Gilded Ashes: When Shadows Reign

The man in the dark blue robe stopped, his hands still slightly apart. One eye sharp yellow. The other a pale, ghostly cyan. Lines moved inside that strange iris like something alive.

His gaze rested on Raizen.

Then the man smiled.

It was small, polite. The kind of smile teachers used when they were about to compliment or correct you.

"Apologies" he said. His voice was warm, quiet, with that smooth, educated tone Raizen had heard from high-level lecturers at Lotus Academy. "I did not mean to interrupt your session so dramatically."

No one answered.

Everyone was waiting to see who he was.

Mina cleared her throat first.

"Professor Atman" she said. Her tone was perfectly respectful. Her shoulders were just a bit too tight. "We did not expect you out here."

"Clearly" he said. "Or you would have chosen a less breathtaking demonstration, am I right?"

His eyes flicked to Raizen.

The corner of Mina's mouth twitched. "My mistake."

Atman stepped fully into the circle.

Students shifted back a little more, instinctively making room for him. Raku pulled his beast farther away, fingers brushing its fur as if to calm it. The wolf still refused to take its eyes off Raizen.

Atman came to a stop a few steps in front of Raizen.

Up close, the professor didn't really look dangerous.

He had neat features, hair tied back cleanly, robe without a wrinkle. His hands were steady and relaxed at his sides. He smelled faintly of paper, ink and some herbal soap.

"Raizen, was it?" Atman asked. "And Saffi."

He said their names like he was confirming information, not learning it.

Raizen felt his back straighten a little. "Yes, sir."

Saffi dipped her head. "Yes."

"Atman" he said, inclining his head in return. "A pleasure."

His gaze returned to Raizen.

"Your display was… Unsettling" he said. "In a good way."

Raizen had heard a lot of compliments since arriving at Lotus Academy. Most of them came with noise - cheering, shouting, Obi's dramatic rambling. This one landed differently.

"Thank you" he said slowly.

Atman's eyes seemed to soften.

"That last choice you made" he went on, as if they were alone, "that was a perfect instinct for a hunted animal. Any sudden movement and the jaws would have followed. Roll, push, flail - the throat would have been cut. Panic is the most common error in that position."

His head tilted a little.

"But you did not panic. You allowed the predator to commit. Then you introduced a greater threat without changing your posture. Elegant."

Raizen blinked.

"I just did what felt right" he said. "If I moved too much, I'd have died. So I stayed still. Then I used the smallest thing I could."

"The smallest thing you could?" Atman repeated. "Yes... Of course..."

His yellow eye crinkled, amused. The Chasmis did not.

"You have a good feel for animals, it seems" he said. "I would have assumed your parents work with them. Biologists? Trainers? Researchers, perhaps?"

Raizen shook his head.

"They were simple fishermen" he answered. "On the coast."

Were.

The word slipped out before he could soften it.

Atman did not flinch. He did not make a big show of regret. He simply bowed his head by a fraction.

"My condolences" he said quietly. "I spoke without knowing. That was careless of me."

The apology was too calm. Not fake - just controlled.

An odd silence stretched there, thin and tight.

Raizen broke it before it got embarrassing.

"I don't really know much" he said. "About beasts and all that. I grew up with fish, not books. I just… Did what seemed right in the moment."

Atman's smile returned.

"Instinct is a kind of knowledge" he said. "One that is the most difficult to teach. You did not flail or freeze. You held still, then expressed power in a focused thread instead of a big wave. That is more discipline than many veterans manage."

He glanced down at the sword at Raizen's hip.

"And your weapon" he added. "It resonates with you in an amazing way."

Raizen frowned slightly.

"What do you mean?"

"At Ukai we monitor Eon output constantly" Atman said. "For beasts, it's crucial. Our training drones read fluctuations, our platforms have sensors layered through the wood. When you sparked your blade, every device in range took note."

Saffi's head snapped up at that.

"What did they show?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Atman's gaze slid to her. His smile gentled.

"Impressive amplification" he said. "Your Luminite's response to your Eon output is exceptionally high. Especially for someone of his age and… Current state."

Raizen felt a small jolt run through him.

Back in the Rust Room, they had measured and re-measured everything. Physical resilience. Strike precision. Luminite amplification, too - how much extra the crystal added when he poured power through it. The most he got was twelve percent. But now? He was way stronger now.

He hadn't seen those numbers since he left.

Atman watched his face carefully.

