Morning came too quickly.
The Academy bells tolled across the cliffs, their iron voices echoing through stone corridors and waking every student from uneasy dreams. Elias rose slowly, every movement reminding him of the new skin beneath his clothes — tighter, stronger, humming with a quiet, predatory energy.
He wrapped his arms around himself as he stepped into the hallway. Students passed him in clusters, whispering, laughing, sparking small displays of magic as they prepared for the day's trials.
None of them looked at him.
Not yet.
But they would.
The hunger simmered beneath his ribs, a hollow ache that pulsed with each heartbeat. He clenched his jaw and forced it down. He couldn't afford to lose control here.
Not with what was coming.
A shadow fell across him.
"Rough night?"
Elias stiffened. Seraphine Vex leaned against the wall beside him, arms crossed, golden eyes gleaming with that same unsettling curiosity as last night. Her presence felt like a blade wrapped in silk — beautiful, dangerous, impossible to ignore.
Her bloodline shimmered faintly around her, a subtle aura of heat and pressure.
The Solar Basilisk Bloodline.
A rare mid‑high tier serpent lineage known for its lethal gaze and radiant venom — a bloodline feared even among the Serpent Houses.
Seraphine smirked as she caught him staring.
"Don't look so shocked. You molt loud, Thorn. Half the dormitory felt it."
Elias swallowed. "I didn't mean to—"
"You don't have to mean it," she said, pushing off the wall. "Power doesn't ask permission."
She stepped closer, lowering her voice.
"And whatever is inside you… it's louder than anything I've ever felt."
Elias's pulse quickened. "Why do you care?"
Seraphine's smile sharpened.
"Because I want to see if you survive today."
Before he could ask what she meant, the hallway lights flickered. A deep hum rolled through the Academy, vibrating the floor beneath their feet.
Students fell silent.
A voice boomed through the corridors:
"All first‑year warlocks report to the Bloodline Arena. Testing begins immediately."
Seraphine tilted her head toward the stairs.
"Come on, Thorn. Time to show the Academy what you really are."
She walked ahead, her silver hair catching the light like a blade.
Elias followed, heart pounding, the hunger stirring as if sensing a coming feast.
The Bloodline Arena awaited — a place where bloodlines were measured, challenged, and exposed.
A place where secrets didn't stay hidden.
And Elias Thorn had the biggest secret of all.