Elira stirred to the chill of pre-dawn light coming through thin windows in the tower. She hadn't meant to sleep, especially not after everything that had happened the night before—the Awakening, the mark, the bond, Kael. Her mind had spun for hours until exhaustion at last drew her into sleep.
Now she lay slowly up, her eyes blinking drowsily as her body grumbled at the cold. Her room was dark, plain, and quiet. A lone wardrobe against one wall, a simple vanity untended under the window.
Then she felt it.
A tug.
Not pain—not yet—but there. A string pulling quietly at her chest, like a fishhook in her heart.
Kael.
He was awake.
Their shared hallway door creaked open as if commanded to do so.
"Good. You're not dead," was Kael's only response.
Elira raised an eyebrow. "Good morning to you, too."
He raised an eyebrow as she emerged. His hair was dripping wet from a shower, bound back in a loose knot. He wore the Arcanis battle uniform—black fitted tunic with violet trim and silver fastenings that shone softly with runes. His crest pulsed at his collarbone, a rotating black sigil.
"You'll have to catch up," he told her, tossing her a crumpled wad of cloth. "Training gear is necessary. Don't expect me to come pick you up if you fall behind."
Elira stumbled and caught it awkwardly, then hesitated. "Where are we going?"
Kael turned his back. "To the Wyrm Hollow. That's where students learn to work with unstable magic. It's warded and safe. You won't accidentally set the Academy on fire."
"Reassuring."
He didn't smile.
---
Ten minutes later, in her too-large uniform and still struggling to fasten the ridiculous leather belts at her sleeves, Elira followed Kael out of the tower. The sky was streaked with violet and orange, and the campus of Arcanis Academy stretched out below like a legend: ice-spire towers, strands of silvery filament bridging them, pennants whipping in the wind.
The students were still waking up in the dormitories, but none of them saw Elira and Kael. Word had clearly already passed.
The Soul-Bonded.
They arrived at the outer wall and passed through a gate of two sentinels in enchanted armor. Both stared at Elira with thinly disguised suspicion but kept their mouths shut as Kael displayed a silver ring and opened the gate.
Across the wall stretched the Wyrm Hollow.
Elira gasped.
It was a forest that plunged into a ravine, shrouded in mist. Bent trees with glowing leaves arched above, and purple power fizzled along the roots like lightning contained. The air vibrated with ambient magic.
"Welcome to your classroom," Kael snarled.
---
They descended into the Hollow, and Kael stopped at a clearing surrounded by ancient stone pillars. Scars of burnt marks disfigured the ground—evidence of wars waged.
Kael studied her. "We'll start with control of energy. You need to learn how to control the bond without being overcome by it."
Elira frowned. "But I don't even know what kind of magic I have. I don't have a crest.".
"Crests form when the body comes into balance with its natural magic," Kael explained to her. "But the bond between us is more than natural laws. You've already tapped into power—raw and unbalanced. That shows that the magic exists. We just have to release it."
"How?"
Kael stepped closer, eyes slitting. "We provoke it."
He did not give her a chance. He lifted his hand.
A bubble of void energy burst out of his palm.
It wasn't an attack—but it was dangerous. The shadows curled inside it like living mist, and Elira's body braced as the mark on her chest flared.
"Breathe in—!" she gasped.
"Breathe," he said, his voice steady. "Feel it. Let it well up. You're connected to it. You can borrow from me if you need to. Just focus."
The pressure intensified.
Elira's knees buckled, but she did not collapse. The hurt wasn't physical—spiritual. Like something inside of her was attempting to awaken. She shut her eyes and reached within, touching for the thread Kael had shown her.
There. The thread.
She grasped it in her mind, her feelings—and tugged.
The mark blazed to life.
Light blazed from her palms—gold and silver, shining and burning.
Kael backed away, holding up a hand to shield his face a little. "Good," he whispered. "Very good."
Elira's eyes snapped open.
Her hands shone with encircling sigils—delicate and alien, halo-like. The light receded slowly, but it did not vanish. She could feel it pulsing in her veins.
"What. what is this?" she breathed.
"Aetherion magic," Kael replied. "Light. Very rare. Very dangerous."
"I thought light magic was. good."
He smiled gently. "Nothing is entirely good or evil. Light purifies. But it also destroys. It burns. It condemns.".
Her hands trembled. "I felt… like something was watching me."
Kael nodded. "That's the cost. You're now visible to powers beyond this realm. Powers that don't like change."
A chill ran down her spine.
---
Training continued for hours.
Kael pushed her through focus exercises, energy control, and even a spar session—though he barely budged as she staggered and tripped over roots. Still, every time she focused on the link, her magic was stronger. More controlled.
Her body ached, her head pounded, and her arms trembled at noon—but her confidence had bloomed.
Until something changed.
A gust swept through the clearing. The mist grew denser. The trees creaked.
Kael tensed.
"Elira," he breathed. "Stay near me."
She did, at once.
Out of the shadows among trees, there stepped a being. Not man. Not entirely.
Its form changed—occasionally a man, occasionally an animal, occasionally an empty cloak full of nothing. Its voice boomed unreal.
"The Bond has shattered the Veil. The Watcher is displeased."
Kael's magic surged around him, a ring of void energy exploding into existence. "Depart. Now."
The being did not blink.
It fixed its eyeless gaze on Elira.
"She is marked by fate and fire. The Aetherion will not awaken. The god sleeps."
Elira's mark burned like fire.
Kael charged—but the form melted away before he reached it. The shadows twisted and dispersed like smoke.
Quiet ruled.
Elira staggered, then dropped to her knees, gasping.
Kael collapsed next to her. "Are you hurt?"
She shook her head. "What was that?"
"One of the Voidsworn," Kael growled. "Messengers of the old gods. They shouldn't be able to enter our world."
"But they can now."
He was dead serious. "Yes. Because of the bond."
Elira looked down at her hands.
"Kael," she said uncertainly, "what if I lose control again?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, "You won't. I won't let you."
His voice was low. Fierce. Honest.
And for the first time, Elira believed him.
---
They made it back to the tower a few minutes before curfew. Elira's body ached, her head reeling, but she couldn't help looking at Kael as they stood in their common hallway.
"You're not what I thought you'd be," she said.
Kael raised a brow. "Cold, brooding, deadly?"
"Yes. And all of that remains true."
A small smile hovered on his lips. "Good. I'd hate to disappoint.
She halted before her door. "Thank you. For not allowing me to reduce the forest to ashes."
Kael's expression softened.
"Rest now, Elira. Tomorrow, we find out what other things the bond is hiding."
And with that, he vanished into his room.
Elira stood in the hallway for a great while.
The Void had selected her.
But maybe. just maybe. she had some say in what she did with it.