Infirmary Wing – Evening
Kaelen lay flat on the cot, staring at the ceiling.
The room was quiet save for the steady tick of a time-charm mounted above the far door. His body ached, his chest burned where the shard had entered, but worse than all of that—he could feel something inside him.
A presence.
Not a voice. Not quite. But there, waiting.
He turned his head slightly. The curtain beside his cot was slightly ajar.
Seraphine sat in the corner, cloaked in silence. Her knees drawn up, her back against the wall. She hadn't noticed he was awake—or maybe she had and didn't want to talk.
Her fingers absently traced her glove's hem, then stilled.
Kaelen found his voice. "You stayed."
She glanced up. "You almost died. Again."
He winced, but smiled faintly. "If it makes you feel better, I only do it to impress you."
She snorted—just a breath of a sound. "If that's the case, your standards are tragic."
A pause settled between them.
Then she rose, approached the bed, and stood at its edge. "What you did… with the glyph. That wasn't just reckless. It wasn't just powerful. It was wrong. Ancient sigils don't just bind to people like that."
Kaelen exhaled slowly. "I didn't choose it. It chose me."
"Which makes it worse," she murmured, and for a moment—just a flicker—there was something fragile in her eyes. Not fear. Not awe.
Worry.
Real worry. For him.
He turned his gaze to the ceiling again. "I saw something. Mirrors. A version of myself told me I wasn't supposed to live past something called the Gate."
Seraphine stiffened.
Her voice, when she answered, was carefully neutral. "You said… the Gate?"
Kaelen nodded.
"I've heard that term once. Only once." She folded her arms. "There's a file in the restricted archives. A failed theory—something about soul thresholds, old magic that predates the Tower. They called it the 'Verdant Gate.' It wasn't supposed to be real."
Kaelen's heart thudded. "But it is."
Seraphine nodded once. Then glanced toward the door.
"Whatever happened… you should know the instructors called a tribunal. They're not sure what you brought back. They're worried."
"They should be," a new voice said quietly from the doorway.
Selene stepped in.
Her silver-gray cloak shimmered like moonlight, and her hair was damp from rain. She glanced at Seraphine, then Kaelen. Her eyes paused a beat longer on him.
"I came as soon as I heard," she said softly. "And I came to warn you."
Faculty Tribunal Chamber
Behind a curtain of illusion and steel, seven instructors sat around a hexagonal table. They were older—gray-robed, sigils etched onto their palms like seals.
Headmaster Virel adjusted his glasses. "The boy is not normal."
"Nor is he dangerous… yet," replied Arkanis, the Rune Instructor.
"You didn't see the glyph enter him," muttered Master Aras. "It didn't bind. It recognized him."
They stared at the vision orb hovering above the center of the table. It replayed the moment in the ruins—Kaelen's hand reaching toward the relic, the surge of light, the glyph entering his chest like a blade of truth.
Virel's voice was measured. "Do we know what the symbol was?"
"No known Tower alignment," murmured the Loremistress. "It bears resemblance to one of the Forbidden Writs, but…"
She leaned forward.
"…there's a forgotten sigil in the records. The Sigil of Veritas. Only a theory. A concept of truth manifest. If he truly houses it—"
"Then he is not merely an initiate," said Virel.
"Then he is a walking myth."
Back to Infirmary
Kaelen pushed himself upright.
Selene moved beside the bed and gently placed her hand on his.
"You're not alone in this," she said. "Whatever's happening to you… it doesn't scare me."
Kaelen blinked. Her hand was warm, firm. Her fingers brushed against his palm.
Across the room, Seraphine's gaze narrowed.
Selene noticed. Her smile didn't waver.
"I'm glad you were with him too, Seraphine," she said sweetly. "But I hope next time, we're all there."
The air chilled.
Seraphine offered a nod that could have cut stone.
Kaelen sighed. "Great. Now you're both mad at each other and me."
"I'm not mad," Seraphine said flatly.
"Neither am I," Selene replied, overly polite.
Kaelen pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please don't kill each other while I'm asleep."
"Only if she starts it," Seraphine muttered.
Late Night – Observatory Walk
Later that night, Kaelen walked alone along the outer ring of the Observatory Tower. The stars glittered cold above, and the city lights shimmered below.
Footsteps echoed behind him.
Seraphine.
She didn't speak at first. Just stood beside him at the edge, hands on the railing.
"I don't hate her, you know," she said.
"I know."
"I just… don't trust her. Not with this." She tapped lightly against his chest where the glyph entered. "You're changing. And I don't think anyone—not Selene, not the faculty—wants to admit how fast it's happening."
He swallowed. "Do you?"
"No," she said quietly. "But I'm not going to run from it, either."
A breeze caught her hair, lifting strands of silver that glowed faintly under the starlight.
She didn't turn when she added, "If you become something else… I just want to be someone who knew you before."
Kaelen looked at her then. Really looked.
And suddenly he wasn't cold anymore.