Amber_Glint

Lila Harper never believed in magic until a glowing, winged creature lured her into the hidden world of Arcanwyn Academy, a school concealed deep within an ancient, living forest. At Arcanwyn, magic isn’t just taught, it breathes, grows, and sometimes breaks the rules.

When forbidden creatures begin vanishing and dark magic awakens beneath the academy’s roots, Lila discovers a prophecy tied to her bloodline. As secrets unravel and powerful forces collide, she must decide whether to protect the ancient bond that keeps the magical world safe or risk everything to unleash what has long been caged.

Magic chose her. But the truth might destroy her.

Whispers of the Forbidden Creatures

Chapter 24: The Runes Beneath

The first thing she felt was the cold.

Not the ordinary kind that lingered on skin—but the kind that curled inside your lungs and whispered secrets you weren't ready to hear.

Lila sat up slowly. The stone beneath her hands still pulsed faintly with the runes from her dream. They hadn't vanished. They were real. Etched deep into the floor of her dormitory in glowing lines of violet-blue.

She scrambled back, breath catching in her throat.

He pushed open the door—and stopped dead.

Lila looked up at him, trying to find the words. "It happened again. But this time… it followed me."

He knelt beside her, brushing his fingers over the glowing symbols. "These are Veil runes. I've seen them in the restricted archives. They shouldn't be here."

"They are," Lila said, voice low. "And I think they're from me."

Before he could respond, the door burst open a second time.

Professor Thorne strode in, her cloak still singed from battle, eyes blazing. Behind her, two more professors flanked the threshold—Warden Merek and Archivist Selene.

Thorne took one look at the floor and went still. "So it begins."

"What does?" Lila asked, her voice rising.

"The Awakening," Selene said, stepping forward. Her voice was like frost—calm, cutting, ancient. "The runes mark a tether. A bridge between this world and the Veiled Realms. Only a bloodborne heir could summon them. Or a harbinger."

Warden Merek raised his staff, symbols flashing. "This dorm must be sealed. Now."

"Wait!" Lila rose to her feet, panic rising. "You think I'm dangerous?"

Thorne met her gaze. "Not dangerous. Not yet. But you're becoming something… and none of us can predict what."

She turned to the others. "We need the Headmistress."

"Too late," said a voice from behind them.

From the shadows of the hallway stepped a woman Lila had only seen once briefly, in her first days at Arcanwyn.

Her presence was like a silence too deep to breathe in. Her cloak shimmered with shifting constellations, and her eyes—impossibly old and violet—rested on Lila with recognition.

"She is the Key," Nyra said quietly. "The Veil stirs because it remembers her blood."

"But she doesn't remember it," Thorne argued. "We've protected her for years—"

"Protection delays fate," Nyra cut in. "It does not erase it."

Lila felt the weight of every gaze press down on her. Her hands shook.

"Then tell me," she whispered. "What am I?"

The Headmistress stepped forward and reached out—her fingertips brushing Lila's brow.

And the runes on the floor blazed.

Magic exploded around them—blinding light and soundless wind. The professors staggered back, shielding their eyes.

In that moment, Lila saw—

A throne beneath the stars.A war that had not yet begun.A girl standing alone, between two burning worlds.A crown of shadow, and another of fire.

"You," she said softly, "are the Daughter of the Divide. Born of both realms. Marked by prophecy. And if we do not guide you now…" her voice grew heavy, "you may become the very weapon the Forgotten King seeks to reclaim."

"I didn't ask for any of this," she whispered, tears threatening. "I don't want to be the Key."

"But you are," Nyra said. "And the time to unlock the truth has come."

WHISPERS OF THE FORBIDDEN CREATURES: The Runes Beneath