The catacombs beneath the academy were cold, damp, and silent—save for the faint hum of ancient wards still clinging to life in the stone.
Marcus Valen stood before a crumbling wall etched with runes long forgotten by most.
The Codex Shadow glowed faintly in his hand, its pages trembling as if whispering secrets only he could hear.
Then, just as abruptly as it had appeared, the flickering eye vanished.
Marcus exhaled slowly, tucking the Codex into his robes.
He had no time for mysteries that couldn't be solved tonight.
There were greater fires burning above ground—and not all of them metaphorical.
By morning, the academy was abuzz with whispers of what had happened in the Fire Spire during Mira Nox's training session.
They called it an "accident." But Marcus knew better.
He found her in the shadowed alcove of the west tower, wrapped in a heavy cloak despite the midday warmth.
Her hands trembled slightly as she sipped tea brewed with calming herbs.
"You saw it too," she murmured without looking up.
Marcus leaned against the pillar beside her.
"Tell me everything."
She hesitated, then spoke in a low voice.
"It wasn't red. It wasn't orange. It was… blue. Not even flame—it moved like smoke, but burned hotter than dragonfire. I couldn't control it. It answered something inside me I didn't know existed."
His expression darkened.
"You said you've seen records of it."
"In my family's private archives," she admitted.
"Only one name is ever linked to it—Elder Eldor Valen. They say he commanded the Phantom Flame, a fire so pure it could consume magic itself."
Marcus clenched his jaw.
The name sent a chill down his spine.
Eldor Valen had been more myth than man—a figure whispered about in royal histories, said to have wielded a fire so unnatural that even the elemental councils feared him.
And now, somehow, that power was resurfacing… through Mira.
"Did your instructors believe you?" he asked.
"They dismissed it. Said I must've overdrawn from the ley node or mispronounced the incantation." She scoffed.
"But they're wrong."
Marcus looked at her, truly seeing her for the first time—not just a prodigy of flame, but a living key to a past that had been buried.
"Then we'll prove them wrong."
Later that evening, under the pretense of returning borrowed grimoires, Marcus slipped into the restricted archive wing using a forged clearance sigil he'd crafted with the Codex.
The air was thick with the scent of old parchment and ink.
Dust hung in the air like forgotten memories.
With the Codex glowing softly in his palm, he scanned the shelves until the book pulsed sharply.
> [Target Identified: 'Record #472 – Suppressed Testimony of Aelia Serin']
> [Link Detected: This document relates to your fate]
Aelia.
His mentor.
The woman who had once guided his early magical studies—and who, in another life, had betrayed him on the eve of his coronation.
He reached for the scroll and unfurled it carefully.
What he read made his blood run cold.
"Testimony Regarding the Exile of Prince Eldor Valen, Accused of Unnatural Flame Affinity"
The text detailed how Eldor had awakened the Phantom Flame—a phenomenon believed to be a mutation of standard fire affinity, born from forbidden rites tied to the Star穹 civilization.
The council had deemed him a threat, branding him a heretic.
But more disturbing was the final note, scrawled in a familiar handwriting:
> "I advised the execution order myself. For the good of the realm. —Aelia Serin"
Marcus stared at the words.
Then he laughed—quietly, bitterly.
So much for redemption.
As he rolled the scroll shut, the Codex vibrated again.
> [New Entry Added: 'Eldor Valen → Phantom Flame Origin']
> [Fate Drift Detected – High Conspiracy Identified]
He slipped the scroll into his satchel and exited the archive, mind racing.
If Eldor was tied to the Phantom Flame… and if Mira carried that same spark…
Then history was repeating itself.
And he would not let it end the same way.
The next day in class, Marcus sat poised at the front, feigning idle curiosity as he raised a seemingly academic question.
"Mistress Serin," he began, voice calm, "Why has the advancement of fire-based evocation stagnated over the last century? Surely there are lost techniques we could recover?"
The room grew tense.
Aelia stiffened.
Her fingers tightened around the lectern.
"Some knowledge was lost for a reason."
"Such as?" Marcus pressed.
"The dangers outweigh the benefits," she replied curtly.
"There are things best left buried."
Marcus leaned forward, watching her closely.
"Like Phantom Flame?"
Gasps rippled through the class.
Aelia's eyes widened—for just a moment.
Enough.
Then she snapped, "That name should not be spoken lightly."
"And yet you did," Marcus said smoothly.
"Along with Eldor Valen."
Her face went pale.
