The Awakening of Chris Graham

CHAPTER 5 — THE WARNING THAT SHOULDN’T EXIST

The dust from the vanished Shardwraith still hung in the air like ash. Chris coughed, waving it away as he struggled to stand. His legs felt like wet rope, shaky, unreliable, and far too aware of nearly dying twice today.

Lyra put a hand on his arm. “Chris… slow down.”

“I’m fine,” he said automatically.

“You’re not fine,” she replied, softer.

“And you don’t have to pretend you are.”

Chris hated how that made his chest tighten. Kael scanned the chamber with his flame-blade still drawn. “Focus. If that thing said ‘others,’ then we need to move.”

Chris looked up sharply. “Move where? There is nowhere safer than the school, right?”

Kael didn’t answer. That silence hit harder than any monster. Lyra’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Chris… Shardwraiths don’t retreat. Ever. Their whole existence is to reclaim broken power.”

Chris exhaled shakily. “Okay. Follow-up question: what happens when they succeed?”

Lyra looked away. Kael answered instead. “You disappear.”

Chris blinked. “Disappear as in knocked out? Or disappear as in relocated? Or—”

“Gone,” Kael said flatly. “As if you were never born.”

Chris stared. “Oh good. That’s… that’s great. Love that. Amazing.”

Lyra squeezed his hand. “Chris”

“No, really,” Chris said, voice cracking, “I’ve always wanted the ability to die in creative new ways.”

Kael snorted. “Keep joking. It helps you stay sane.”

Chris pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not insane. I’m just catastrophically unlucky.”

The chamber rumbled again, the stone tremors quick and sharp. Kael stiffened. “That wasn’t the archive shifting. That was… something above us.”

Lyra’s head snapped up. “Another Wraith?”

Chris’s breath caught. “No. Please no. I just stood up.”

Kael motioned toward the tunnel. “We need to get back to the surface.”

“But what if it’s waiting?” Chris asked.

Kael looked at him, eyes steady. “Then we kill it. Together.”

Lyra nodded. “We won’t let anything take you.”

Chris swallowed hard. “Okay… then let’s go.”

The tunnels stretched upward like a stone throat. Their footsteps echoed loud, too loud. Every sound made Chris twitch. “Does… does anyone else hear something?” Chris whispered.

Kael sighed. “Chris, you hear everything right now. That’s normal after an awakening.”

“No, seriously.” Chris paused. “There’s a… a ringing.”

Lyra frowned. “Ringing?”

Chris pointed to his ear. “It’s like… glass vibrating.”

Kael froze. “That’s bad.”

“Why?!”

“Because Shardwraiths warp the air before they appear,” Kael said.

Chris gulped. “Oh. Good. Great. Perfect.”

Lyra tapped her staff. “We’ll shield you this time. I swear it.”

“No,” Chris said quietly. “I’m done being protected. If this thing wants me, I’ll fight.”

Kael raised a brow. “You? Fight?”

“Yes, me!” Chris snapped. “I’m tired of being the reason everyone else gets hurt.”

Lyra whispered, “Chris…”

He clenched his fists. “I don’t know what’s happening to me. I don’t know what awakened inside me. But I’m tired of running from everything.”

Kael smiled faintly. “Finally. Some spine.”

Lyra elbowed him. “Kael, be nice.”

“I am being nice. That was encouragement.”

Chris laughed nervously. “Wow. That was encouragement? You’re improving.”

Kael shrugged. “I try.”

They reached the final corridor leading to the trapdoor that opened beneath the academy. Lyra pressed her ear to the wooden hatch. “I don’t hear anything.”

Kael tightened his grip on his blade. “I don’t trust that. Chris, get behind me”

“No,” Chris said. “I’ll open it.”

Kael blinked. “...What?”

Lyra looked horrified. “Chris, what are you doing?”

“Something incredibly stupid,” Chris said, rolling his shoulders. “But I have a feeling the thing up there wants me specifically. And waiting isn’t going to help.”

Lyra whispered, “What if it’s not a Shardwraith?”

Chris exhaled. “That’s the scary part. I don’t know which would be worse.”

He reached for the latch. The world paused. Chris lifted it. The door creaked open. He stepped up, and froze. The room above was destroyed. Tables overturned. Chairs splintered.

