Chapter 14: The Shadow of the Ember
The dining hall of the Ember Academy was a cavern of obsidian, lit by torches burning with white fire.
Black stone tables overflowed with apprentices, their voices a murmuring river under the mountain.
I sat in a corner.
My body still screamed from the Crucible.
From the fight with Kaelith.
The black veins of Aether laced my skin, hidden beneath a ragged robe Lysara had given us.
Lirien's amulet—dark, cold—hung from my neck.
A weight anchoring me to a past I barely remembered.
Dren's relic pulsed in my pocket, a violet flicker that burned like guilt.
The echo of Wrath's knight. Of the shadows that chased me.
Nyra sat across from me.
She devoured roasted meat.
Her knife never far from her hand.
Her eyes scanned the hall like a hawk.
The Threshold whispered—
Its voice a blade in my mind.
> "The Academy is a nest of vipers, Echo. Sharpen yourself, or they'll devour you before the throne."
Kaelith sat on the far side of the hall.
Surrounded by worshippers.
His white hair shimmered under the firelight.
His red eyes sliced the room every time they passed over me.
His presence filled the hall.
A cold fire that bent the others around him—
Even without a word.
> "That idiot won't stop staring at you," Nyra muttered, carving into her meat with more threat than hunger.
"He wants to finish what he started."
> "Let him try," I growled, voice low.
My strategist's mind dissected everything.
Kaelith was powerful—but arrogant.
I could use that.
But not here.
Not now.
The Academy was a board.
And I didn't know the rules yet.
A shadow fell across our table.
A girl stood there—
Thin as a reed, green eyes glowing like jade, black hair braided tight.
Her robe was stitched with water runes.
A leather whip hung from her waist.
> "You're the Echo," she said.
"Arion Vaelis.
The rumors say you carry forbidden power."
Her gaze slid to Nyra.
> "And you, the wild thing of Air.
What a curious pair."
Nyra raised her knife.
Wind twisted around her.
It sliced the edge of the table like a warning.
> "Say your piece and leave," she growled.
Apprentices nearby backed off.
The girl laughed—
Like ice breaking over water.
> "I'm Sylene, House of Water.
And I'm not here to fight… yet."
She looked straight at me.
> "I just wanted to see the boy who made the Crucible's runes tremble."
Before I could speak—
A roar shook the hall.
The torches flickered.
A purple rift tore open in the ceiling—
Sulfur spilling from the wound.
Shadows emerged.
Eyes red like blood.
Not servants.
Something worse.
A warrior stepped through.
Clad in black armor.
A massive axe blazed red in his hands—
Burning like Wrath itself.
His presence crushed the room.
The stone cracked beneath him.
The air turned toxic.
> "The Echo!" he roared.
"Wrath claims you!"
Apprentices screamed.
Chaos erupted.
Lysara descended like a falling star.
Her robe ablaze.
Her presence an inferno.
> "No one defiles the Academy!" she roared.
She raised her hand.
A wall of white fire surged at the rift.
The warrior answered—
His axe cleaving the air.
It struck her flame—
An explosion shattered the tables.
> "Move!" I yelled, shoving Nyra.
We ran.
Dodging flame and shadow.
Kaelith joined the chaos—
His fire blade cutting down a servant that leapt from the rift.
His presence rivaled Lysara's.
Sylene snapped her whip.
Water twisted like a serpent—
She lashed it across a shadow, ripping it apart.
Her eyes burned with frozen fury.
The Wrath warrior saw me.
His axe dropped.
I rolled—
The ground cracked open behind me.
My dagger—
Still stained with ash—
Cut through the air.
It grazed his armor.
The Aether screamed.
It begged for release.
But my body was at its limit.
The black veins clutched my soul.
I clutched Lirien's amulet.
Hoping for her voice.
Nothing.
> "You are enough," she had once said.
But I wasn't.
Not without cost.
> "Arion!" Nyra screamed.
She hurled a whirlwind.
It slammed into the warrior—
A storm of knives.
Two shadows were torn apart.
She was a storm.
She defied hell itself.
But the warrior roared.
His axe swept through the air.
Nyra fell.
Blood dripped from her arm.
> "No," I growled.
The Aether burst.
My eyes turned violet—
The air cracked.
A violet explosion struck the warrior.
His armor fractured.
Pain blinded me.
Blood poured from my mouth.
Veins spread like roots under my skin.
I collapsed.
Another piece of me stolen by the Threshold.
Kaelith attacked—
His fire sword clashing with the axe.
A solar clash lit the hall.
> "Vaelis, get out!" he roared.
His voice was filled with scorn.
But his eyes—burned with fury.
Sylene joined him.
Her whip coiled around the warrior's arm—
Water slicing like cold steel.
Lysara roared.
Her white fire surged into the rift.
It sealed.
The Wrath warrior staggered.
His armor cracked.
But he laughed—
A sound that chilled the soul.
> "The Echo will not escape," he hissed.
And vanished in a red flash.
The rift closed.
Silence fell.
Only the fire's crackle remained.
Nyra stood.
Panting.
Knife still in hand.
> "What the hell was that?" she muttered.
> "The Sins," I rasped.
The relic pulsed in my pocket.
Its violet glow mirrored the runes in the hall.
I pulled it out.
It burned my fingers.
> "And they want this."
Lysara stepped forward.
Her presence scorched the air.
> "The relic," she said.
"A fragment of the Threshold. I knew it."
Her eyes pierced through me.
She saw more than she spoke.
> "Guard it well, Vaelis.
The Sins never sleep."
Kaelith sheathed his sword.
His crimson gaze fixed on me.
> "This changes nothing," he growled.
"The Aether will destroy you. And I'll be there."
Sylene laughed.
Her whip coiled at her waist.
> "What a show," she said.
"We'll meet again, Echo."
She vanished into the crowd.
Lysara looked at us both.
> "The Academy will forge you.
But fire does not forgive mistakes.
Rest.
Training begins tomorrow."
She turned away.
But her words stayed behind.
Heavy as chains.
As we followed a healer toward the dormitories—
A vision struck me.
The obsidian throne.
Blood dripping.
Nyra—dead.
Lirien—fading.
Wrath smiled.
His fire sword gleaming.
And behind him…
The other Sins rose.
The shadow king.
The ice queen.
The chained beast.
The golden specter.
The mist figure.
The warrior with blood wings.
And one shadow… with crystal eyes.
> "The Academy is your board," the Threshold whispered.
"But the Sins are the players."
I looked at Nyra—
Her silhouette burning against the flames, defying fate.
The throne was closer.
But so were the Sins.
And I, Arion Vaelis…
Would not back down.