Rynel quietly raised his hand.

  From his small fingertips, an unseen force spread outward.

  At the same time,

  his eyes began to glow blue.

  It was a calm light.

  A deep, cold blue—like moonlight seeping into his pupils.

  On the desk, the key ring slid, soundless,

  as if pushed by a faint current, slowly cutting through the air.

  It didn’t rattle.

  It made no noise at all.

  Precise.

  As though an invisible hand was cradling it.

  As it traveled through the air, the keys trembled now and then—just slightly.

  But even that tremor

  felt like a perfectly calculated trajectory.

  Aira froze, staring at the moving keys, unable to close her mouth.

  ‘···What is that···?’

  Glowing eyes.

  Moving keys.

  No string, no trick.

  She couldn’t remember where she’d heard it—

  a book, maybe, or her hometown’s magic instructor.

  What mattered was what she was seeing right now.

  No gesture. No chant.

  And yet something···

  was moving with unmistakable intent.

  Holding her breath, she muttered inwardly.

  ‘···Telekinesis···?’

  She slowly turned her head to look at Rynel.

  The blue light still lingered in his eyes.

  Then, almost like a whisper to herself, she said,

  “Wow··· I’ve never seen anything like that.”

  Rynel didn’t answer.

  Only his breathing wavered—barely.

  Aira didn’t ask anything else.

  She quietly picked up the keys and unlocked her restraint.

  Click.

  A thin sound as the metal ring came loose.

  The cell gate, too, loosened with a small tremor—

  and opened.

  She carefully stepped forward.

  Her knees shook a little, but the moment her foot touched the metal floor, she knew.

  This was it.

  The first step out of captivity.

  Aira met Rynel’s eyes.

  His gaze was still calm, but it looked··· firmer somehow.

  They didn’t need words.

  Their eyes said enough.

  And then—

  A faint breathing sound, somewhere nearby.

  Across from them, the chief guard who had been dozing in his chair twitched.

  “···Hngh···”

  Bleary, drunken eyes cracked open, and his gaze swept the cells.

  Rynel’s eyes flashed.

  The blue seeped in again.

  His body reacted first.

  Thought came after.

  A torn scrap of old blanket on the floor—

  he lifted it with telekinesis.

  Whap!

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  The blanket struck perfectly,

  covering the guard’s mouth and nose.

  “Ghk—!!”

  The guard’s eyes flew wide.

  He lurched back, flailing.

  His hands clawed at the air,

  his feet hammering the floor—desperate, frantic.

  The instinct to breathe.

  But the cloth pressing down

  smothered even the smallest sound.

  Rynel extended one hand.

  The blue in his eyes deepened.

  The fabric responded to his will,

  wrapping tighter around the guard’s face.

  Tight.

  He could feel it through his fingertips—

  the trembling movement, the weakening resistance.

  He didn’t stop.

  At some point,

  thought and feeling both snapped off.

  Until the ‘sound’ disappeared.

  The guard’s eyes shook.

  And slowly, the life drained out of them.

  Rynel’s hand lowered.

  The blanket fell to the floor.

  The guard collapsed—no longer moving.

  Only then did Rynel inhale.

  He wasn’t out of breath, yet he realized—

  he’d forgotten to breathe at all.

  He hadn’t meant to kill him.

  He only meant to silence him,

  just for a moment, just briefly—make it quiet.

  But—

  In the instant the cloth covered the guard’s face,

  his heart had raced, his eyes had burned blue, and a strange force had surged into his fingertips.

  Every time he used telekinesis, something inside him heated up in a way that felt··· wrong.

  At first, he’d thought it was simple.

  Think it, and it moves.

  Use only as much force as he wanted.

  But it wasn’t.

  This power was deeper than he’d imagined.

  Sharper.

  He wanted to press harder.

  The sensation of crushing resistance felt unfamiliar—almost thrilling.

  The more it fought back, the more he felt he should push.

  He’d only tried to restrain him.

  But in that moment, the version of himself he’d become

  had been closer to “killing” than “stopping.”

  That truth scared him more than anything.

  Death, blood—

  even the last spasms of the man he’d crushed—

  the fact that it had felt like nothing for those few seconds···

  Now it weighed on his chest, heavy and numb.

  Rynel bit down hard on his lip.

  Then slowly closed his eyes.

  The blue light in them

  sank into steady darkness.

  Death was quiet.

  And that quiet lingered.

  The only things cutting through it

  were two small breaths—

  and two sets of footsteps.

  ◇

  The two children turned and ran down the corridor without a word.

  Bang! Bang!

  Bare feet slapped the cold stone,

  their dry footsteps echoing down the hall.

  They couldn’t even breathe properly.

  Just forward.

  Running blindly.

  Aira in front.

  Rynel right behind.

  Deep night.

  The prison corridor, with no lights at all,

  was pitch-black—like the throat of a beast.

  Their vision was dim.

  Humidity clung to their skin.

  They didn’t know where they were going.

  They didn’t know who might be chasing them.

  But they couldn’t stop.

  If they were caught again, it was over.

  The moment they were dragged back into this darkness,

  every hope, every scrap of freedom,

  would never return.

  Not that place.

  Anywhere but that place.

  That desperation

  drove their legs mercilessly onward.

  How long had they run?

  At the end of the corridor,

  a rusted iron door appeared.

  Through the gap in its frame,

  a faint trace of night air seeped in.

  A different smell—

  not the damp stench of the prison.

  They stopped at the same time.

  Shoulders heaving.

  Breath ragged.

  That door was the last barrier to the outside.

  Beyond it—freedom.

