Sanctum Academy – Class VII-A, Morning Bell
The morning began like any other: bells tolled through Sanctum's outer sanctuaries, sending harmonic pulses down marble corridors laced with floating sigils.
Students filed into Class VII-A—the advanced hybrid theory class—a mix of noble heirs and rare-blooded commoners. Whispers filled the air.
Not because of Ari this time.
But because of her.
Lysira Vastelune, Radiant Heir of House Vastelune, stood in full formal uniform—pristine emerald robes trimmed in celestial gold. The crescent insignia of her house shimmered on her chest.
She stepped forward to the front of the class as the instructor, Professor Halwen, addressed the room.
"Today, we welcome a temporary transfer. By Sanctum's override clause and House agreement, Lysira Vastelune will be studying among you until further notice."
The silence was deafening. It was akin to a royal lioness walking into a stable of wolves.
And she chose the empty seat beside Ari.
"You don't have to sit there," Ari muttered under his breath.
"It's not about preference," she replied coolly. "It's about proximity."
"To what?"
"To danger."
The moment Lysira sat down, Ari's system flared.
Thread Convergence Detected:
Bloodline Interference: Radiant Crest near Rootspoken Node
Calculating potential conflict...
Influence Bonus Applied: Class Modifier +3
The System was watching them both now.
His presence had been irregular—a flicker on its edge. But with Lysira beside him, the class balance tipped.
And everyone felt it.
As lessons progressed—deconstructing advanced threadweaving matrices—Ari noticed more than just technical shifts:
Professor Halwen paused each time Ari rewrote a spellform from scratch.The automated lesson orb, which normally hovered above the instructor's desk, rotated to hover over Ari and Lysira instead.A few students—notably the scions of House Caelthur and Venshade—watched them like predators unsure if they'd found prey or kin.
Even Cerys, seated a few desks away, gave Lysira a long, unreadable look.
When the bell rang, most students scattered.
Cerys didn't.
She approached slowly, her silver-blonde braid catching the morning sun. Her voice was neutral—but Ari knew her tells.
"So. The dueling prodigy joins our humble circle. Must be part of your post-defeat humility arc?"
Lysira turned with cool poise.
"I don't act out of guilt. I act from strategy. There's something here—something I need to understand."
"And that's Ari?" Cerys asked, folding her arms.
"No. It's what's waking around him."
Ari groaned. "Could you both stop talking about me like I'm an unstable spell core?"
"You are," they both replied in unison.
Later, after the others dispersed, Lysira spoke privately to Ari near the obsidian-thread gardens.
"House Vastelune didn't send me here," she said, eyes scanning for listeners. "I chose this."
"Why?"
"Because you're not the only one whose system is glitching."
She held up her arm. A shimmering interface flickered across her skin—fractured, unstable.
ERROR: Radiant Path // Conflict with Foreign Node Detected
"Whatever you carry, it's bleeding into the system like a virus. And it's affecting me, too."
Ari stepped back slightly. "You think I'm corrupting people?"
"No. I think you're… reminding it."
"Of what?"
"That it used to dream differently."
Unseen by any of them, a figure in a cloak of layered threads observed from a balcony—one of the Echo Wardens, watchers of system anomalies.
Their report drafted itself silently:
Observation: Rootspoken Node interacting with Radiant Class
System Instability: Projected to rise 12.7% in Tier VI ranks
Recommendation: Continue passive surveillance. Prepare Recall Protocol.
Codename: Ari Solen – Class "Unquantifiable"
Status: Deviant. But not yet deviant *enough*.