Chapter 12 – Shadows in the Halls
The duel was over, but its echoes refused to die.
By sunrise the next morning, the academy was already a cauldron of whispers. Students clustered in the courtyards and dining halls, their voices low but urgent. Some swore they had seen Karl Draven punch a firestorm apart with his bare hands. Others whispered darker things—that no human strength could defy magic like that, that perhaps the Void King had lent him his power.
Wherever Karl walked, eyes followed. Awe. Fear. Curiosity.
Jax tried to break the tension as they crossed the dining hall. "Well, congratulations. You're officially the most talked-about person in the academy. Even the cook was asking me if you wrestle dragons in your spare time."
Karl only grunted. He hadn't slept much, his fists aching, his mind restless. "What did you tell her?"
"That you prefer wyverns," Jax said with a smirk.
Lira rolled her eyes. "This isn't funny, Jax. Half the academy thinks Karl is a hero, and the other half thinks he's a curse waiting to explode. That duel only widened the divide."
As if to prove her point, a group of students at a nearby table leaned closer. One whispered too loudly: "He's not normal. Did you see how the spell broke? Like the void itself bent for him."
Another answered, "If he's not with us, then he's against us. Maybe the professors should lock him up."
Karl's fists clenched around the loaf of bread on his tray until it cracked. He forced himself to breathe and let it go. Fighting shadows was easier than fighting whispers.
---
Later that afternoon, the trio were summoned to the Headmaster's tower.
The climb was silent except for the creak of stairs under their boots. At the top, Headmaster Orwen waited, his silver robes glowing faintly in the afternoon light. His eyes were sharp, studying Karl as though weighing every fiber of him.
"You performed beyond expectation," Orwen said. "You defeated Ronan Vale with strength alone. Some call it a miracle. Others, a threat."
Karl crossed his arms. "And what do you call it?"
Orwen didn't answer right away. Instead, he paced to the wide window overlooking the training fields. "Magic defines this academy. It defines our world. To defy it… is to unsettle the very order we stand on. You frighten people, Karl Draven. And frightened people are dangerous."
"I didn't ask to be here," Karl said, his voice low. "I didn't ask for any of this. But I won't run from it, either."
Orwen turned, his gaze like iron. "Then you must learn. Strength without wisdom is only destruction. If you stay, you will be tested. Harder than you can imagine. And if you fall, the consequences will not be yours alone."
For a moment, silence hung heavy in the chamber. Then Orwen dismissed them with a single nod.
As they left, Jax muttered, "Well, that wasn't ominous at all."
---
That evening, strange things began.
In the library, Karl felt eyes on him, though the rows of books stood empty. In the corridors, shadows stretched too far, bending around corners where no lanterns burned. More than once, Lira caught a flicker of movement—robes vanishing just as she turned her head.
"Someone's following us," she whispered as they returned to the dormitory.
"Maybe it's Ronan licking his wounds," Jax suggested. "Wouldn't blame him for wanting payback."
But Lira shook her head. "No. This feels different. Watchful. Calculated."
That night, Karl lay awake in his narrow bed, staring at the ceiling beams. The whispers he had pushed away all day returned, curling at the edges of his mind like smoke.
Fracture.
He sat up sharply. The dorm was silent, Jax snoring softly on the bunk opposite.
Then the whisper came again, clearer.
You resist, but resistance only feeds me. Every fist you raise, every wall you break—it widens the crack. You are mine, whether you know it or not.
Karl pressed his palms into his eyes, heart pounding. He wanted to shout back, but no sound left his throat.
Instead, the whisper turned into laughter. Cold. Patient. Promising.
When it faded, Karl's fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles bled where his nails dug into skin.
He looked toward the window. Beyond it, the forest loomed, its darkness pressed against the horizon. Somewhere out there, the Void King was waiting. Watching.
And Karl swore, under his breath: "Not forever. Not ever."