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 25: Ashes of Memory

They took her to the Undergallery.

It wasn't on the map of Arcanwyn. Most students didn't even know it existed. But as the shimmering sigils of the elevator spiraled downward, Lila realized just how deep the Academy's roots went beneath stone, beneath time, beneath truth.

She stood flanked by Thorne and Headmistress Nyra, with Niall a few steps behind, silent, watchful. The air grew heavier the deeper they went, laced with old magic—raw and wild, like a beast sleeping beneath the earth.

The elevator halted with a whisper. A massive obsidian door stood before them, carved with runes that shimmered when Nyra touched them.

Beyond lay a chamber unlike anything Lila had seen. Vaulted ceilings glowed with floating crystal orbs. Shelves of old scrolls and relics lined the walls. At the center stood a single pedestal.

Wooden, blackened with age. Locked with a seal of glowing silver, shaped like the crest she'd once seen in a dream—a crescent moon pierced by a sword of fire.

Nyra stepped aside. "It's time you remembered."

Lila's throat tightened. "What's in there?"

"Not what," Thorne said quietly. "Who."

Lila reached out. The moment her fingers brushed the box, the seal shattered like glass.

She wasn't in the Undergallery anymore.

She was standing in a forest of violet trees under a dark, starless sky. The air shimmered with light, but no sun. A silver river flowed nearby, and the air carried whispers—gentle, echoing, like lullabies of forgotten tongues.

And in the center of it all—a child.

A girl, no older than five. Hair like hers. Eyes wide with wonder. Playing with glowing threads that danced in the air like string pulled from the stars.

She stepped closer—and the child turned.

"Do you remember now?" the little girl asked. But her voice was not childlike. It was old. Wiser than it should've been. "They took you from here. To protect the Veil. To protect them."

Images flashed: a woman cloaked in silver weeping by a lake of mirrors. A man with gold tattoos across his arms whispering a promise into a baby's ear. Then—a portal. A storm. Shadows tearing through the sky. And a hand pulling her away.

"They hid it all from me," she whispered.

The child—her younger self—nodded. "But blood remembers. And now… you are waking."

Lila opened her eyes, back in the Undergallery, the box still glowing faintly.

Niall rushed forward. "What happened? What did you see?"

"I saw… me. I was there. In the Veil. That place—it's real. I was born there."

Nyra gave a slow nod. "You weren't just born of two realms, Lila. You were stolen from one to protect the other. But now the Veil calls you home—not to remember the past, but to shape what's coming."

Thorne stepped forward. "And if the King finds out what you've remembered…"

"He already knows," Lila said. "He felt it when the seal broke. He's coming."

Nyra turned toward the glowing map on the wall—one that showed Arcanwyn and the rift just beyond.

The darkness on the map pulsed, growing.

"Then we don't have much time," Nyra whispered. "Because when the Veil fully opens… all realms will bleed."

WHISPERS OF THE FORBIDDEN CREATURES: Ashes of Memory