Wildglow

A bird flew across the sky.

Students and mages alike on the field were covered in dust, healing them of all their injuries.

"... What is this?" Sydney asked

"... End credits…"

Rei closes his eyes, sighing

The monster was gone. Where it had raged moments ago, there was now only aftermath. Earth splintered and scorched. Snow churned to mud. A patchwork of black ice and burned roots smoldering beneath the rising sun.

The silence afterward was raw. Hollow.

Alive with what had almost happened.

Every breath came out white and uneven; every heartbeat echoed in Katsu's ears.

Around them, the world felt both impossibly large and very, very small.

The students they'd saved didn't rush forward.

They drifted in, as if waking from a fever.

A girl stumbled first, her face streaked with frozen tears, clutching her arm to her chest as she crossed the torn ground.

Sydney stepped toward her, catching her before she fell, murmuring something gentle, steady, as if she'd done this a hundred times.

The girl clung to her, shaking.

A second—a boy, older.

Blood running from a split lip.

He limped past the ruin.

His eyes flicking between Rei and Katsu.

"You… you really did it."

The words were a whisper. Not quite gratitude.

Not quite awe. He tried to thank Rei, but his gaze kept sliding to Katsu's hands, as if half-expecting them to still be glowing.

Other survivors found their feet, one by one.

Two leaned on each other, one crying softly, the other blank-faced. A pair of friends hugged, whispering "we made it, we made it" until the words lost meaning.

But most kept their distance.

They formed a circle that never quite closed.

A cautious buffer around Group 32.

Some looked for comfort, some for explanation, others for reassurance that the threat was truly gone.

And always, their eyes returned to Katsu. They couldn't help it. No one had seen magic like his.

Not the way he wove water and darkness.

Not the way the earth itself seemed to bend and remember.

No one dared ask how he'd done it. Not yet.

Katsu stood with the other two at the heart of the devastation, his body aching, hands trembling with memory and cold.

He caught a few murmured thanks.

A half-formed blessing, but most voices died before they reached him. He understood.

There was awe here, and gratitude, but something sharper too. Something close to suspicion.

Close to fear.

He met no one's eyes. He let the moment pass.

Sydney was surrounded by two teachers.

One checking her burns, another quietly praising her control under pressure.

"The fire was beautiful," someone said. "Your family would be proud."

Rei was approached by a proctor, who offered a short, silent bow. Just enough to mark respect, not enough to draw attention. Other instructors murmured about glyphwork and discipline.

"You cut through the chaos," one said. "That's the mark of a Dravantiir."

But Katsu was alone, even in the center of it all.

He felt every stare.

Felt the space between himself and the others stretch and contract as the faculty approached.

A group of examiners and instructors arrived in force. Six or seven, all robed, some with staves aglow, others scanning the field with narrowed eyes and grim mouths. They spread out, circling the site, their attention drawn always back to the source: to Katsu.

A lead examiner swept a glowing rod through the air.

It pulsed brighter as it neared Katsu, throwing patterns of light across the frost.

The proctors exchanged quiet words.

Glancing his way again and again.

"None of our records show spellwork like this," said one, voice low. "It's as if the battlefield remembers him."

The rumor mill ignited before anyone could stamp it out. "He did something new."

"That wasn't school magic—did you see what happened to the ice?"

"Sydney Keahi's flames—did she learn that at home?"

"I heard Rei's sigil is only supposed to work for upperclassmen."

But always: "Who is the Velthra boy?"

Sydney shot Katsu a look. Not fearful, but searching.

As if wondering if even he understood what he'd just done. Rei kept his eyes ahead, but his jaw was tight, hands flexing as if still testing for wounds.

Through it all, Katsu felt a quiet shift in the air.

A whisper at the back of his mind, cold and satisfied.

They saw you. They'll never forget you now.

He stiffened. The Leviathan's approval was subtle, edged with warning.

They don't know what you are, not truly.

But they'll wonder.

