Lyra's POV
The academy hallways are empty at midnight. My footsteps echo too loud against the marble floors, and every shadow feels like it's watching me.
I shouldn't be out of my cell. If the guards find me, they'll add escape to my list of crimes. But I don't care anymore. When you've already lost everything, fear becomes pointless.
The Echoing Library sits at the academy's eastern edge, behind three layers of security wards that glow faint blue in the darkness. Most students avoid this place even during the day. The rumors are enough to keep them away—stories of students who went inside and never came out, of books that whisper secrets that drive you mad, of ancient technology that doesn't follow the rules of normal magic.
I pull out the security bypass chip I "borrowed" from a guard's pocket while they were dragging me to the cell. My hands are steadier than they should be as I press it against the first ward. The blue light flickers and dies.
One down. Two to go.
A noise behind me makes me freeze. Footsteps. Coming closer.
I dive behind a statue, pressing myself against cold stone. My heart hammers so hard I'm sure whoever it is can hear it.
Two security guards walk past, their voices drifting toward me.
"Did you hear they're moving the Ashford girl to a maximum security facility in the morning?" one says.
"Good riddance. F-Rank trash shouldn't be here anyway."
Their laughter fades down the corridor.
Maximum security. That's worse than I thought. They're not just expelling me—they're locking me away where I can't defend myself. Where I can't help Finn.
My brother's face flashes through my mind. His messages have been getting weaker lately. "Feeling tired today, Lyra." "The doctors don't know what's wrong." "Don't worry about me, focus on your studies."
I've been sending him half my meal credits every week. Sneaking him medicine I bought with money from my janitorial job. It's never enough. And now I won't even be able to check on him.
Unless I find proof tonight.
I slip back to the wards. The second one falls. The third takes longer—it's keyed to specific magical signatures, designed to keep out anyone below A-Rank. But I'm good with ward manipulation. It's one of the few things my "useless" F-Rank power is actually useful for. Low energy means I can slip under detection thresholds.
The ward shimmers and dissolves.
The library doors swing open silently. Too silently.
I step inside and the doors slam shut behind me, making me jump. The sound echoes like a gunshot in the massive space.
The Echoing Library is nothing like the normal academy library. Bookshelves float in mid-air, defying gravity. Holographic displays pulse with light, showing star charts and alien symbols I don't recognize. The ceiling is gone—replaced by what looks like actual space, complete with stars and distant galaxies.
It's beautiful and terrifying at the same time.
I start searching, moving through the floating shelves. I need something—anything—about the Ashford family's business dealings, about Professor Chen's real research, about why they want me gone so badly.
Minutes pass. Then an hour. My legs ache from climbing floating stairs that shift when I'm not looking. My eyes burn from reading glowing text that keeps rearranging itself.
I'm about to give up when I stumble into a section I've never seen mentioned in any academy records. The air here feels different—thicker, charged with energy that makes my skin tingle.
Ancient artifacts line the walls behind protective glass. Weapons that look like they're made of pure starlight. Crystals that pulse with their own heartbeat. And in the center of it all, a raised platform covered in glowing symbols.
I recognize some of them from my theoretical magic classes. Ancient Starborn language. The civilization that went extinct thousands of years ago.
My feet move before my brain catches up. I'm walking toward the platform, drawn by something I can't explain. The symbols get brighter with each step.
"Stop right there!"
I spin around. A security guard stands at the entrance to the restricted section, his hand on his weapon.
"How did you get in here? How did you—" His eyes widen as he recognizes me. "You're the Ashford girl! You're supposed to be in a cell!"
I back up onto the platform. "Please, just let me explain—"
"Security breach! I need backup in the Echoing Library, restricted section!"
My foot touches one of the glowing symbols.
The world explodes.
Light bursts from the platform, so bright I have to close my eyes. The floor beneath me hums with power that vibrates through my bones. Wind that shouldn't exist inside a building whips my hair around my face.
"What's happening?" the guard shouts, but his voice sounds far away now.
I open my eyes and gasp.
A massive holographic map has erupted into existence all around me. Star systems. Portal coordinates. Ancient text scrolling faster than I can read. But somehow, impossibly, I understand it.
Then a voice speaks—not out loud, but directly in my mind. It's ancient and powerful and completely alien.
"PRIMARY KEYBEARER IDENTIFIED. STARBORN HEIR RECOGNIZED. INITIATING ASSEMBLY PROTOCOL."
"What? No, I'm not—I'm F-Rank! I'm nobody!"
"DESIGNATION INCORRECT. TRUE RANK: SUPPRESSED. RETRIEVING SECONDARY BEARERS."
The light pulses once. Twice. Three times.
Then four other people materialize on the platform around me, pulled from different parts of the library by the same magic.
A girl with dark skin and sharp eyes lands in a crouch, twin daggers already in her hands. "What the hell?"
A younger boy with glasses stumbles, his arms full of tech manuals. "Oh no. Oh no no no. I was just reading! I wasn't doing anything illegal!"
A beautiful girl with long silver hair steadies herself, healing magic already glowing around her hands. "Everyone stay calm."
And then I see him.
Zain Korathi. The academy's SSS-Rank prodigy. The most powerful student in Celestian Academy's history. The boy who's never looked at anyone twice, who destroys anyone who crosses him, who makes professors nervous just by walking into a room.
His gold eyes—the only color in his otherwise ice-cold expression—lock onto mine.
The holographic map flares brighter, scanning each of us. Text appears above our heads:
TEAM CONFIGURATION: OPTIMAL
PRIMARY: LYRA ASHFORD - STARBORN HEIR - TRUE RANK: SUPPRESSED
SECONDARY: ZAIN KORATHI - COMPATIBLE RESONANCE - GUARDIAN PROTOCOL ACTIVATED
Zain's eyes narrow as he reads the display. Then he looks at me, really looks at me, like he's seeing something no one else can.
"You're not F-Rank," he says, his voice low and dangerous. "Someone put suppression seals on you. Military-grade ones."
Before I can ask what he means, alarms start blaring throughout the library.
"UNAUTHORIZED ACTIVATION DETECTED. SECURITY PROTOCOLS ENGAGED. LOCKDOWN INITIATED."
Metal barriers start slamming down over the exits. The guard from before is shouting into his communicator. More footsteps are thundering toward us.
The holographic map spins faster, new text appearing:
FIRST TRIAL LOCATION IDENTIFIED. PORTAL OPENING IN 10 SECONDS.
A swirling vortex of light and energy tears open in the air beside the platform, showing glimpses of somewhere else—a dead moon, ancient ruins, a sky filled with unfamiliar stars.
"What is that?" the girl with daggers demands.
"A portal to a Starborn outpost," Zain answers, still watching me. "One that's been dead for three thousand years."
5 SECONDS.
"We need to go," the silver-haired girl says. "Now!"
"Are you insane?" the boy with glasses squeaks. "We don't know where that leads!"
3 SECONDS.
The security barriers are almost fully closed. Armed guards are flooding into the restricted section.
Zain makes a decision. He grabs my wrist, his grip iron-strong.
"If you want answers about why someone crippled your power," he says, "they're through that portal."
1 SECOND.
"Jump," Zain commands.
And then he pulls me into the light.