2025-06-18 17:09:09The hallway to the Class E dorms smelled like mildew and metal. One flickering light buzzed overhead, casting sickly shadows that shifted whenever Kai moved. The stone floor felt colder here, more unfriendly. The Academy had golden towers and shimmering spell walls—but not here. Here, it felt like a prison no one bothered to lock.
Kai stood outside the door for a long time, hand hovering over the handle. Then, slowly, he pushed it open. The room inside was barely lit. One cracked window. Two bunk beds. One rusted mirror that had lost half its shine. Graffiti carved into the walls—names, curses, symbols. The kind of marks desperate people left behind just to prove they existed. A boy on the top bunk didn’t even glance at him. Another by the wall shot him a glare before going back to sewing his ripped boots with twine. No welcome. No words. Just silence. Kai sat on the edge of the empty bed. The springs groaned like they resented his weight. He looked down at his hands. They were still trembling. Still marked. He hadn’t eaten since the duel. He didn’t know how much time had passed since then. Hours? A day? Maybe two? He didn’t ask. He knew the rules already: people like him didn’t get to ask questions. The Academy didn’t wait for broken students. When morning came, Kai followed the crowd to the mess hall—though “hall” was generous. Class E had their own basement dining area. A cracked wooden door, sticky floors, a long metal counter with dented trays. The food was… something. He wasn’t sure if the soup was moving or just steaming. He didn’t get far. Someone slammed into him from behind, knocking the tray to the floor. “Oops.” Kai turned slowly. The boy grinning at him had sharp features and hollow eyes. Not big. But his presence filled the room like poison. “What’s the matter, Mark Boy?” the kid said. “Too good to eat with us?” Kai didn’t answer. He bent down to pick up the tray. The boy kicked it out of his reach. The hall burst into quiet laughter. “You think cause you got some glow on your chest, you’re untouchable?” he spat. “This is Class E, freak. We’re the broken. The unwanted. And you’re even lower than us.” Kai stayed crouched. The boy moved closer. “Look at you. All silent and scared. You’re nothing.” Still, Kai didn’t rise. Didn’t swing. Didn’t speak. Only one person did. “That’s enough.” A girl’s voice. Soft. But firm. Everyone turned. A small figure stepped into view. Lina. Kai blinked. She didn’t look like someone who belonged here. Not because she was special—but because she still cared. Brown curls tucked behind her ears. Wrinkled robes too big for her. Arms full of books she probably couldn’t afford to drop. She set them down gently and picked up Kai’s tray. “Let him eat,” she said. The boy scoffed. “You sweet on him, mouse?” Lina didn’t flinch. “I’m sweet on people not being jerks.” Someone in the back laughed quietly. The boy sneered but stepped back, muttering something under his breath before slinking to the back of the hall. Lina looked at Kai. “You okay?” He nodded, slowly. “Thanks,” he muttered. She didn’t smile. Just handed him the tray and said, “Don’t sit alone. That’s when they circle.” She turned and walked toward the corner table. He followed. They ate in silence. Kai focused on his soup—which wasn’t moving, just bubbling weirdly. He noticed her hands were scratched, fingers red. Probably from books. Or scrubbing spells gone wrong. “You shouldn’t have helped me,” he said. She shrugged. “Neither should you have been left bleeding after a duel.” “People think I’m… him.” “I know.” “You’re not scared?” Lina looked at him finally. Her eyes weren’t soft like he expected. They were tired. And smart. And sad. “Fear’s easy,” she said. “Kindness costs more.” Kai didn’t know how to reply. She slid a wrapped piece of bread across the table. “Eat it before someone sees.” “I don’t want charity.” “It’s not charity. It’s an apology.” “For what?” “For how this place works.” He didn’t argue. He took the bread. It was stale. It was perfect. Later that day, they threw him into an elemental training pit. No warning. No prep. Just a name on a list and a shove toward the edge. The pit was cracked stone and old blood. Fire runes etched into the walls still glowed faintly from past use. The instructor didn’t even introduce herself. Just barked, “Survive.” His opponent was a girl with dirt on her face and lightning in her veins. She grinned like pain was a game. When the match started, Kai barely dodged the first strike. The second scorched his sleeve. He didn’t win. He didn’t even come close. But when he raised his hand to block her final hit—when he thought about stopping her—the mark on his chest flared. And the lightning bent around him. Twisted. Then vanished. The class went silent. He collapsed to his knees. The instructor stared at him, eyes narrow. She didn’t say anything. Just made a mark on her clipboard and walked away. By evening, his body felt like a bruised fruit. He barely made it back to the dorm. He sat on the floor. Legs folded. Back against the wall. Trying not to cry. He wouldn’t. Not here. Not where they could smell weakness. The door creaked open. Lina entered. She paused when she saw him. “You look worse.” “Thanks.” She handed him something wrapped in cloth. He unwrapped it. Fruit. Real fruit. A pear, slightly bruised but still whole. “Where did you—?” “I… borrowed it.” “You stole?” “I said borrowed.” Kai stared at her. She looked away. “I figured you’d share.” He broke the pear in half and handed her a piece. They ate in silence. Then, softly, she said, “Why do you think you’re here?” He looked down. “I don’t know. I don’t want to be him.” “But what if you are?” He didn’t answer. After a pause, she added, “You still get to choose what kind of person you become.” Kai almost laughed. Almost. Instead, he leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. “I’m not sure I believe in choices anymore.” Lina didn’t push. She just stayed. Sitting beside him. Two broken pieces in the lowest part of the tower. That night, in the dark, the dream came back. Only this time, it wasn’t fire or blood. It was a mirror. He stood before it, dressed in black robes lined with silver. His eyes were cold. Dead. The reflection smiled. And said: We’re not so different. Then the glass shattered. And Kai woke up gasping. The mark burned. And something inside whispered: What if becoming him is the only way to survive?
