When the Rings Whisper

The countdown ticked in the corner of Lyle's Codex screen.

> [3 Days, 18 Hours, 47 Minutes until Dimensional Access Window Opens]

It pulsed faintly, like a second heartbeat.

Lyle closed the screen. He hadn't told anyone about the ring.

Not Muka. Not Juno. Not even Asterion.

It wasn't mistrust.

It was instinct.

The ring didn't just feel powerful. It felt like an invitation—one only he was meant to answer.

And yet, he wasn't alone.

Because the Bone Claw had begun changing.

---

It started with the shadow he cast.

For weeks, it had stayed ordinary—short, sharp, human.

Now?

It moved slower than his body. Sometimes curling ahead, sometimes lingering behind. The first time it rippled independently, he nearly collapsed. The Bone Claw had only whispered one thing:

> "The King had many forms. You will find yours."

But what did that even mean?

---

Training that day was cut short.

Something in the upper towers had triggered a lockdown.

No one said what.

But Lyle noticed two professors arguing near Tower Delta—gesturing toward a storage vault behind sealed glass, where a crimson glow flickered briefly before vanishing.

The Codex buzzed.

> [Unauthorized Rift Energy Detected – Suppressed]

Asterion appeared an hour later during meditation class.

Not as a guest.

But to stare directly at Lyle.

"Stay sharp," he muttered. "Things are shifting."

Lyle nodded. "I know."

He didn't say what else he knew.

---

That night, the Bone Claw manifested.

Fully.

For the first time since the Red Hollow.

Lyle had just laid down, half-asleep, when the pressure in the air tightened.

He sat up.

And the room darkened.

Not from light loss.

But from shadow mass.

The Bone Claw poured out of his back like molten obsidian, reshaping in tendrils of jagged black armor that stopped just short of forming complete limbs.

His spine tingled.

And before him, hovering in the air—

A face.

Skeletal. Vaguely draconic. Eyes like cold-burning coals. It didn't move. It didn't speak.

But it watched.

> "I once had a name," the Bone Claw said. "But in your world, it is only remembered in screams."

Lyle stood slowly. "Tell me."

> "You are not ready."

> "Then why show yourself?"

The face tilted.

> "Because soon, others will come who remember me. And they won't kneel."

Lyle swallowed. "What should I do?"

> "Grow."

And just like that—

The Bone Claw vanished.

But the imprint of its body remained, singed into the stone behind him like a shadow scorched by hellfire.

He would have to fix that before morning.

---

Elsewhere in the Academy, Muka crouched in the eastern tower garden, chewing on dried meat and pretending not to glance toward the north wing every thirty seconds.

She hadn't reported anything to Quinn in nearly a week.

She told herself she was just waiting for more information.

That Lyle wasn't dangerous.

That Quinn would approve once he saw how far Lyle had come.

But deep down, she knew…

She didn't want Quinn to come yet.

Because Lyle was still Lyle. Still kind. Still curious. Still human.

And if Quinn saw the Bone Claw fully awakened?

She didn't know who Quinn would kill first.

---

Meanwhile, Juno trained alone in the courtyard.

She hadn't slept.

Not well.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Lyle on that altar. The Bone Claw wrapping around him. The guardian kneeling.

She had seen arrogance before.

Power-hungry nobles. Broken prodigies.

But Lyle didn't want the throne.

And that terrified her more.

Because he might be the only one worthy of it.

---

By morning, the countdown had dropped below three days.

> [2 Days, 22 Hours, 15 Minutes]

And the ring?

It began to whisper.

Not words.

Memories.

Lyle saw glimpses of a black tower wrapped in thorns.

A vampire boy training in silence while the sun never rose.

A girl with red eyes and a single wing slicing down constructs twice her size.

And in the shadows?

Quinn.

Older. Stronger. Alone.

> "When you come," the ring pulsed, "you will be tested."

Lyle sat in silence.

Asterion had warned him the Codex wasn't built for dual systems.

If he took Quinn's path too deeply, his Arcai Ethos might resist—or worse, fracture.

But something inside him already knew:

That path had already begun.