The summer had ended, but in Lumina, summer was a word without meaning.
Finn Merton stood on the balcony of his room in the crystal tree, watching the eternal twilight settle over the city like a blanket woven from stars and dreams. Six months had passed since the battle at Shadow Mountain. Six months since he had watched his father dissolve into light. Six months since he had brought his mother home.
Six months, and still the nightmares came.
He touched the fused crystal hanging around his neck—warm, always warm, pulsing gently with the combined power of his mother's magic and his own. It had never left him since that night. It was part of him now, as much as his silver eyes, as much as his name.
"You're up early."
Finn turned to find Elara standing in his doorway, her dark hair loose around her shoulders, her ocean-coloured eyes soft with concern. She had taken to checking on him at odd hours, ever since the nightmares had started. They all had—Elara, Theo, Briar. His friends, his family, his lifelines.
"Couldn't sleep," Finn said. "Same as always."
Elara crossed the room and stood beside him, looking out at the city. The Tide quarter sparkled below them, its canals catching the soft light and throwing it back in patterns that shifted and flowed. "The dreams again?"
Finn nodded. "My father. Standing in the shadows, reaching for me. And every time I try to reach back, he dissolves. Every time."
Elara was silent for a moment. Then she reached out and took his hand. "He saved us, Finn. In the end, he made the right choice. That's what you have to remember."
"I know." Finn squeezed her hand, grateful for her presence, for her steadiness. "But knowing and feeling are different things."
"That's why you have us." She smiled—that warm, fierce smile that had carried them through so much. "To remind you. To be here. To make sure you never forget that you're not alone."
They stood together in the soft light, two friends who had faced death and survived, watching the city that had become their home.
Breakfast in the Great Hall was chaos, as always.
The five district tables buzzed with conversation, laughter, and the occasional burst of magic—a Zephyr student levitating a pastry, an Ember accidentally setting her napkin on fire, a Tide making her drink dance in mid-air. At the centre of it all, the white Luminaire table sat quiet and dignified, home to the rarest students in the Academy.
Finn slid into his usual seat between Aldric and Vesper, the two older Luminaire students who had been at the Academy for years. They nodded greetings but said little—they were not unfriendly, simply reserved, their focus always on their studies and their training.
Elara, Theo, and Briar sat at their own district tables nearby, close enough to talk, close enough to be together. Theo was already deep in conversation with a group of Zephyrs, his grey eyes bright with excitement. Briar sat with her Stone kin, their brown robes a sea of calm in the chaos. And Elara was surrounded by Tides, their blue robes like waves lapping at her feet.
Finn smiled, watching them. Six months ago, they had walked into the Shadow Mountain together. Six months ago, they had faced Corvus and won. That bond would never break.
"Finn Merton."
The voice came from behind him, and Finn turned to find a messenger in Council livery standing at attention. The young man—barely older than Finn—held a scroll sealed with the Council's emblem.
"The Council requests your presence. Immediately."
Finn's heart clenched. Council summons were never good news. "What's this about?"
"I'm not at liberty to say." The messenger's face was carefully neutral. "But I'm told it's urgent."
Across the hall, Finn saw Elara rise, her expression sharp with concern. Theo and Briar were watching too, their meals forgotten.
Finn took the scroll and broke the seal.
Finn Merton,
You are hereby summoned to an emergency session of the Council of Lumina. Matters of utmost importance require your attention. Come alone.
—High Chancellor Vex
"Alone," Finn murmured. He looked at his friends, at their worried faces, and shook his head slightly. Whatever this was, he would face it. He always did.
The Council Chamber was exactly as Finn remembered it—vast, circular, its walls pulsing with soft light. But today, something was different. Today, the air felt heavy, charged, as if a storm was gathering just beyond perception.
The five representatives sat on their raised daises: the flame-haired Ember woman, the serene Tide man, the sharp-eyed Zephyr girl, the massive Stone man, and a new figure in the Luminaire seat—not Serafina, who had held it temporarily, but someone Finn didn't recognize. An older woman with silver hair and eyes like chips of ice, her face a mask of authority.
"Finn Merton." The Ember woman's voice crackled with urgency. "Thank you for coming. Please, sit."
Finn took the seat in the centre of the chamber, the same seat he'd occupied during his first Council appearance. The weight of their stares pressed down on him.
"What's happened?" he asked quietly.
The Tide man leaned forward, his serene expression troubled. "Corvus has escaped."
The words hit Finn like a physical blow. "What?"
"Three nights ago," the Zephyr girl said, her grey eyes dark. "He was being held in the high security ward of the Lumina prison. Maximum restraints. Constant surveillance. And somehow—" She shook her head. "Somehow, he vanished. The guards found his cell empty, the restraints on the floor, no sign of forced entry."
"How is that possible?" Finn demanded. "You told me the prison was unbreakable. You told me—"
"We told you what we believed to be true." The Stone man's voice was a low rumble. "Clearly, we were wrong."
The new Luminaire representative spoke for the first time, her voice cold as winter. "The question is not how he escaped. The question is who helped him."
