The night settled heavy over the Academy, moonlight weaving silver threads across the courtyard.
Rivan sat on the same bench where he'd been earlier, the air still faintly buzzing around him.
Every flicker of mana, every shimmer from the lamps, seemed to pulse in rhythm with his heartbeat.
He couldn't rest.
Not with those same thoughts looping endlessly—
Why was the mana reacting to him?
Who was that masked figure?
And whose voice had whispered his name?
Liora hadn't spoken since their last encounter, but her silence felt heavier than words.
He remembered the way she'd looked at him—cautious, measuring, as if even she didn't fully understand what she was seeing.
Was she afraid of him? Or of what was coming?
The Academy itself seemed… alive.
Lights dimmed as he walked past.
The air grew warmer near his hands, tingling with energy.
Even the stone beneath his feet seemed to hum softly, responding to his presence.
He exhaled slowly. "What are you trying to show me?"
A faint hum drifted through the courtyard—low, rhythmic, almost like a heartbeat buried beneath the ground.
Rivan's pulse quickened. Something instinctive urged him forward, down an old, overgrown path behind the lecture towers.
No one had ever mentioned this place before.
It wasn't on any of the maps he'd seen.
Yet the hum grew stronger with every cautious step.
Rivulets of moonlight guided him past twisted vines and broken stones.
He brushed away a curtain of leaves, feeling their rough edges scrape his fingers.
The air smelled of damp stone and old dust, tinged faintly with something metallic—mana, or blood? He didn't know.
The path ended beneath a worn archway tangled with vines. Beyond it stood a forgotten observatory, its walls cracked, runes half-faded.
Golden dust floated in the moonlight, making the air shimmer as though the place remembered some long-lost glory.
When he stepped closer, the hum sharpened into a whisper.
"You're close."
The voice.
Soft. Ancient. Terrifyingly familiar.
Rivan froze. "Who are you?"
"You will remember… when the seal breaks."
The runes etched across the floor flared to life, forming glowing rings beneath his feet.
Mana surged upward, wrapping his arms and chest, tightening around him like a living force.
He felt heat crawling up his spine and a buzzing behind his eyes. The world seemed to breathe through him.
Visions crashed into his mind—
Twin moons hanging over burning towers,
A battlefield drenched in starlight,
And a faceless figure standing beside him, silent and commanding.
He staggered back, gasping. His hands clutched at the glowing air, trying to anchor himself.
"Was… was that real?" he whispered.
The hum faded from the air, but it hadn't vanished entirely. It pulsed inside him now, steady and alive, as if he had absorbed a heartbeat from some ancient source.
Rivan's legs shook. He looked at the observatory, its walls glimmering faintly under the moonlight.
Every instinct screamed that something inside the Academy had awakened.
And whatever it was—
It had recognized him.
He swallowed hard, feeling a chill run down his spine.
The night seemed suddenly too quiet, too expectant.
Somewhere, deep in the shadows of the towers, something was watching.
Waiting.
And for the first time, Rivan realized he wasn't just a visitor here.
He was part of something much larger…
Something older.
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Author's Note:
Rivan's starting to feel the Academy's secrets stirring—and something deep beneath it has noticed him.
He's no longer just a visitor… but what exactly has recognized him?
I'd love to hear your thoughts—what do you think lies beneath the Academy?
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