🌌 Chapter 18 – The Silent Watcher
Night draped Avalon in silver shadows, the academy grounds hushed except for the distant hum of wards keeping the perimeter safe.
Caelum should have been asleep. Tomorrow's lessons would test their mana control again, and the instructors expected precision. But tonight, his body refused to rest.
His instincts—those sharpened through lifetimes of war—whispered at him. Something tugged his attention beyond the walls of his chamber.
And when he glanced out his window, he saw her.
Aurora.
She was slipping through the courtyard alone, her pale figure gliding like moonlight itself. No companions. No guards. Not even a lantern.
"...Where is she going?"
---
Caelum moved without thinking. His steps were silent, trained from years of battlefields where one careless sound meant death.
He trailed her through Avalon's sleeping corridors, then out into the moonlit training fields.
Aurora stopped beneath a great oak, her white dress brushing the grass. She lifted her hand. A faint glow of light magic flickered at her fingertips.
But it was weak. Trembling. As though she were forcing it through barriers unseen.
Caelum narrowed his eyes. She's holding back.
---
He leaned against a stone arch, hidden in shadow, watching her.
Aurora whispered something he couldn't hear, and the magic sputtered out entirely. She sank to her knees, her shoulders trembling—not with fear, but with anger.
For a moment, her mask slipped.
She looked… broken.
Caelum's chest tightened. That same ripple again, clawing at his composure. He gripped the hilt of his sword at his side, grounding himself in the familiar weight.
Why do I care?
---
Aurora suddenly straightened. Her head tilted slightly, as though she sensed something watching.
Caelum's breath stilled. His aura, his presence—he sealed it with the same precision he used in battle. To her, he was just another shadow.
She glanced around once more, then let out a tired sigh, returning to her dorm.
Caelum remained where he was, his hand pressed against the cool stone.
"...You're hiding something," he whispered into the night. "And for some reason, I can't look away."
---
Far above, unseen by either of them, the sealed goddess's bloodline pulsed faintly in Aurora's core—like a star trying to pierce through chains.
And fate drew its net ever tighter.