✨ Chapter 31 – The Quiet One
The staff archives tower stood on the far northern wing of the academy—tall, shadowed, and eerily silent at night. Lanterns flickered sporadically along the exterior, barely reflecting on the tall glass windows.
Ariana tightened her cloak around herself as she followed Kai, Loren, and the Pillars toward the entrance.
The night air felt cold.
Too cold.
Her wolf growled softly in her chest.
**"Rot close. Very close."**
Ariana swallowed.
Kai glanced back at her.
"You okay?"
She nodded. "My wolf is… tense."
"Same," Rylan muttered.
Loren stepped forward, running his fingers along the lock mechanism.
"I got the key rune earlier from a Prefect office. But once we go in, we have to be silent. The archive wing sleeps lightly."
Ariana frowned. "Wings sleep?"
Calen whispered, "Buildings here are enchanted. They respond to movement."
"Oh." Ariana gulped.
"Great."
Zane nodded at Loren. "Do it."
Loren pressed the rune.
The lock shimmered with pale blue light before softly clicking open.
The door swung inward with a long, low creak.
Everyone tensed.
Kai placed a hand on Ariana's back.
"Stay close."
She nodded.
Her heart pounded as they stepped inside.
---
## **The Archive Wing**
Rows of tall bookshelves lined the room.
Dust floated in the beams of moonlight slipping through the windows.
Ancient scrolls, magical tomes, and academy records filled every corner.
But more than that—
something felt *wrong.*
Ariana's breath hitched.
"Kai…"
He turned immediately.
Ariana clutched her chest.
"The corruption…" she whispered.
"I feel it."
Zane stepped beside her.
"Where?"
Ariana closed her eyes and let her wolf guide her senses.
Whispers of cold.
Distant decay.
A faint metallic taste.
She pointed toward the back of the archive.
"There."
Loren exhaled shakily.
"That's Professor Myrra's office."
Ariana nodded. "She's there."
Kai stiffened, growling low.
"Then we move."
---
## **Approaching the Office**
They moved slowly, quietly, the air thick with tension.
Every footstep seemed loud.
Every rustle of paper felt amplified.
Ariana reached the door first—
her hand trembling as she touched the cold bronze knob.
Her wolf snarled.
**"Rot inside."**
Ariana whispered, "She's in there. I can feel her."
Kai stepped in front of her.
"No. I go first."
Ariana opened her mouth to argue—
but Kai's expression stopped her.
He wasn't asking.
He was refusing to risk her.
Loren rolled his eyes, but his voice softened.
"He's right. Ariana, stay behind us."
Ariana clenched her fists.
She hated feeling protected.
But she also… felt warm.
She nodded.
Kai cracked the door open.
It swung silently.
Darkness filled the room—
but Ariana felt something shifting in the shadows.
A presence.
Faint.
Thin.
Wrong.
Kai stepped inside first, claws out.
Rylan and Calen followed, flames and frost ready.
Zane's psychic energy shimmered faintly behind them.
Ariana and Loren came last.
The darkness trembled.
A low whisper echoed through the room—almost inaudible.
"…took you long enough…"
Ariana's heartbeat skyrocketed.
Kai growled.
"Show yourself."
A figure stepped from behind a shelf.
Professor Myrra.
Still, quiet, composed.
Dark hair pinned neatly.
Small reading glasses resting low on her nose.
Her face expressionless.
Except for her eyes.
Wrong.
Wrong.
Wrong.
They shimmered with faint red veins.
Ariana gasped.
"She's infected—"
But not corrupted like the greenhouse vines.
Not mutated like the dark vampires.
She was something else.
A host.
A conduit.
"Myrra…" Loren whispered.
"You?"
The professor tilted her head.
"Why so surprised? Quiet people are always overlooked."
Kai snarled.
"What did you do?"
Myrra smiled faintly.
"I opened the door."
Ariana's stomach twisted.
"The barrier breach…"
"Both breaches," Myrra said. "The east and the west."
Zane's voice was tight.
"You framed Loren."
"Easy enough," she said lightly. "People believe what fits their stories."
Rylan flicked his flame.
"You used an innocent student in the greenhouse."
"Of course," Myrra said simply.
"We needed to test the vessel's durability."
Vessel.
Ariana felt sick.
Myrra's gaze shifted to her.
And her lips curled.
"You. The Moonborn."
Kai moved instantly, shielding Ariana.
"Don't look at her."
Myrra ignored him.
"The corruption wants you… but I disagreed with the timing. Your seal isn't broken yet. You're not ripe."
Ariana flinched.
Kai roared.
"DON'T SPEAK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT."
Myrra blinked slowly.
"I was merely managing the timeline."
Zane stepped forward.
"Why? Why serve them?"
Myrra's voice softened, almost wistful.
"Because silence is lonely."
Everyone froze.
Ariana's breath shook.
"What…?"
Myrra smiled sadly.
"I spent years unseen. Unheard. Forgotten. The students mock me. The staff ignore me. Books are my only companions."
Ariana's throat tightened.
"But the corruption whispered to me," Myrra continued.
"It said I could matter. That I could be the one to bring change. To reshape magic. To rewrite power."
Loren spat.
"You let it poison you."
Myrra nodded calmly.
"And I welcomed it."
A cold wind swept through the room.
Ariana's wolf snarled.
**"Rot roots in lonely soil."**
Kai positioned himself between Ariana and Myrra completely now.
Claws glowing.
Aura blazing.
"You're not taking her," he growled.
Myrra sighed.
"I don't want to take her now. I want to prepare her."
Ariana stepped forward before Kai could stop her.
"What does the corruption want?"
Myrra's eyes gleamed.
"The light. All of it."
Ariana's bracelet pulsed painfully.
Myrra whispered:
"Give me the bracelet, Moonborn. Let the moon's true voice sing."
Ariana staggered back.
Kai caught her.
"Over my dead body," he snarled.
Myrra raised a finger.
"I'm not here to fight you."
Then she tapped the floor.
A glowing rune spread outward.
"Just to delay you."
The rune exploded in a blinding flash.
The room shook.
Shelves collapsed.
Books flew like birds scattering.
Kai grabbed Ariana, shielding her.
Rylan and Calen braced herself against debris.
Zane tried to use psychic force—but the rune disrupted his magic.
By the time the dust settled—
Myrra was gone.
Vanished.
A silent escape spell.
Loren cursed loudly.
"Damn it! We were too slow!"
Kai pulled Ariana close, checking her frantically.
"Ariana—Ariana, are you hurt? Talk to me."
She shook her head, even as her heart raced.
"No… I'm okay."
Kai held her face between his hands, eyes fierce.
"You're NOT okay. She knows about your bracelet. She knows about your power."
Ariana grabbed his wrists.
"But she didn't know the bracelet stops the corruption. She doesn't know everything."
Kai exhaled shakily.
"You're not facing her alone."
Ariana nodded.
Loren kicked a broken shelf.
"She's not gone far. The archives connect to the lower maintenance tunnels. She's underground."
Zane stood, dusting off his coat.
"We'll track her scent."
Rylan cracked his knuckles.
"And when we find her—"
Calen finished coldly.
"She won't get away again."
Ariana felt her wolf rise, whispering fiercely:
**"The quiet one has spoken. Now the moon must answer."**
Ariana swallowed.
This wasn't the final battle.
But the path to it had just opened.
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