"When knowledge has slumbered too long, it dreams of those who pursue it."
Morning Mist Above Aurelia
It was the calmest day, trapped in a feathery shroud of fog. The grand halls of Aurelia Academy hung quietly under the dawn's pallor, the bells barely thrumming beneath the layers of low clouds.
Leon strolled across the marble hallways, on a steady course toward the library, the soles of his boots reverberating softly. His sword hung at his hip; while it did still feel more like a companion weapon, it was starting to feel less weapon-like over time.
His flame had become more responsive since stabilizing, and there were times when it flickered, too, evidence and proof that it had a will of its own. He did not tell anyone, even not Aris.
He thought about her as he walked: her calm gaze in moonlight; the softness of her voice when she spoke of emotions and mana. The feeling in his chest swelled again.
"Focus," he said to himself, almost shaking the thought away. "You're here to study, not daydream."
The Archives
The Aurelia Grand Library - known widely as the Whispering Archives - was an immense maze of shelves and hidden passageways, with books lined up in every aisle that seemed to breathe dust accumulated over centuries.
Selene Thorne was already there, of course, with more stacks of encyclopedias, and she looked completely comfortable.
"Ah, Leon," she said, without looking up. "You're late."
Leon laughed. "You never even told me when to be here."
"That's right," she said with a grin, flipping the page and casually reading, "but you still came late."
He sighed and sat down beside her. "Alright, let's go with this. What's today's mystery?"
Selene tapped the opened encyclopedia with the pen between her fingers. "Mana resonance anomalies. Yours specifically."
Leon groaned. "You've got to be kidding."
"Well, yes." Selene hesitated, her tone shifting to excitement. "I did comparisons last night. The resonance frequency from you is different from anything that has ever been noted at Aurelia. It behaves as if… even though its two overlapping souls, they are really channeling mana together."
Leon blinked. "That doesn't seem like it could be true."
"Not based on our textbooks," Selene hesitated once more to lower her voice. "That is precisely it. But in the case of the ritual, we haven't been able to study documentation since it sealed centuries ago. It led to... misfortune. Entire cities went up in flames because they were purely defying the motion of souls."
A chill traveled up Leon's spine. "So you think-"
"I think," she said gently, "you and Aris may be connected to something that started long before either of you were born."
Aris's Arrival
Her footsteps lightly pattered down the hall, echoing softly off the marble. Aris turned the corner, balancing a good number of books against her chest.
"Leon. Selene," she greeted softly, politely. "I was told I'd find you here."
Selene smiled. "Ah, the princess found herself in the presence of the scholars. Come in, Lady Valerion."
At last, Aris was able to place the books down on the table made for the idyllic setting of academic work, she huffed, speaking with some effort. "These are from the restricted aisle. The instructor Kael allowed me to fetch them."
"That was nice of him?" Leon raised his eyebrow. "He allowed you to come down here with those?"
She smiled a bit at the inquiry, "He said that knowledge was more dangerous than ignorance, not that his face showed otherwise.
Selene whistled. "That man lets no one near restricted shelves, I'm impressed."
Aris tucked a piece of silver hair behind her ear and scanned the older text with her sapphire eyes.
"These relate to the Cycle of Souls. It says certain bonds are eternal in some respects, they reincarnate together — bound by oaths or curses."
Leon's breath caught slightly. "Bonds... like oaths?"
Her gaze softened. "Yes."
For a moment more, everything else in the world faded to an absent background. Thousands of thoughts evaporated into the deafening sound of pages gently moving between soft covers.
Hidden Vault
After several hours of research, Selene sighed and reclined back in her chair. "Most of these are just bits and pieces. If the complete record exists, it is sealed even more deeply."
Aris glanced over at the shadowy corner of the library - an archway partially obscured by faded tapestries. "Kael mentioned that the lower vaults were previously part of the original academy - from an age pre-Cinder Wars."
Leon frowned. "And no one ever goes down there anymore, right?"
Selene smirked. "Precisely why we need to go."
"Selene..." Leon groaned, but follow he did.
The three of them entered a spiral staircase beyond the tapestries. The air got colder and the torches burned dimmer. The silence was nearly palpable, as if the walls were intently eavesdropping on the three.
They entered a vast cavern deep underground, covered in runic stones and sealed tomes. In the center of the cavern stood a large crystal pillar that rested quietly pulsing with light.
Aris stepped closer, time seeming to slow down a bit. "It's magnificent…"
Leon, as if possessed with some autonomous instinct, reached out; and the moment his fingertips met the crystal, it flared - a wave of mana exploding outwards.
Selene screamed in horror. Aris shielded Selene's eyes from the blinding brilliance and beam of mana oozing out of the crystal.
And for an instant, Leon saw visions - flashes of flames, a rainy city and a girl reaching toward him through the...
He was on his knees, struggling to catch his breath.
"Leon!" Aris was beside him in an instant, gripping his shoulders. "Are you ok?"
He looked up at her, but for a moment, he didn't see Aris; he saw Yuki.
The same distracted look on his face as her hand shook — it was the same.
"I…" His words were caught in his throat. "I have seen this before."
Kael's Realization
Back in his office, Kael shut a book with a hard slap and a grim expression.
He had just received notice that the mana levels in the lower archives had spiked — exactly as it should for resonance interference.
He muttered to himself. "They've found it. The Pillar of Echoes."
He gripped his staff and burst out of his office, the air crackling with the mana he was holding back.
The Voice in the Light
In the archives, Leon's awareness drifted once more — suspended between worlds.
A voice whispered gently through the light.
"Itsuki... this is not the end. The promise still holds you." He extended toward it, trembling. "Yuki...?" The voice shifted — deeper, colder.
"Promises bind... and chains break."
The light was shattered.
Aris's cry yanked him back into the present. "Leon!"
A moment later, Kael dashed into the chamber, the sword glowing brightly with sealing magic. With a waving hand, the light from the pillar dimmed almost immediately.
"You fools!" he cried. His voice echoed through the stone walls. "Do you have any idea what you've revived!?"
Selene said with a panic, "We were just doing research—
"You touched the Echo Vault," Kael hissed. "A remnant of souls long gone. Rests with you, it remembers. Do not touch it again."
Leon stood, shaky on his feet. "It... spoke to me."
Kael's eyes darkened. "You're already part of its memory."
The Walk Up
The trio ascended the staircase in silence. The air seemed a little denser at the top, the sun a little less bright.
All the while, Selene walked ahead without saying a word, shame evident on her features. Aris walked closely next to Leon, at times brushing her hand against his arm.
"You shouldn't have followed me." she said softly.
Grinning a little, he replied, "I couldn't let you go alone."
She swung her gaze back to him, now conflicted, asking, "Why do you have to say things like that?"
He stopped. "Because..., it feels like I've said it before."
Her stomach flipped. She didn't respond.
The Wind That Whispers
Later that night, Leon found himself once more in the position of standing by his dorm window, the evening air flowing in with whispers, faint yet deliberate from the library beneath him.
His whisper flame again danced, this time in his own eyes.
He whispered to himself. "Who is it really, Yuki… or Aris?"
Aris sat in her room alone and simply looked up at the moon and whispered the same thing, "Who is it really, Leon Ashwell… or someone I once loved?"
The wind drifted their two questions into the same stillness — and for an instant, one voice answered both questions in their dreams, "Both."