They passed through an open green pin, the ice-capped mountains looming in the distance. Drifter trailed behind, his steps slow. His eyes flicked toward Friedrich Rosenthal, Alma Rosenthal, and Luna Sabriel. Awisted in his gut with eacertain step. Was this truly 700 years into the future? What had bee of the world, his team, the First Grandmaster? And why hadn’t the Order unched another operation to Paxluma?

  The whispers of alien wrew louder, slipping through his mind. A dull ache spread in his head. Was it the cube, or something else?

  He reached into his poud touched the oval blue crystal—the Elysian Ward Stohat Vina had given him.

  Memories surged—smiles of a man and woman with violet hair, her voice eg: “We all have to make it through this, okay?” Grief tightened his chest, and he clutched the stoighter.

  Then, suddenly, the whispers stopped.

  His thoughts froze, and an eerie stillness settled over him.

  As he stepped past a lone, gree, a voice shattered the silenbsp;“Dear… Drifter…” The words seeped into his mind—distorted yet strangely soothing. They reverberated both in the air and within him, a paradox of warmth and cold. An unpceable sound that sent a sharp chill down his spine.

  He spun around sharply, his gaze sweeping the ndscape.

  “Who’s there? Show yourself!”

  Nothing. Only the whispering wind.

  Alma raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong? Do you think someone’s following us?” Her voice was soft with .

  “It’s nothing. Sorry. Just my imagination,” Drifter said, though his heart raced.

  Luna turned sharply, her narrowed eyes fixing on him.

  “Are you sure?” Her tone was firm, direct.

  Drifter looked at Luna, his mind rag. Why had she asked him that? Did she know something about the cube? Or was it natural for artifacts to be se? If they thought the cube was influeng him… that would be bad.

  “I’m sure,” Drifter said, his voice steady.

  “You don’t have to lie to us. Tell me… is the cube speaking to you?” Luna's voice hardened, being sharper.

  Friedrich remained silent, his calm gaze fixed on Drifter, watg every word and movement.

  Drifter ched his fist, feeling the weight of what he couldn't say. Ay and distrust ed inside him. Would they see him as nothing more than an experiment? The terrifying trials at the academy still haunted him. But as the voice whispered again, fai persistent, he realized—he was running out of time. These strangers were his only lead for now.

  “Sometimes...” Drifter murmured.

  “Yes... it whispers,” he added, his voice low.

  “Whispers? How a lifeless object speak?” Alma's eyes widened slightly as she looked at him.

  “I don’t know,” Drifter said quietly.

  “I know it sounds crazy, but I hear it. Sometimes it’s like someoalking to me. I get some of it… other times, it’s just noise.” He added quietly.

  Luna’s eyes narrowed, her jaw tightening as she stepped closer. “Don’t lose yourself to it...”

  Friedrich remained silent, casting a brief g Drifter before tinuing his walk.

  They finally stopped at a ptform in front of an obsidian monolith. Drifter observed it up close—it was massive, etched with pulsing symbols, ed by a glowing blue crystal at its apex.

  Suddenly, Friedrich stepped forward and touched the device. In an instant, a holographic map beled "Verm" appeared, with Friedrich's face dispyed in a small er, apanied by text that might have been his name. Friedriteracted with the hologram, tapping several times. The device hummed, its energy pulsing around them as the ptform beh them lit up with surging veins of energy.

  “It’s time. Let’s go,” Friedrich said.

  Drifter g the Verm Pi time, feeling the steady pulse of the Bck Cube at his side. He stepped onto the ptform as its energy vibrated beh him.

  A brilliant blue light engulfed them, and they vanished.

  As they reappeared, Drifter’s gaze fell on the horizon. T crystalline buildings pierced the sky, their fwless surfaces shimmering in the sunlight. The rugged castles of his past had been repced by alie mesmeriziric designs—a stark betrayal of his memories.

  Beh his feet stretched a gleaming road, its mirror-like surface refleg his hesitant steps. Above, floating roads defied gravity, weaving through the air like threads of light—a sharp trast to the dirt paths he onew. Geometristructs glided effortlessly on the crystal streets, h like ghosts.

  Is this the city? Really? he thought, his eyes widening in disbelief.

  Ahead of him, Friedrich walked calmly, with Luna and Alma following. His silver arman to dissolve into swirling golden particles, vanishing pletely. In its pce, he now wore a sleek bck suit with a crisp white colr. Friedriced back, motioning subtly for Drifter to follow.

  Drifter exhaled deeply, blue particles shimmering around him as they disassembled his bck armor and cape, leaving him in a simple bck tunic. He joihem.

  As they ventured deeper into the city, Drifter observed the people around him. They wore elegant clothes and flowing dresses, their attire subtle yet unmistakably indicative of wealth. Some walked with strupanions—beings that resembled humans or animals—handing ice cream to a child or drinks to those seated at outdoor tables he pedestrian walkways. Other structs, geometri shape, diligently ed the streets, watered pnts, or trimmed the grass. He even saw rger structs, t in size, assisting in the stru of buildings. Yet, it wasn’t the fine garments or the advaeology that caught his attention—it was their smiles. Calm, genuine, and untouched by fear.

  In his time, the Cataclysmaris invasion had torn the skies apart, repg hope with terror. Yet here, in this world born from ruin, happiness seemed to thrive. Drifter stood motionless, caught between awe and unease, unsure whether to celebrate this strange peaourn the cost of its creation.

