2025-06-18 17:10:48It began with footsteps,quick and too many for a single person.Too quiet for friends.
Kai woke before his eyes opened. That edge-of-sleep awareness that smelled of danger. His body, trained by fear even if his mind wasn’t ready, jerked upright. Cold sweat clung to his spine. The shared dorm was dark except for the flickering blue of the ward-stone embedded in the ceiling. The others slept but something was wrong. He reached for the blunt dagger under his cot.Another step…too close.He moved without thinking—ducked, rolled, and barely missed a fist crashing down where his head had been. He scrambled to his feet. Five shapes. All masked. All silent. Magic pulsed between them, low and crackling like a growl beneath the surface. One of them spoke. “Tyrant’s spawn.” The words weren’t loud, but they carried. Kai’s breath caught. He didn’t ask questions. He bolted. Down the narrow hallway, past the communal washroom, boots slapping hard on stone. The walls blurred beside him, but he knew the route.He knew where to go when he had nowhere else. The library. The main library of Arcadia was ancient, carved into the mountain’s hollowed heart. It rose like a cathedral inside the stone, silent and dark after hours. None of the lights were on. No librarian to stop him. The archway let him in like it was waiting. He slammed the doors shut behind him and threw the iron bar across them. The heavy thud behind the wood meant the masked figures had reached the doors. They didn’t shout. They didn’t knock. They just… waited. Kai stumbled deeper into the library, past towering shelves of books so old they seemed to hold breath. The light here came from the glowing glass orbs high in the dome—dim now, barely pulsing. He ducked into the forbidden wing. Past the faded warning sigils, past the velvet ropes no one enforced anymore. This was where he’d found the book.This was where it had started. The section of arcane history. Dark magic. Sealed texts. The “dangerous knowledge” professors mentioned in whispers. The smell here was different. Not like dust and parchment—but metal. Smoke. Blood. He didn’t slow down. Until something caught his eye. A light. Not glowing or warm—but pulsing. Erratic. The book. It was back where he’d left it, perched on the pedestal at the room’s center. Waiting. Kai approached, slower now. His heart raced—but not from fear. From recognition. He touched the cover. Snap. A sound behind him. Sharp. Close. He spun—too late. A figure lunged from the shadows. Kai raised his arm, instinctually blocking with the book itself. It burned in his hand—sigils flaring red as the figure’s blade connected and stopped mid-swing, as if caught in invisible threads. The attacker jerked backward. “What?” Kai looked down at the book. His fingertips glowed faint gold. Not red. Not dark. But… something different. The figure didn’t wait. He lunged again. This time, Kai moved with intent. He ducked, rolled under the table, kicked backward—connected with shin and heard a grunt. He rose fast and hurled a chair across the room. It shattered against the second attacker now entering. Kai reached for a spell—not knowing how he knew, only that he did. Words spilled from his lips like a song long forgotten. “Armae Lux… Constrictum!” The air snapped. A glowing rope of light coiled around the nearest masked student, pinning their arms to their side. They shrieked, falling to the floor. The others hesitated. “Did you see that?!” “He doesn’t know that spell—he shouldn’t—” “That was from Rafe’s lexicon.” “No,” Kai whispered, voice hoarse. “It’s mine now.” They ran. Not all of them. One stayed—frozen. Unmoving. Kai recognized the hesitation. A girl? She wore the same mask, but her build was smaller. He stepped toward her. “Why are you doing this?” No response. But her hands trembled.The blade at her side hung limp. “Who sent you?” he asked again. Nothing. Until she turned and ran. Kai didn’t follow. He couldn’t. His knees buckled. The adrenaline faded. Pain hit him all at once—his side where the blade had grazed him, his ankle from the sprint, his lungs from the cold air inside the chamber. The book pulsed softly. He looked back to it. Then down at his hands,the gold glow had faded. But something was still there. A faint shimmer beneath the skin. He wasn’t imagining it. The magic had responded to him not as Rafe but as… something else. Back in the dorms, dawn crept through the slits in the stone walls. The ward-stone blinked, signaling morning. No one spoke of what had happened. No one had seen the attackers leave. And Kai said nothing. He woke before the others. Dressed. Limped through the hallways like a shadow. The wound on his ribs bled slowly through the tunic. But he didn’t stop. He found the classroom before it opened. The hallway empty. Professor Velin was there early, as always. Kai stood before her. “Someone attacked me last night.” She didn’t blink. “Who?” “I don’t know. But they called me Tyrant’s spawn.” Silence. Her eyes—cold, steel-gray—narrowed. She stepped aside to let him in. He sat at the back of the room, bleeding into silence. Later, during break, Lina found him in the infirmary. He hadn’t called for her. But somehow, she knew. She always did. He sat on the edge of the cot, tunic off, ribs wrapped in a half-effort bandage. She gasped softly. “Why didn’t you tell me?” “I didn’t want you involved.” “You think I’m not already involved?” He didn’t answer. Her hands moved gently over the wound. Magic shimmered along her fingertips—healing light, soft and pale green. “It’s not deep,” she said quietly. “But it will leave a scar.” Kai looked down at her. She was focused and careful…..not angry not afraid. “Someone’s going to kill me,” he said softly. “Not if I can help it.” He smiled then. Just a crack in the armor. But it was real. “You should be scared of me.” “I’m not.” “Why not?” She met his gaze. “Because I know you.” He didn’t believe it. But it was enough. For now. By evening, the rumors had grown fangs. “Someone broke into the restricted section.” “I heard a spell was used that hasn’t been taught in fifty years.” “Headmaster is furious.” “They think it was a rogue professor.” “They think it was him.” Kai kept walking. He didn’t flinch when they stared anymore. He just moved. Silent. Burning. Becoming.
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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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