Wind furled the curtains and sheets of a lofted temple bedchamber in the city of Utopia.

All around Elwin and his closed eye was the rustling of chartreuse summer leaves, a sweet breeze upon his toes, and in the distance, the melodies of birds and of rushing waterfalls.

The symphonies coaxed Elwin from the limbo of his slumber, and when his ears pricked with the andante of the world around him, his body began to awake.

He felt his head and hair resting upon a pillow of fine silk, feeling as clouds upon heaven, his body upon a mattress that softly sank to embrace his being. Upon him he felt the soothing weight of a fluffy blanket, his arms and hands loose over the sheets. It was as if all the gravity of his head was washed clean; he was refreshed, born anew.

With the awakening of his body his nose whiffed a scent of home. Into the golden light of the morning Elwin slowly opened his eye, and sitting patiently by the bedside table, knitting an eyewrap, was his mother Anna. By the gardened balcony further away, sat his little brother Andre with Professor Aionia, pointing at the lush valleys below with a map in hand, accompanied by murmurs of curiosity.

Elwin made an effort of his hand, grasping for his mother, his voice a small croak.

“...Mom?”

“Elwin!” She stood immediately, dropping the ball of yarn from her hands, leaving it to roll on the floor.

 “Oh, bless MANASURA, you’re finally awake!”

Anna took him in her arms and squeezed him as tight as she could, tears of joyous relief pooling upon her eyes.

“...What happened, mom? Where are we?”

“Bro!” Andre exclaimed, sprinting from the gardened outdoors to leap into his brother.

“I missed you!” said Andre, holding his older brother tight with his arm, falling into the bed and hugging his waist. “I was afraid you’d never come back, that the monster might’ve taken your soul away... but you came back just like you said! You kept your promise!” he cried, blotching his tears into his brother’s sleeves.

 Elwin ruffled Andre’s hair, light brown in the morning Sun, taking in his scent. His heart slowed to a gentle beat.

“I missed you too.”

Professor Aionia strolled into the plein-aired bedchamber, the winds brushing her cape.

“A warm welcome to the land of the living, Elwin,” she softly spoke, on her expression a smile of the utmost relief, mirroring that of his mother. “It is Sunnayasna 17th, if you’d like to know.”

“You’ve been asleep for nearly a month,” Anna cried into him, brushing her hand against Elwin’s cheek. “I’d thought you were lost... lost in the Labyrinth of Echoes...”

He attempted to produce an answer, but no sound would come from his mouth and throat, parched like withered earth under a drought. He tried to lure some water out of the air, but his head immediately began to spin at the effort. Andre handed him a jug of water he’d been holding in his hand; Elwin gulped it down like a voracious beast, streams running into his bedrobes. His head was so hazy and his memory a fog that he could not recall why he was there, what had happened, puzzled at the question posed to him by familiar faces of his family and his Tanaar that had taught him.

But as he shifted his weight upon his left arm, pain shot up his shoulders. And with it his waking conscious was flooded with a reel of grisly images, of Lucian stabbing him, of he and his friends battling Professor Thales, only it was not Professor Thales, falling into the toothed maw of the demon, a drum of noises that still reverberated in the depths of his ears, someone cleaving the monster clean, fading into unconsciousness.

He hurriedly unfurled his robe and examined the junction of his left arm and shoulder where Lucian’s obsidian blade had entered, frightened that the poison in him had come alive, crawling under his skin like a scarab, but was relieved to find his flesh was restored and did not look as bad as he expected it to appear. Where the blade had entered, only a thin, slit-like scar remained, its surroundings covered by a rectangular burn mark from Isaac’s cauterization that had saved him. He felt for them, but retracted his fingers immediately, for the pain though little was still there.

“I fell... to the endless dark...” he trailed off, looking at his Tanaar. “But you came for us. Everyone. What happened to them? Where are they? Are they safe? Are they well? The shadow! It –”

“Lay your concern to rest. They’ve all recovered under the auspices of Chancellor Concordia,” Professor Aionia assured him. “Let your body mend, first and foremost.”

“Elwin!” exclaimed Isaac, first to race through the arched doorway at the news of his friend’s awakening. “Bless ARTAIA, you are back with us!” He hugged Elwin tight, looking around his face and hair. “Are you alright? How do you feel? Your arms? When the demon grabbed you, oh my goodness, I thought you were – I thought we were going to –”

“Allow Elwin his breath,” Professor Aionia slowed him, seeing concern over Anna’s face. She was her contemporary in age, and Aionia too once was –

“Elwin?” Mirai and Katherine huffed, having climbed the forested steps without rest. They both flew into him and Isaac, and the kismets shared the first together embrace.

