🎬 Episode 4 — The Forbidden Bond
POV: Jidenna Valeris
By the time the sun rose again, Astral Academy had already buried what happened in the bell tower under a hundred layers of silence. The cracks were sealed, the stone polished, and the official statement said it was a "gas expansion beneath the foundation."
But you can't hide fear, not when it lingers in people's eyes. Not when the walls themselves seem to listen.
Marcus and Anderson pretended things were normal. They joked about finals, about Anderson's hopeless crush on Pamela Dawnspear, and about the teachers acting like ghost hunters. But every time I looked up at the sky, I felt it—the pulse of something vast, like the heavens themselves were waiting for us to make a mistake.
And then there was Lily.
She'd stopped talking to me for three days. Three days that felt like three winters.
When I saw her again, it wasn't in the courtyard or in class—it was by the Averily Bridge, the border where the city met the mist. She stood there in a white coat, the wind swirling around her as if it adored her presence.
"Lily," I said, breath misting in the cold.
She didn't turn. "You shouldn't be here."
"I had to see you."
The wind stilled slightly, as if curious. "Every time we're near each other," she whispered, "something reacts. The Forces sense it. The Light answers the Air—and the Air becomes storm. Don't you see? We're not supposed to exist in the same space."
I stepped closer, the air pressing heavy between us. "Then why does it feel like the world comes alive when you're near?"
She finally turned, eyes full of conflict—half fear, half fire. "Because that's what doomed the last heirs."
Her words landed like stones. "You mean… this has happened before?"
She nodded. "Centuries ago. A Lightbearer and an Airweaver fell in love. Their bond amplified their powers until it tore open the veil between the worlds. That's what caused the Celestial Collapse. My ancestors swore it would never happen again."
"And yet here we are," I murmured.
Lily's eyes softened. "You make it sound simple."
"It is," I said. "Because no law—no ancient story—can change how I feel."
The wind swirled around us again, sharp with emotion. She shook her head, stepping back. "You don't understand what's coming, Jidenna. The Forces are waking faster now. And they're not pleased."
---
That night, a storm broke over Seraphine Heights—the kind of storm that made the city's towers tremble and the sea beat against the cliffs. I couldn't sleep. The air carried Lily's scent somehow, a trace of jasmine and lightning.
I went to the Valeris library, the oldest room in our home. My father's old journals were there—his research, his private notes about the Pact.
I found a passage that froze my breath.
> "The Heirs of Light and Air, when bound by affection or shared purpose, can either restore balance or break it. Their emotions amplify creation and destruction alike. Their union was forbidden by the Seer of Shadows herself."
I stared at the line until the candle flickered out.
So it was true. We were walking into a prophecy that had already destroyed a world once.
I didn't hear my father enter until he spoke. "You found the journals."
I turned. "Why didn't you tell me, Dad?"
He sighed, resting a hand on the back of a chair. "Because it's not a story you were supposed to live again. We tried to break the cycle. We sent you to schools far from the Aravelles. We changed history records. But destiny doesn't forget."
I clenched my fists. "Then help me change it."
He gave a sad smile. "You sound just like her."
"Who?"
"Your mother," he said quietly. "She was once an Airweaver too. Before she buried her wings."
My world tilted. "Mom?"
"She chose peace," he said. "And she paid for it. Her powers faded, but her memories didn't. That's why she fears Lily's name."
---
The next morning, the academy hosted a ceremony for the "Day of Elemental Harmony"—a showy tradition that felt suddenly ironic. Lily stood across the courtyard, dressed in the blue and silver robes of her House. I caught her eyes once; she looked away quickly.
But when the crowd began to chant the words of unity, the wind shifted. I felt her power call mine again, like a current tugging through time.
Then, without warning, my mark flared with light.
Everyone froze. The sigil on my wrist glowed golden, while Lily's shimmered pale silver. A hum filled the air. The fountains rippled backward, the candles in the ceremonial hall bent their flames toward us, and the ancient carvings along the courtyard walls began to glow.
"Stop!" Principal Aramond shouted. "The Pact is reacting!"
But it was too late.
The sky split open with a sound like thunder being born. Above us, a circle of light formed, rotating slowly, symbols glowing around its edge—old runes I'd only seen in the Pact scroll. From within that circle came a figure—tall, cloaked in mist and light. Its face was neither human nor divine, shifting like reflection on water.
"The heirs of Light and Air defy their fate again," it said, voice echoing through every bone in my body. "The Forbidden Bond has awakened."
Gasps rippled through the crowd. The teachers knelt instinctively. Even my father, who had arrived late, bowed his head.
I looked up, unblinking. "If it's forbidden, then why does it feel right?"
The figure turned toward me, eyes like twin suns. "Because love is creation, and creation is chaos."
The energy surged, and Lily screamed. The wind lifted her into the air. I reached out, light pouring from my palms, linking us again. For a moment, everything stilled—the light, the wind, the noise—and we floated between worlds, bound by something deeper than power.
Then, just as suddenly, the being vanished, the sky sealing shut as if nothing had happened.
Lily fell into my arms, trembling, tears streaking her cheeks. Around us, silence reigned.
"What have we done?" she whispered.
I held her close, heart racing. "Something they'll never forget."
---
That night, the city burned with rumor. News channels replayed footage of the strange light; the Academy Board convened in secret. My father locked himself in his study. My mother cried quietly in the next room.
But I only thought of her — of Lily — and the way our powers had danced like souls trying to remember each other.
Maybe we were doomed. Maybe the world would break again.
But in that moment, holding her in the middle of a storm that felt written by fate, I didn't care.
Because love, even forbidden, is still the truest kind of light.
And I was willing to burn for it.
---