Chronicles of the Cycle: When the Sun is Blue

Chapter 9 - Echoes in the Walls

Miguel

The next morning, the sun filtering through the stained glass of Rixus felt like a sham. Walking through the institute’s hallways, which just twenty-four hours ago were merely a labyrinth of new experiences, had become an exercise in paranoia. Every security camera on the corners of the buildings seemed to slowly turn to follow me. The sleek, silver logo of the Veyra corporation, visible on students’ tablets and projectors, was no longer a symbol of progress, but the emblem of a crownless monarchy that watched me from everywhere. The truth was a heavy burden, and I carried it on my back, feeling it stoop my shoulders with every step. Knowledge hadn’t made me freer; it had locked me in a cage of fear and secrets.

“Miguel, wait up!”

Karol’s cheerful, carefree voice cut through the fog of my thoughts. She ran up to me, a smile on her face that made me feel like a traitor. She still lived in the world from before, the real, simple world that I had lost forever in a basement filled with maps and burnt coffee. “Hey, where did you disappear to last night? I sent you a couple of messages to see if you wanted to grab dinner, but you didn’t answer,” she said, adjusting her backpack on her shoulder. “Oh, sorry,” I lied, and the word tasted bitter in my mouth. “I was at the library late. There were some history texts I wanted to review and I lost track of time.” “More about your portals and magic?” she joked, giving me a friendly nudge. I forced a smile. “Something like that. You know, ancient history.” “Well, next time, give me a heads-up, bookworm. There’s a film festival in the Rixus plaza this weekend. We have to go!” Her enthusiasm was both a balm and a torture. “Sure, count me in,” I said, while my mind replayed the serious faces of “The Flame of Fraxy” and the cold stare of Edrian Veyra in the photograph on their board. I said goodbye to her with another excuse and headed toward the oldest part of campus. I needed air. I needed to be alone. The lie I had told Karol felt like a chasm opening between us, and I knew, with a pang of sadness, that it would be the first of many. Protecting her meant keeping her from the truth.

My instincts led me to the back gardens, a haven of peace with old stone benches and rose bushes climbing moss-covered walls. It was the perfect place to think, right in the shadow of the building wing where the mural was located. I sat on a bench, trying to sort through the whirlwind of information in my head. Fraxy. The Veins of the Earth. The Dynasty. It was too much. The feeling of being watched returned, stronger than ever. But this time, it wasn’t just a feeling. I forced myself to calm down, to breathe deeply, and to look—to observe the world as the stories from Abrak had taught me: by reading between the lines. And then I saw them. They weren’t obvious. They were part of the landscape. A gardener who had been trimming the same branches of a hedge for far too long about a hundred feet away. A student on a distant bench, his back to me, who hadn’t turned a page in his book for the last ten minutes. A maintenance technician checking a lamppost that was working perfectly. They were professionals. Discreet. Edrian Veyra’s shadows. My heart began to pound, a dull drum in my ears. It was real. I was being watched.

“You hide in plain sight. It’s a good tactic. But it doesn’t work if you look like a frightened little animal about to bolt.” The voice, soft and controlled, made me jump. I turned my head and saw her. It was Kari Veyra, the mysterious observer from the hallway. She was standing beside the bench, moving with a silent grace that had kept me from hearing her approach. She sat next to me, leaving a careful space between us. “What do you want?” I asked, my tone more hostile than I intended. Being a Veyra made her, by default, my enemy. “I admire your courage, Miguel,” she said, ignoring my aggression. “You ask the questions others don’t even dare to think. That’s rare. And dangerous.” “Are you here to threaten me? To tell me to stop asking?” She let out a soft, almost sad laugh. “On the contrary. I’m here to ask you to be more careful. The Dynasty is not a monolith. There are… factions. Different points of view. My uncle Edrian believes that progress and control justify any sacrifice. He believes history is his property. I don’t agree.” I looked at her, trying to find any sign of deceit in her eyes. They were dark, like Kai’s, but they held a warmth, a concern that seemed genuine. “Why are you telling me this?” “Because your name has reached places where a fifteen-year-old student’s name should not be mentioned.” Her voice dropped, becoming almost a whisper. “They are watching you. You know that, don’t you? You can feel it. But you’re mistaken if you think they want to stop you. Not yet.” She leaned a little closer, her gaze intense. “To my uncle, you are not a person. You are a tool or an obstacle. And he always finds a way to use both to his advantage. They will let you search, let you discover things, because every step you take shows them the way.”

Her words confirmed my worst fears. “The Flame of Fraxy” thought they were operating in secret, but the Dynasty was watching them, using me as their hunting dog. “Why are you risking telling me this?” I asked, my voice barely a murmur. “Because Abrak has always been a special place. My ancestors knew it,” she said, and her hand moved, brushing mine on the cold stone bench for an instant. A tiny but real electric current shot up my arm. “Because I believe what you are searching for is important. And because I don’t want you to become another victim of my family’s ‘progress.’” The touch was brief, but the feeling of warmth lingered, a strange island of comfort in an ocean of paranoia. She looked at me with a sincerity that disarmed me. “Be careful who you talk to. The new friends you make. Not everyone who seeks the truth wants it for the same reason.”

Suddenly, her body tensed. Her gaze shifted over my shoulder, toward the “gardener.” “I have to go,” she said abruptly. She stood with the same silent agility she had arrived with. “Don’t trust anyone easily, Miguel. Not even me. Question everything.” And with that, she turned and walked away, her figure disappearing among the stone arches of the old building, leaving me alone on the bench.

I sat there, my heart hammering against my ribs. The danger I felt before now had a name, a face, and a direct warning. But the warning had come from a Veyra. Was it a trap, an elaborate manipulation to win my trust? Or had I just found an unlikely ally in the very heart of the enemy’s empire? The conversation was a new secret, one I couldn’t share with Kai or Silas. How could I trust them with the fact that a Veyra had warned me, when it was the Veyra family we were trying to bring down? The whisper of the dynasty had left me more alone than ever.