2025-06-18 17:11:40The next night, Kai returned to the library.
He waited until curfew bells echoed over the academy spires, until the halls thinned and the students vanished into their dorms. He didn’t run. He didn’t sneak. He walked—head down, feet silent, breath low—as if the shadows themselves allowed him passage. No one stopped him. Maybe they didn’t see him. Maybe they didn’t want to. The library was colder than he remembered. The sealed section even more so. He didn’t go to the front desk. He didn’t light a lamp. He didn’t need to. The book called him like…. it had a voice. A heartbeat…..like…. it knew.It was still there, open now, as if someone—or something—had turned the page in his absence.Gold ink shimmered in curving lines across black parchment.The sigils curled like living things.And for the first time, the symbols didn’t look foreign. They looked like language. He reached for the page. It pulsed. Not with magic—but with memory. His fingers trembled as he touched the corner. The sigil burned against his skin—hot, but not painful. Like fire that didn’t destroy. Like light that didn’t blind. And then, all at once, the page shifted. It unfolded. Literally. Like paper stretching beyond its edge, revealing more than what was printed. Glyphs and words bloomed outward in spirals, lines of energy crawling across the wood pedestal and up Kai’s arms, wrapping his skin in glowing tattoos that flickered then vanished. The ink sank into him. Into his blood. Into his mind. He gasped. And the memories came. Not full ones. Not stories. Not scenes. Flashes. Rafe’s hands gripping this very book, his voice whispering spells into the pages, his shadow cast long across a battlefield, his enemies burning behind him. It wasn’t like watching a memory but like remembering it himself. Like he’d done those things. Felt the power rip from his bones. Watched cities crumble. Heard the screams. His knees hit the floor. He clutched his head. “No—no, I didn’t—” But he had. Some part of him had. The Tyrant had lived inside this power. And now so did he. When he finally stood, the book had returned to normal. The page—folded back into a single sheet. But Kai’s heart hadn’t.It beat faster and harder now, he felt it. A part of him was waking up and he didn’t know if that part wanted peace—or blood. The next morning came like a slap. Kai sat in class, sweat on his back, mind still echoing with spells he hadn’t known yesterday. Professor Velin walked past, eyes sharp. She paused behind him. “You’ve been reading, haven’t you?” He froze. She leaned down. Whispered low enough that only he could hear: “Dark ink stains more than fingers.” Then she walked away. At lunch, Lina sat across from him, quiet. He barely touched his food.His hands trembled, still raw from the book. She reached across the table and touched his knuckles. “You’re shaking.”He didn’t look up. “You ever feel like you’re losing control of yourself?” he asked. She didn’t answer right away. Then: “I used to.” “When?” “When I stopped pretending everything was okay. And when I realized that being broken doesn’t mean being evil.” He looked up. Her eyes were soft and Kind but he saw it now—the sadness behind them. The pain she kept buried under smiles, they weren’t so different….not really. That evening, the door to his dorm creaked open. A shadow entered, not one of the other students or Lina. A figure in a silver cloak. Hood up and mask off. Cyrus…. Perfect Cyrus. From Class A. The prodigy. The one who had smiled at Lina like the sun smiled at the earth. Kai stood, tense. “Relax,” Cyrus said, raising one hand. “If I wanted you dead, you’d already be bleeding.” “That’s comforting.” Cyrus stepped into the room, eyes sweeping across the stone walls, the creaky bed, the small stack of books. “Not much of a tyrant’s chamber, is it?” Kai narrowed his eyes. “What do you want?” Cyrus smiled—but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I want to know what’s waking up inside you.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Yes, you do. Everyone else might be blind, but I see it. Power like that doesn’t stay hidden forever.” Kai said nothing. Cyrus took a step closer. “I read about Rafe. His methods. His fall. You’re not him. Not yet. But you’re standing where he once stood.” “I didn’t ask to be.” “Doesn’t matter. The moment that mark lit up on your chest, the game changed. You’re a piece now. Whether you want to be or not.” Kai’s jaw tightened. “So what, you’re here to warn me?” “I’m here to offer you a choice.” Cyrus dropped a coin on the table. Silver, etched with the academy’s seal. “Meet me in the Observatory Tower tomorrow night. Midnight.” “Why?” “There are things you don’t know, Kai. About Rafe. About the Council. About what really happened ten years ago.” Kai looked at the coin. Felt its weight without touching it. “And if I don’t come?” Cyrus smiled thinly. “Then you’ll find out the hard way.” That night, Kai didn’t sleep. He reread the book—carefully and slowly. Only one page would open at a time,it was like the book knew how much he could handle. The next spell made his veins buzz. A shadow-walking charm. Short range. Limited time. But still. He whispered the words. And for a heartbeat, the room dimmed, like his body had stepped through the light.When he blinked, he was on the other side of the room. Breathing hard, stronger and alone.But still… afraid. Because if this was what power felt like—he wasn’t sure he could stop.
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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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