The arena's echoes still clung to Kael's ears as he left the training grounds. Every step felt heavier, not from fatigue, but from the weight of the stares that followed him. He had won, against Joren of all people and that victory had changed everything.
Students whispered as he passed. Some looked at him with awe, others with envy. A few glared openly, their pride wounded by an outsider stepping out of obscurity.
Kael kept his head low, forcing his stride steady. Stay calm. Don't give them reason to look closer.
"Not bad for a rat."
The words cut across the corridor. Darius Valen leaned casually against a pillar, his golden hair catching the torchlight. Two of his followers stood at his side, smirking.
Kael stopped, his chest tightening.
"You got lucky," Darius continued, his voice dripping with condescension. "Joren underestimated you. That won't happen again."
Kael met his gaze silently. The whispers in his blood urged him to respond, to challenge, to take. But he forced them down.
Darius stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Whatever trick you pulled out there, it won't last. Power reveals itself, Ardyn. And when it does, those above us will want to know where it came from."
His words lingered like venom. Then he smirked, brushing past Kael as if the conversation had never happened. His followers laughed as they trailed after him.
Kael exhaled slowly, unclenching his fists. He suspects something. I need to be careful.
Later that evening, Kael sat alone in the dining hall, picking at his meal. The noise of chatter filled the space, but he felt distant, watching the faces around him. Darius basked in attention at the far table, spinning his usual tales. Joren sat silent, his pride bruised, glaring at Kael whenever their eyes met.
But not everyone looked at him with hostility.
Across the hall, Lira Ashveil sat with her usual composure, silver eyes fixed on Kael. When he noticed, she didn't look away. Instead, she raised her cup in the faintest gesture of acknowledgment, neither friendly nor hostile, but curious.
Elara, the red-haired girl who often kept to herself, sat alone with a tome in hand. Unlike the others, she didn't try to hide her interest. She studied him openly for a moment before returning to her reading.
Kael shifted uncomfortably. Why are they watching me?
The whispers stirred.
"Because you are changing. Because you are prey, or predator."
He pushed the voice aside and finished his meal quickly, leaving before more attention could fall on him.
That night, Kael returned to his dorm, only to find a slip of parchment waiting on his bed. No name, no seal, just a single line written in hurried script:
"Meet me at the northern courtyard, midnight. Come alone."
Kael's pulse quickened. Was it a trap? A test? Or something else entirely?
The Genesis pulsed faintly in his veins, restless, eager.
"Go. Danger is growth."
He clenched the note in his fist, staring out into the darkened academy grounds.
Whether it was ally or enemy, he knew one thing: his life at the academy would never be the same after tonight.