Chapter 18: Whispers Beneath the Glass

Kael didn't sleep that night.

Not because of nightmares, though those never strayed far.

It was Hana.

Or more accurately, the way she'd looked at him—like she could see more than what he let the world see. Like she was searching for something behind his silence. And the worst part was, a small part of him wanted her to find it.

He watched the moon drift across the sky until dawn cracked over the horizon.

By mid-morning, the academy was humming with energy. Word had spread that the headmaster had summoned a Level Four Relic Hunter to investigate the breach in the barrier. Students whispered rumors in the halls—more beasts, new cracks in the zones, missing patrol squads.

Kael kept his head down.

As he stepped into Advanced Will Theory, he caught Tetsu smirking from across the room, raising his eyebrows and tilting his head toward the back row.

Kael followed his gaze.

There she was—Hana Yume. Sitting with one leg crossed over the other, pen spinning between her fingers like a blade. She looked like she belonged in a different world entirely. But her eyes found his instantly, and she nodded, just once.

He sat beside her before he could think twice.

"You look like you haven't slept," she murmured without looking at him.

"Didn't," Kael muttered. "You?"

"Only enough to keep my nightmares from getting bored."

He chuckled under his breath. "You always this poetic?"

"Only when I'm talking to people who pretend they don't have demons."

Kael stared ahead, hiding the way his throat tightened. She was sharp—too sharp. And part of him liked that, even if it scared him.

The instructor droned on about artifact resonance and Will signatures, but Kael's mind drifted.

When class ended, Hana tapped his shoulder. "You busy?"

Kael hesitated. "No. Not really."

"Good. Come with me."

She led him across the campus, past the dorms, through a corridor of cracked marble pillars that hadn't been restored since the early days of the Fracture.

They stopped at a circular glass atrium near the south wall—a part of the academy Kael had never really noticed. Beneath the domed glass ceiling, sunlight poured in on overgrown plants, relic shards, and broken training dummies.

"What is this place?" Kael asked.

"A forgotten sparring ground. Used to be one of the first training zones before they built the big fields." Hana stepped onto the soft grass. "No one comes here anymore. Which is why I do."

Kael followed her in. "Why bring me?"

She turned to face him, and for once, she didn't wear a clever smile or a guarded stare. Just honesty.

"Because I don't trust people. But I'm trying to."

That knocked the wind out of him more than any blow he'd taken in a fight.

He didn't say anything. Just sat on a bench beneath a shattered statue of a hero from the pre-Fracture age. Hana sat beside him, close but not too close.

After a long silence, she said, "When I first awakened, I didn't even know what was happening. One day I was just... me. The next, I burned half a training center to the ground."

Kael looked at her.

"You're a Flame Wielder?"

"Partly," she said, curling her fingers. A thin wisp of fire danced across her knuckles. "But it's not stable. My control isn't great. That's why I transferred."

Kael's jaw tightened. "I get it. Mine's… different. Strange. Doesn't feel like it belongs."

She glanced sideways at him. "That's the second time you've hinted at your power without telling me what it is."

"That's because I don't even understand it yet," he said honestly.

The breeze stirred the leaves around them.

"Fair enough," she said quietly.

They sat like that for a long time—two broken pieces not yet sure if they could fit together.

Just as the sun dipped low, a sharp ring echoed through the air—an emergency bell.

Kael stood instantly. Across the atrium, lights flashed red along the southern wall. That meant only one thing: another breach.

He met Hana's eyes. "You need to get to the inner halls."

"Not without knowing you're doing the same."

He hesitated, then nodded. "Together, then."

They moved as one, shadows and flame, disappearing into the chaos blooming once more on the edge of the academy.