The summons arrived at dawn, sealed with the Academy's crest.
Eryndor stared at the emblem two overlapping rings surrounded by a halo of stars and felt a chill trace down his spine.
"Mandatory evaluation," the letter read. "Echo Phenomenon: Phase One Observation."
Luca, who had just woken up, read over his shoulder and sighed.
"Guess Soren couldn't wait."
Eryndor folded the letter carefully, voice low. "We knew this was coming."
"Yeah," Luca said, stretching lazily, "but I didn't think it'd be this soon. We barely got our bodies back."
"Maybe that's exactly why they're rushing it."
Luca shot him a sideways grin. "You worried?"
"I'm not," Eryndor said too quickly.
Luca chuckled softly. "You're a terrible liar."
By midday, they were escorted through the main corridors of the Arcane Research Wing a place off-limits to most students.
The halls were lined with translucent panels where blue energy pulsed like veins through glass.
Researchers in pale uniforms watched as they passed, whispering behind data screens.
Eryndor tried to ignore the stares, but each step echoed too loudly, the sound of boots against the sterile floor unnerving in its precision.
When they entered the testing chamber, Professor Soren was already waiting.
The room was circular, the floor etched with runic patterns that shimmered faintly when touched by light.
Suspended in the center was a spherical array of crystals the Resonance Core, rebuilt after the explosion.
"Eryndor. Luca," Soren said, his tone formal. "You both know why you're here."
Eryndor nodded. "To measure the synchronization."
"To understand it," Soren corrected. "You two have created something unprecedented. If this resonance can be controlled, it could revolutionize our understanding of neural binding and magical amplification."
Luca tilted his head. "And if it can't be controlled?"
Soren's gaze sharpened. "Then we'll find out how dangerous it truly is."
The air between them thickened.
The experiment began with electrodes, sensors, and faintly glowing glyphs being attached to their temples and wrists.
They sat opposite each other, palms resting on circular nodes that pulsed with pale light.
The hum returned the same low vibration that once existed between them.
Soren's voice echoed through the speakers. "Focus on each other. Nothing else."
Eryndor exhaled slowly, trying to calm his racing pulse.
He looked at Luca the faint smirk on his lips, the flicker of curiosity in his eyes and for a moment, it was easy to forget the machines, the scientists, the fear.
He felt the first tremor almost instantly.
The air around them rippled, bending faintly, as if reality were breathing.
Data screens flared to life, numbers accelerating faster than the assistants could record.
"Resonance level: 48%… 63%… 81%!"
Soren leaned forward, eyes gleaming. "Remarkable"
But Eryndor barely heard him.
Every beat of his heart echoed in Luca's chest. Every breath synced, every thought blurred.
He felt warmth then clarity, then something vast and wordless unfolding inside them both.
It wasn't power. It was connection raw and infinite.
He could sense Luca's emotions, scattered and bright.
Fragments of memory flashed: laughter beneath broken glass, the smell of rain, the ache of solitude.
Then pain.
A crack of static split through the chamber.
Eryndor gasped, clutching his head. "Stop"
The hum turned violent. The Core flared with blinding light.
"Disconnect them!" Soren shouted.
Technicians scrambled to cut the channels, but the resonance refused to break.
It held, threads of light binding their forms together in arcs of energy.
Eryndor tried to move tried to breathe but the connection surged uncontrollably.
He heard Luca's voice through the chaos.
Don't fight it. Trust it.
And so he did.
The explosion never came this time.
Instead, everything fell silent.
When the light dimmed, the two of them were still sitting there alive, but changed.
Their marks no longer pulsed erratically; they shone steadily, like twin heartbeats carved into skin.
Soren approached cautiously. "You stabilized the Core."
Eryndor opened his eyes, dazed. "We didn't do anything."
"Exactly," Soren muttered. "That's what frightens me."
He gestured to the data screens readings that made no sense. "It wasn't magic. It wasn't technology. It was intent."
Luca wiped sweat from his brow. "Meaning?"
"Meaning whatever bond you've formed operates outside measurable law."
He looked between them. "You're walking paradoxes now. And the Academy isn't equipped to contain paradoxes."
The hum faded, but in its place lingered a faint warmth in Eryndor's chest like the echo of something sacred.
That night, the Academy's news feeds buzzed quietly.
Rumors spread of an "anomaly containment" in the Research Wing.
Students whispered about two names in particular: Eryndor Vale and Luca Daren.
Eryndor didn't sleep.
He sat by the dorm window, watching the lights flicker over the city below.
