The wind shifted as dawn bled slowly across the horizon, turning the jagged silhouettes of the Aetherclimb Mountains into ink strokes against a bruised sky. The cold still clung to the earth, biting at every breath, but the battlefield had finally fallen into silence. Only embers remained, scattered like dying stars across the charred soil.
Three figures walked away from the ruins – unevenly.
Kairo Orin led the way, his cloak tattered, the faint glow of Riftlight still pulsing beneath his skin. His expression was calm, almost unreadable, but his eyes – those molten, gold-lit eyes – told another story entirely. Behind him came Reika Tanari, every step measured and sharp, her twin blades slung across her back like extensions of her will. She walked with the wary grace of someone who trusted no one, not even the silence.
And then there was Taro.
"Are we sure this path doesn't lead to, you know, certain doom?" Taro asked for what felt like the sixth time in half an hour. He struggled to keep up, clutching a half-eaten loaf of bread he'd somehow managed to save through an explosion, a landslide, and several near-death experiences.
Reika exhaled through her nose "Taro," she said tightly, "If you ask that again I will throw you off this mountain."
He pointed an accusing finger at her, crumbs dotting his coat. "You, see? First Riftborn monsters, now death threats from teammates! You people don't know the meaning of emotional support."
Kairo stopped walking. Taro bumped into his back with an "oof."
"We're here," Kairo muttered, voice low.
They emerged from the rocky pass onto a wide plateau overlooking the northern valley of Amaranth. Below, the land stretched in a haze of fog and ruin – ancient forests scorched to black, rivers of ash winding between skeletal ruins. And at the centre of it all, piercing the clouds like a blade, stood the spire.
St. Kareth's Academy.
Even from a distance, the fortress- school radiated power. Its walls were carved from black stone laced with silver veins of ancient runes that pulsed faintly like veins beneath skin. It didn't look like a place for students. It looked like something that watched.
Taro squinted. "Oh yeah, definitely not ominous. Totally normal to have a school that looks like it eats souls for breakfast."
Reika ignored him, her eyes narrowing on the spire's faint glow. "That's where the summons came from," she said quietly. "The Academy wants to see you, Kairo."
Kairo's hand tightened around his cloak. The name alone felt like ice under his ribs. The Academy. A place of sterile halls and broken oaths. The origin of everything that had destroyed his old life.
"And if I say no?" he asked.
Reika glanced sideways at him. "Then they'll send someone else to drag you there. Someone less…patient than me."
Taro leaned in. "Less patient?" You literally stabbed a Riftborn three times and insulted its mother a couple of minutes ago."
Kairo sighed, ignoring the banter as he looked out toward the spire. For weeks, he had been running from his past – the memories, the fire, the blood. But St. Kareth's wasn't just part of his past. It was his past. If it was calling him back now, it meant something was unravelling again.
And maybe…it was time to stop running.
By nightfall, the trio had reached the edge of the valley. Fog rolled thick across the ground, glowing faintly with residual Rift energy. The air was heavy – charged, like the world was holding its breath. Strange whispers echoed faintly through the mist, voices that didn't belong to the living.
Taro pressed close to Kairo, his usual grin faltering. "You know," he said nervously, "I'm starting to think this place wasn't built by normal architects. Or sane ones."
Reika kept her blades ready, eyes scanning the shadows. "Don't talk. Just move."
But then they saw it – rising from the fog like a mountain of glass and stone: the entrance to St. Kareth's Academy. Massive obsidian gates stood half-open, engraved with the Custodian Sigil: a spiral swallowing a flame. It looked like a wound that had never healed.
As they stepped through, the temperature dropped instantly. The interior corridors were vast and silent, lit only by ghostly blue lanterns that floated in the air. Portraits lined the walls – not paintings, but moving reflections of the past, flickering like broken memories. Students laughing. Experiments humming. The first Rift breach. And then…screams.
Taro froze. "Okay, that's not creepy at all. Totally fine. Love the haunted memory décor."
Kairo walked slowly ahead, tracing a hand across a cracked wall. "This place shouldn't exist anymore," he murmured. "It was supposed to be erased after the first collapse."
Reika frowned. "Maybe it was. Maybe what we're walking through is just an echo."
Then a sound broke the silent – footsteps.
From the far corridor, lights flickered to life, and three figures emerged, clad in Custodian armour and masks etched with the Academy's mark. Their movements were unnervingly calm. The lead one stepped forward, voice echoing.
"Subject Orin," the masked officer said. "The Academy welcomes you home."
Taro gulped. "Yeah, no. No one welcomes people like that unless they plan to dissect them."
Kairo's hands began to glow with faint firelight. "I'm not your subject anymore."
"On the contrary," the voice replied. "You always were. You just forgot."
Flames roared to life around Kairo, reflecting in Reika's twin blades as she drew them with a metallic hiss. Taro stumbled backward but somehow managed to pull out a small crossbow, muttering, "I didn't sign up for this…again."
The Custodian guards raised their weapons – glass-tipped spears infused with Riftlight.
And then the spire trembled.
The ground split open beneath them, runes igniting in the cracks. From the depths of the Academy's foundations came a pulse – cold, rhythmic, like a heartbeat awakening after centuries of silence.
Reika swore under her breath. "They've activated the Veil protocol."
Kairo looked toward her. "What does that mean?"
Taro answered before she could. "It means we run! Running sounds great right now!"
But Kairo didn't move. His flames flared, illuminating his face – half fury, half grief. "No," he said quietly. "This time…I'm done running."
And with that, he stepped forward as the Veil of St. Kareth's Academy shattered open, unleashing a surge of ancient Riftlight that swallowed the corridor whole.