The wind above the eastern cliffs howled like a living thing. Storm clouds gathered over the Academy, swollen with black lightning. What had begun as a night of containment had turned into chaos. Alarm bells thundered through the towers, and streaks of light from spellfire illuminated the grounds below.
Lyn and Arden emerged from the catacombs into that storm. Their robes were torn, faces streaked with soot from the burning vaults. The scroll fragment clenched in Lyn's hand still pulsed with the stolen sigils of Velan's teleportation mark—proof of the Council's secret network.
Umbra's presence surged again, restless, pressing against the boundaries of their bond.—The chains weaken. Let me breathe, Lyn.
"Not yet," Lyn murmured, eyes scanning the battlements. "If the Council traces your energy, they'll lock down the whole district."
Arden wiped rain from his brow. "They already have. Look."
Below, waves of mana light spilled from the Grand Hall's core. The Council's sentinels floated in formation, chanting in perfect rhythm, their combined power feeding into a massive containment seal. At its center—Umbra's essence, torn fragments suspended in a crystal lattice.
"They're extracting her remaining core!" Arden hissed. "That's what Velan meant. They're building copies from her shards!"
Lyn's fists tightened until his knuckles bled. The bond pulsed wildly, resonating with the trapped fragments below. Umbra's voice trembled—not with fear, but rage.—They carve me apart while you watch.
"I'm not watching," Lyn growled.
He raised the stolen fragment of Velan's scroll and bit his thumb, blood mingling with ink. The runes shifted, bending to his will. "If they want the shadow caged, they can have the storm instead."
Arden stepped back. "Lyn, what are you—"
"Breaking the last rule they left me."
He slammed his palm into the wet stone, activating the sigil. Power ripped through the air, tearing open the barrier between worlds. A shriek of pure mana pierced the night as the sky itself split—and from the rift poured darkness, not empty but alive.
Umbra's form burst forth, no longer the sleek creature of shadows but a colossal wyrm of ink and starlight, scales etched with the runes of rebellion. Her roar rolled across the mountains, shaking the very foundations of the Academy.
Students stumbled from their quarters, shielding their eyes from the black radiance. Even the Council faltered as their seals cracked under the force.
"Umbra's core is unstable!" shouted one adjudicator. "Contain it before the resonance collapse!"
But it was already too late.
Umbra descended, tail coiling around the crystal lattice that held her stolen fragments. One beat of her wings shattered the wards like glass. The fragments rejoined her form in a storm of black light, and when her gaze fell upon the Council's tower, there was fury in every motion.
—They bound me in silence. Now they will listen.
"Umbra!" Lyn shouted above the roar. "Don't—"
—You would silence me again?
He hesitated. The air was thick with her power—every breath heavy, every heartbeat an echo of hers. He could feel the rebellion pulsing through her essence, ancient and righteous.
Still, he stepped forward, voice steady. "If you destroy them now, you'll prove their fear right. Let me guide it. Just this once—trust me."
Umbra's massive form hovered, eyes glowing like eclipsed suns. For a heartbeat, everything was still.
Then she turned her head toward the Council's seal chamber and released a deafening roar—not of rage, but of warning. The force of it shattered the skyward storm, scattering the lightning, collapsing the containment rings around the Grand Hall.
The Council's protective dome ruptured, sending shockwaves through the grounds.
Arden staggered beside Lyn, staring in awe. "You just told a primordial spirit to trust you, and she listened."
Lyn's shoulders trembled. "No. She remembered."
Umbra's form began to dissolve back into shadow, shrinking until she stood beside him once more—a tall, humanoid silhouette of obsidian light. Her voice was quiet now.—They will not forgive this.
"I'm counting on it."
The Academy bells began to toll again—five chimes this time. War protocol. The highest level of alert.
Arden glanced at him. "What now?"
Lyn looked toward the Council Tower, where silhouettes already gathered for countermeasures. "Now," he said, "the rebellion stops hiding."