  Rynel put his hand on the handle.

  His fingertips trembled.

  And then—

  “My cute little brats. Where are you going?”

  A voice behind them—

  so quiet it felt like the world stopped breathing.

  It was low, soft, almost like a whisper.

  But the killing intent mixed into it

  was razor-clear.

  Both children turned at once.

  Opposite end of the corridor.

  Someone stood in the darkness at the top of the stairs.

  A hood pulled deep down.

  A loose coat hanging wrong on his shoulders.

  The hem was frayed and torn in places,

  yet his presence was strangely absent.

  His face wasn’t visible.

  Hidden in shadow—

  only a faint glimpse of a smiling mouth, now and then, beneath the hood.

  But one thing was certain.

  From the beginning,

  he’d been watching all of it.

  And he spoke again.

  “Look at you—kids can run, huh?”

  The voice stayed low and calm,

  but it carried a thin curiosity··· and unmistakable bloodlust.

  Rynel’s heart pounded.

  He understood.

  This wasn’t a simple guard.

  This man was a hunter.

  Rynel’s toes slid back a step.

  Aira felt it.

  Rynel was getting ready to fight.

  And she, too, understood—

  running wasn’t the only option anymore.

  The man on the stairs looked down at them and said,

  “Making it that far means···

  you wanted freedom pretty badly, huh?”

  “But too bad~ You were *this* close.”

  Playful words,

  but inside them was the confidence of someone who already knew the outcome.

  Like an examiner who’d already seen the answers.

  He lifted a hand, slowly.

  “Alright, then—show me.

  If you can hold out until the end.”

  In an instant, the atmosphere shifted.

  Rynel’s eyes glowed blue.

  A faint light spread from his pupils, and at the same time—

  Broken tile shards scattered on the floor

  rose slowly into the air.

  They spun as they cut through the darkness,

  then shot toward the man.

  At the same moment, Aira thrust out her hand.

  “Wind Edge.”

  With that short chant, a blade of wind burst from a magic circle.

  Taut currents carved a path,

  racing alongside Rynel’s flying shards.

  Boom!

  A brief explosion.

  Dust and stone fragments erupted, swallowing the view.

  Holding their breath, the two children stared into it.

  And then the voice came again.

  “Nice. Very nice.”

  From beyond the dust—

  a voice that sounded completely unharmed.

  Before the dust even settled, something moved in the shadows.

  Swoosh—

  The dust split.

  Something flew in. No—

  someone lunged as if teleporting.

  “Ghk—!”

  Rynel’s eyes flashed.

  Blue flared again.

  Instinctively he threw out his hand.

  Shattered tile fragments

  shot for the man’s face.

  But—

  Snap!

  The man caught them in midair with one hand.

  “You’ve got a pretty interesting trick, kid.”

  He smiled.

  Then drove that same hand forward—

  like he was planting it into Rynel’s abdomen.

  Thud!

  A deep, crushing pain

  caved into his insides.

  Breath stopped—

  he didn’t even have time to inhale.

  The impact seized his lungs.

  Rynel’s eyes shook wide,

  his knees buckled.

  Nausea surged up,

  his vision swimming.

  His body lurched.

  Losing balance, he toppled backward.

  “Rynel!”

  Aira screamed.

  Her hand snapped up.

  Whoosh!

  A swirling current—

  wind blades like a small vortex—

  poured toward the man.

  But he only turned his body, slowly.

  Scrrk!

  The wind blades scraped the wall.

  They didn’t touch him.

  “Hm··· That wouldn’t even blow out a candle~”

  His fingertip pointed at Aira.

  In that instant,

  space warped.

  Thud!

  Before she could even plant her feet,

  Aira’s body was slammed into the floor.

  Rynel staggered up.

  His eyes still glowed blue,

  but his body wouldn’t keep up.

  “Not yet—!”

  The moment he tried to trigger telekinesis again,

  the man was already there.

  He didn’t even have time to raise his hand.

  And quietly—

  a single finger touched Rynel’s forehead.

  “Alright, alright. Playtime’s over~”

  Tap.

  That was all.

  Just a light touch.

  No force. No magic felt.

  And yet—

  the world tilted.

  His vision snapped vertical,

  the floor surging up like it was leaping over his head.

  His whole body folded inward,

  collapsing.

  His mind went white.

  Even the sensation of his heart “beating”

  vanished for a moment.

  He wasn’t heavy—

  but he couldn’t move anymore.

  The force leaking from his fingertips cut off,

  and the blue light in his eyes

  faded—dimmed like dying embers.

  ‘If I could’ve just held on a little longer···’

  That last thought brushed past—thin, fading—

  and then every sense quietly went out.

  How much time passed?

  Aira lay on the floor, eyes closed.

  Only her faint breathing

  proved she was still alive.

  The man looked down at the two children in turn.

  A short silence.

  Then, like a teacher checking a test result, he muttered to himself,

  “···Pass.”

  And he vanished into the shadows.

  Silence settled.

  The corridor was so still

  it felt like even death was holding its breath.

  All that remained was

  the smell of dust and blood,

  and the cold night wind flowing over the fallen children.

  Rynel lay with his eyes closed,

  not moving at all.

  The blue light that had flickered in his gaze

  was now completely gone.

  Aira, too, was slumped against the wall,

  only a thin breath left.

  Somewhere,

  quiet footsteps approached.

  Controlled steps—

  a habit, the sound of walking through darkness.

  The iron door opened,

  and someone entered.

  After that moment,

  no one saw it.

  Where the children disappeared to that night.

  All that remained—in records, in memory—

  was a single empty cell.