CHAPTER TWO: The Girl with the Ember Eyes

Nyra hated the way the academy lights flickered at night. Not because they failed — no, Kireth's systems were perfect. But because the flickers felt intentional, like the building itself was watching… waiting.

She walked down the corridor alone, backpack slung over her shoulder, hood covering half her face. Her boots echoed with a dead rhythm, each step a reminder that she didn't belong here. Not with the god-born. Not with the demonmarked. Not with Caelia.

Especially not with Caelia.

"Hey, shadow-girl," someone sneered near the hall's edge. Xior. Half-god, half-serpent. Tall, vicious, loud. "Lose your leash again?"

Nyra didn't stop walking.

He moved to block her path. "You're not one of us, Valeth. No spark. No glyphs. No bloodline. How the hell did a null-rank get into Kireth anyway?"

She stared at his jaw — not his eyes — calculating. "I walked in."

"Should've kept walking," he snapped, his hand glowing with a silver crest of Valemi Da Va Li. The crowd that formed around them was hungry. Bullies fed off emptiness. And Nyra? She was practically a buffet.

But before he could touch her, Caelia stepped in.

Her presence was cold. Sharp. Divine.

"That's enough, Xior."

He flinched. Everyone did when Caelia spoke like that — soft, but laced with hidden daggers. Her aura shimmered around her in a light-purple burn, the scent of ozone hanging in the air. She turned to Nyra, her voice lowering, "You okay?"

Nyra nodded once, swallowing words she didn't have.

But inside her chest, something cracked. It wasn't her heart — it was deeper. Like something asleep inside her soul just opened one eye.

Later that night, Nyra sat alone on her dorm balcony. She stared up at the moon like it owed her answers.

Why did Caelia always step in for her?

Why did she care?

And why… why did it hurt so much when she walked away?

Suddenly, the air around Nyra shifted. Cold. Heavy. Silent.

From the shadows behind her, a deep voice spoke — calm and endless like the void itself.

"You are weak now. But weakness is the best soil for monsters."

Nyra spun around, eyes wide — but she saw nothing. Only shadow.

"Sleep. Tomorrow, we begin. You will learn war. Not their war… mine."