Full Chapter – Academy Life Begins Again
Location: Ashenwell Academy – Second-Year Class Division Hall. Two days after the Field Trial. The siblings are officially enrolled—and under constant watch.
Morning Chaos
Grim walked into class a few minutes early. The classroom—an elegant space built inside a tower of obsidian glass—buzzed with voices. The seats were arranged in an arc, with runes carved into the floor for defensive training simulations. The moment Grim stepped in, heads turned.
Not because of his quiet stride or his jacket still scorched from the Irix zone.
No.
Because everyone now knew who he was.
"That's him," someone whispered. "The Ashen Crown."
"And that's his team. They burned through Irix like it was soft bread."
"Didn't one of them kill a wyvern by accident?"
Grim sighed. Sparks' voice echoed in his head like an uninvited thought.
"At least you're not being called 'Flame Daddy' like last semester. Count your blessings."
"That wasn't real."
"I may have started it. Jury's still out."
Roll Call Mayhem
A tall, sharp-nosed professor—Master Juleen—entered the room, robes gliding behind her like a living shadow.
"Settle down, flames and fools," she said, smacking her staff once.
One by one, students took their seats.
Max sat near the center, arms folded, eyes on the board. He said nothing. His shadows were coiled beneath his chair like sleeping vipers.
Tristan? Already had a girl giggling beside him. She leaned closer with every breath, and he didn't push her away.
"So you really froze three creatures at once?"
"Technically five," Tristan said. "But who's counting? Well, me."
Ayesha rolled her eyes from across the room.
Hadi? She wasn't seated.
She was hovering, pink energy keeping her half an inch above her chair, spinning slowly in lazy circles while the professor talked.
"Miss Hadi, will you sit down?!"
"I am down, technically! Just with flair."
The class chuckled.
Lys and Her Rival
Lys sat by the window, still in her custom battle uniform—tight, scarred leather with fur-lined cuffs. She barely looked at anyone… until she entered.
Tall. Blonde. Horned.
Calista Veyre, a known prodigy from Avara. Hair coiled like sunlight, flame staff on her back, attitude dripping like honey over blades. She paused just near Lys's desk, smiled sweetly, and said:
"Oh, you must be the one everyone's whispering about. The wild one. The… beast."
Lys looked up, calm and cold. "Say that again."
"Don't worry, dear. I love animals. I just don't usually see them enrolled in schools."
The temperature dropped.
Grim instinctively reached toward his mark.
Before anything could escalate, the professor's staff snapped against the rune slab.
"Ladies, save the bloodshed for sparring week."
Lys said nothing, but her claws had already begun to extend under the table.
Calista sat across from her.
"I like her," Sparks said in Grim's head. "Kill her later. Not now."
"We're not killing anyone."
"Says the guy glowing like a crown-shaped nuke."
End of Class – The Talk
After class, Grim stepped outside to find all of his siblings gathered beneath the flame blossom tree.
Max had a book open, but wasn't reading.
Hadi had made a flame bird and was chasing it like a cat.
Tristan leaned against the trunk, arms crossed.
"We're being watched," he said. "Two faculty. One Court spy—he's new. Doesn't walk like a student."
"The mark makes you a target now," Ayesha added, nodding toward Grim.
"Then let them watch," Grim said. "We've burned bigger things."
Sparks flared in his mind—sarcastic but protective.
"If they try anything, I get the first blast. Just one. Please. It'll be poetic."
Max closed the book. "And the Academy is peaceful again."
Grim looked at all of them—his strange, beautiful chaos of a family—and smiled faintly.
"For now."