The halls after curfew had a different kind of silence. The kind that listened back.
Kaelen moved through the gloom like a shadow. He kept one hand over the black envelope in his coat. The message still burned in his mind:
"They found you. Do not trust Elowen."
Elowen. The kind-eyed instructor who'd been gently pushing him to explore deeper glyph sequences. The one who smiled when he asked questions others avoided.
He should've suspected it.
But why now?
The envelope had appeared after that dream lesson—and more importantly, after the strange new glyph pulse that now flared faintly on his palm when either Selene or Seraphine got too close.
Which one had triggered it more tonight?
He couldn't tell. Both of them were in his head now, far more than he wanted to admit.
A slip of paper appeared beneath his door not long after sundown.
"Duel Circle. Midnight. Wear a mask."
That was all.
No name, no glyph, just a wax seal—a stylized eye with a crack down the center. Watcher's Mark.
Kaelen clenched it in his fist. He knew he shouldn't go.
So, of course, he went.
The atrium's lights were dimmed, shadows stretching across the worn stone floor. The arena circle glowed faintly—a warded sigil ring used for sanctioned duels.
But this wasn't sanctioned.
Four figures stood within the ring, all masked. One stepped forward.
"Kaelen Vey," the masked speaker said.
Kaelen's stomach turned. They knew his name.
He pulled his mask lower and kept his voice steady. "What is this?"
"Your trial."
Another stepped into view and unsheathed a spell-forged blade. Its edge glowed white-blue. Lightning glyphs.
"You carry Veritas. That comes with scrutiny."
Kaelen prepared his stance.
He didn't want to fight.
But they weren't going to let him walk away.
The first attacker lunged. Fast. Trained.
Kaelen rolled to the side, glyph light sparking from his hand mid-dodge. A truth-sigil caught the attacker's aura and revealed—fear.
He used it.
"You're afraid," he whispered. The attacker flinched—and Kaelen knocked him flat with a well-placed palm sigil burst.
The next came at him with fire. A twin-blade style Kaelen had seen once before—from the Upper Tier exams.
He was outclassed.
Until he reached inward, found that second pulse again.
Selene.
Her voice echoed in memory: "If you're going down—take someone with you."
He bared his teeth, twisted mid-fall, and cast a destabilization glyph at the enemy's footing. The floor cracked. A stumble. A reversal.
Two down.
But he was panting now.
The third masked opponent raised their hand—and the entire ring darkened.
Null field, Kaelen realized.
He couldn't see. Couldn't feel his glyph.
Then—light flared.
From the spectator seats.
A glowing sigil arced through the air and shattered the null zone.
Kaelen gasped in breath—and saw her.
Seraphine stood above, hair loose, robe untied at the collar.
"You idiots," she hissed. "You broke protocol."
She leapt down—leapt, like she'd trained for this—and slid a glyph disc across the floor.
It exploded in a brilliant barrier between Kaelen and the final masked figure.
He stared at her.
She didn't meet his eyes.
"Did I say you could die tonight?" she muttered.
"I'm fine," he lied.
"You're bleeding."
"I've bled worse."
Seraphine turned and pressed two fingers to his glyph. He flinched—but the contact was soft. Gentle.
"It's destabilizing," she whispered.
"So are you," he whispered back.
For a second, the world froze. Just them. Her fingers still on his hand. Her breath trembling slightly.
She pulled away like she'd been burned.
The duelists fled. Whoever had set the trial didn't expect an intervention.
Kaelen and Seraphine sat in the dim atrium, quiet.
He asked, "Why are you really helping me?"
Seraphine stared at the broken glyph circle.
"Because I read your file."
"That's not an answer."
She looked at him now. Eyes sharp. Then soft.
"Because you remind me of someone I failed. And I'm not doing that again."
A beat.
He swallowed. "Do you trust me?"
"No," she said.
But then she touched his shoulder—lightly.
"But I want to."
Up above, through a distant hall window, Selene had seen the glyph-light flare. She'd seen the barrier form. And she'd seen Seraphine step into the ring for him.
She pressed a hand to her chest.
The bond glyph pulsed faintly again.
And for the first time—Selene wasn't sure if it pulsed for her.
Back in his room, Kaelen finally opens the envelope again. A second slip falls out.
"There is another Veritas-bearer alive. She dreams in chains."