The chamber pulsed with quiet tension.
Dozens of students had already completed their resonance tests, each circle on the marble floor dimming one by one. Only a single sigil still glowed faintly at the far end of the hall waiting.
Eryndor Caelis stood there, his hands cold despite the warmth of the air.
He could hear the low hum of mana beneath his boots, could almost feel the circle's rhythm trying to match his heartbeat. But it wouldn't. It couldn't.
He wasn't supposed to have enough magic to make it respond at all.
On the raised platform, Professor Amaris cleared her throat.
"Final pairing: Luca Veyren and Eryndor Caelis."
The room quieted instantly. A murmur rippled through the crowd the kind of excitement that smelled like gossip.
Eryndor's stomach turned. Luca Veyren that Luca Veyren was known throughout the academy as the golden prodigy, the youngest student to reach Level Six affinity, and the most infuriating flirt in Aetherion.
He stepped into the circle with that same careless grace, his uniform slightly undone, a grin already forming. "Don't look so nervous, Caelis. I'm only terrifying in exams."
Eryndor blinked at him. "You're not helping."
Luca's grin widened. "Wasn't trying to."
Professor Amaris sighed. "Hands together, please. When the circle activates, do not break contact until the resonance stabilizes. Understood?"
Luca nodded lazily. Eryndor hesitated then reached out. Their fingers brushed, and the moment contact was made, the sigil blazed to life.
The glow was instant and fierce, too bright for mortal eyes.
Students gasped. Someone screamed. The air rippled outward like a shockwave, shaking the chandeliers and cracking the marble floor.
Mana roared in their ears. Eryndor staggered, gripping Luca's wrist out of instinct. But Luca didn't pull away his eyes were locked on the flood of light pouring from beneath them.
And then, suddenly, everything went still.
The brightness faded into silence. Smoke curled upward where the sigil had burned itself out, leaving behind only the faint scent of ozone.
They were still standing alive, unharmed, and connected. Their hands hadn't separated.
For a few seconds, no one spoke.
Then Professor Amaris broke the silence. "Impossible" she whispered. "Containment threshold exceeded again."
Eryndor blinked, dizzy. "Did did we just fail?"
Luca turned to him, eyes glinting with something between awe and amusement. "No, Caelis. We just broke the academy's calibration spell."
Gasps filled the room.
Professor Amaris raised her voice. "Step forward."
They obeyed, still linked by some unseen current.
"The test is concluded," she said carefully. "However, the resonance is… beyond expected capacity. Until further notice, the two of you will remain provisionally paired."
Luca tilted his head. "Paired?" He smirked. "Guess you're stuck with me, then."
Eryndor exhaled shakily. "Could be worse."
"Oh?" Luca's grin deepened. "You think I'm easy to deal with?"
Eryndor glanced at him at the warmth hiding behind the arrogance and said softly, "I think… you're not what people say you are."
Luca's expression faltered, just for a moment, before the teasing mask slipped back into place. "Careful, Caelis. Keep talking like that and I might start to like you."
Eryndor flushed, turning away. "You already sound like you do."
Luca laughed quietly, almost genuinely as the students whispered and the light faded from the broken sigil.
For the first time that evening, Eryndor wondered what exactly he had gotten himself into.
The corridors outside the resonance hall were eerily quiet.
Only the faint hum of mana lights echoed down the long, arched hallway as Eryndor and Luca walked side by side, their steps soft against the marble.
Eryndor didn't speak at first. His mind still spun from what had happened the blinding light, the circle breaking, the way Luca's hand had felt impossibly warm even after the magic had faded.
Luca's voice finally broke the silence. "You've never done a resonance test before, have you?"
Eryndor hesitated. "Not a full one. My control's always been unstable."
"Unstable?" Luca chuckled quietly. "That was not unstable, Caelis. That was chaos wrapped in elegance."
Eryndor frowned. "You make that sound like a compliment."
"It is." Luca's grin softened. "You hid something strong in there. No wonder the system couldn't read your mana level."
They turned down a smaller corridor that opened into a glass-covered courtyard. Outside, the twin moons cast silver light across the garden a field of glowing night lilies swaying gently in the wind.
Eryndor slowed, drawn toward the fountain at the center. Its water glowed faintly with threads of energy, swirling in a perfect spiral. He touched the edge, watching the surface ripple.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Luca said, stepping beside him. His reflection shimmered across the water, golden and distant. "The academy planted these when the resonance towers were built. They respond to emotion."
Eryndor looked up. "Emotion?"
Luca smiled faintly. "You're nervous. The petals around us are trembling."
Eryndor blinked and realized it was true. The glowing lilies quivered in rhythm with his heartbeat. "That's unfair."
"Maybe." Luca's tone softened. "But it's honest."
For a moment, they simply stood there, the world around them still except for the whisper of wind. Eryndor wanted to say something anything but every word tangled in his throat.
When he finally found his voice, it came out smaller than he intended. "Why did you agree to pair with me? You could've chosen anyone."
Luca turned his gaze toward the moons. "Because everyone else wanted me for power. You didn't."
Eryndor blinked. "I didn't even want to be chosen."
"Exactly." Luca's lips curved into a small, genuine smile. "That's what made me curious."
The night air hummed again, low and steady almost like the lingering echo of their earlier test. Eryndor felt it vibrate through his bones. The water in the fountain pulsed in time with his heartbeat, glowing brighter for a second.
Luca's eyes flickered. "You feel that, don't you?"
Eryndor nodded slowly. "It's the same resonance."
"No," Luca said, voice dropping. "It's stronger."
A sudden gust swept through the courtyard, scattering petals into the air. The moons' light bent strangely, forming brief, shimmering lines that twisted above them like a sigil half-awakened.
Eryndor stumbled back. "What's happening?"
Luca reached for him without thinking, catching his arm. "Stay still."
The floating sigil flared once, then dissolved into nothing, leaving only silence behind. The petals drifted back to the ground like dying stars.
Eryndor's chest heaved. "That wasn't normal, was it?"
Luca exhaled slowly. "Not even close." His hand lingered on Eryndor's sleeve before he finally let go.
From the balcony high above, unseen by either of them, Headmaster Varyn watched with unreadable eyes. The sigil's echo still burned faintly in the air ancient, familiar, and forbidden.
He whispered to himself, "After twenty years… the Celestial Link has awakened again."
Then he turned away, his cloak dissolving into mist.
Below, the night grew quiet once more.
Luca ran a hand through his hair, his earlier teasing gone. "You might want to be careful, Caelis. Whatever's inside you it's waking up."
Eryndor's gaze fell to the fountain, to their reflections side by side. "Then what about you?" he asked softly. "You were there too. It reacted to both of us."
Luca's expression faltered, but only for a moment. "Maybe that's the problem."
Before Eryndor could answer, a bell tolled in the distance signaling curfew.
Luca straightened, forcing a grin back onto his face. "Come on, partner. If we get caught out here, Professor Amaris will turn us into broomsticks."
Eryndor smiled weakly. "I doubt that's possible."
"Oh, she'd find a way," Luca said, brushing past him toward the corridor. Then, softer, without looking back.
"See you tomorrow, Caelis."
Eryndor stood there for a long moment after he left, the fountain's glow reflecting in his eyes. The warmth of Luca's hand still lingered against his skin, and for the first time, the silence of the academy felt alive whispering something he couldn't quite name.