The Beast Above the Wall
The creature's shadow poured over the academy like spilled ink—thick, heavy, suffocating. Torches flickered. The wind stilled. Even mana felt hesitant to move.
But the silence did not last.
A second roar tore through the courtyard, shaking the ground under their feet. The students nearest the front staggered back; a few fell to their knees in shock.
Kayden stood frozen.
Not because of fear.
Because of recognition.
The hollow eyes.
The crawling darkness.
The unnatural cracks running along the creature's limbs.
He had seen something like this—
In dreams he never understood.
In nightmares shaped like memories.
In flashes of a dying world.
A whisper escaped him before he could stop it.
"…Voidspawn."
Kirti turned to him sharply.
"You spoke of it before. What is it?"
Kayden shook his head, dizzy.
"I don't know. I shouldn't know. But—something in me does."
Her eyes softened, but tension remained.
"Stay close to me," she said.
He wanted to protest.
He didn't get the chance.
⸻
The Cloaked Intruder
The figure on the academy gate extended one hand. Darkness gathered like smoke, spiraling toward his palm. From beneath the hood, two dim crimson slits glowed where eyes should have been.
Arien Solmere stepped forward, shielding the students with a flare of Sunlight Mana.
"Identify yourself," the Student Council President repeated, voice ringing with authority.
The cloaked figure chuckled, a sound scraping along the edges of sanity.
"Names matter little. Only purpose."
Selene drew her sword in a single fluid motion.
Her blade hummed with mana.
"What purpose?" she demanded.
The figure tilted its head.
"To reclaim what was lost."
His gaze flicked between Kirti and Kayden.
"To retrieve the Golden Flame…
and extinguish the Silver Star."
Kirti's breath caught.
Kayden felt something cold crawl along his spine.
⸻
The First Strike
The beast moved.
It didn't leap.
It didn't run.
It simply shifted, like reality bent to make room for its body.
And then its arm came crashing down.
Selene shot forward, aura bursting with silver light. Her blade struck the descending limb, redirecting the blow just enough to spare the nearest students.
The ground shattered under the impact.
"Veldora!" Arien barked.
Vice President Veldora Quinn raised both hands, dragging a thick curtain of gravity mana downward. The air around the creature distorted—its weight multiplied tenfold.
But the beast only twitched.
And stood taller.
Lyra whispered, terrified,
"That… shouldn't be possible."
Mira clutched her sleeves.
"Why doesn't it feel alive… at all?"
Kayden swallowed.
"It isn't alive."
They turned to him, startled.
Kayden's voice trembled—not in fear, but in certainty.
"It isn't a beast… it's a construct. Something made of… mana and void."
Kirti stared at him.
"You're certain?"
He nodded.
"I wish I wasn't."
⸻
Kayden's Instincts Break Through
Another swipe surged toward the courtyard.
Kayden didn't think.
Didn't reason.
He moved.
A silver ripple burst from his feet, propelling him forward faster than his small body had any right to travel. He appeared directly in front of the descending limb.
The world slowed.
The voices faded.
Only a pulse remained—
steady, ancient, familiar.
Kayden raised a hand.
His fingers curled.
A silvery thread of light traced itself into existence between his palm and the beast's arm, forming a faint glowing line.
He pulled.
The energy snapped.
The beast's limb jerked violently aside, as if yanked by an invisible force.
Arien's eyes widened.
"Spatial displacement…?"
Selene whispered,
"That child… is using forbidden dimensional manipulation without any focus or incantation…"
Veldora stared at Kayden with shock he rarely expressed.
"That should be impossible."
Kayden dropped to one knee, breath shaking.
His mana felt like it was unraveling inside him—threads pulling apart, twisting, reforming in patterns he didn't understand.
He felt… wrong.
Like he was borrowing power that wasn't meant for this body.
Kirti was instantly at his side.
"Are you hurt?"
He shook his head. "Just… dizzy."
Her hand hovered near his back, uncertain whether to touch him or not.
"You shouldn't be doing things your body can't handle," she murmured.
He tried to laugh.
"I don't know how to stop."
Her expression softened, though worry lingered.
"Then I'll stop it for you."
⸻
Kirti Awakens
The beast slammed another limb forward.
This one aimed directly at Kayden.
Kirti's aura burst into flame.
Golden light erupted from her like the birth of a star—brilliant, majestic, terrible in its intensity. Students gasped, shielding their eyes.
Selene whispered,
"That is… divine-class mana."
Arien's face tightened.
"As expected of the Elyndra heiress…"
But this aura—
was different from anything she'd displayed before.
Cleaner.
Older.
More purposeful.
Kirti stepped in front of Kayden, raising both palms.
A radiant barrier formed—no chant, no circle, just raw will.
The beast's strike crashed into it—
and dissolved like candle wax in sunlight.
Kayden stared at her, stunned.
Kirti exhaled shakily.
Her golden eyes flickered toward him.
"…Stay behind me."
Kayden's chest tightened with something he didn't have a word for.
⸻
The Cloaked Figure Moves
The shadowy intruder extended a finger.
"Enough."
The beast froze instantly—
as if chained by unseen threads.
A sign.
It was under his control.
The cloaked figure raised his hand, and tendrils of darkness spiraled outward, forming several floating orbs. Each hummed with unstable mana.
"This academy hides two souls that should have vanished eons ago. Fate cheated the cycle. So I must correct it."
Veldora muttered, "He speaks like someone from the Old Pantheon cults…"
Arien stepped in front of the students.
