The Ones Who Remember

The summons came mid-morning.

Formal. Unmistakable.

Signed by Instructor Veil herself.

No hint of emotion. Just a single line at the bottom:

> "Bring your Codex. Come alone."

---

Juno intercepted him halfway to the tower.

"I don't like this," she said, walking beside him.

"You don't like most things."

"I especially don't like instructors asking you to bring the book that rewrote magic."

Fair.

He offered her a crooked smile. "If I'm not back in an hour—"

"I'm storming the tower."

He paused.

"…You'd really do that?"

Her eyes held his for just a second too long.

Then she was gone.

---

Veil's office was darker than usual.

The shutters closed.

The air filtered and cold.

And Veil herself stood at the far end of the room, not behind her desk—but at the wall of flickering thread maps that monitored the Academy's magical field.

"I'm told you encountered something unusual in Zone 3-C," she said without turning.

Lyle didn't respond.

She finally looked over her shoulder.

"Show me your ring."

He hesitated.

But the Codex whispered:

> [Instructor Veil: Bloodline Unknown – Thread Signature Flagged in Core Rewrites]

Caution Advised.

Still, he held out his hand.

The ring pulsed once in response.

Veil's eyes narrowed.

"That sigil is forbidden."

"Why?"

She walked slowly toward him. "Because it doesn't come from this world."

---

Juno, meanwhile, had slipped into the Archive.

She wasn't supposed to be there.

But since when had that stopped her?

She scanned the old bloodline records—tomes no longer synced with the Codex, old enough to be scribed by hand.

And buried in the back of a sealed ledger, she found it:

A symbol.

Two fangs. A blade. A ring.

And beneath it, in careful script:

> "Q.T.G. – The Bloodwalker."

"Last known traveler between worlds.

Legacy: Forgotten. Powers: Sealed.

Threat Level: Extinction-class."

Juno stared at the entry.

Then whispered to herself:

"…What the hell have you found, Lyle?"

---

Back in Veil's office, Lyle met her gaze.

"I don't know what it is yet," he said.

"I think you do," Veil replied quietly. "And I think that ring didn't choose you by accident."

He didn't flinch.

But the Codex pulsed again.

> [Signature Lock Engaged]

Veil is watching for truth reveals. Disguise systems engaged.

He turned to go.

Veil didn't stop him.

But as the door closed behind him, she said one last thing:

> "The last time that sigil appeared… three academies vanished in a single night."