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Chapter 47: Duel Of The Masks
The summons came at dawn.Kai hadn’t slept, not really. His body still carried the ache of his last match, wounds mended only halfway by Lina’s touch. He sat at the edge of his bunk, shadows clinging faint at his wrists like smoke waiting to burn, a knock at his door.Kai.” A guard’s voice, flat, rehearsed. “By order of the Council, you’re to report to the arena floor. Immediately.”The door shut again before he could answer.Across the room, Cyrus leaned against the wall, arms crossed, a dangerous smirk on his face. “They don’t waste time, do they? Barely let you bleed before they throw you back in.”Kai said nothing. He stood, fastening his dagger to his belt.Lina stirred awake on the cot across from him, her hair tangled, her wrists still marked red from the Council’s punishment yesterday. She sat up fast, eyes wide. “The tournament’s suspended. They can’t—”“It’s not a tournament match,” Cyrus cut in, voice edged. “This is theater.”Lina’s chest tightened. “Then refuse. You’re st
Chapter 46: Lina’s Test
The infirmary was supposed to be sealed after curfew. Everyone knew it.Two nights ago, the Council had turned it into law: only Class A and B had unrestricted access to supplies. Anyone else, no matter how wounded, had to wait, file requests, or bleed. And if someone ignored that? Discipline—public and humiliating.But Lina had seen the students limping. Class E kids with shirts darkened by blood. A boy coughing up clots, another dragging a twisted leg, one girl with her arm strapped against her chest with torn fabric. No one would help them—not the infirmary, not the Council, not anyone above them.That image sat in her chest like a stone.So here she was, standing in front of the lock on the infirmary doors, long after the torches had been dimmed in the corridors. Her palms were slick. Her heartbeat drummed so loud she was sure someone would hear.She pressed her hand against the carved ward etched into the lock.The metal shivered. A faint click.The door opened with a sound that
Chapter 45: The Circle’s Agenda
Morning came without rest.Kai hadn’t closed his eyes once. He sat in the same position he’d held through the long hours of night—back straight, dagger in hand, eyes locked on the door. The mark beneath his collarbone still pulsed, faint and steady, as though it knew what he had decided in the silence. He hadn’t agreed to Cyrus’s terms—not aloud. But he had sheathed his dagger. That was enough.Now he had to see what Cyrus would bring.⸻The knock came just after dawn. Two taps. A pause. Then one more.Kai rose without hesitation. He didn’t bother opening the door like a student might—he slipped the lock, eased it back just enough for shadows to slide in. Cyrus ducked through with his usual smirk, already dressed in crisp uniform blacks, as though curfew-breaking and rule-bending had no place on his conscience.“Morning, sunshine,” Cyrus said lightly. “You look well-rested.”Kai’s silence was its own blade.Cyrus rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine. Straight to business.” He reached into hi
Chapter 44: Shadow Visitor
The dormitory at night was never truly silent.Even with the curfew and the Council’s guards patrolling every corridor, Arcadia breathed through its stones. The old walls carried the echoes of storms, the restless tossing of students trapped in their beds, whispering rumors until sleep claimed them.But Kai heard none of it.He sat at the edge of his bed, the candle on his desk burning low, shadows stretching long against the walls. The mark beneath his collarbone throbbed faintly, a pulse that wasn’t his heartbeat. It stirred whenever the world grew quiet, as if silence gave it permission to speak.His hand hovered over it, never touching, never soothing. He didn’t need the reminder. He knew what the Circle wanted. He knew what the Council was doing. He knew what the whispers were turning him into in the minds of every student here.Rafe. Tyrant. Monster.The chains inside him rattled with every thought.The candle sputtered. Died.Darkness settled across the room.And that was wh
Chapter 43: Tournament Interrupted
The next morning arrived gray and dreary, almost as if the sun itself didn't want to participate in the turmoil brought to Arcadia.The courtyard usually filled with loud voices echoing around from shouts and students preparing for duel practice was silent. Benches lay overturned in confusion from the night before's panic; scorch marks still burnt the flagstones; the banners that flew formally over the arena had wilted, half-burnt.Kai stood on the railing directly outside the dormitory, fingers grasping the cold iron. Using the same eerie stillness he used in combat, he observed the grounds. Every guard in sight wore a double, freely engaged in patrol motioning in stiff formations with their weapons drawn even though there were no visible enemies.But the air itself relayed a different history. A history laden with fear, laden with distrust, tension wound so tightly that with a spark, the tension would surely release explosive amounts of energy.The Grand Duel Tournament had been s
Chapter 42: The Professor’s Secret
The corridors still reeked of smoke.Kai moved through them like a blade half-drawn—silent, sharp, every step a promise. The detonations had quieted, but Arcadia still trembled. Students had been shoved into dormitories, the wounded carried toward the infirmary. Guards lingered with their grips white on their weapons.The fire wasn’t gone. It lingered in the air, in every stare that followed him. Whispers pressed against the walls like a curse:The Tyrant lives.Lina kept pace beside him, her face pale under streaks of soot. Ash blackened her fingers from dragging first-years out of rubble. She held his sleeve like she feared if she let go, he would vanish back into shadow.But Kai wasn’t walking toward safety. Not the dorms, not the infirmary. His path pulled him elsewhere.And judging by the steady tread behind him, someone knew.The professor was waiting.⸻Professor Halvors stood in the empty classroom like a man summoned for judgment. Usually his robes were precise, his tone clip
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