Windows shattered inward. Arcs of strange, blackened scorch marks stained the walls. Lyra climbed out behind him and gasped. “This… this wasn’t caused by a Wraith.”

Kael scanned the wreckage. “No. This was magic.”

Chris whispered, “Someone was fighting.”

“No,” Kael corrected, kneeling to examine a crushed desk. “Someone was searching.”

Lyra pointed to a charred sigil carved into the floorboards. “This symbol… I’ve seen it in forbidden texts.”

Chris stared. “Forbidden texts like… illegal? Or forbidden texts like… explode-on-reading?”

Kael muttered, “Both.”

Chris groaned. “Fantastic. My life keeps getting better.”

Lyra approached the symbol carefully. “It’s a Mark of Seeking.”

Chris swallowed. “Seeking what?”

Kael stood, expression grim. “You.”

Chris’s knees went weak. Lyra touched his shoulder, grounding him. “Chris… listen. This means more than one faction is after you. The Wraith wasn’t acting alone.”

Chris’s voice cracked. “But… why me? I’m nobody.”

Lyra shook her head firmly. “Not anymore.”

He didn’t feel “not anymore.”

He felt terrified. Kael pointed toward the hallway. “Someone’s coming.”

Chris froze. “Shardwraith?”

“No,” Kael whispered. “Footsteps. Human. Several.”

Lyra’s eyes widened. “Academy guards?”

“Maybe,” Kael said. “Maybe not.”

Chris swallowed hard. “Do we hide? Run? What”

Lyra’s grip tightened on her staff. “We protect you.”

Chris shook his head. “No more protecting!”

Kael laughed quietly. “Chris, you can scream at death all you want, but we’re still helping you.”

The footsteps grew louder. Chris’s heart pounded. “What if they’re here to take me?”

Lyra stepped in front of him. “Then they’ll have to go through us.”

The doors burst open. Six armored academy wardens stormed inside, weapons drawn. “Kael Veradin. Lyra Hale. Stand down immediately!”

Chris flinched. “Wait, I thought the academy was safe!”

One warden pointed his blade at Chris. “You. Boy. Back away from them.”

Kael snarled, stepping forward. “Over my dead”

“Kael,” Lyra whispered urgently. “They’re wardens. Don’t do anything stupid.”

The lead warden slammed his gauntlet to the ground. A binding circle flared to life. Chris stumbled backward. “Wh, what is that?!”

“Containment magic,” Lyra whispered. “For dangerous entities.”

Chris’s heart dropped. “Entities? I’m a person!”

The warden barked, “You awakened a forbidden power. You are to be taken for examination.”

Chris’s breath hitched. “Examination like… tests? Or examination like… not coming back?”

None of the wardens answered. That silence told him everything. “No,” Chris whispered. “No. Absolutely not. I’m not going with you.”

The wardens advanced. Kael raised his flaming blade. “Take one more step”

The lead warden smirked. “Try it, Veradin.”

Lyra positioned herself beside Chris. “Chris, listen, if they bind you, we can’t stop them. Use your power.”

Chris panicked. “What power?! I don’t know how I used it last time!”

“Then figure it out!” Kael snapped. “Because they’re not taking you!”

The wardens began chanting. The binding circle flared brighter. Lyra shouted, “Chris, NOW!”

Chris squeezed his eyes shut, reaching deep, back into that strange, shattering place inside him, Nothing. “Come on,” he whispered. “Please, work”

The binding circle surged upward, and Chris’s eyes snapped open, glowing silver. Time cracked. The spell fractured like a mirror.

The wardens recoiled in horror as their magic shattered in mid-air. Chris gasped. “I, I didn’t mean to”

Kael grabbed his arm. “Meaning doesn’t matter. Move!”

Lyra pulled him toward the window. “Chris, jump!”

“WHAT?!”

“Trust us!”

The wardens roared behind them, Chris leapt. Glass exploded around him. Wind tore at his clothes. Lyra and Kael jumped right after him.

As the ground rushed up to meet them, Chris heard a voice whisper inside his mind again. ''They will hunt you. All of them.''

Chris screamed into the wind: “WHY?! WHAT DID I DO?!”

The voice answered: ''You lived.''