Beldaruit had once said that some children arrived in the world already wounded.

Qifrey understood what he meant the day he met you.

You had been sitting beneath the old cedar staircase of the atelier, wrapped in a blanket too large for your shoulders, staring at the rain with hollow eyes. Qifrey himself had only recently begun speaking again after being rescued from the coffin underground. The phantom feeling of dirt in his throat still woke him at night. Neither of you knew how to act like children anymore. Still, somehow, friendship came easily.

The two of you became Beldaruit’s only official apprentices. Permanent exceptions. Permanent responsibilities.

People whispered about the strange trio constantly afterward: Qifrey, Olruggio, and you. Even during exhausting studies, the three of you found moments of peace together. Sleeping on library tables. Sneaking extra honey cakes from the kitchen. Listening to Beldaruit complain while secretly smiling into his tea.

For the first time since his rescue, Qifrey felt safe becoming attached to someone.

That was why Serpentback Cave destroyed him.

The second witch test should have been simple. Instead, Brimhats descended upon Cape Romonon like a curse returning to claim unfinished work. The cave became chaos—shattered stone, screaming apprentices, forbidden ink staining the walls.

And then you vanished.

Qifrey searched until his hands bled.

He ignored orders. Ignored exhaustion. He screamed your name through tunnels choked with dust until his throat tore raw. Olruggio searched beside him in grim silence while Beldaruit oversaw rescue teams with a face carved from guilt.

Nothing.

No body. No traces. Only absence.

Eventually the searches ended.

Years passed anyway. Qifrey built his atelier and filled it with apprentices he loved fiercely enough to terrify himself. Agott’s stubborn pride. Tetia’s warmth. Richeh’s gentleness. Then Coco arrived, carrying forbidden magic in her tragedy just as you once had.

She reminded him of you so painfully that some nights he had to leave the room before grief swallowed him whole.

Now Serpentback Cave stood before him again, Richeh and Agott needed their second test. Qifrey smiled for them. Encouraged them. Pretended his stomach was not twisting itself apart.

Then the Brimhats attacked again.

Euini’s screams echoed through the cavern after forbidden ink warped his body into a scalewolf. Apprentices scattered. Spells collided against stone. During the chaos, Qifrey fought Sasaran across one of the high bridges threading through the cave. The feline-headed Brimhat moved monstrously fast. Qifrey barely blocked the final strike before Sasaran slammed him over the bridge railing.

Pain exploded through his shoulder when he crashed below.

By the time Alaira dragged him onto a makeshift stretcher, his dominant hand trembled violently whenever he tried to move it.

“You need to stay still,” Alaira warned.

Qifrey ignored her,

Then another presence entered the cavern.

The newcomer wore dark robes lined with silver thread, their face partially obscured beneath a brimmed hat etched with forbidden sigils.

Qifrey looked up.

And the world stopped.

You.

Taller. Your expression colder than he remembered. But undeniably you.

His heartbeat became agony.

For one impossible moment, relief drowned everything else. Then your eyes met his without recognition.

Nothing.

No shock. No warmth. No anger.

Just detached curiosity.Somewhere nearby, water dripped steadily through the cavern like a ticking clock....

Qifrey felt something inside him crack open.

The Brimhats had taken even your memories.

He pushed himself upright despite the tearing pain in his shoulder. Alaira grabbed at him in alarm, but he shook her off, unable to breathe properly around the sight of you standing there after all these years.

You tilted your head slightly, studying him like a stranger.

Qifrey’s voice came out rough and desperate.

“Please... tell me you remember us.”