"You haven't checked your amplification in some time, have you?" he said lightly. "Neoshima focuses more on immediate combat output, if I am not mistaken."

"We usually just measure Eon output and performance" Raizen admitted. "Engagement times. Recovery. Things like that."

"Of course" Atman said. "Practical priorities."

He clasped his hands behind his back.

"Here, we care a great deal about how Luminite and Eon interact over time. Amplification, stability, feedback loops. Especially when someone has both high raw output and a weapon that responds so eagerly."

There was something in the way he said "eagerly" that made the tiny hairs on Raizen's arms rise.

Mina had gone quiet.

Raizen glanced her way.

She stood just a few steps away. Her stance was relaxed at first glance, but her eyes were very sharp, tracking every word. When Atman looked her way for even a second, her expression smoothed out into professional neutrality.

Atman's attention came back to Raizen.

"If you are willing" he said, "I would like to run a more detailed reading on your Luminite resonance and amplification. It would be… enlightening."

Saffi shifted closer to Raizen without thinking.

"What would that involve exactly?" she asked.

Atman did not seem annoyed by the question. If anything, he looked pleased that she had asked.

"Standard diagnostic" he replied. "No harm, I assure you. Your friend will not be in danger."

He said "friend" so naturally that Saffi stumbled over the rest of what she had meant to say.

Raizen studied him.

There was nothing in Atman's posture that screamed threat. No tightness. No twitch. At the very least, nothing obvious.

But he could feel it anyway. A wrongness just under the surface. Like looking at still water and knowing there was something underneath.

He just couldn't prove it.

He thought about the wolf's reaction. How it had gone from predator to trembling in a single second, just from one spark.

He thought about the way Atman's blue eye had pulsed when he clapped.

"That kind of reading…" Raizen started, searching for the right words. "Is it something you give to every visiting student?"

"Not at all" Atman said, cheerful. "In general, we don't even have too many visiting students... And even less catch my attention"

Mina finally stepped forward.

"Professor Atman" she said. "With all due respect - Raizen just got externalized from the Med Wing days ago. He still isn't fully recovered. If you want long tests, it might be better to schedule them later in the week. After he has adjusted."

A normal teacher might have been annoyed at being pushed.

Atman was not.

He turned his head to her, that polite smile never quite leaving his face.

"Supervisor Mina" he replied. "Of course I am aware of his condition. I do not intend to push him past his limits. I simply want a clearer picture of the interaction between his Eon and that blade. He can refuse, after all."

His gaze shaved over her for a second, then back to Raizen. Mina's jaw flexed once before she hid it.

Saffi's fingers clenched in the fabric of her jacket.

She wanted to say no. To tell Raizen this was not part of the original plan. That they had come here to observe beasts and learn, not to be tested.

The problem was that Atman had not offered something unreasonable.

He had offered… Data.

For someone like Saffi, that felt tempting.

For someone like Raizen, recognition and curiosity both pulled.

And still, his chest felt tight in a way that had nothing to do with fractured ribs.

Atman seemed to sense the weight in the silence.

"If it makes you more comfortable" he added gently, "you can stop at any time. I will not force you to do anything. It is simply an opportunity. Neoshima rarely lets us see cases like yours up close."

There it was again.

The hidden knowledge.

He knew things he should not know. Spoke like he was filling in a few blanks on a page already mostly written.

Raizen breathed out slowly.

"Alright" he said. "I can handle some tests."

Saffi turned to him sharply. "Raizen -"

"I'll be fine" he said. "You can stay with Mina. Ask about their beast stabilisation logs. You wanted those, right?"

It was true. Her mind had been full of Eon beast patterns and stability ratios since they had arrived.

It didn't make the feeling in her stomach go away.

Atman inclined his head, as if Raizen had just answered correctly on an exam.

"Excellent" he said. "Thank you. The data will be valuable."

He took a half step back, making space.

"Raizen" Atman said. "Please follow me. Alone, if you do not mind."

The Chasmis eye pulsed once.

The movement was tiny. A soft brightening, then a slow fade, like a heartbeat in the wrong place.

Raizen's fingers twitched at his side.

His body wanted to stay where he was, with Mina's dry sarcasm, Saffi's worry and the noise of students training around him. Here, danger made sense. Teeth, claws, falling platforms.

What Atman offered was something else.

He swallowed.

"Sure" he said.

His feet moved.

He stepped out of the circle toward the man with the ghost-blue eye.

And for the first time that day, Raizen wished he was back under the wolf's fangs instead.

Something felt wrong.