Kael didn't sleep that night.
Long after the academy had fallen silent and the last lanterns were snuffed out, he sat by the narrow dorm window, his forehead resting lightly against the cold glass. Outside, the world was still. The moon hung low, draping the gardens and spires in silver.
But Kael's eyes weren't on the moon.
They kept drifting back to his palm. The faint glyph there pulsed softly, as if breathing. It wasn't bright—just a dull silver shimmer, barely visible unless the light caught it right. But Kael could feel it. Every beat of his heart seemed to answer it, like it was calling something out of him.
Every time he let his mind focus on it, flashes came. A city in flames. A seal carved deep into black stone. Voices shouting his name—not Kael… but Aric.
And the look of a dying mage's eyes—eyes that mirrored his own.
Kael clenched his hand into a fist. The light of the glyph faded, swallowed by his resolve.
Not yet, he told himself. I'm not ready.
By morning, his body felt heavy with exhaustion, but he forced himself through the motions. The academy buzzed around him as it always did—students hurrying between classes, the scent of chalk and ink hanging in the halls, the soft hum of magic in the air.
Magical Ethics dragged on painfully. Professor Ilwen was in rare form, lecturing about the dangers of ancient magic. Kael flinched every time she said forbidden glyphs, like she could somehow see through his sleeve to the mark hidden beneath.
By the time lunch ended, Kael felt like he was being crushed under a weight only he could sense.
The training fields offered no comfort either.
The wind always smelled faintly of burnt grass out here, a reminder of how often magic went awry. First-years stood in neat rows, trying to shape elemental energy without burning their sleeves off.
Kael moved through the lesson on reflex, conjuring a spiral of wind that danced above his palm. His control was clean, his form steady—but there was no satisfaction in it today.
He felt Elrik's gaze on him as the professor paced behind, silent for once. Kael didn't look up. With a snap of his fingers, he let the wind scatter, and the moment passed without a word.
That afternoon, instead of joining Annie and Marcus in the Athenaeum, Kael wandered.
He walked beyond the academy's main walls, out into the gardens where the older trees grew, their roots thick and tangled. The grass was cool beneath him as he sat under one of the ancient oaks, the kind no gardener dared cut.
For a long while, he simply breathed. The world felt quieter here, away from the voices, the questions, the expectations.
Then he closed his eyes and reached inward.
The glyph answered.
A memory rushed over him like a storm:
He stood on a high balcony, overlooking a city at war with itself. Spires cracked and fell. Bridges buckled under waves of flame. The sky was black with smoke, torn apart by streaks of magic.
At the city's heart, a ring of mages fought to hold a massive seal together, their hands raised, their voices hoarse from chanting. And there, at the center—himself.
Not Kael.
Aric.
Older, fierce, determined. His arms outstretched, channeling everything he had into keeping the seal whole.
"It cannot break," Aric said, voice raw. "Or all is lost."
The vision blurred. The glyph on Kael's palm burned cold, and he gasped as the memory faded.
His heart raced.
He understood now. The seal wasn't just some fragment of power clinging to his soul. It was a lock—a prison. And part of that prison had come with him into this life.
If it failed… whatever Aric had sealed away would return.
Kael pushed himself to his feet, his legs shaky. He brushed the grass from his robes and forced his breathing to slow.
Questions swirled in his mind, too many, too heavy. But one thing had become painfully clear: the seal was weakening.
When he returned to his dormitory that evening, the sky was streaked with red and gold. The halls had quieted, the students off at supper or study.
Annie was waiting for him, leaning against his doorframe, arms crossed.
"You disappeared on us," she said, her voice light, but her eyes serious. "Marcus thinks you're off learning forbidden spells in secret."
Kael tried to smile. "Nothing that exciting."
She stepped closer, peering at him. "You look awful. What's going on?"
He hesitated. The words were there, just at the edge of his tongue: There's a seal. There are memories I can't explain. I'm someone I don't understand.
But he couldn't say them. Not yet.
"I'm fine," he said, softer than he meant.
Annie didn't look convinced, but she didn't push. Instead, she touched his arm gently. "Whatever it is… you don't have to deal with it alone. Remember that."
Kael nodded. "I know. Thanks, Annie."
She smiled, just a little, and left him to the quiet.
Kael stepped inside, bolted the door, and leaned against it for a long moment.
In the candle's flicker, he stared at his palm.
"It cannot break… or all is lost."
But he could feel it.
It was already starting to break.
Chapter End