All eyes turned to Finn.
He stared back, uncomprehending. "You think I had something to do with this?"
"We think nothing," the silver-haired woman said. "But we must consider all possibilities. You were the last person to face Corvus. You carry power that no one fully understands. And you have a connection to him—through your father, through the battle, through the crystal that now hangs around your neck."
"That crystal saved my mother's life. It saved all of us." Finn's voice rose despite himself. "Are you accusing me of something?"
"We're not accusing anyone." The Ember woman's tone was placating. "But we must investigate. Corvus is free. His followers are surely gathering. And if he comes for Lumina—"
"When he comes for Lumina," the Tide man corrected quietly. "Not if."
The weight of those words settled over the chamber. Finn felt it pressing down, felt the fear behind the Council's careful masks.
"What do you want from me?" he asked.
"We want you to continue your training," the Zephyr girl said. "Master Thorne believes you have barely scratched the surface of your potential. If Corvus is gathering his forces, we need you ready. We need all of you ready."
"And we want you to be careful." The Stone man's eyes were kind. "You are the Crystal Heir now, whether you wanted the title or not. Corvus will come for you first. You and your mother."
Finn thought of Elena, still recovering from her long imprisonment, still weak despite the power she'd regained. If Corvus came for her again—
"No," he said, the word escaping before he could stop it. "He won't touch her. I won't let him."
The Council exchanged glances. The silver-haired woman nodded slowly.
"Good. That's the spirit we need." She rose, her icy eyes fixed on Finn. "But spirit alone is not enough. Train, Finn Merton. Grow stronger. And pray that when Corvus finally shows himself, you are ready."
Finn found his mother in the Luminaire gardens, sitting on a bench surrounded by flowers that bloomed in impossible colours. She looked up as he approached, and her silver eyes—his silver eyes—softened with love.
"You heard," she said. It was not a question.
"Corvus escaped. The Council summoned me. They think—" He stopped, not sure how to finish.
"I know what they think." Elena patted the bench beside her, and Finn sat. "They think you might be a threat. They think your power might be too great to control. They think a lot of things." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Fear makes people stupid, Finn. Remember that."
Finn leaned against her, feeling the warmth of her presence, the reality of her survival. "I'm scared, Mother. Not of them. Of him. Of what he'll do now that he's free."
Elena was silent for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was quiet, steady.
"I spent eleven years in that prison. Eleven years, watching the light fade from my crystal, wondering if I would ever see you again. Wondering if you were alive, if you were happy, if you had friends, if you knew how much I loved you." She looked at him, and her eyes were bright with unshed tears. "In all that time, I never stopped hoping. I never stopped believing that somehow, some way, we would be together again. And we are."
She took his hand. "Corvus is powerful. He's dangerous. He's cunning. But he's also alone—truly alone, in ways he doesn't understand. He has followers, yes. Servants. Tools. But no one loves him. No one would die for him. No one would walk into the Shadow Mountain to save him."
Finn thought of his friends—Elara, Theo, Briar. He thought of Petra, who had held the line against the Corvites so they could escape. He thought of Master Thorne, of Serafina, of all the people who had helped him, believed in him, loved him.
"That's our advantage," Elena continued. "Not power. Not magic. Love. Connection. The willingness to sacrifice for each other. Corvus doesn't understand that. He never has. And that's why, in the end, he will lose."
Finn squeezed her hand. "How do you know?"
"Because I've seen it." She smiled, and this time it reached her eyes. "I've seen you."
That night, Finn gathered his friends on their platform for the first time in weeks.
The summer had scattered them—Elara had spent time with her Tide family, learning water magic in the deep canals. Theo had travelled with a group of Zephyrs, exploring the boundaries of Lumina and practising his mind-reading on unsuspecting travellers. Briar had gone to the Stone mountains, where her people lived in caves of crystal and spoke to the earth itself.
Now they were back, and the platform felt like home.
"Corvus escaped," Finn said without preamble. "The Council told me this morning."
Elara's face went pale. Theo's eyes widened. Briar's expression hardened.
"How?" Theo asked.
"No one knows. He just... vanished." Finn touched his crystal. "They think someone helped him. They didn't say it, but I could see it in their eyes. They suspect everyone. Including me."
"That's insane," Elara said fiercely. "You're the reason he was captured in the first place. You're the reason he's not already ruling Lumina."
"The Council is scared," Briar said quietly. "Scared people do stupid things."
Theo nodded. "I've been sensing it all day—fear, everywhere. In the Zephyr quarter, in the markets, even in the Academy. People know something's wrong. They just don't know what."
Finn looked at his friends—his family—and felt the weight of his mother's words settle into his heart. Love. Connection. Sacrifice. That was their advantage. That was what Corvus would never understand.
"We need to be ready," he said. "Whatever comes, we need to be ready."
"We will be." Elara's voice was steel. "Together."
They sat on the platform as the eternal twilight deepened, four friends bound by something stronger than magic. Below them, Lumina sparkled, beautiful and fragile, a city of light preparing for the shadow to come.