that it? Was there no path? Or…"
His breath caught.
"…or did I already give up? Maybe I lost before the fight even started."
A single chirp broke the silence.
Sosuke turned his head.
There it was.
A blue bird, perched on a jut of stone near the dune's edge—watching him. Silent. Still. The same one. He remembered it. He had felt it. Right before he stepped into the portal. Right before everything changed.
It tilted its head.
"What do you want?" Sosuke asked, voice hollow.
The bird stepped back, wings twitching.
"What… are you?" he whispered.
The bird looked at him one last time, then took flight—vanishing into the stars with a single beat of its wings.
Sosuke stared after it, alone in the cold.
The desert answered with silence.
Two weeks later.
Sosuke could walk again.
His wounds had closed. His mana had returned—enough to breathe without effort, to think without the pain pressing down on every thought. But his right eye remained sealed beneath a thick scar. The bandages were gone, yet he still couldn't open it.
That part of him hadn't healed. Might never.
"You get your things?" Grey asked, standing beside the waiting camel.
Sosuke swung a canvas bag over his shoulder. The fabric was sun-bleached, the strap frayed. It held everything he owned now.
"Yeah," he said flatly. "Got 'em."
"Alright then. Time to head for town."
They mounted the camel, and with a grunt from Grey and a tug of reins, it began its long, swaying walk toward the distant mirage of civilization.
The sun was cruel today. Not a cloud in the sky. Just blue and heat.
"You healed fast," Grey said, squinting against the glare. "Faster than anyone I've seen. I know you're not ordinary, but that kind of recovery—it's not natural."
Sosuke didn't answer at first. The wind scraped sand across his skin like tiny knives.
"I just need to get out of this desert," he muttered.
Grey glanced sideways. "You were more talkative when you first woke up. What's changed? Not like you'll see me again."
Silence.
Sosuke didn't even look at him. "I already said thank you. That's all I owe you."
"Hmph. So cold," Grey said with a dry laugh. "You sure you're not part Iceborn?"
Hours passed in heat and silence. The dunes gave way to cracked stone roads, scattered cacti, and signs of life.
Then—finally—Nobulo.
It rose from the dust like a jewel set in gold. White stone buildings gleamed in the sun, archways cast long shadows, and voices echoed through the streets—laughter, bargaining, music. Children chased each other around clay fountains. It felt alive.
They dismounted.
Grey took one long look at the city, then at Sosuke. "This is where we part ways, Estrella."
Sosuke nodded once. "Seems so."
Grey reached into his coat, pulled out a leather pouch, and dropped it into Sosuke's hand. It was heavier than it looked—coins inside clinking against one another.
"Five hundred," Grey said. "Enough for three days, maybe four if you skip breakfast."
Sosuke blinked. "Why?"
Grey grinned faintly. "Because you'll need it. And because I'd rather you not die in some alley while trying to play stoic."
He turned, adjusted the scarf around his neck, and walked off without another word.
Sosuke stood there for a moment. Then turned toward the heart of Nobulo.
The city was clean, shockingly so for a place surrounded by sand. Stone paths lined with palm trees and flower beds. He passed market stalls, food carts, and musicians playing stringed instruments near cafés. But the train map caught his eye.
Pinned to a polished board near the fountain: a full layout of the city. At the very bottom—Train Station. A direct line out of the desert.
Finally.
He walked to a nearby bench and sat beside the wide, tiered fountain. Water trickled down carved lion heads. He let the coin pouch rest in his lap.
And yet…
That accent.
Grey's voice echoed in his mind—clipped vowels, soft consonants, something masked by years of pretending.
Why did it nag at him?
What are you hiding?
He stared across the square absently, until his gaze landed on a towering tourist sign carved into polished stone:
"ASTORIA'S LARGEST DESERT — Gateway to the South."
His eyes widened.
Before he could stand, a voice slid through the air behind him.
Cold. Empty. Familiar.
"Oh, how I longed to see you again."
Sosuke didn't move.
Not yet.
"Our last meeting was cut far too short. Unfortunate. We never even got to introduce ourselves properly."
Sosuke turned, slow and deliberate.
Damien stood beneath the fountain's shadow, face untouched by the heat or dust. Perfect posture. Dressed like he'd walked through fire without being touched by flame.
Sosuke's fingers twitched toward the bag on his shoulder.