"The world will fear what you were always meant to be. Let them. Shadow burns long after the flame is gone."
---
**Entry One: The Fallout**
Everyone saw it. The light that should've flared from the stone when I placed my hand on it… and the way it flickered out just as quickly.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
Once the power stone awakened, it never dimmed. But with me, it sparked—then died.
People whispered behind hands and grimaced openly when I passed by in the halls. Even the instructors were confused. They murmured words like "rare anomaly" and "possible misreading" like they were trying to find an excuse to believe I *wasn't* completely powerless.
But the students? They didn't hold back.
"She faked it to get in."
"Maybe she's cursed."
"She's wasting a class slot."
Even with my chin up and steps steady, every word cut a little deeper. But I didn't break. I wouldn't give them that.
---
**Entry Two: Joren's Smile, and Doubt**
I thought Joren would be different.
After all, he'd been the first to really believe in me. The one who stood up for me before the tests, who trained with me at dusk and smiled like I was someone worth protecting.
He found me near the colonnades that bordered the training yard. I leaned against the cold stone wall, watching the sun sink low behind the mountains. My fingers twitched in the fabric of my sleeve.
"You okay?" he asked, stepping into the shade beside me.
"I'm fine," I replied too quickly.
He didn't buy it.
"Listen, I know what it looked like… but maybe the stone just didn't read you right. You've got something. I've seen it."
His voice was soft, careful, as if I might shatter if he pressed too hard.
But it was the hesitation in his eyes that did the damage.
"You don't believe me," I said, keeping my voice flat.
His smile faltered. "I believe in *you.*"
It wasn't the same. He didn't believe in my *power*, just the girl standing in front of him.
And that wasn't enough.
---
**Entry Three: Kael's Silence**
Kael didn't speak to me. Not in the halls, not in class, not even during the combat drills where everyone else seemed to either avoid me or smirk like they were about to watch a show.
But he saw me.
I could feel his eyes whenever I trained. He stood near the Third Years, arms crossed, like some silent guardian carved from stone and flame.
When Malrik shoved me hard during a spar, long after the match ended, I hit the ground with a grunt.
Before I could get up, Kael was there.
He didn't say a word. Didn't even *look* at Malrik. He just stood between us, calm but dangerous, the air around him crackling faintly with blue fire.
Malrik backed off.
Kael turned slightly, just enough to glance at me over his shoulder. His voice was low, meant only for me.
"Next time, burn him."
And then he walked away, like it was nothing.
---
**Entry Four: In the Shadows**
That night, I sat in the courtyard behind the dorms where the lamplight couldn't reach. The moon hung low, casting long, twisted shadows across the stone.
I pressed my hand to the cool ground and closed my eyes.
*You were born in shadow, Elara.* My sister's voice, soft in memory. *Your magic won't come when the light is watching. It waits. It watches. It wants to be chosen.*
I breathed deep and reached inward.
Something stirred beneath my skin. A flicker. A shift. The shadows beneath my fingers curled upward—just slightly, like smoke.
They moved. Not with the wind. With me.
Not enough to fight with. Not enough to prove.
But enough to know it was real.
---
### **Entry Five: Her Letter**
I returned to the library and found the journal tucked beneath my cot. As I flipped the worn pages, something slid loose from the spine—a letter I'd never seen before.
**Seris' handwriting.**
> *Elara,*
> *If you're reading this, you've already felt it—that gnawing feeling that you're not like the others.*
> *You're not.*
> *The academy won't understand you. The instructors will try to fix you. Even the ones who love you might doubt you. But not him.*
> *Kael's fire was born the same year your shadow was.*
> *You're bound by something ancient.*
> *When the bond reveals itself, the academy will tremble. Let it.*
> — *Seris*
I stared at the paper, fingers trembling. The bond. The shadows. Kael.
Was this why the stone had failed? Because I wasn't meant to be measured by their system?
---
**Entry Six: Kael's Flame**
I found him later. He sat by the fire pits near the combat yard, flames licking at his palm like a wild pet tamed only by him.
"You knew," I said quietly, stepping close.
Kael didn't look surprised. "I guessed."
"And you didn't tell anyone?"
He finally looked at me, his blue eyes sharp. "Because I didn't know what it meant. Still don't."
"I'm not weak," I whispered, daring him to disagree.
"I know."
His gaze didn't waver. Didn't soften.
Then he reached for my hand—slowly, deliberately—and when our skin touched, the flames between us dimmed to cinders. The shadows behind me curled upward like they were drawn to him, to us.
We stood in that stillness, caught in something ancient and silent. His hand brushed against mine again before he let go.
"Let them think you're nothing," he murmured. "It'll make them slower to run."
---
**Entry Seven: The Rankings**
In the morning, the rankings were posted.
**Kael** — Rank 1.
**Joren** — Rank 3.
**Malrik** — Rank 6.
**Nia** —Rank 575
**Elara** — *Unranked.* Again.
It was no glitch. The system didn't understand me. But worse—it feared me.
Students stood around the board whispering. Joren looked for me in the crowd, expression tight, but didn't approach.
Only Kael caught my eyes across the stone wall and gave a single, firm nod.
It wasn't sympathy.
It was recognition.
They still didn't see me. But Kael did.
And maybe that was enough—for now.
---