---
The buzz of voices still lingered in the air as the grand hall began to empty. Groups of students split off into clusters, some heading to their dorms, others sticking around to catch up or swap stories. The marble floor echoed with the shuffle of boots and shoes, laughter, and hushed whispers of excitement.
Jade lingered near the edge of the hall, eyes drifting toward the wide, arched windows. The sun was setting, casting streaks of orange and crimson across the sky, painting the clouds in bold strokes of fire. Somewhere in that vibrant glow was his village. His family. His mother's teasing voice. His father's proud gaze.
He took a breath.
"Feels different this time," Kieran said beside him, breaking the silence.
Jade nodded. "It does."
They walked together through the stone corridors of the academy, winding past new banners and unfamiliar portraits. This semester was already heavier, more intense not just in mood, but in weight. Something was pressing against the academy, like a storm building just beyond the horizon.
And Jade felt it. Not just in the air, but inside his own chest.
The dragon's voice had been quiet since that ride to school, but it hadn't left. It was watching. Listening. Waiting.
---
They reached their new quarters—larger than last year, with dark wooden walls and reinforced windows. Jade had been upgraded to a senior's room. The perks of earning top ranks last term, he guessed.
He set his sword down by the bed. The polished metal caught the last streaks of daylight.
Kieran flopped into a chair. "Did you hear what the headmaster didn't say?"
Jade raised a brow. "You mean the part where he skipped the welcome duels and glossed over the security changes?"
"Exactly," Kieran said, leaning forward. "There are twice as many guards now. Magic wards were pulsing around the perimeter when we walked in. And none of the staff are talking."
Jade sat on the edge of his bed. "They're hiding something."
"Something big."
Jade looked down at his hand. His fingers curled slowly, and for a brief second, he felt something shift beneath his skin. A flicker. A twitch.
That damn dragon was stirring again.
---
That night, Jade couldn't sleep.
Not because of noise. Not because of nerves.
Because of the dream.
It wasn't like the others. It didn't have fire or screaming or collapsing mountains.
This time, he stood in the academy itself. Alone. The halls were empty. The candles had all gone out. Every banner was torn, every portrait burned. The walls bled green light from cracks that pulsed like veins.
He walked until he reached the center courtyard.
There, in the dead silence of the dream, stood the girl from the forest.
The one with moss and vines.
The one who broke the second seal.
Her back was turned to him, her hair longer, darker.
She looked over her shoulder.
Not angry. Not cruel. Just sad.
"You should've listened," she whispered.
And then the earth opened.
---
Jade woke up gasping. Sweat soaked through his shirt. His hands trembled as he shoved the sheets off and stumbled toward the sink. Cold water did little to clear the image from his mind.
She had been warning him.
Why?
He gritted his teeth, trying to still his breath.
If the second seal had broken, what was next?
And what would it do to him?
---
Morning classes began like normal—Advanced Weapon Forms, Tactical Enchantment Theory, Beast Binding and Suppression. The schedule was heavy, packed, designed to squeeze every ounce of potential out of the students.
But Jade couldn't focus.
Not with the way the instructors kept glancing at the door mid-lecture.
Not with how often students whispered about dorm room inspections and late-night patrols.
Something had the academy on edge.
At lunch, Jade and Kieran found an empty table in the corner of the dining hall. The noise of hundreds of students talking, laughing, and arguing around them was a cover—but not a distraction.
Kieran leaned in. "I found something."
Jade looked up from his untouched food.
Kieran slid a worn sheet of paper across the table. "It was hidden in the restricted section behind the old alchemy lab."
The page was faded, torn at the edges. Symbols and script covered the surface—ancient, angular, and unfamiliar.
But one part stood out. Three lines written in modern tongue:
"Three seals hold the beast in slumber.
The first awakens the earth.
The second breathes it life.
The third opens its eye."
Jade felt his stomach drop.
"They're prophecy fragments," Kieran said quietly. "Lost after the Dragon-Collapse Era. Most archives won't even admit they exist. But this one—this one's real."
Jade clenched his jaw. "The second seal gave it life."
Kieran nodded. "And now it's breathing."
---
Later that day, as Jade walked toward the east tower for his final class, a wave of dizziness hit him mid-step. The hallway twisted slightly. The torches on the walls flickered, though there was no breeze.
And then he heard it again.
> "It's close."
Jade stopped.
> "Closer than you think."
He turned his head slowly.
The corridor was empty.
But a figure stood just ahead, barely visible in the light a student, cloaked, face shadowed. Watching.
Jade took a step forward.
The figure didn't move.
"Hey!" he called out.
But as he blinked, the hallway shifted and the figure was gone.
Jade stood there, heart pounding, breath unsteady.
He was being watched.
And not just by the dragon within.
---
That evening, after training drills, Jade and Kieran made their way to the observation deck at the top of the academy. It was a place few students visited. Most preferred the warmth of the lounges or the sparring pits.
Up here, the wind howled freely. The stars stretched above like scattered fireflies. And below, the forest was dark and still.
"Kieran," Jade said after a long silence. "What if it's not just about the dragon?"
Kieran looked at him. "What do you mean?"
Jade stared out at the horizon. "What if I'm not the only one with something inside?"
Kieran didn't answer right away.
But his silence said enough.
He knew.
Something was coming.
And Jade wasn't the only key.