The Academy training grounds were unusually silent.
Kaelen stood at the edge of the obsidian-ringed dueling circle, feeling the weight of a hundred eyes pressing against his shoulders. He had been summoned—publicly—for a mock duel against another first-year. It was supposed to be a display of progress, a means for instructors to assess adaptability. But Kaelen knew the truth.
They wanted to test the orphan with the commoner's name. To see if the rumors about his "wild, unstable power" were true.
Across from him stood Darius Vel'Korin, heir to a minor noble house, but still leagues above Kaelen in social standing. Darius wore his uniform like a badge of pride, his silver-blonde hair bound in a tight braid, his Core mark shimmering with twin sigils—Wind and Flame. A dual-affinity prodigy.
"Try not to drown in your own spell," Darius said with a sneer. "Wouldn't want the floor to get wet."
Kaelen ignored him. He inhaled slowly, sensing the quiet whisper of his Aqua Arcane respond. It shimmered in his core—not loud, not violent—but flowing with steady potential. But beneath that, deeper than he dared explore, something else stirred. The Abyss. Not water, but something darker, colder. A sleeping current that stretched into infinity.
"No," he thought. "Not yet."
Instructor Halrix stood between them. "Standard duel rules. First one to lose footing or yield is out. No lethal strikes. Begin."
The air shifted instantly.
Darius raised a palm and spun a ring of fire and wind into a roaring serpent, lashing toward Kaelen with a practiced flick. Students gasped at the precision. Kaelen moved just in time, twisting sideways, sliding on a thin film of summoned water. He flung a burst of pressurized mist, obscuring Darius' vision, then darted forward.
He wasn't faster. He wasn't stronger. But he flowed.
"Hydro Veil—Phase Shift!" he whispered.
A shimmer passed over his form, his body blurring. Darius struck at an afterimage. The crowd leaned forward.
Kaelen summoned water beneath his opponent's feet, freezing it in a heartbeat. Darius stumbled—only slightly—but enough.
Kaelen surged forward, palm extended. A dome of water exploded upward like a geyser.
For a moment, he thought he had it.
But Darius roared, his Core flaring. Wind and fire surged around him like twin dragons, evaporating the geyser in an instant. Heat blasted outward. Kaelen staggered.
"You dare humiliate me?!" Darius snapped, flame wreathing his limbs. "Let's see how long your pathetic spells last!"
His next strike wasn't refined. It was wrath—wild arcs of spiraling flame mixed with razor-edged wind. Kaelen barely deflected them, weaving walls of water to buy seconds.
But his Core was thinning. Water alone wouldn't be enough.
Then it happened.
One strike—too close, too strong—pierced his defenses. A wind blade slashed across Kaelen's shoulder. Pain flared. His control slipped.
Something within him screamed.
The Abyss blinked awake.
Time slowed.
The world dimmed—not from darkness, but from absence. Kaelen stood frozen as a cold ripple unfurled from his Core. Shadows crept out from his limbs like ink poured into clear water. The dueling circle cracked beneath him. Darius faltered, suddenly unsure.
"What—what is that…?" someone whispered from the crowd.
Kaelen's eyes glowed—not blue, but void-black rimmed with violet.
Too soon, he thought. Not here. Not like this.
He clenched his fists. Forced the Abyss back down.
Water surged violently outward, swallowing the shadow. Steam hissed as his own spell quenched the bleed of abyssal energy. The duel ring flooded, soaking both combatants. Darius fell to one knee.
Halrix raised his hand, stunned. "Duel over. Kaelen Virell—victor."
Gasps rang across the yard. Darius scrambled up, sputtering in soaked fury.
Kaelen bowed stiffly and left without a word, his shoulder still bleeding.
—
Later that night, Kaelen sat alone at the edge of the Moonveil Pond near the academy's western wing. He dipped his fingers into the water. It didn't respond as it usually did. It trembled—afraid.
He wasn't sure if it was of him… or for him.
"You suppressed it well," came a voice.
Kaelen turned.
A tall figure stepped out of the shadows—robes lined with constellation threads, face half-hidden beneath a hood.
Instructor Liora.
One of the Academy's highest-ranking mages. And someone Kaelen had never spoken to directly before.
"You felt it?" he asked softly.
"The Abyss does not go unnoticed by those who've glimpsed it," she said. "You're not the first to walk with two veins. But few survive the awakening."
Kaelen looked down. "I didn't want it to wake."
"You'll wish you had awakened it sooner," Liora said, eyes narrowing. "There are things in motion. Powers stirring beneath the world's crust. Your gifts—both the calm and the cursed—will be tested."
She turned to leave but paused. "Come to the east sanctum tomorrow at dawn. You'll begin real training. The Academy has tolerated your growth. Now, it must shape it."
Kaelen said nothing. Only watched the ripples on the water vanish… into stillness.
End of Chapter 15