The envelope was made of glyph-woven parchment—so old the sigils were fraying.
Kaelen stared at it without touching it for several seconds.
The seal?Five-pointed crown.The mark of the Academy's High Council.
He finally broke the wax and unfolded the single sheet.
Kaelen Ardyn, initiate. You are hereby summoned to attend a closed hearing in Chamber Vire at seventh bell. Bring no companions.
He re-read it twice.
There was no mention of the stasis vault.No mention of Selene.
But the paper hummed faintly with truth-binding.
They knew.
Kaelen dressed in silence. No uniform. Just the robes allowed for "initiate declaration."
Outside, the storm had passed, but the glyphlines still glowed faintly in the sky. He walked alone through empty courtyards, under archways heavy with memory.
At the gates of the Council Tower, he paused.
Someone stood waiting for him.
Not Selene.
Seraphine.
"They want you to falter," she said softly. "Don't give them the satisfaction."
Kaelen blinked.
"Why are you here?"
"Because you're not ready," she said. "And neither was I, when they summoned me."
Her voice was low. Guarded. But not cold.
"You broke into a sealed Archive," she added. "That's supposed to be treason."
"Selene—"
"Won't be named. Not unless you speak her name."
She held his eyes.
"I'm telling you this because I know how this goes. They won't ask what you did. They'll ask why."
"And the answer?"
"Say nothing. Think everything."
Kaelen nodded once. Then walked inside.
Seven elders sat in a semicircle. Robes like night. Glyph tattoos shining faintly beneath skin thinned with age.
In the center: Magister Inalesh, the one who'd once trained Seraphine.
"You broke into a sealed vault," she said without preamble.
Kaelen stood in silence.
"You accessed material forbidden even to graduate Tiers."
Still silence.
One of the elders leaned forward.
"Why?"
Kaelen's voice was low. Measured.
"Because something's wrong with the Tower."
"Wrong?" Inalesh echoed.
"The glyphlines are fluctuating. Truth echoes are bleeding into the physical realm. And a girl trapped in stasis is sharing memories with me. With Selene. Possibly others."
Whispers broke out behind him. But Inalesh didn't blink.
"You're suggesting a connection to the Veritas anomaly?"
"I'm not suggesting it. I'm living it."
He raised his left hand. The brand on his palm shimmered faintly.
"I didn't choose this magic. It chose me."
Another elder stood.
"We feared as much."
"Then why hide her?" Kaelen asked. "The girl in the vault?"
Inalesh exhaled.
"Because not all truths are survivable."
He left the chamber without another word. No punishment. No answers.
Just a warning:
"If you reach deeper into Veritas without sanction again, you will not return."
At the foot of the Tower stairs, Seraphine waited still.
She leaned against a pillar, arms crossed, gaze unreadable.
"That went worse than I expected," Kaelen muttered.
"They didn't bind you," she replied. "That's already better than my first time."
"Why do they hate the truth so much?"
"Because it breaks their version of it."
She stepped closer.
For a heartbeat, Kaelen thought she might say something more—
But she stopped. Then handed him a small paper slip.
"If you're going to keep chasing ghosts, at least start here."
He unfolded it. A sketch.
An emblem.Not one he recognized.
"What is this?"
"The crest of the faction that built the original Tower. Before the Academy ever existed."
"Why give it to me now?"
Seraphine's voice was low.
"Because someone's marked you. And I don't know if I want them to have you first."
She turned and walked away.
Selene sat by the window, clutching an old sigil journal.
She had seen the hearing. Not all of it. Enough.
Her expression was blank.
Inside the journal was a page she hadn't opened since she was twelve.
A drawing of the girl in the chains.
A name beneath it.Elaris.
And scribbled beside it, in her own younger hand:
"One day, I'll set you free. Even if it breaks everything."
Tears didn't fall. Not yet.
But something had cracked inside her.
Kaelen lies awake that night. The glyphline outside his window pulses once.
He dreams again.
This time, the girl in chains is screaming louder. But someone stands beside her.
Not Selene. Not Seraphine.A third figure. Male. Masked.
He speaks only one word:
"Awaken."