Chapter 5- Shadows Within the Academy Part A

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The moonlight cut across the academy's towering glass windows, casting silver streaks across the marble floors. Despite the hour, the halls weren't empty. They were never truly empty—not since Kael and Selene arrived.

Kael stood quietly under the tall archway of the eastern training dome, arms folded as he listened. His hearing, sharpened by his beast bloodline, picked up the faint scrape of boots against stone. A shadow moved behind the far pillar.

Selene's voice whispered through the bond they shared, a mental link neither fully understood yet. Two presences. Not students.

Kael's eyes flared red and violet as he stepped into the light, his aura rippling faintly. "You've been following us since dusk. Come out."

For a moment, there was silence. Then, without warning, a figure dropped from the rafters. A man, cloaked in dark silver robes trimmed with obsidian feathers, landed soundlessly.

"You're more perceptive than the others," the man said, his voice low, laced with amusement. "Good. You'll need it."

Another figure, taller and broader, emerged from the shadows of the columns, but unlike the first, this one radiated aggression.

Kael didn't flinch. His eyes locked onto the first man. "You're not part of the staff."

"Correct," the man replied. "We're part of the Silent Order. We're here on behalf of the Council."

Selene stepped forward, her long white-silver hair catching the light. "The Council? What does the Council want with two outcasts?"

The man's smile faded. "Outcasts?" he echoed. "You've already made the top ten rankings of your year despite hiding your abilities. That alone raises questions."

Kael narrowed his eyes. "You're not here to ask questions."

"No," the taller one said, his voice like gravel. "We're here to test your potential."

Before Kael could react, the broad man lunged. A blur of motion—he struck like a beast, fist glowing with a strange green fire. Kael blocked it with his forearm, skidding back a few steps as stone cracked beneath him.

Selene's eyes glowed with pale frost. With a snap of her fingers, ten crimson sigils floated behind her, then spun forward. The first robed man deflected them with a swipe of his hand, forming a black barrier in front of him.

Kael's lips curved. "So we're really doing this?"

The taller one growled, charging again. But this time, Kael stepped forward—not back.

In an instant, Kael's form blurred, and he met the attacker's punch with a punch of his own. The force of the impact shattered a nearby wall. The man grunted, stumbling back, his arm twisted at an unnatural angle.

"I don't like being toyed with," Kael said darkly. His voice had a cold finality to it. "And I especially don't like strangers testing me like some lab rat."

The other man laughed softly. "That's exactly what you are. The system that awakened within you… it's not native to this world. And yet, you wield it like a weapon. That makes you dangerous."

Selene stepped to Kael's side. "Say that again."

He tilted his head. "Dangerous."

A pulse of aura exploded from Selene. Violet frost laced with shadows surged down the hall. The man dodged just in time, but the marble froze in a jagged wave of black ice behind him.

Kael's teeth elongated slightly, his canines sharper than before. "If you're trying to scare us into obedience, you'll have to do better."

"We weren't sent to scare you," the injured one growled, gripping his limp arm. "We were sent to provoke your evolution."

Something inside Kael shifted. His blood boiled—literally. His heart pounded with a violent rhythm as he realized it. They're trying to awaken something deeper.

Selene, he sent mentally, They're triggering our bloodline.

"I already feel it," Selene replied, her voice thick with fury and instinct. "It's calling."

The two attackers suddenly froze. They felt it too—the shift in the air. A primal pressure filled the space, neither magical nor physical, but raw. Kael's aura flared as black lightning crackled across his shoulders.

The robed man backed away. "This is enough," he muttered. "We've seen what we needed to see. Let's go."

But the larger one hesitated. "We can't let them—"

"Now," the other snapped.

Both men vanished into shadow, leaving a scorched and frozen hallway behind them.

Kael stood in silence for a moment, his breath ragged, blood humming like wildfire. Selene placed a hand on his chest, her own skin shimmering faintly with her own transformation.

"We're being watched more closely than we thought," she whispered.

Kael nodded slowly. "Then it's time we stop hiding who we are."

Behind them, the wall cracked, splitting where Kael's punch had landed. Through the gap, the moonlight cast a new shape on the floor: the mark of a broken crown entwined with two wolves. The symbol of an ancient bloodline long forgotten.

Their bloodline.

And somewhere in the depths of the academy, others were beginning to stir. Watching. Waiting.

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