The Weakest Tidecaller at the Abyssal Academy

The moment Ethan Vale’s examination crystal shattered, the entire arena erupted in laughter.

“Three years of preparation, and that is all you can manage?” Damon Cross called from the front row, his polished blue uniform gleaming beneath the academy’s floating lights. “Perhaps the admissions office should start accepting dead fish. Even they might demonstrate more magical talent than you.”

His insult sent another wave of laughter through the vast glass dome of Abyssal Crown Academy’s assessment arena. Beyond the transparent walls, enormous shadows drifted through the deep-blue ocean, while schools of silver fish scattered whenever the academy’s protective barriers pulsed with light.

Ethan remained motionless in the center of the examination platform, staring at the crystal fragments scattered around his shoes. He had known this might happen. For three years, he had prepared for the entrance examination, repeatedly imagining what he would do if his magical ability failed him in front of everyone. However, none of those imagined failures had prepared him for the humiliation of watching his future crumble at his feet while hundreds of candidates laughed at him.

“Candidate Ethan Vale,” Professor Selene Marr announced from the elevated examination stand. Her voice carried effortlessly across the arena, cutting through the remaining laughter. “Your tide capacity remains at 0.03. Your elemental response is negligible, and your attempted synchronization has resulted in the destruction of academy property.”

She paused, adjusting her thin silver spectacles as she examined the readings on her tablet.

“Do you have anything to say in your defense?”

Ethan swallowed the bitterness gathering in his throat before forcing himself to meet her gaze.

“I didn't destroy it intentionally, Professor. The crystal reacted strangely when I touched it.”

“That is what everyone says when they fail.”

“I saw something inside it.”

Several students exchanged amused glances, while Damon leaned back in his seat with an expression of exaggerated curiosity.

“Did you see your future, Vale?” he asked. “Was it a lifetime of cleaning fish tanks?”

The arena erupted into laughter once again, and Ethan clenched his fists beneath the examination table. He wanted to shout at them, to demand that they stop treating him like a worthless piece of garbage, but he remembered his father's warning that anger was expensive, especially when a person lacked the power to defend himself.

His father had repeated those words shortly before disappearing without explanation. Ethan had carried them for years, although he had never understood why the man had sounded so frightened when he spoke them.

Professor Marr tapped her assessment tablet, bringing his attention back to the examination.

“Your preliminary score qualifies you for provisional consideration, but your practical performance is unacceptable. Unless you demonstrate a useful magical aptitude before this examination concludes, your application will be rejected.”

Her verdict struck Ethan harder than the insults.

Admission to Abyssal Crown Academy represented far more than an opportunity to study magic. It was his only chance to escape the coastal settlement where people measured human worth according to the strength of their tides. Those with powerful elemental abilities enjoyed comfortable lives, while those with weak or nonexistent mana were condemned to menial work and constant humiliation.

Ethan had spent his childhood among the latter.

His mother had vanished when he was six, leaving behind nothing but a rusted compass and a warning never to trust anyone who claimed that magic was a gift without a price. With his father gone and his magical capacity practically nonexistent, Ethan had dedicated himself to studying magical structures, hoping that knowledge might compensate for what his body lacked.

So far, his efforts had only made him an expert on his own humiliation.

“Please,” he said, raising his head. “Give me one more test.”

Professor Marr's expression hardened. “You have already received three.”

“I only need one more chance.”

Damon rose from his seat, apparently unwilling to miss an opportunity to watch Ethan fail again.

“Let him try, Professor. If he fails this time, perhaps we can finally put an end to this embarrassing performance.”

“Sit down, Cross,” Professor Marr ordered sharply.

Damon returned to his seat, although the mocking smile remained on his face.

After studying Ethan for several seconds, Professor Marr gestured toward a narrow pedestal at the far end of the platform. A dark, fist-sized crystal rested upon it, suspended inside a circular frame decorated with silver runes.

Ethan's stomach tightened as he recognized the artifact he had noticed upon entering the arena.

Unlike the examination crystals, which glowed in different colors according to the elemental affinities they detected, this object possessed no visible color at all. Its black surface seemed to swallow the light around it, while strange markings shifted beneath its exterior like creatures moving beneath a frozen lake.

“What is that?” Ethan asked.

“An obsolete containment artifact recovered during the academy's foundation survey,” Professor Marr explained. “It is not part of the standard assessment, but its outer shell has sustained some damage. We need to determine whether it can still respond to basic tide energy.”

Ethan studied the silver frame surrounding the artifact, his attention settling on the arrangement of the runes.

Something about the design bothered him.

“The bindings aren't connected properly,” he murmured.

Professor Marr turned toward him. “What did you say?”

“The third binding on the lower ring is facing the wrong direction. If the crystal is supposed to receive energy, that binding will redirect the flow toward the center instead of the outer channel.”

For the first time since the examination began, Damon stopped smiling.

Professor Marr examined the artifact before looking back at Ethan with renewed interest.

“Are you claiming to understand a containment design that predates the current academy curriculum?”

“I'm only saying that the pattern looks wrong.”

“Then demonstrate your observation. Touch the outer frame, but do not attempt to cast a spell.”

Ethan approached the pedestal cautiously, wondering why the professor had agreed to his request so easily.

As he drew closer, the surrounding air grew noticeably colder, and a faint vibration traveled through the platform into the soles of his shoes. Beyond the transparent dome, the ocean seemed to darken despite the academy's lights remaining unchanged.

He hesitated for a moment before extending his hand toward the silver frame.

The instant his fingertips brushed the metal, the world around him disappeared.