His reflection looked the same yet not. His eyes carried faint rings of silver light now, pulsing softly when his thoughts drifted toward Luca.
He didn't know what scared him more the resonance itself, or how natural it had begun to feel.
Near midnight, a knock sounded on his door.
Luca stood there, drenched from rain, jacket half unzipped, that familiar smirk gone softer now.
"You weren't sleeping either, huh?"
Eryndor shook his head.
Luca stepped in, dripping water on the floor. "You felt it too, didn't you? The hum hasn't stopped."
"No," Eryndor admitted quietly. "It's like it's… inside us now."
Luca walked closer. "Then maybe it's not something we fight. Maybe it's something we become."
Their gazes held steady, searching.
For a long time, neither spoke.
The storm outside raged against the windows, thunder rolling across the horizon like the heartbeat of something immense and alive.
And when lightning flashed, for just an instant, their twin marks glowed in unison proof that the resonance was no longer an experiment.
It was evolution.
By morning, the whole Academy knew.
News spread faster than lightning:
Two students linked by forbidden resonance. Experiment gone right or terribly wrong.
Eryndor tried to ignore the whispers. Every corridor he passed through felt heavier, every gaze lingered too long.
Students who once smiled now kept their distance, unsure whether to be curious or afraid.
He could hear them sometimes hushed voices from behind columns, half-formed questions that followed him like shadows.
"Did you see their eyes? They glow."
"They say they can read each other's thoughts."
"What if they're dangerous?"
Dangerous. The word clung to him like static.
At midday, the summons came again this time not from Soren, but from the Academy Council.
The council chamber was a cathedral of glass and light, high above the city towers.
Nine members sat in semicircle formation, faces hidden behind faint holo-screens.
Soren stood beside them, tense.
Eryndor and Luca were ushered to the center of the room.
Councilor Ardent, an elder with silver-threaded hair, leaned forward. "You understand why you are here."
"Yes," Eryndor replied softly. "You think we're a threat."
"Not yet," Ardent said, "but your existence defies every law we know. Two human consciousnesses sharing energy if it spreads, it could destabilize the Core network."
Luca crossed his arms. "So what's your plan? Lock us up? Tear us apart?"
"Containment," Ardent said simply. "At least until we determine the scope of the resonance."
Soren stiffened. "With respect, sir if you separate them forcefully, it could kill them both."
A murmur rippled through the council.
Eryndor's pulse spiked. "Kill?"
Soren met his eyes grimly. "The bond is symbiotic now. You remove one, the other collapses."
For a moment, no one spoke. Only the faint hum of the holo-lights filled the silence.
Luca laughed once a low, sharp sound that didn't reach his eyes. "Guess that makes us a matched set."
"Hardly something to joke about," Ardent snapped.
But Luca just smirked faintly, a shield against fear.
When the hearing ended, the decision came swiftly:
Restricted freedom. Mandatory supervision. No external contact.
They were escorted back to the dorm wing, two guards following discreetly behind.
Eryndor said nothing, his thoughts a storm.
"Hey." Luca nudged him once. "Breathe. It's not the end of the world."
Eryndor turned sharply. "They just said separating us could kill us, Luca. How is that not the end of the world?"
Luca's smirk faded. "Because it means something real is happening. Something they can't explain or control. And that scares them."
He stopped walking, eyes fierce. "But it doesn't scare me."
Something in his tone quiet, unwavering cut through the panic swirling inside Eryndor.
He looked at Luca, really looked at him, and for the first time realized: Luca wasn't fearless. He was choosing courage, again and again, in the face of everything.
That night, storm clouds gathered over the city again.
The dorm lights flickered as power fluctuated a side effect, Soren said, of "resonance interference."
Eryndor sat by the window, unable to sleep.
Outside, lightning flashed over the towers, illuminating the rain-slick glass.
The hum inside him had changed; it was no longer gentle. It was restless, urgent.
He felt it pull at him toward Luca.
When he opened his door, Luca was already standing in the hallway, as if drawn by the same force.
Neither spoke.
They simply stood there, the world narrowing until only the sound of their synchronized heartbeats remained.
Then, softly, Eryndor said, "If this is going to destroy us, I want it to be by our choice."
Luca's lips curved into something between a smile and a promise.
"Then let's decide together."
The hum rose soft, golden, electric.
Somewhere in the academy below, alarms flickered briefly before dying out.
And for one suspended heartbeat, as lightning lit the sky, their forms glowed in unison once more a signal the world wasn't ready to receive.