"You will not touch them."
Selene crossed her blades, eyes sharp.
"I agree."
The cloaked figure tilted his head.
"You misunderstand. I am not here to kill them."
Kayden stiffened.
Kirti tensed.
Veldora narrowed his eyes.
"Then what is your objective?"
"To awaken them…
by force."
The orbs shot outward.
Straight toward the students.
⸻
The Student Council Strikes
Selene vanished in a flash of cold mana, appearing above the courtyard and slicing through two orbs with surgical precision.
Arien raised a solar shield, absorbing three, the explosion flashing harmlessly across its surface.
Veldora extended his hand, gravity spiraling around him like a vortex.
The remaining orbs froze midair, crushed under invisible weight.
But the cloaked man moved again.
Dark chains burst from the wall, aiming straight for—
Kayden.
And Kirti.
Kirti reacted instantly, golden light erupting from her arm as she slashed through several chains.
Kayden raised a hand on instinct—
A silver circle flared beneath him.
The circle shattered instantly—
but the resulting shockwave blasted the chains away.
Kirti grabbed his wrist.
"Stop using mana carelessly! Your body can't handle it!"
Kayden clenched his teeth.
"I don't know how else to protect people!"
"Then let me protect you," she said fiercely.
His heart stopped for a second.
⸻
A Strike No One Expected
Just as the Student Council closed in—
The cloaked figure turned toward the eastern line of students.
"Let us see," he whispered,
"how much of the Silver Star awakens when his heart is struck."
A tendril of darkness shot forward—
fast, silent, lethal.
Heading not toward Kayden—
but toward Lyra.
"NO!" Kayden's voice tore from his throat.
Silver exploded from him—
but too slow.
Kirti flung her golden aura toward Lyra—
but too far.
Selene lunged—
but couldn't reach in time.
And then—
A different student moved.
A boy Kayden barely knew.
Dark-blue hair.
Calm eyes.
He tackled Lyra aside—
The tendril pierced directly through his shoulder.
Blood sprayed.
Students screamed.
Mira collapsed in shock.
Lyra froze, trembling, staring at the boy in horror.
Kayden felt something ignite inside him.
Something terrible.
Something ancient.
The world dimmed.
His breath vanished.
His vision blurred.
Silver burned behind his eyes.
The air shook around him.
The cloaked man whispered,
"Yes… the Star remembers."
⸻
Kayden Breaks
Kayden stepped forward.
He didn't remember doing it.
His legs simply moved.
Silver mana burst from him in waves—violent, unstable, crackling with dimensional static. The ground beneath his feet cracked like a spiderweb.
Arien shouted, "Stop! He's destabilizing!"
Selene cursed.
"Get back! He'll rupture space—"
Kirti grabbed Kayden's hands—
But the moment she touched him, the silver and gold collided in a violent flash.
A sound like ringing metal echoed through the courtyard.
Their auras pushed against each other—
then intertwined.
Kirti gasped.
Kayden choked.
For an instant, the world around them blurred—
trees rippling, stone flickering, sky bending.
Time stuttered.
The cloaked man watched silently.
"As expected…"
The silver aura began spiraling dangerously, ripping small fractures into the air.
Kayden's voice shook.
"I can't—stop…"
Kirti moved closer, placing her forehead against his.
"Look at me. Just me."
His vision steadied.
Her voice softened.
"Breathe."
He tried.
Their auras aligned.
And the destructive pulse began to calm.
But the cloaked figure did not look disappointed.
He looked satisfied.
"Good. Very good. The echoes remain intact."
He stepped back.
Shadows swallowed him whole.
"We will meet again, children of the old world."
The beast collapsed, dissolving into smoke.
The cloaked figure vanished.
⸻
The Calm After the Chaos
Healers rushed in.
The injured boy—
Riven Hale—
was taken away for emergency treatment.
Kayden stumbled forward, shaking.
"I… I didn't protect him…"
Kirti gripped his hand firmly.
"You did everything you could."
"No," he whispered.
"I should've—"
She squeezed tighter.
"Kayden. Stop. He is alive because of you. And next time… we will be stronger."
He looked up at her.
Her golden eyes held no judgment.
Only certainty.
And something else—
something warm he didn't understand.
She slowly released his hand.
But the mark of her touch lingered.
Lyra approached him with trembling steps.
"Kayden… thank you. For trying. For all of it."
He nodded numbly.
Arien approached next, expression unreadable.
"You," he said quietly,
"are far more dangerous—and important—than you realize."
Selene nodded.
"We will speak again. Soon."
Veldora sighed.
"Try not to rupture space before the midterms."
Kayden blinked in confusion.
"What's a midterm?"
Lyra groaned.
"You'll find out."
Kirti placed a hand on his shoulder.
"We'll face it together."
Kayden looked at her.
"…Thank you."
Kirti looked away quickly, cheeks a faint shade darker.
"It's not… anything special."
But her fingers didn't leave his shoulder until he steadied.
⸻
End Scene — In the Shadows
Far from the academy, in a barren wasteland, the cloaked figure knelt.
A second presence materialized.
A voice like fractured glass spoke:
"Did you observe the resonance?"
"Yes," the intruder replied softly.
"The Golden Flame and Silver Star remain bound."
"And the seal?"
"Still intact… but weakening."
A smile, cold and merciless, echoed through the void.
"Good. Then the gods made a mistake."
The cloaked figure bowed his head.
"And we shall correct it."
⸻
To be continued in Chapter 8 — "Echoes of the Forgotten War"