The beast’s roar shook Arcadia to its core.Its body was a nightmare stitched together, limbs of different beasts fused with bone, skin etched with runes that bled black fire. It wasn’t just alive; it was cursed into existence, a living abomination that carried the Circle’s hatred in every movement.It slammed into the courtyard, shattering stone and sending students flying.“Hold!” Kai’s voice cut through the chaos, sharper than steel. He lunged first, blade striking across the monster’s hide. Sparks flew. The steel barely bit.Behind him, Lina’s staff flared golden, a beam of light bursting across the beast’s chest. The creature screamed, stumbling, but didn’t fall.“Break its runes!” she shouted.Kai nodded once, already moving.But then the ground erupted behind him.Cyrus had seen the blast too late. A Circle warlock raised both arms, symbols burning across his flesh, and the earth split beneath Cyrus’s feet. He staggered, the shockwave throwing him off balance—straight into t

The library still stank of smoke. Books that made it through the fire were all over the marble floor. Pages looked singed, curling up at the edges. Moonlight came right through the broken windows. Over in the corner, a child was whimpering, soot ran down their face. Lina was down there crouching, speaking softly. Her hands had this faint glow, as she fixed up a cut on the boy's arm.Kai stayed back at the other end. His blade was out still, knuckles hurt bad, raw from punching debris to pull three students out a live. Every breath came shallow, keeping it controlled. Rafe's ghost pushed at him, whispering: More could have been saved. If you weren't so weak.Cyrus came limping up next to him. He held his ribs, where the assassin hit him earlier. His grin came sharp. But it looked strained.“Not bad, Kai. For a guy who swore he was no hero.”Kai didn’t answer. His eyes stayed on Lina. She looked exhausted—hair plastered to her face with sweat, dirt on her cheek, her light flickerin

The tunnels reeked of blood.Hours after the ambush, the stone walls still seemed to hum with it. The sharp metallic tang had soaked right into the cracks. It hung there in the damp air. Students drifted around like ghosts. They bandaged up wounds, dragging bodies off to the side, whispering names that wouldn’t never answer no matter what.Kai stayed off by himself. He leaned his back against the wall, his blade lay across his knees. His hands trembled just a bit. Nobody had the nerve to point it out. The fight replayed again and again in his mind. Lina’s pale face, her cry, the assassins’ blades arcing down. His body had chosen before his mind. And Daren…Gone.Every instinct told him he had failed.Across the chamber, Cyrus argued with the other lieutenants in a harsh whisper. The word traitor spat like venom. Plans to relocate. Plans to retaliate. Plans to survive. But their voices sounded far away, drowned under the older, darker voice in Kai’s skull.You chose weakness.His

The staircase twisted down into the dark. Kai's boots hit each step with a groan. The stone felt worn smooth, untouched for years by anyone. He kept going lower. The air turned colder right away, not just a night chill, more like thick, pressing cold from places nobody thinks about anymore. Dust kicked up easy from the slightest thing, it swirled around in the faint torchlight that Lina gripped hard in her hand.Nobody else came with them, after last fight…..most of The Inversion needing time to recover. The tunnels stayed quiet. Just the drip of water and the scrape of their boots on the floor.“Are you sure about this?” Lina whispered behind him.Her voice didn’t echo. The walls swallowed sound whole, as if the place had grown tired of listening.Kai didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure. Not really. But something had been pulling at him since the battle near the ruins—like a thread knotted deep in his chest. When Cyrus mentioned a collapsed chamber under Arcadia, Kai knew. He hadn’t t

The smoke never cleared.Every corner of the tunnels stank of blood and burning stone, of iron and charred skin. The Inversion’s fighters dragged themselves back into the central chamber, one by one, broken and bloodied. Some leaned on each other, some stumbled in alone, eyes hollow, too stunned to speak.Kai stood in the middle of it all, sword hanging limp in his hand. The light from Lina’s flames danced across his face, but his eyes were shadowed.He had promised them a safe haven. What he gave them instead was a graveyard.The silence was heavier than the battle had been. Every cough, every groan of the injured scraped against him like a blade. He couldn’t breathe without feeling the weight of every death.And still—the amulet pulsed against his chest. Heavy. Whispering.You could have saved them. If you weren’t afraid.Lina reached for him, her hand hovering near his arm but not quite touching. She had blood smeared across her cheek, her hair clinging to her face with sweat.