Chapter 20: The Whisper Beneath the Ash

The aftermath of the breach lingered like smoke.

Though the fires had been put out and the Fracture Beast lay still in the courtyard, the tension hadn't eased. Students whispered in hushed clusters. Instructors barked orders with forced calm. A quiet dread swept through the academy—one that no flame or blade could burn away.

Kael sat alone beneath a shattered statue of the first Wielder, his eyes fixed on the claw marks gouged into the stone. His jacket was torn, his knuckles scraped, but it wasn't the pain that bothered him.

It was the memory.

The way the shadows had surged again—how close he'd come to revealing himself.

You were never powerless. You were merely unclaimed.

The words echoed again. Familiar now, like something etched into the marrow of his soul.

He flexed his fingers. Even now, when he focused, he could feel the Void humming just beneath his skin. A living force. A dangerous gift.

Kael exhaled slowly.

"Still brooding?"

Tetsu's voice snapped him from the trance. The steel-skinned brawler dropped onto the stone beside him with a wince, pressing a wrapped bandage against his ribs.

"You should be in the infirmary," Kael muttered.

Tetsu scoffed. "I heal faster than most. Besides, the view's better here."

Kael smirked faintly. "You mean the broken statue?"

"No," Tetsu said, nodding toward the far end of the courtyard, "that."

Hana stood under one of the eastern arches, arms crossed, hair tousled by the wind. She was talking to an upperclassman, but her eyes occasionally flicked toward Kael.

"She's been looking over here," Tetsu added.

Kael rubbed the back of his neck. "Probably wondering how I keep surviving."

"Or maybe she likes mysteries."

Kael shook his head. "I'm not interested in being someone's curiosity."

Tetsu let the silence settle, then said quietly, "You were going to use it again today. Weren't you?"

Kael didn't respond.

"You can trust her, you know."

"Not yet," Kael replied. "The more people know… the harder it is to control."

Tetsu didn't argue. He just leaned back against the stone and closed his eyes. "Then you better start learning to control it fast."

Across the courtyard, Instructor Kaede Mizuno strode toward the beast's corpse with hands behind his back. His blue uniform fluttered in the wind, his sharp eyes tracking every detail—every splatter, every footprint, every fragment.

The beast's body was already beginning to decay, leaking thick black ichor into the cracks of the courtyard.

"Too fast," he murmured.

Most Fracture Beasts decayed slowly—sometimes over days. But this one was falling apart as though it were never meant to last.

Kaede knelt beside the head, pushing aside a shard of horn. Something glinted beneath it.

A fragment of metal.

He plucked it free and turned it over.

A coin-shaped disc, etched with unfamiliar runes. But it wasn't ancient—this was made. Forged. Embedded deep behind the beast's skull.

Kaede's brows furrowed. "You weren't wild… You were directed."

Behind him, a healer called out, "Sir Mizuno?"

He stood swiftly, tucking the disc into his coat.

"Seal the body," Kaede ordered. "No one touches it until I say otherwise."

He turned toward the main hall.

If someone was planting these beasts inside the academy's walls… then this was no longer an accident. It was a siege from within.

And one student in particular had moved with suspicious precision.

Kael Renji.

Kaede didn't trust coincidences.

That night, the academy slept under high alert. Patrols doubled, curfews enforced. But sleep eluded Kael.

He lay in his dorm, staring at the ceiling.

The shadows whispered now, faint as breath.

"You were born for more…"

He gritted his teeth. The more he resisted, the louder they got. It was like living with thunder trapped inside his bones.

A soft knock came at his door.

He sat up, heart instantly alert.

Tetsu? Hana?

No. It was Kaede.

Kael opened the door to find the mentor silhouetted in the torchlight.

"Kael," he said calmly, "walk with me."

Kael hesitated, then nodded, slipping on his coat.

They walked in silence past the quiet halls, through the stone archways, toward the outer balcony overlooking the city beyond the academy.

"I watched you today," Kaede said at last.

Kael didn't answer.

"You moved like someone who's trained in secret. Who's fought in silence. And when no one else could act… you knew what to do."

Kael kept his gaze on the city lights. "Is this where you accuse me?"

Kaede's voice was soft. "No. This is where I warn you."

Kael turned.

"Whatever you're hiding," Kaede said, "it's not just dangerous to you. There are powers at work here far older than the Fracture. If you don't understand what you carry… someone else will."

Kael's breath caught.

"You think I have something… cursed?"

Kaede's eyes narrowed. "I think you've awakened something that shouldn't be asleep. And if I'm right, you're not the only one searching for it."

He turned to leave, but paused at the door.

"When the time comes, Kael… make sure you choose who sees the real you. Because after that, you'll never be able to take it back."

Then he disappeared down the hall, leaving Kael alone with the shadows.