The floating lights vanished from his vision, and the students, professors, and transparent dome dissolved into an endless darkness threaded with luminous blue lines. Ethan could no longer perceive the artifact as an ordinary crystal. Instead, he saw an intricate structure of interlocking patterns that flowed into one another like currents moving through an invisible ocean.

Some lines shone brightly and steadily, while others flickered and twisted beneath an invisible pressure. At the center of the structure lay a circular seal, from which seven enormous chains stretched into the surrounding darkness.

Six chains glowed with pale blue light.

The seventh was almost completely black.

Ethan's breath caught in his throat as he studied the strange structure. He had no idea how he could see something that should have been invisible, yet he understood immediately that the crystal's design was not intended to receive energy.

It was holding something back.

More disturbing still, the third binding had not been misplaced accidentally. Someone had deliberately weakened it.

Before Ethan could investigate further, a sharp pulse struck his fingertips. He tried to pull his hand away, but the silver frame seemed to have locked itself around him. The luminous lines surged through his vision, and an unbearable pressure descended upon his chest, crushing him as though the entire ocean had settled upon his body.

A message suddenly appeared before his eyes.

ANCIENT STRUCTURE DETECTED.

SEAL INTEGRITY: 99.8%.

IDENTIFYING WITNESS...

Ethan's heart hammered against his ribs as he struggled to understand the unfamiliar words.

Witness?

He had never encountered such terminology in any of the magical textbooks he had studied.

The final line flickered before changing.

FIRST WITNESS CONFIRMED.

A voice whispered inside his head, carrying a strange familiarity that sent an icy shiver down his spine.

Welcome home, little Tidecaller.

Ethan tore his hand away with a strangled cry.

The examination arena snapped back into existence, and he stumbled backward, clutching his wrist as the crystal's black surface split with a sound resembling distant thunder.

Professor Marr immediately shouted an order, causing the academy's security barriers to flash into place around the examination platform.

“Everyone away from the platform!” she commanded. “Containment team, seal the examination chamber immediately!”

The students scrambled from their seats as security personnel rushed toward the exits. Damon stared at the damaged artifact, his earlier amusement replaced by undisguised alarm.

“What did he do?” someone shouted from the crowd.

“I didn't do anything!” Ethan protested, although even he struggled to believe his own words.

The crystal began to pulse before he could say anything else.

Its first pulse sent a tremor through the platform, and the second caused the silver runes to flare with an eerie blue light. When the third pulse struck, every magical light in the arena went out simultaneously.

Absolute darkness swallowed the examination chamber, leaving Ethan surrounded by the frightened cries of students and the scraping of chairs against the floor. Somewhere beyond the platform, heavy security doors slammed shut as the academy's emergency systems activated.

Then something struck the underside of the platform with tremendous force.

The impact lifted Ethan off his feet and hurled him against the pedestal. Pain exploded through his shoulder, and he struggled to regain his balance as emergency lights flickered red along the arena walls.

Professor Marr stood frozen beside her console, staring at the readings displayed on its surface.

“That is impossible,” she whispered.

Ethan followed her gaze toward the transparent floor, where the ocean's endless darkness should have stretched beneath the academy.

Instead, a gigantic shape was moving beneath the foundation.

Its outline was difficult to distinguish through the deep water, but Ethan could make out a curved head, an impossibly long body, and several enormous limbs wrapped around the academy's lowest support towers. The creature was larger than any sea monster he had encountered in his textbooks, and its presence made the entire academy appear fragile.

Then the creature turned toward him.

Although hundreds of people stood inside the examination chamber, Ethan felt certain that the enormous being was looking directly at him.

A cold sensation spread across his palm, forcing him to lower his gaze. When he opened his hand, he discovered a black symbol beneath his skin, shaped like seven chains surrounding an empty circle.

Before he could call for help, another message flashed across his vision.

FIRST SEAL COMPROMISED.

AWAKENING SEQUENCE INITIATED.

Far beneath the academy, the creature opened one enormous eye. Its pupil narrowed until it resembled a vertical black blade, and the surrounding water churned as the entire structure shuddered beneath a force powerful enough to threaten its foundations.

Then the voice returned.

This time, it did not whisper inside Ethan's head. Instead, the words reverberated through the ocean beyond the glass, carrying a depth and power that seemed to vibrate inside his bones.

At last, I have found you.

Ethan staggered away from the transparent wall, desperately trying to convince himself that the creature had mistaken him for someone else.

Professor Marr seized his arm, her face drained of color.

“What did you see when you touched that artifact?” she demanded.

Before Ethan could answer, the academy's emergency system crackled overhead.

“Containment failure detected in the lower foundations. All personnel must evacuate the eastern examination sector immediately.”

A moment later, another announcement followed, but the voice that delivered it sounded nothing like the academy's usual automated system.

“The First Witness has returned. The prisoner requests an audience.”

Every face in the arena turned toward Ethan.

Damon immediately stepped away from him, looking at the black symbol on his palm as though it were a contagious disease. Professor Marr released his arm, but her gaze remained fixed on the strange marking, and the expression on her face made Ethan's stomach tighten.

He could not determine whether she was frightened by what she had witnessed or terrified because she already knew what it meant.

Then the emergency lights brightened, revealing a final detail that made his blood run cold.

The crystal had not shattered into ordinary fragments.

Every piece had rearranged itself into a perfect circle around his feet, forming a pattern almost identical to the symbol beneath his skin. Beneath the broken pedestal, unfamiliar writing had also appeared on the metal floor.

Ethan could not read the ancient symbols, yet their meaning entered his mind with terrible clarity.

THE KEY HAS RETURNED.

Far below Abyssal Crown Academy, seven enormous chains began to tremble.

And somewhere in the darkness beneath the ocean, something ancient laughed.