The nightmare found her again.
Heat. Chains. Screams.
Familiar. Inevitable.
She stumbled through the twisting void as jagged memory fragments clawed at her mind.
The cell. The chanting. The pain. Always the pain.
Cold iron shackles dragged against her raw wrists. The air vibrated with unstable mana pressing violently against her skin. The more she fought it, the harder it pushed back.
A voice echoed from the darkness.
"Monster."
Another joined it.
"Abomination."
The words multiplied, bouncing off unseen stone walls until they became unbearable.
"Kill it before it kills us."
"Her bloodline should never have been born."
"Seal her. Destroy her."
She fell to her knees, trembling violently as violet sparks burned trails across her hands. The restraints glowed with ancient runes, suppressing the cursed power boiling inside her.
It wasn't enough.
The scene warped again.
A faceless figure in crimson robes towered over her. The cold judgment of the System's presence hovered around him like a second skin.
[Subject: Unstable.]
[Bloodline Anomaly: Cursed.]
[Termination Recommended.]
She opened her mouth to scream, but the sound was ripped from her throat.
A second memory snapped into focus. Worse.
The village.
The accident.
Her power burst wildly from her body, consuming everything it touched. The fire, the shrieks, the distant shapes collapsing as they burned.
Her hands shaking afterward, staring at the destruction she had caused.
They had been right to fear her.
The darkness swallowed her whole.
---
The Mana-Cursed Girl bolted upright in her cot, gasping, slick with sweat.
The ruined dorm walls pressed in around her like silent witnesses. Unstable energy crackled faintly at her fingertips before she clenched her fists tightly, forcing it down.
"Breathe."
The sharp command cut through the fog.
Eryndor stood by the window, back straight, cloak draped loosely over his lean frame. Crimson eyes reflected the fractured moons of Vaelith drifting through the night sky.
She flinched. She had wanted to stay unnoticed. To not be weak again.
But he had seen everything.
"I can't…" she whispered, voice shaking. "I can't control it."
Eryndor didn't move.
"Then learn."
Simple. Brutal. No sympathy. No softness.
The exact words she somehow needed.
The volatile current around her died slowly into stillness.
"I never wanted this," she whispered bitterly. "I never asked to be born like this."
His eyes met hers briefly across the shadows.
"No one does."
For a moment, neither spoke.
Footsteps echoed faintly from the corridor outside. The Lost Ones returning.
The Unborn's heavy chains dragged along the floor like quiet judgment. The Flickering Aura Boy's soft muttering about tomorrow's training reached her ears.
Her shoulders sagged.
They had survived the first test. But she knew deep down, she was still the weakest link. The one mistake waiting to happen.
She stared down at the faint, cursed runes scarred into her skin.
Eryndor's cold voice snapped her from the spiral.
"Sleep. The next trial won't forgive hesitation."
As he turned back toward the window, she allowed herself one fleeting thought.
One day I will control this... or I will die before it controls me.
Unseen, the System flickered quietly above them.
[Subject: Mana-Cursed Anomaly.]
[Observation Level Increased.]
[Unknown Bloodline Signature: Pending Classification.]
---
The morning came slowly.
Cold blue light filtered through the cracked windows of their hidden dormitory. The ancient stone walls of Vaelith seemed to press inward, silent witnesses to what had been and what would come.
The Mana-Cursed Girl sat quietly on the edge of her cot, staring at the faint scars on her wrists. The cursed mana cuffs remained cold against her skin. They had been there so long she no longer noticed the weight.
"You're awake."
She glanced up. The Flickering Aura Boy leaned casually against the far wall, arms crossed, a faint grin under tired eyes.
"You scream in your sleep, you know."
She tensed immediately. The instinctive shame rose before she could stop it.
But he raised a hand lazily.
"Not judging. We've all got nightmares. His just wear better armor."
He jerked his chin toward Eryndor, who sat sharpening his blade silently in the corner. The cold rasp of metal on stone was the only sound for several seconds.
The Mana-Cursed Girl forced out a weak laugh despite herself. The tension cracked just slightly.
The Unborn loomed by the doorway, silent as always. A living monolith wrapped in heavy iron chains.
Flicker pushed off the wall, walking toward her. "You were good in the trial."
"I lost control," she murmured.
He shrugged. "You lived. That's more than most of them."
She glanced at Eryndor again. He hadn't looked up, but she knew he was listening.
As if sensing the attention, Eryndor sheathed the blade with a soft final scrape and stood.
"Enough."
The warmth evaporated instantly.
Eryndor's cold gaze swept across them all.
"You survived the first test by luck. You won't survive the next that way."
They fell silent. Even Flicker's grin faded.
Eryndor spoke like he always did. Without hesitation. Without comfort.
"The Unborn holds too much of the front alone. Cursed Girl, your instability makes you a liability. Flicker, you waste movement. You react instead of anticipate."
Each word cut clean. Brutal but accurate.
"Starting today, that ends."
The Lost Ones stood straighter automatically.
"There are no Houses. No patrons. No one coming to save us."
Eryndor stepped toward the door, cloak trailing faintly behind him.
"We survive because I refuse to let us die."
He opened the door to the corridor outside, cold wind rushing inward from the distant spires.
"Training begins now."
The Lost Ones filed out behind him.
The Mana-Cursed Girl hesitated for only a breath. Then she followed.
Her hand brushed the metal cuffs at her wrists briefly.
One day… I'll control this.
The cracked window behind them caught the faint flicker of fragmented shadow.
The Oracle of Shattered Threads stood watching, glass form warping faintly at the edges of reality.
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"You buy time well, Eryndor Vaelith. But time runs thin."
The shadows consumed her again.