“Ah-ah-ah-ah-AH!” Elwin winced.

“Ack! Sorry!” Katherine yelped, letting go of her hand upon his shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re back,” cried Mirai, teardrops pooling in the midst of their hug, tears which only the pillows could see.

“Is... everyone else okay? Robert? Daphne? Rafia? Mar – Marcus?” He enquired as fast as his lungs could carry his breath.

“They speak very highly of you,” a graceful voice emanated from beyond the doorway.

An elegant woman draped in flowing robes of turquoise silk glided into the bedchamber, her fading hair a river of ocean mist much like Professor Irina’s.

“Delighted to make your acquaintance in the voice, Elwin Eramir. Welcome to the Republic of Utopia.”

“...Utopia? What? Wait –” he stammered, craning his neck outside in view of the lush valley, having to shield his lone eye from his first sun in a month.

“We were able to rescue everyone, Elwin. Many of them recovered before you did and returned to their home republics, but your friends insisted they stay until you were awake,” Chancellor Concordia explained.

“My kismets...”

Anna and Professor Aionia looked at each other, curious. Your kismet shall find you, Anna once told Elwin. He’d found not just one, but many in his time, all on his own.

“You did an incredible thing, rallying your friends when all hope must’ve appeared lost. No doubt all of us owe the rescue to your courageous leadership, serving as a shining beacon amidst the night,” praised his Tanaar.

“But I couldn’t defeat the demon with our power alone...”

“While humility is a mark of a gentleman,” a voice came from the top of the forested steps, “You sell yourself short.” Maximus entered through the archway. “I heard the tale from your friends. You said ‘no one shall die here!’, and kept your word true to the end! You are more worthy of the champion’s title than I had been, a year ago.”

“Maximus!”

The upperclassman made a hearty smile, striding into the room.

“Chancellor Concordia, please excuse my unannounced presence,” he declared, bowing his head with a hand over his heart.

“You are welcome to join us here,” she returned with a gentle bow, cordial smile upon her brow.

“I wanted to congratulate Elwin and his friends in person, with a gift for everyone towards good recovery,” Maximus continued, respectfully presenting an exquisite flat box inlaid with gold and navy trims. “Empyrean Harmony for you, Chancellor. And Imperial Mantrins for my friends from Aeternitas.”

“I graciously accept,” answered Chancellor Concordia. “But please, do not feel beholden for my part. Witnessing your unity and brotherhood is a reward sufficient for my song.”

She stood aside, letting Elwin and his family take the limelight again.

“Professor Aionia told me all about your journey,” bubbled Anna. “She praised how you stood up for your friends, and even defeated the sentinel of the Heriz family one-on-one!”

There was once a time when Elwin would return home battered from school, lonely and afraid, and she would worry that he’d never be able to free himself from Carl’s passing. How much a single year had changed him; Anna could not be prouder at her son for having forged his own path forward, a path he pioneered even against demons. To see her son happy at his own triumphs – to have made and exercised the meaning of his name – was of such a magnitude that it found itself on more than equal footing with her instinctual motherly concern for his safety.

Elwin tried to get up from his bed, to dust himself off and make himself look presentable at the eyes of admiration that were upon him, but found his legs wobbly as if they’d forgotten what gravity felt like.

He crumpled to the smoothed sandstone.

Isaac was the first to help him up.

“Easy,” advised his Tanaar, “remember, you’ve been knocked out for a month – it’ll take around a month in equal measure to retrain your muscles. Rest upon your pillow for the time being; we’ll plan how you can retrieve the memory of your body.”

 

* * *

 

The road to recovery was not as devilishly challenging as Elwin had expected. Because he was fourteen and spry, the memories of his muscles returned quickly; despite this, compelling his legs to walk again was on par with the difficulty of training his Kaha, half a year ago. But such a difficulty was something which he overcame before, so to everyone’s surprise except his Tanaar, his remarkable efforts enabled him to recover in a mere 3 weeks in the calendar of their republics. And as the fibers of his muscle were restored with regular regimen, Elwin learned of what had transpired.

Back there at the lost city, in the very moment the demon revealed its true form, Professor Aionia felt a caustic ripple tear at the ORI of the world, and set out at once with the professors and the headmaster, realizing a disaster was befalling their Artens in the lost city. They raced at breakneck speed for some twelve miles past Aienwater and drilled through the forest bed and some five-hundred feet of solid rock, arriving in the nick of time to save their stranded souls.

