"Shadows isnt a game everyone can play"
That was what Seris used to say, back when her voice still echoed in the halls of my mind — before her absence became another silence I had to live with. Now, her words followed me like my shadow: constant, careful, and always just a step behind.
The academy hadn't changed, not really. The same stone walls. The same cold corridors. But I had — and they knew it.
Entry One: The Morning Frost
The early morning light filtered through the stained-glass windows of the eastern tower, painting the hallway in fractured hues of crimson and gold. I stood alone, fingers grazing the frost-laced stone, trying to steady the storm curling beneath my skin. The shadows clung to my boots like old friends — or new warnings. They'd been more responsive lately. Not aggressive… but aware. Alive.
It started after the Trial. After the way Kael looked at me during training — not like a rival. Not like a student. Like something he recognized.
He hadn't spoken to me since. Not directly. But I could feel him watching.
And worse — I could feel him even when he wasn't there.
A hum beneath my ribs. A phantom heat that curled behind my lungs like smoke from a fire just out of reach.
The early morning light filtered through the stained-glass windows of the academy's eastern tower, painting the hallways in fractured hues of gold and crimson. I stood alone in the corridor, my fingertips brushing the cold stone wall, grounding myself. The shadows clung to my boots like loyal sentries, silent and watchful. They'd been more active lately — not aggressive, but... responsive. Attentive.
The events of the past few days still pulsed in my bones. The whisper of the Trial, the awakening power, the way Kael had looked at me during training — not like a student, or a threat, but like a question he couldn't answer.
He hadn't spoken to me again. Not directly. But I'd felt him watching.
And worse — I felt him when he wasn't there.
A presence humming beneath my skin, like heat from a fire too far away to touch but too strong to ignore.
Entry Two: The Flicker
I was on the west training ground when it happened again.
The wind was crisp, and I was practicing — or trying to. The shadows responded more easily now, wrapping around my wrists like ribbons, flickering out with a thought. I tried to shape them. Direct them. It was like trying to command fog. They listened when they wanted to.
Then, without warning, I felt a jolt.
Not pain. Not fear. A pull.
I turned.
Kael stood at the edge of the field, arms crossed, jaw set. His fire-blue eyes locked on me with the intensity of a storm just before it breaks.
"Are you going to keep flailing at them," he said, "or actually listen to them?"
I blinked. "They don't exactly talk."
"They do," he said, stepping closer. "Not with words. With instinct."
I narrowed my eyes. "And you're suddenly an expert on shadows?"
He stopped a foot away. "No. But I've seen this before. Rare. Ancient. Dangerous."
His voice dipped lower. "You shouldn't be trying to control it in front of everyone."
I crossed my arms, ignoring how his nearness made my pulse jump. "Why not? Afraid someone might think I actually belong here?"
Kael's gaze darkened. "I'm afraid someone might notice you do."
Entry Three: The Fire Beneath
He led me to the secluded alcove behind the northern observatory — a place few students went during daylight. Too exposed to wind. Too close to the edge of the cliffs.
But it was perfect for what we needed: space, silence, and no witnesses.
"I know what you're feeling," Kael said, turning to face me. The wind tugged at his dark hair, and for once, he didn't try to control it.
"No, you don't," I shot back. "You've always had power. You've always belonged here."
He took a slow step toward me. "I've always had fire. That's not the same."
"What's the difference?"
"Fire is loud. Obvious. It demands attention." His voice dropped. "Your power… waits. It watches. It decides when to move."
He paused.
"And when it does, it won't ask permission."
I felt it then — the invisible string between us, tightening. A silent echo passing from his core to mine. My hands tingled.
"Kael…" I whispered.
He didn't flinch. "You feel it too."
It wasn't a question.
Entry Four: The Bond
We didn't speak of the word. Bond. It sat between us like a secret we were too scared to name.
But it was there — undeniable, tangible. When he stepped closer, the wind calmed. The shadows around my feet pulled inward. The fire at his fingertips flared, not violently, but as if in recognition.