Be careful where you let their questions lead.

He tried to steady his breathing, even as the faculty began separating the students, calling names, leading the shaken away for healing and questions.

A trio of senior instructors approached Group 32. They did not raise their voices. They simply gestured.

"You three. With us."

The survivors watched as Katsu, Sydney, and Rei were led through the trees, up the slope, out of sight.

They were brought to a small stone building at the edge of the field. An old archive, half-buried in snow, lanterns flickering within.

They were not reprimanded.

There was no scolding. No shouts.

Only a long table, a few battered chairs, and the weight of three examiners who studied them as if trying to decide which question would be safe to ask first.

"You've all exceeded expectations," said the first, voice crisp, "but the cost of this kind of power is rarely just exhaustion. You need to understand what you've set in motion."

Another, older, folded her hands.

"Today's spectacle will be remembered. Some will call it a miracle. Some will call it a threat."

The third, eyes fixed on Katsu, barely blinked.

"Power that bends the rules invites scrutiny. It also attracts those who think the rules should change."

There was no accusation. No comfort, either. Only the warning, and the knowledge that nothing at the Academy would ever quite be the same.

When it was over, they were dismissed quietly, allowed to gather their things. The sun had slipped lower behind the Academy towers, shadows stretching long over the grounds. Inside, lamplight turned the common room gold and gentle.

Sydney dropped her bag by the fire, collapsing onto the nearest couch. Her hands were raw, her eyes rimmed red, but she smiled anyway—a little crooked, a little wild.

Rei took a seat on the floor, boots kicked off, his usual tension gone, replaced by a heavy sort of calm.

Katsu found himself sitting, too, legs crossed, the warmth a shock after the wild cold of Wildglow. The three of them didn't say much. They didn't have to. Something new lived in the quiet—a trust deeper than anything spoken.

Sydney let out a breathless laugh, voice hoarse with disbelief and relief.

"We survived Wildglow. What now?"

Katsu let himself smile, slow and honest, the fear finally receding.

"Whatever comes next," he said, "we face it together."

The flames flickered and settled. Outside, the last snow of the day began to fall, quiet and clean.

For a moment, the world was only this.

Three battered figures, a circle of warmth, and the certainty that whatever waited beyond, they would not meet it alone.

Sydney set her pack down next to Katsu, wordlessly. A quiet offering, the last barrier falling away.

She curled up close, chin tucked in, breath evening out fast. For once, trust settled over the camp as surely as the cold.

Katsu let himself rest.

His hand falling near Sydney's pack, the gesture more comforting than he expected.

Outside their ring of firelight.

Wildglow's darkness prowled.

But within…

The three of them lay closer than before, guarded by each other and the faintest, brightest hope.

Katsu lingered by the embers after the others had settled, watching the fire's last glow flicker over their sleeping forms. The night pressed close.

Quiet, breathless.

For once, the Leviathan's voice came not as a taunt, but a whisper, low and solemn.

Survival is not victory. Trust is not safety. But tonight, you learned what even monsters need.

He didn't argue. Didn't resist. Just nodded to the shadows, letting the lesson settle into his bones.

He glanced at Rei.

At Sydney, their shapes outlined in faint orange, and felt something inside loosen.

For the first time, he let the fire's warmth lull him, let the others guard his sleep.

He closed his eyes, trusting them. Just for tonight.

The fire burned down to its last red heart, shadows spilling across battered boots and curled hands.

Katsu, Sydney, and Rei slept close, backs just touching, shoulders ringed by warmth.

Imperfect, bruised, but together at last.

Outside the wind prowled.

Carrying the restless breath of Wildglow.

In the dark, unseen shapes drifted between trees, but none crossed the thin boundary of firelight and trust. For one night, they weren't alone.

And for one night, it was enough.

...

Katsu~

What?

In this mindscape, The Leviathan floated. Kicking her feet in the air as she looked at Micah, not Katsu.

"How do you feel? :D"

"... You're not a real person."