Rumors, Shadows, and Invitations

The scroll burned to ash the moment Wade finished reading it.

No dramatic flash, no flames. Just a flicker of heat, a single rune igniting, and then nothing but cinders in his palm.

He brushed the dust from his fingers slowly.

Candidate for Arcanum Trials: Provisionally Approved

Await further instruction.

A Trial? So it's a tournament? Or a test?

Wade had more questions than ever, and no answers.

Not yet.

The next day, the atmosphere in the academy shifted. People didn't just stare now, they stepped aside when he walked past. Rumors had mutated into certainty, Wade Theron was strong, dangerous, gifted, and maybe more than what he appeared.

The professors watched him longer during exercises. Sparring partners hesitated before calling his name. Only Rae seemed unaffected, sparking lightning with gleeful recklessness beside him in combat training.

"I think you broke the social hierarchy," she said after they'd taken down a training golem together. "Lucien's been quiet. Like, suspiciously quiet."

Wade looked toward the stands. Lucien was indeed there, seated, calm, one leg crossed over the other, watching intently. No scowl. No smug grin. Just… observing.

That made Wade more uneasy than open hostility.

Kaela, too, was beginning to shift in her patterns. She showed up at classes early. Walked near him once or twice in the hall without speaking. During lunch, she sat just close enough to overhear his conversations without being obvious.

But Wade noticed.

So did the system.

[System Observation: Princess Kaela Virell – "Cautious Interest"]

Juno whispered to Wade during strategy class, "Either she's planning to marry you or arrest you. Maybe both."

Wade chuckled under his breath.

But deep down, he knew this was only the beginning.

Because the letter hadn't just been an invitation.

It had been a signal.

A sign.

And somewhere beneath the academy, deep below the tower's heart, something old had awakened. And it had felt his power.

That night, the dreams returned.

A black corridor.

Runes written in blood.

A door that pulsed like a heartbeat.

And behind it, whispering voices.

Wade woke in a cold sweat.

The system chimed softly.

[Dream Interference Detected – Ancient Vault Seal Signature Present]

[To Unlocked Pathway: Academy Substructure – Level 3 Clearance Required]

[Notice: Your flame has woken something ancient below the institution. Proceed with caution.]

He sat up slowly, the last image burned behind his eyes—a crest he'd never seen before, a blazing sun enclosed by a serpent eating its own tail.

He reached for his notebook and sketched it immediately. The lines came easily, too easily.

Juno stirred across the room. "Midnight doodles again?"

"Something like that."

"You're going to end up cursed. Or worse."

"Just go back to bed."

Wade didn't answer. He looked out the dorm window. A lone figure stood on a floating balcony near the upper spires.

Kaela.

Watching the stars. Or maybe watching him.

The moonlight made her hair shimmer silver white. Even from this distance, Wade could sense the shift in her. Less detachment, more tension.., like a bowstring pulled too tight.

A minute passed before she moved. One slow turn, one glance in his direction. Their eyes met across towers and silence.

And then she turned and walked back inside.

The system pulsed again.

[Kaela Affinity +1 – "Veiled Curiosity"]

Wade closed the notebook and lay back down.

"Whatever's waiting under this school," he whispered to the dark, "I hope it's ready."

Because he would be.

The next morning, the dream still clung to Wade's mind like smoke that wouldn't clear. The lines he'd drawn in his notebook pulsed with something that felt almost alive.

He skipped breakfast.

Instead, he followed the pull.

The system didn't guide him directly, it never did, but with every step down the spiraling inner stairwells, his skin tingled like static, the faintest hum vibrating through the stone.

Past the dorm levels.

Past the faculty wing.

Down to the archives.

But not through them.

There was a narrow corridor behind the north wall, half covered by shelves and enchantment shadows. Wade found it by accident, or instinct. Maybe both.

The light dimmed with each step, torches flickering as if the air itself objected to being disturbed. He passed a locked iron gate, sealed with glyphs so old they looked carved by hand.

Then he reached it.

A circular platform, unmarked, built into the floor at the end of a narrow hall. The stone was different—older. The same crest from his dream etched into the surface, nearly faded but still potent, a sun surrounded by a serpent devouring itself.

As soon as Wade stepped onto the platform, the glyph ignited.

[System Notice: Hidden Access Point Identified – Matching Seal Signature]

[Override Attempt – Manual Initiation Required]

[Prompt: Ignite Mana Flow?]

"Yes," Wade whispered.

The stone beneath him flared blue and gold.

The world dropped.

The platform descended in absolute silence, spiraling downward through an invisible shaft. He lost track of time. Five minutes? Ten?

Then it stopped.

Before him stretched a vast circular chamber. Dust hung unmoving in the air. The walls were lined with statues, cloaked figures holding masks, their faces covered in runes Wade couldn't read.

In the center stood a pedestal.

On it, a book. Thick. Bound in black scales. No title.

As Wade stepped forward, the system lit up in his mind.

[Warning: Hidden Artifact Detected]

[Host Authorization... Pending]

[Analyzing Soul Signature... Match: 47% – Incomplete]

[Partial Access Granted]

The book opened on its own.

Wind rippled outward, but it wasn't air. It was memory. Emotion. Something far deeper.

Images flashed through Wade's mind, fire raining from the skies, titanic figures clashing over shattered mountains, a blade of pure light driven into the earth like a key locking a prison.

Then silence.

Then a whisper.

"Welcome hero."

Wade jerked back.

The room was empty.

But something else had spoken to him now.

And it wasn't the system.

He wanted to know what that was, who that was, so he decided to reach for the book.

His fingers hovered above the open page. One more step, and he knew, there'd be no turning back—only deeper down.