The rain hadn't stopped for two days. It soaked through their clothes, boots, and bones—but none of them said a word. Mai led the way, her red eyes narrowed under the storm's weight. Behind her walked Tiffany, unusually quiet, and Duncan, whose calm eyes scanned the shifting terrain.
But the silence wasn't empty.
It carried questions.
Finally, when they stopped to rest beneath a shattered torii gate, Duncan sat on a fallen log, his violet cloak sagging from the water.
"Where did you go?" Mai asked.
Duncan looked up slowly, as if the question had waited years to be spoken.
"I should've died that day," he murmured. "Back when Gigel came to Glob."
Mai stiffened.
"You were there?"
He nodded. Tiffany stopped fidgeting with her sunflower pin and listened closely.
"I was just a soldier then. Angry. Cold. My job was to protect the outer rim of the forest. But I got scared. I saw what Gigel was — and I ran."
Mai's fist clenched.
"I saw them die," Duncan whispered. "I hid while your village burned."
Then —crack. Mai slapped him across the face.
He didn't flinch. He didn't apologize. He just looked at her.
"You have every right."
Tiffany looked at both of them. "But if you ran, how did you get the power?"
Duncan took a slow breath.
"When I fled, I reached a cliff. I thought I'd throw myself off. But then... I saw it. A single violet flower grows on the edge. It glowed. It pulsed like a heartbeat. I didn't understand it, but I touched it. And it entered me."
Mai frowned. "So it chose you?"
"No," he said. "It judged me. It saw all the hatred, all the cowardice — and it didn't reject me. It offered me a second chance, but only through compassion."
Tiffany raised an eyebrow. "That explains why you're annoyingly calm."
Duncan smiled faintly. "That's not calm. That's guilt disguised as peace."
Mai sat beside him. The fire crackled. "So why now? Why come back?"
He didn't answer at first. Then:
"Because I heard about the red rose girl. And I thought maybe... if I helped her win, I could finally be something other than the man who ran."
Tiffany rolled her eyes. "You're both dramatic."
But something soft flickered in her golden eyes.
Later that night, Duncan stood watch alone. But his thoughts pulled him back.
FLASHBACK: THE NIGHT OF THE FALL
Young Duncan, clad in black armor, stood guard in the mist. Voices screamed in the distance. Flames licked the sky.
Then he saw him.
Gigel.
Cloaked in blue, eyes like hellfire, leaving trails of ash wherever he walked.
Duncan froze. He should've raised his weapon. Instead, he fled.
Hours later, breathless and bleeding, he reached the cliff. And there... the violet. Shimmering in the moonlight.
"You abandoned them," a voice echoed in his mind.
"I know," Duncan whispered. "But I don't want to run anymore."
The violet dissolved into light and entered his chest.
When he woke, the rage was gone. The pain remained — but it no longer ruled him.
Back to the present
At sunrise, Mai, Tiffany, and Duncan resumed walking.
But now, something was different.
They weren't just three strangers bound by power.
They were threads of a story still being written.
And somewhere ahead, Gigel waited.
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