Silence fell like a blade.
He let the weight of the name hang in the air before offering a polite smile.
"Thank you, Mistress. That answers many questions."
That night, alone in his dormitory, Marcus opened the Codex once more.
> [Fate Drift Level: Moderate → High]
> [Unlock Condition Updated: Locate the Hidden Vault Beneath the Academy]
> [Next Target: Recover the Flame Seals of Eldor Valen]
He closed the book and gazed out the window, where the spires of the academy pierced the sky like frozen lightning.
The gears of fate had begun to turn again.
And this time, he would be the one steering them.
Marcus Valen awoke to the lingering afterimage of the flickering eye in his room.
The Codex Umbra—his so-called "Dark Book"—was already pulsing with cold energy on his nightstand, its pages fluttering as if caught in an unseen wind.
> [New Entry Added: "The Watchful Eye → Shadow Chancellor"]
> [Fate Drift Confirmed]
> [Target: Mira Nox – Flameblood Heir]
A chill ran down Marcus's spine.
The name was familiar—Mira Nox, a third-year prodigy in the Fire Elementals' Division, known for her unmatched pyrokinetic control and a lineage shrouded in mystery.
Rumors whispered she was the last bloodline heir of the extinct House Nox, once sworn vassals of the imperial flame wardens before vanishing after the Elemental War.
Marcus had no time to ponder further.
A knock echoed through his dormitory.
"Prince Marcus," called the voice of Aelia Serin, his mentor and the only faculty member who seemed to take his potential seriously.
"We have an urgent matter. Meet me in the Hall of Trials."
The Hall of Trials — Morning Session
The air inside the grand hall was thick with residual heat.
Scorch marks marred the marble floor where fire runes had exploded mid-cast during the previous day's duels.
A crowd had gathered around two figures locked in a volatile standoff.
Mira Nox stood rigid, her crimson robes flaring as arcs of unstable fire danced around her hands.
Opposite her loomed Augustus Glem, a fourth-year prodigy and one of the academy's top-ranked duelists.
His aura pulsed with compressed lightning—a clear challenge to her flames.
"You dare question my lineage?" Mira hissed, her eyes blazing with unnatural firelight.
"You speak of things you do not understand."
Augustus smirked.
"All I see is a girl playing with fire she cannot control. You think you're fit to inherit the Flame Contract? Your family vanished like ash in the wind."
At that, Marcus stiffened.
The Flame Contract.
That ancient binding ritual between fire elementals and their ancestral spirits was supposed to have died out after the war.
If Mira still bore it—or worse, was being hunted for it—it could mean…
He stepped forward.
"That's enough, Glem."
Silence fell over the hall.
All eyes turned to the quiet prince, whose presence had rarely warranted attention until recently.
But since his sudden rise in elemental theory and strategic dueling prowess, whispers followed him wherever he went.
Glem scoffed.
"Stay out of this, Valen. This isn't your fight."
"No," Marcus said evenly, his gaze locking onto Mira's.
"But it might be mine soon."
Private Chambers – Aelia's Office
Later that evening, under the watchful eye of Aelia Serin, Marcus confronted Mira.
"You carry the Flame Contract," he stated, more than asked.
"And someone in this academy knows about it."
Mira's expression hardened.
"It's none of your concern."
"It became my concern the moment the Codex flagged you as a target." He tapped the shadowy book on his lap.
"Your bloodline is tied to something deeper—something buried in the ruins beneath this academy. And now, there's someone watching from the shadows."
Mira exhaled sharply, then nodded.
"Fine. My mother told me stories before she disappeared—of the Phoenix Pact, the Flame Contract sealed with the first Starborne mages. She believed we were meant to awaken it again. But when she tried… they came."
"The same ones who erased your house," Marcus deduced.
Aelia watched them both carefully.
"If the Flame Contract can still be invoked, it could destabilize the entire magical order. The council will want it silenced. Or claimed."
Marcus closed his eyes, letting the Codex hum against his palm.
Its pages flipped open on their own, revealing:
> [Contract Signature Detected – Flameblood Lineage]
> [Fate Thread Linked: Mira Nox ↔ Marcus Valen]
> [Bond Potential: Hostile → Neutral (pending action)]
His mind raced.
Mira wasn't just another pawn in the academy's games.
She was a key—one that could unlock forgotten magic, or unleash forces even he wasn't ready to face.
He opened his eyes.
"We need to find the Hidden Vault," he said.
"Before anyone else does."
To Be Continued…