Rael emerged from the Ashwell before dawn.
His robes were scorched, his boots wet with soot and ashwater, and yet… he felt lighter.
Not weaker.
Sharper.
He had returned with something none of the students — or teachers — possessed:
A soul-bound flame beast.
A core reborn from a cursed grave.
And memories the gods had tried to bury.
---
🌕 The Awakening Echo
The moment Rael stepped back onto academy soil, things began to change.
Small at first.
The runestones lining the training field began to flicker. Candles in the chapel flared for no reason. A senior instructor collapsed during a ritual.
The headmaster dismissed it as a fluctuation in leyflow.
But some knew better.
Especially the creature now nestled deep inside Rael's soul.
> "You've stirred a thread that binds divine order," whispered Veyliss — the flame serpent — from within him. "And the gods always pull back."
---
🏫 Return to the Halls
Fayden nearly choked on his bread when Rael returned to their dormitory before breakfast.
"You look like you wrestled a chimera and made out with it," he said. "Where were you?"
"Jogging," Rael replied dryly, brushing soot from his sleeve.
"Through a volcano?"
Rael didn't answer. Instead, he sat on the edge of his bunk and closed his eyes. Inside his mind, a quiet fire pulsed — the ember of his new core. Not large yet, not aggressive.
But alive.
> Let them think I'm still arcana-blind, he thought. I won't show my hand until I burn the whole board.
---
⚖️ New Instructor
That morning, Master Veylor stood stiffly at the front of the lecture chamber, his normally sharp eyes tense.
"Your regular instructor is… indisposed," he said. "You'll be learning Ritual Theory under our new guest faculty."
He stepped aside.
The doors opened.
And in walked a woman clad in silver-gray robes threaded with starlight sigils. Her hair was white-gold. Her eyes were like moonstone.
And every step she took sent a subtle pulse through Rael's soul.
Divine energy.
She was a Warden.
A direct agent of the gods.
> They sent one already? Rael kept his face blank, but his blood simmered.
They must've felt my seal break. She's not just here to teach.
"I am Lady Sireya. Your knowledge is insufficient. I will fix it," she said, voice like echoing crystal.
Every student straightened. Even the arrogant ones didn't dare snicker.
Rael, though, tilted his head. "And what does a divine emissary want with theory?" he asked, softly enough that only Fayden beside him noticed.
Fayden's eyes widened. "She's what?"
"Nothing," Rael replied. "Keep eating your ink."
---
📚 Subtle Duel
Over the week, Sireya watched Rael.
She asked him questions no other student received — about sigils older than known Arcana, about flameborn bloodlines that had been erased from history. She tested his reflexes in class with sudden pulse-runes.
Rael deflected them all.
Without visibly using magic.
He danced around her detection — always one step ahead.
But the tension built.
---
🕯️ Midnight Confrontation
It finally broke in the library vault, three nights later.
Rael stood before a sealed tome — one he had read in another life.
Sireya stepped from the shadows.
"You should not exist," she said.
"I hear that a lot," he replied.
"You carry divine markings… and yet no blessing. No allegiance. No faith. You are an anomaly."
Rael turned to face her fully.
"I'm a survivor."
Sireya raised her hand. Divine light gathered in her palm — white, crackling, holy.
"Reveal your true name," she said.
Rael's core flared in defense.
But then… he smiled.
And did nothing.
Let her wait. Let her burn in doubt.
"I'm just a boy with a cracked soul," he said calmly. "I'm nobody. That's what you decided when you sealed me."
Sireya froze.
Her eyes widened — just a little.
"You…"
Rael leaned close.
"You remember the scream from the pyre, don't you?"
Silence.
Then she stepped back.
The light vanished.
And for the first time, she looked… uncertain.
---
🩸 Epilogue: The Gods Whisper
Far beyond the mortal realm, in the Citadel of Flame, a great brazier flared black for a single breath.
An attending seraph knelt in terror.
"He awakens," she whispered.
From the shadow behind the flame, a voice like thunder growled:
> "Then let the world prepare for another cleansing."
---
🔥 End of Chapter 6