Chapter 5: Shadows Beneath the Flame
The days that followed were stretched taut, like a string pulled too tightly between two stones. Kael felt it in his bones—the tension, the shift, the subtle rewiring of the world around him. It wasn't just in the runes that glowed on his palm now, or the stone fragment hidden beneath his pillow—it was everywhere. The Academy felt wrong. Like a mask slipping.
He walked through the corridors with his hood up, gloves on, pretending the fire that danced between his fingers wasn't real. Pretending he was still the same Kael who arrived at the gates six months ago, full of cautious hope and desperate purpose.
But the truth was burning its way through every lie he told himself.
Instructors watched him more closely now. Students whispered when he passed. Some gave him wide berth, as if his skin might catch flame if they got too close.
Lira didn't say much. But she was always nearby.
She was with him when the summons came.
A parchment, floating down from the sky like a feather, burning at the edges with golden flame. Only one place in the Academy used gold fire as a seal.
The High Circle.
Kael stared at the letter, then looked to Lira. Her expression said everything.
This wasn't optional.
They led him to the Pinnacle Tower, highest point of the Academy, where the nine Archmages gathered only when something threatened the balance of realms.
Kael had never been there.
Now, as the great crystal lift carried him higher and higher, he saw the spires of the Academy stretch beneath him like roots clawing toward the earth.
The chamber at the top was circular, its ceiling an illusion of open sky. The Archmages stood around a floating map—glowing with energy and marked by dozens of shifting sigils.
"Kael of Greyvale," the one in crimson said. "You have been marked."
Kael swallowed. "I didn't choose this."
"No," said another, the one with moonlight eyes. "But the flame did."
The map shifted. A new region pulsed red—one Kael had never seen.
"Three days ago, a seal broke in the Deep Holds. A gate. One of the Nine."
Lira inhaled sharply beside him.
Kael felt the burn on his palm.
"You were there," the crimson mage said. "In dream or flesh—it matters not. The seal knows its keeper."
Kael's voice came out rough. "What do you want from me?"
"To finish what's begun," the Archmage said. "We need to send you below. Into the Deep Holds. To find what's waking."
Lira stepped forward. "You can't send him alone."
The Archmages exchanged a glance.
"He may take one companion."
By nightfall, they were already packing.
Lira tossed Kael a small blade, its hilt engraved with her family's sigil.
"You're going to need more than clever words and sleep charms down there."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about this?"
She grinned. "What else would I do? Stay topside and worry myself to death?"
He couldn't say thank you. So he didn't. But he meant it.
That night, sleep was impossible.
Not because of the dreams. But because of the silence.
The Academy knew. The stones, the walls, the very runes etched in its heart—they all watched.
And beneath it all, the gate whispered.
They left at dawn.
Through forgotten tunnels, through roots that hung like nooses and stone that bled memories. Into the dark.
The Deep Holds had once been a sanctuary of ancient learning. Now they were tombs. Abandoned halls filled with broken sigils and shattered promises.
Kael felt it the moment they passed through the final ward. Like stepping into a memory that hated you.
Here, flame didn't warm. It warned.
They reached the first chamber by nightfall. The walls were covered in murals—fire, gates, beings of shadow and light. A story told in heat and ash.
Kael stood before one mural that showed a figure marked by both 𝚲 and Ϟ. His exact runes.
"What is this place?" he whispered.
Lira touched the wall. "It's not just a ruin. It's a record."
A sound echoed through the dark. Chains dragging. Distant and metallic.
Something else was here.
Not watching.
Waiting.
Kael turned to Lira, his voice barely a breath. "Ready?"
She nodded. Drew her blade.
They stepped forward, deeper into the shadow of forgotten flame.
To be Continued.....