After they’d defeated the demon, the professors evacuated the Artens through the roof of that subterranean city. Elwin, most gravely injured of all, was flown alone to the Republic of Utopia and its capital city by Captain Hugo himself, who pulled out all the safety limits installed on the skycraft to get to the city’s doctors as speedily as he could, the only people who could neutralize the poison.

With just minutes to spare, Chancellor Concordia personally halted the miasma that would have disintegrated his flesh and heart – and with Orimatchi, she unbound their gnawing advance upon his cells and purified them all, saving him. But in the process, Elwin expended the last dregs of strength and fell into unconsciousness; his Kaha was forced into shock, which necessitated a long period of restoration. recouping from shock. He learnt that Chancellor Concordia was Professor Irina’s sibling, three years her elder – and was delighted to know that there were people friendly to Aeternitas in many pivotal positions across the Republics, who by virtue of association were ready to offer him generous aid.

As for the results of the tournament, in view of Elwin's kismets having been the first to clear that rubble to the temple crypt, having pulled out Astinel's staff, as well as leading the effort to stand against the demon, the faculty and the recovered Artens unanimously decided to award the kismets the title of reigning champions. Elwin was surprised to hear – and perplexed – that even Lucian was in favor of the vote.

While news of their triumph echoed through the school, the specifics of their ordeal and the presence of the demon was revealed only to the guardians of the final contestants. Alexander Heriz was rightly furious; but seeing that Elwin had readily given his all to protect Katherine, and visiting Utopia himself by Elwin's bed, his approval of the boy grew even deeper. Alexander left without much commotion, making no attempts to return Katherine to his estate, seeing her in safer and arguably far more protective hands.

The reward of two-hundred-thousand Denaros were to be divided and disbursed according to the kismets’ wishes, from which not a pence Katherine ever took, allowing her friends to each take one-thirds. Isaac however decided to give half of his share to Mirai and Elwin’s families, because they had more mouths to feed; his aging father was already being supported by Alexander Heriz’s generous donations. Seeing such a vast sum of coin – exceeding 83,000 Denaros each – presented a happy dilemma for the Eramir and Hinozawa families which they had yet to solve. They would give more time to think about how to best respect the courage and bravery of their children which earned them the prize money.

In the meantime, Robert and Daphne – along with Rafia and Marcus – returned to their own republics for the summer, addressing stamped postcards to Utopia for the kismets. Khan and his team took up the physical art of Amakusan boxing, having found themselves woefully inadequate against the demon; having faced and prevailed against the spectre of death together, all of them were now part of Elwin’s greater crew, a pact, so to speak.

On the other hand, Lucian’s whereabouts and the full extent of his secrets were withheld until the investigations were complete. But the kismets did hear from Robert and the others via letters that, when the doctors at Cita de Lumière removed Lucian’s robes to attend to his injuries, they found hundreds of burn scars etched into his torso, injuries which could not have been sustained afresh in the tournament. He was given the full protection of Aeternitas, and his testimonies taken to reveal what drove him to make an attempt on Elwin’s life outside the bounds of reason. Their findings, including who it was that coerced Lucian upon such a path, was closely related to a secret deeper still, including the question as to why the demon appeared, where it came from, and what its existence implied for the world the kismets knew.

And so, on a breezy summer morning upon Elwin’s bedchamber, Professor Aionia assembled the kismets in a solemn gathering – she was to afford them knowledge that only the champions were permitted to hear. No one else was allowed to be present.

Elwin sat upon the bed with Isaac, Katherine, and Mirai in a line. Professor Aionia sat in front of them, her staff floating by her side, her Quan of white and amber-gold upon her wrist.

“Throughout your Franen, and from your experiences in the tournament, you must have had a number of burning questions about the world. As the champions, in accordance with the tradition of Aeternitas, I shall reveal to you the secrets that are kept from the Republics at large, secrets which only you are permitted to know.”

The kismets gulped in unison.

Professor Aionia held up her hand. “What I reveal to you, you must swear an oath not to reveal to others. Not without my express consent. Do you agree to be bound by this rule?”

Each laid their right fist upon their heart, holding out their left palm, their promises made in the witness of the FOUNDERS.

“Very well. Lay your hands upon my Quan, for my voice shall flow into you as memory floods a dream. Worry not of visions that arrive into your head, but do not let go of my wrist, lest the torrents of time abduct your sanity.”

They each did as told. Elwin rested his hands on the Quan of his Tanaar, and felt a soothing, pulsing warmth, a voice from a thousand years yonder growing clearer into the forefront of his consciousness. Each of the kismets felt the same; they closed their eyes, listening, listening.