"I don't want this," I said. It was a lie, but a safe one.
"I didn't either," he murmured.
We stood just inches apart now. I could feel the heat radiating from him, the way the flames curled behind his irises when he looked at me too long.
"You're dangerous," he said, not like an accusation. Like a prayer.
"So are you," I replied.
"I could burn the world down."
"I could swallow it whole."
And still — neither of us moved.
Entry Five: Lessons in Silence
The next few days were a quiet blur.
We didn't speak in public. Kael avoided me in the halls. During shared training, he barely glanced my way.
But late at night, when the academy slept and the wind howled like a forgotten god outside the stone walls, I felt him. The bond. A thread of heat tugging at my chest, reminding me I wasn't alone — even when I wished I was.
He was stronger now, too. I saw it in the way his flames responded — faster, sharper, brighter.
And I… I was changing. The shadows no longer waited for commands. They anticipated them. They moved before I moved. They knew.
Entry Six: Unspoken
One night, I found a note tucked under my door.
No name. Just ink, smudged by a fingerprint and the faint smell of smoke.
"Come to the observatory. Midnight. Alone."
I went.
He was already there, standing near the edge, firelight flickering from his palm as if it were a second heart.
"I needed to see if it was just me," he said without turning. "It's not."
I stepped beside him. "I know."
He finally looked at me.
"I think we're bonded."
Hearing him say it out loud made it real — terrifyingly so.
"And I think if anyone finds out," I whispered, "they'll rip us apart."
Kael nodded. "Which is why they can't."
His hand reached for mine, cautious. I let him take it.
The moment our skin met, something inside me sparked — not pain, not fire, but recognition.
Complete. Whole.
A power I'd never felt before surged between us, fire and shadow twining like threads in a tapestry.
We held on tighter.
Entry Seven: Jealous Storms
The next day, during a sparring match with the First Years, Joren pulled me aside.
"You've been… distracted," he said, tone clipped. "Everything okay?"
I nodded. Too fast.
He frowned. "You haven't come to training with us. Lyra says she barely sees you."
"I've just been tired," I lied.
Joren didn't believe me — not fully. I saw it in his eyes. A flash of something close to hurt. Maybe more.
And when Kael passed nearby, saying nothing, only offering the barest nod in my direction, Joren's expression hardened.
"I don't like him," he muttered.
"Not your decision," I replied, too sharp.
Joren's jaw tensed. "Just be careful. He plays with fire. And sometimes it burns the ones closest to him."
I said nothing.
Because the truth was — I'd already been burned. And I didn't mind.
Entry Eight: The Storm Inside
That night, the bond flared.
I was in my room, curled on my narrow bed, when the warmth hit me like a wave — Kael's emotions bleeding through like smoke under a locked door. Anger. Frustration. And something sharp, electric, that made my skin prickle.
I closed my eyes and focused.
In my mind's eye, I found him.
Not in the physical sense, but through the thread between us. He was in the training halls, flames erupting from his palms in violent bursts. Alone. Lashing out at shadows that weren't mine.
I knew I shouldn't go.
But I couldn't stay away.
Entry Nine: Fire and Shadow
I arrived breathless, shadows already curling at my ankles like coiled snakes.
Kael didn't speak. He just looked at me — raw, open, furious with himself.
"I can't control it anymore," he said, voice hoarse.
"You don't have to," I whispered, reaching for his hand.
Our fingers touched, and the fire calmed instantly.
My shadows stilled.
We stood there, fire and shadow in perfect balance, as if we had never been two people at all.
Just halves of a whole, found again.
Final Entry: Hidden, Not Broken
We told no one.
Lyra and Nia kept smiling, unaware. Joren kept watching, more suspicious with each passing day.
But no one knew the truth.
No one saw the way Kael's fire dimmed when I wasn't near. No one noticed how my shadows pulsed when his name was whispered.
The bond was hidden.
But it was not weak.
And deep down, I knew this was only the beginning.
Because when fire and shadow finally collide in the open…
There will be no hiding from the storm we become.