I woke up easily.

  No heaviness.

  No urge to shut my eyes again.

  Liara sat by the fire, and when she saw me get up, she nodded.

  “Morning.”

  “Morning…” I said—and suddenly realized:

  the drowsiness was gone.

  Completely.

  “I still couldn’t come up with anything,” she said. “Soon the whole kingdom will be hunting you.”

  I got up and started pacing.

  “Marching on the demons is too risky. Staying here is stupid. Running without a plan is stupid too.”

  I stopped.

  And something clicked in my head.

  “Liara,” I said. “Describe me.”

  She looked at me, surprised.

  “Uh…

  Black eyes.

  Black hair.

  Eleven years old.

  A white kid.”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “Exactly.”

  I sat down.

  Mana flowed softly, steadily—without pressure.

  “Alright…” I muttered. “Let’s start with the hair.”

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  I ran through options.

  Dark—no.

  Blond—too ordinary.

  White…

  Silver…

  “Works,” I decided. “And it’s the easiest.”

  My hair slowly began to lighten, like it was bleaching in sunlight.

  A few seconds later it was ash-gray, with a cold silver sheen.

  “And the eyes…” I thought. “What goes with gray?”

  I looked up.

  “Blue. Yeah.”

  That part was harder.

  Mana trembled.

  “Okay… carefully…”

  I blinked.

  “Liara, look.”

  She stepped closer…

  and froze.

  “You…” she started. “One eye is half black, half blue.”

  “What?” I frowned. “Hold on.”

  A second of focus—and it settled into place.

  Both eyes turned a clear blue. Cold. Deep.

  “Well?” I asked.

  She was silent for a long moment.

  “I…” she said at last. “I’ve never seen that.”

  “I’ve heard of mages who can change their bodies…”

  “But on the move?”

  She shook her head.

  “They won’t recognize you now,” she added. “Not at all.”

  “That’s it,” I shrugged. “No need to hide from anyone.”

  “Almost it,” Noxus’s voice cut in. “Name.”

  I sighed.

  “Right…”

  I started trying out options out loud.

  “Torwood?”

  “Seriously?” Liara snorted. “That’s like naming yourself after a forest.”

  “Alright… Jack?”

  I laughed at myself.

  “No. I can’t come up with a worse name.”

  “Maybe… Torvun?” Noxus suggested.

  “Don’t like it,” I waved it off.

  Liara thought.

  “Askelad?”

  “Too suspicious.”

  I sighed.

  “I feel like I’m stealing names from other stories.”

  Noxus snorted.

  “Right now you look like ash.”

  I looked down at my hands.

  At the gray hair.

  “Ash…” I repeated softly.

  We fell quiet.

  The fire crackled.

  The wind stirred the grass.

  I stared at my hands.

  At the ash-gray strands.

  “Ash…” I said again.

  And then I understood.

  The name surfaced on its own.

  No effort. No arguing.

  Like I’d remembered it instead of inventing it.

  “Asgrim,” I said out loud.

  Silence.

  Liara raised an eyebrow.

  “Asgrim…” she repeated slowly, testing the sound.

  Noxus hummed.

  “Hm. Sounds like someone’s already died with that name… or survived,” he said. “I like it.”

  I shrugged.

  “It’s… fine.”

  Liara nodded.

  “It fits. Ash. North. And an attitude that doesn’t invite questions.”

  She studied me.

  “So you’re Asgrim now?”

  I looked at the fire.

  Then up at the sky.

  “For now,” I said. “Yeah. Let it be.”

  Noxus snorted.

  “Well then, Asgrim,” he said. “Looks like a new chapter’s starting.”

  I smirked.

  And for the first time in a long while,

  it felt like the past

  was a little farther away

  than yesterday.