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 94: The Void Within
The battle was over.At least that’s what they said.But Kai opened his eyes, he wasn’t really sure if he'd made it through, or even if making it mattered much now.The infirmary stayed quiet except you could hear the wounded groaning. Those stone walls had cracks all over from the spells hitting hard. Bloodstains covered the floor. Some looked old, some still fresh. Healing charms glowed faintly, like weak candles. Arcadia's halls used to be something grand, now they were just a wreck, their smell hung heavy. Iron and smoke mixed with all that despair.Kai sat on the cot's edge. He stared down at his hands. They were steady. Too steady. Not trembling, not clenched. Just… empty.He tried to remember what those hands had done. He could see flashes: blades colliding, fire tearing through the night sky, screams that cut deeper than any weapon. Then nothing. A blank silence where his heart should have been.There should have been relief—he had won. The Circle was shattered, their lea
Chapter 93: The Price Of Victory
Silence.It fell heavy across the battlefield after the Circle leader’s body hit the ground. The clang of steel, the shouts, the spells muted, as if Arcadia itself had paused to take a breath.Kai stood over the corpse, his blade slick with blood, his chest heaving like it might split open. Sweat and ash dripped into his eyes. He barely noticed.All he felt was the tremor in his hands.The tremor of ending a ghost that had haunted two lifetimes.But victory didn’t taste like triumph. It tasted like iron, like ash, like something stolen.A ragged cry went up from the Inversion lines. Students cheered, voices breaking with relief. For a moment, hope pierced the smoke.But Kai didn’t smile.Something inside him was breaking.Shadows clawed at him, not in hunger just felt empty, like something vital got ripped away. His mind went blurry, memories slipped right through his fingers like water. Faces, voices, names all melted into nothing.He staggered, dropped to one knee. His blade clatter
Chapter 92: The Heartbreak Duel
The tunnel opened into ruin.Kai stepped over rubble, shadows clinging to his heels like armor, Lina’s weight still hot in his memory where he had carried her to safety minutes ago. She lay behind the lines now, her breath shallow, healers working frantically.And Kai, he walked into the night alone.The sky above Arcadia was fire and ash. Towers burned. The academy’s banners once bright blue and silver hung torn and blackened. Magic clashed in the air like storms colliding, the ground shuddering with every explosion.But Kai’s eyes found only one figure in the chaos.At the heart of the battlefield, amid the storm of blades and fire, stood the man. Cloaked in black, helm thrown aside, his face bare beneath the moonlight.Sharp jaw. Cruel mouth. Eyes like poisoned steel.The man who killed him.Kai’s breath caught, the ghost of Rafe surging through his veins like ice. His hand tightened on his sword.The Circle warriors pulled back, clearing space as if sensing what this was. Not a
Chapter 91: Lina’s Last Stand
The tunnels shook with the force of a hundred boots.The Circle wasn’t waiting. The survivors had barely laid Alden’s body down when the walls began to tremble with the sound of war drums echoing through the stone. Torches flared as runners rushed in, panic flashing in their eyes.“They’re here,” someone gasped, blood dripping from their jaw. “They’re coming from every tunnel…. every passage. We’re surrounded.”The chamber erupted in fear.The wounded cried out. The unarmed backed against the walls. The fighters gripped their weapons, though their hands trembled. They had nothing left to give and yet the Circle demanded everything. Kai stood at the center, his shoulders slumped low. Aldens last words kept banging around inside his head. He felt every single gaze locked on him, every hopes rested on his shoulders. The weight of it made his chest tighten up something fierce.You are not ready.That amulet throbbed warm against his skin. He itched to yank it off, crush it under his b
Chapter 90: The Last Lesson
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.
Chapter 89: The Siege Of Shadows
The first scream wasn’t just loud, it was sharp, the kind that split through stone and marrow alike.Kai was on his feet instantly, blade in hand before thought caught up. The underground chamber had been too still, too quiet, a false kind of peace after days of battle. He had almost convinced himself the tunnels were safe. Now, the sound of steel, spellfire, and terror made the lie obvious.The Circle had found them.Across the chamber, Lina was already up, her hair loose, shadows of torchlight brushing her face. Her eyes met his. No questions, no hesitation. Just the unspoken truth between them.“Kai.” Her voice was steady despite the chaos building outside.“Stay close,” he said.The wall to their right buckled before he finished. The stone shuddered, cracks spiderwebbing across it, then shattered outward with a deafening roar. Dust filled the air. Torches flickered and died.Hooded figures poured through the breach, weapons gleaming, their chants echoing like the voices of exe
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