Morning in Celestara didn't arrive the normal way.It rebooted.
Light didn't rise—it compiled.First came code-runes spiraling through the clouds, then the sun reappeared like someone had re-enabled it in settings. The mirrors opened their eyes, humming softly to remind everyone they were watching.
I groaned. "Five more reboots."
My bed disagreed and levitated me upright. "Good morning, Lumiel Valentine," said a calm, metallic voice from the wall. "Vitals stable. Dreams rated seven out of ten for emotional coherence."
"Generous," I muttered, floating toward the sink. Gravity finally remembered its job halfway across the room, and I dropped into my shoes. "Note to self—sleeping in a sentient building is not restful."
The Ghost Professors
Outside, the corridors glowed in dim twilight.Mist moved like breath through the glass walls.
A figure waited by the stairwell—transparent, tall, with ink bleeding from his fingertips into the air.
"You're late," the ghost said. "But you look dramatically fragile enough to pass for punctual."
"Professor…?" I guessed.
"Vastel," he said. "Alchemy and Applied Nihility. Follow before I forget you."
His robes fluttered without wind as we walked. He moved through walls; I ran into most of them.
"House Nihilum students," Vastel explained, "balance life and nothingness. Failure means explosion or emotional poetry. Both are messy."
"That second one sounds survivable."
"Not if you read it aloud."
We entered a hall of hovering crucibles. Flames danced in impossible colors—white, blue, and the occasional gap in reality where light refused to exist.
Other students were already there, whispering, throwing side-glances like I might implode for entertainment.
Ayaka waved from a bench surrounded by illusions of fox-shaped measuring spoons. "Over here, Nihilum Boy!"
Every mirror in the lab reflected my name in crimson. I sighed. "Please don't call me that.""Too late," she said. "It's trending."
Alchemy, Nihility-Style
Vastel clapped his translucent hands.
"Today's lesson: transmutation through absence. We'll refine matter by teaching it to forget what it is."
He pointed at me. "Valentine. Demonstrate."
Of course.
I stepped to the worktable. The others leaned back a safe distance. I reached inside, felt the Nihility Fire stir—a warm hum threading through my pulse.
"Small," I whispered. "Behave."
A flicker of black-red light bloomed above my palm. The temperature dropped; frost formed on nearby runes. I fed a petal into the fire. It shimmered, dissolved—then reassembled as a crystal drop.
The mirrors hummed approval.
Ayaka whispered, "Show-off."
"It's called not dying," I said.
Vastel examined the result.
"Efficient. Controlled. You're still breathing, which is ideal. House Nihilum requires talent for survival, not flair."
Then he smiled faintly.
"Though flair helps."
The Mirror of Fear
Class dismissed, the professor motioned for me to follow. We stopped before a mirror sealed behind black glass.
"Every Nihilum student must face this once," Vastel said. "The Mirror of Fear. It shows not your weakness, but the shape of what you'll become if you lose to it."
The glass rippled. My reflection blinked—and smiled without me.Behind it, flames twisted into wings. My voice spoke from the other side, deeper:
"You can't control what you were born from."
The floor shuddered. My heartbeat echoed too loud. I forced the Nihility Fire to stay caged.
Not now. Not yet.
Ayaka appeared at my elbow, tails low. "You okay?"
"Define okay," I said through my teeth.
"Still handsome enough to scare yourself," she offered.
I exhaled. The reflection steadied. The mirror dimmed. Vastel nodded once.
"Good. The first lesson of the void: it only devours you if you agree to disappear."
Evening in the House of Shadows
By dusk, the dorm glowed with quiet light. Laura sent a letter-charm that exploded into confetti before I could read it. Daniel's raven familiar dropped a pouch of money labeled don't ask. Klaus's note said simply: Proud. Don't faint.
Ayaka leaned against my doorframe, holding two steaming cups of starlight tea."So," she said, handing one to me, "how's it feel being the most cursed student in the most haunted house?"
I sipped. The tea tasted like warmth pretending to be calm."Honestly?" I said. "It feels like breathing through a question."
She smiled. "Then let's find your answer."
Outside, Celestara's mirrors turned slowly in the night, each one catching a fragment of flame from my window.And for the first time, the reflection didn't look like fear.It looked like possibility.