  “It feels like a dream,” he murmured. “None of this feels real.”

  “Seveuries, Drifter,” Luna replied, her tone cold and sharp. “The world didn’t wait for you.”

  As they tio walk, they arrived at a vast, gssy building teeming with people. Some of the individuals standing there seemed to watch Drifter, their gazes lingering on him as if he were something they had never seen before. Perhaps it was his old clothes that set him apart from the others. Then, Drifter’s eyes caught the holographic text: Skyrail Station - Outskirts District.

  After a moment, he heard the soft hum of a mae... and then it came. The gray train, with its sleek, geometric, alien desig utterly fn to him. As it asded, the crystalliy unfolded before him. Drifter’s eyes widened in disbelief as he watched regur and triangur structs s through the sky, glowing blue energy trailing behind them.

  It’s unbelievable... those massive things fly, he thought.

  Sing his surroundings, he noticed most passengers wore Lumina Cores on their wrists, in a variety of colors—white, bck, blue, red, green, pink and gray. As they g their holographic ss, Drifter saw faces moving, some readi like books, others watg moving images. A few passengers used small devices in their ears while watg holograms on their Lumina Cores. He faintly heard the sound of music drifting from those devices.

  What are these new magic abilities? he wondered.

  Drifter turned his gaze back to the window, his eyes trag the t crystalline buildings as they seamlessly blended with the green and sapphire crystal roads below. Some roads hracefully above, while others moved steadily along, their paths alive with activity like a y of ants. He wondered if this was the future of Alcherider teology. He recalled the elite vehicles of old, reserved for the nobility, their legs creeping slowly across the roads. But now, seeing so many in such varied forms, a strange sense of fusion washed over him.

  Then, suddenly, a soft voice broke through his thoughts.

  “That’s our academy,” Alma said, her voice proud yet gentle, as she poioward a building with a small smile.

  As the Verm Evocaier Academy came into view, its t crystal spires reached high into the heavens, surrounded by rge buildings and lush greehat made the pce feel serene. Drifter could only stare, his awe tempered by a deep sense of sadness.

  Drifter nodded slowly, a faint murmur esg his lips.“It’s... massive.”

  But his thoughts drifted back to the Officer Academy of Paxluma, ohe pride of noble houses. pared to this, Paxluma felt like a fotten town

  The Skyrail came to a halt, and they disembarked, walking toward the academy’s grarance. Drifter’s pace slowed as they he gates. Banners fluttered oher side, and his throat tightehe familiar symbol of a glowing blue Lotus, surrounded by the Evocaier Order’s winged crest, was still there—just as he remembered.

  Yet alongside the blue-and-bck crest moon of the Holy Empire of Selvaria, the white tree of the cve of Eldoria, and the red dragon head of Kaen, there were new symbols—ones he didn’t reize.

  "Selvaria... Eldoria... Kaen..." Drifter murmured.

  "Wait... wasn’t Verm supposed to be part of the Elysium Kingdom?" Drifter turo Friedrich.

  "It was. But Elysium didn’t survive. After the Cataclysmaris Invasion, everything colpsed," Friedrich replied.

  "I suppose... the Civil War had already done enough damage," Drifter said.

  He khat, before his time travel to this era, there had been no signs of the Elysium Kingdom rising again. The capital of Paxluma had beeroyed, there were no heirs... The remnants of the old nobility were surely f new fas. Hearing that the kingdom was gone didn’t faze him.

  "Now, Area Zero, Verm, and Verudia are ral zones under Evocaier Order ht. As for the rest of Elysium, new nations rose from its ruins. What once was, still exists... but in a different form," Friedrich said.

  "Why trol territories? The Evocaier Order was an anization, not a nation," Drifter replied.

  Friedrich straightened, his sigh heavy.

  "It was meant to stay that way. The Evocaier Order was never inteo bee a ruling force. We were protectors, a bastion against any threat, safeguarding the world from destru. That was our purpose."

  "But time ged everything. The desdants of Elysium—those who survived its fall—began to see the Evocaier Order differently. They looked to us not just as protectors, but as rulers, a force with authority. And the so-called ral zones became more than just a hey became symbols of trol," he added, his voice quieter.

  "The truth is, those ral zones were ruly ral. They’ve always been uhe Evocaier Order’s dominion," he added.

  A familiar chill crept down Drifter’s spine.

  It seems the Order isn’t the same anymore. he thought, utling in his chest.

  The gates of the Verm Evocaier Academy hummed softly as the crystal doors slid into the walls. Above, the symbol of the Evocaier lowed brightly.

  Inside, a holographic map floated midair, dispying the academy’s structure.

  North: and SpireWest: Academigter: CourtyardEast: Residential plexSouth: Training & Recreation Zohwest: Research terBelow the Courtyard: Alcherider Parking Lot

  "Let’s go," Friedriterrupted, his voice cutting through Drifter’s wandering thoughts. His steps were resolute as he headed toward the and Spire, its t presence casting long shadows that felt like they pierced the heavens.

  The Courtyard sprawled wide, its glowing pathways snaking like illuminated serpents in the dimming light. Students and instruoved in patterns that were almost unnaturally synized, their gazes sharp and filled with silent questions. Whispers flowed like icy streams:

  "Who is he?""Why is he dressed like that...?""Is that an old tunic?"

  Friedrich’s steady stride cut through the murmuring crowd like a bde through water. Luna and Alma followed close behind, their faces calm, though the tension in their shoulders was unmistakable.