The corridor to House Umbra was unlike any Sera had walked through before. There were no portraits, no flickering chandeliers, no gilded doors.
The walls were carved from obsidian stone that seemed to absorb sound and shimmered faintly with ghost-light.
The only illumination came from lanterns hanging at irregular intervals, glowing softly with a spectral blue fire.
Her footsteps didn't echo.
It felt as though the stone swallowed the sound whole.
"This is… cozy," she muttered, hugging herself as she followed Astrid.
"You'll get used to the quiet," Astrid replied without looking back. "Umbra doesn't seek to impress. It listens."
They passed a large iron gate carved with runes that shifted and rippled like water, then descended a spiral staircase into what looked like an ancient underground sanctum.
At the bottom, a set of arched double doors opened to reveal the common room of House Umbra.
Sera blinked.
It was unexpectedly beautiful—dim but spacious, with arching ceilings that resembled constellations, soft couches in dark hues, shelves filled with obscure tomes, and small alcoves for privacy.
The air smelled faintly of cedar and something… older. Like forgotten paper and rain.
Astrid guided her to a hallway on the far side. "Your room is this way. Umbra grants privacy to its initiates. You'll find the wards already attuned to you."
Sera stared at the thick door. It was carved with a single symbol—an open eye above a veil.
"I didn't choose this, you know," she murmured. "It was them, none of the Houses wanted me."
Astrid's voice turned steely. "I know. I was there at that time. Now all you have to do is to prove they were wrong in not choosing you."
She turned to leave, but hesitated. "Also, Sera, there are rules. Follow them."
"Rules?"
Astrid didn't smile. "Yeah, the kind that keeps you alive."
Sera entered her room slowly. It was modest but elegant—a wide bed with gray covers, a desk covered in parchment and quills, a floor-to-ceiling window that showed nothing but swirling mist beyond.
She sat on the edge of the bed and sighed.
So this was House Umbra.
A house for the Unwanted. Unchosen. But not unguarded.
* * *
The next morning, Sera woke to a steady thrum under her skin, like distant thunder rolling through her bones. Her room—spartan but spacious—was tucked high in the East Wing, far from the dorms of any of the Seven Houses.
The House Umbra wing.
Technically, it wasn't even supposed to exist. But now it did—because of her.
The house's name was still present in the house register, but not a single person was chosen by the house.
Astrid said that most people who were put in the house later moved to other houses once their powers matured and were identified.
She sat up in bed, blinking at the shaft of pale light streaming through the narrow stained-glass window. The glass shimmered in an odd pattern, depicting a phoenix rising from swirling black vines. The same sigil that had formed beneath her feet.
Sera shivered and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. The cold marble kissed her toes. No fire crackled in the hearth. The room was unnervingly quiet.
On the small desk across the room, a parchment lay folded with her name etched in looping black ink.
Your orientation begins at the second chime. Come dressed and be prepared.
—Prefect Astrid
There was no signature, just like the previous envelope she received from her ex-principal. But there was just a faint symbol—three interlocked crescents.
Sera sighed and moved to the wardrobe.
The robes hanging inside the closet weren't marked by any House color.
They were dark charcoal, almost black, with subtle stitching around the sleeves—stars, vines, waves, claws. Symbols of all the Houses.
She pulled it on and headed out.
* * *
The East Wing was unlike any part of Duskmoor she'd seen.
It wasn't gothic and overbearing like the Crimson Wing, nor lush and shimmering like the Green halls of the Fae.
Here, stone met shadow, and the light twisted strangely at corners. The very walls seemed to breathe.
Students turned to watch as she passed.
No one greeted her.
She was the only student under Umbra. The only one who had ever walked these halls.
By the time she reached the spiral stairwell leading to the Observatory Tower, her skin itched with nerves.
School Prefect Astrid was waiting at the top.
"You're late, again."
"Oh, come on, it's the first day. Technically, I'm not assigned to anything yet. And you can't consider yesterday, because I was not the one who was driving that day."
Astrid's mouth twitched. "Fair."
She handed Sera a satchel and turned without another word, leading her through a series of narrow stone corridors that twisted like a labyrinth.
Sera tried to memorize the path, but she gave up after the third abrupt turn. It was like the hallways changed behind them.
Finally, they reached a wide archway.
The moment they crossed it, the temperature shifted.
Cool. And...
Still.
The ceiling of the room opened to reveal a sky thick with mist, though they were still indoors.
Strange bioluminescent fungi glowed across the stones. Floating lanterns drifted lazily above them, casting shadows that never quite matched their shapes.
"This is the Umbra Training Ground," Astrid said as she entered the ground. "You'll be practicing here. Alone. Until we know what you are."
Sera's heart thumped. "What I am?"
"I'm not talking about your species," Astrid clarified. "I'm talking about your nature. Whatever fractured the sigils... it wasn't passive. And I know for sure, it wasn't accidental."
Sera swallowed. "So, you think I did it?"
"No. I think it did." Astrid pointed at Sera's chest, "Whatever's inside you."
Sera couldn't help but stay silent. She also knew something was lurking inside her body. Something even she didn't know what it was...
Astrid reached into her pocket and handed her a pendant—a stone carved like an eye, strung on a leather cord.
"Wear it always. If something starts... leaking..." She ran a hand on the pendant, "This might slow it."
Sera took it from her hand and slipped it on. She felt the chill of the stone against her skin.
Sera played with the pendant. "Is there anyone else like me?" she asked softly.
It was a thought that was going on in her head after the evaluation trials.
Astrid stared ahead. "Yeah, there was... Once. A long time ago."
Sera waited. But Astrid said no more.