We entered the training grounds, greeted by an angry-looking Darius standing in the center, arms crossed, jaw tight. "You're late," he said. He was trying his hardest to pretend he was in control.
This feeling of eyes watching was still gnawing at my instincts, but I ignored it for the time being.
After two hours under the scorching sun, it became painfully clear—they had no real understanding of my power. Knowing about it in theory was one thing. Experiencing it in practice was something else entirely. All they did was try to figure out how it worked, and I enjoyed messing with them.
Eventually, Darius and Theo gave up on that angle and decided to shift the focus to combat.
Darius handed me a wooden sword. "Hold it like this," he said, stepping closer. "Not too tight. Let it breathe in your grip." He circled behind me, his voice low. "Your body needs to move with it. Every strike, every block—it's rhythm, like dancing." He reached out and adjusted my stance, one hand on my shoulder, the other guiding my wrist. "The sword isn't just a weapon. It's an extension of you. If you fight against it, it'll betray you."
His touch was steady, deliberate—but every time his fingers brushed my skin, something flared inside me. Dangerous. This is dangerous. I swallowed hard.
He grabbed his own sword and started showing me what they called the Dance of the Obsidian. "This is our house's sword technique," he said while moving. "It'll take you some time to master—maybe two to three days—but it's the best technique for close-range combat," he continued.
I studied his every move in silence and started moving. I could copy his every move on the first try. Darius paused mid-step. Just for a second. His arrogance wavered—barely, but he kept moving despite the flicker of doubt.
It was amusing—the look on their faces when I could master it on the spot.
We kept training for two more hours before Darius was summoned to the Grand Hall, so we returned to my room, and Theo stood at the door.
I waited until nightfall, slipped past Theo while he was distracted, and made my way toward the Vault.
The same old man stood at the door. His eyes were full of suspicion when he saw the sigil in my hand, but he chose not to push for questions.
Turned out, his name was "Lucius," he said, gesturing toward the towering shelves. "You can take a tour for as long as you like."
While we were walking, he started talking. "The first men of this house were the ones who began building the vault. They gathered knowledge from across the world, discovered new theories, and refined old ones. They documented everything—bound it in books and placed them here.
"What you see now is the result of centuries of hard work. Not just spells and formulas, but thought. Observation. Mistakes. It's all here—the legacy of House Obsidian." He made a slow gesture with both hands, palms lifted slightly toward the ceiling, as if presenting.
It was massive, and it took me nearly an hour to find what I was looking for. But it wasn't as easy as I'd expected—a whole bookshelf was labeled The Alchemy of Illusion, and it was packed with hundreds of volumes. I started scanning the titles: False Light, Spectral Binding, Veilcraft & Dispersion... Finally, I spotted it. I slipped the book into my cloak when I was sure no eyes were watching.
I kept exploring the rest of the Vault. Shelves of Transmutation Theory, Elemental Binding, Chrono-Alchemy, Memory Extraction—and they just kept going. How many of these do they actually read in their entire lives?
Eventually, I stopped at a section that felt completely empty. Quiet. Almost eerie. I opened the book.
I followed the instructions and concentrated my body's energy in my hand and whispered the words, "By order of the unseen seal, through the veil of silent truth—release the hidden." The air shifted. A low vibration pulsed through the floor, and suddenly—figures appeared. The eyes I'd felt watching from the start were real people, just as I expected. I let out a huff of amusement, hid the book again in my cloak, and kept wandering. They don't have to know I broke the illusion they cast over my eyes. It keeps things fun for now.
I tried casting another illusion in return—meant to erase traces of my presence. "By order of the unseen seal, through the veil of silent truth—forget the known, hide the truth." I don't know if it worked. I'll find out tomorrow if anyone knew if I was here.
I put the book back and went to the cursed magic section. I started picking up books, ramming through them. As long as I didn't try to understand them right now, I could memorize them easily—one after the other: Bloodbinding Theory, Alchemy of Souls, Hexroot Mechanics, The Withering Veil. One after the other.
Then I started on the Memory shelves. One after the other. More.
MORE. MORE. MORE. I need more. I want more.
One after the other,but when my hands reached for the next book, I felt that ominous energy calling to me. I couldn't explain the feeling exactly, but it pulled at something deep—nostalgia and nausea swirling together at that soundless voice.
I walked toward it. Walked and walked, not knowing where I was or what I was doing. Down and down and down, until the staircases began to twist and collapse beneath my feet, uneven and broken. Most of the moonlanterns were shattered, their light flickering weakly.
A door.
A door. A massive, imposing structure stood at the end of the corridor, carved from deep blue stone—so dark it looked almost black. Its surface was cold and uneven, etched with symbols I couldn't read and shapes I had never seen before. At its center, a circular panel was embedded into the stone, surrounded by faded markings and shallow grooves.
Just below it, carved into the door itself, was a demonic face—its features twisted, mouth slightly open, eyes hollow.
The frame arched overhead, with horn-like ridges curving inward, blending into the stone. The light from the broken moonlanterns barely touched it, casting fractured shadows across its surface.
I didn't know what was behind it. But I couldn't resist reaching for it.
My hand barely brushed the stone when the demonic face opened its mouth. Its eyes gleamed deep blue— And the door opened.