Chapter 38 – The Fracture Line
The first light of morning touched the northern tower with a pale blue tint. Cold air stung my lungs when I stepped outside; the breath leaving my lips turned to mist before fading into nothing. Three weeks remained until the end-term exams, yet every student on Academy grounds moved like the deadline was tomorrow. Pressure had condensed into the very air—heavy, sharp, unavoidable.
I woke early again. Not because I wanted to; because I had to.
Mana was easier to sense in the quiet of dawn. Before the world woke up and filled itself with noise and eyes and expectations, the flow inside me was clearer.
I raised my hand. Mana curled up around my fingertips—soft at first, then gaining shape and weight. A slow spiral formed, delicate as a spider thread.
"Gentler," I whispered. "Not speed—clarity."
The spiral held for a heartbeat, stretching thin like a line of light. But just as I stabilized it, something inside me twitched. The spiral broke apart instantly; the mana scattered like dust.
A small heat flared beneath the skin of my wrist.
Not from mana.
Not from ritual reinforcement.
From the gray flicker buried deeper—quiet, faint… and alive.
"No," I muttered. "Not now."
I inhaled slowly, pushing the sensation down, forcing the flicker back into the place it came from. The sensation wasn't painful. It was something else. Something like a thought trying to surface, a reflex waiting for release.
Footsteps sounded behind me.
Kai's voice sliced through the morning like a misplaced trumpet.
"You know, most people sleep. It's this really interesting human instinct."
He slapped my shoulder with the same infuriating brightness he carried everywhere.
"You train alone, don't blink for minutes, don't breathe half the time… You get that it's weird, right?"
"I'm not trying to be normal," I said.
"That," Kai replied, "is exactly the problem."
Rien approached, quieter, but his eyes were sharper than the cold.
"Doing control work this early is risky," he said.
"When your breathing isn't steady, mana cuts sharper. Mistakes hit harder."
"I'm used to it," I replied.
"Being used to something doesn't make it wise," Rien murmured.
Kai squinted at me. "You're hiding something."
The gray presence in my chest trembled once—so faint that no one else could have sensed it. I forced my expression still.
"I'm not hiding anything."
Kai looked unconvinced.
Rien definitely didn't buy it.
But neither pushed further.
For now, that was enough.
Ritual Hall – Late Morning
Seraphine had summoned me.
The ritual hall was nearly empty. Only a single platform sat in the center, its surface marked with etched runes. The air smelled of incense and burned mana. Seraphine stood beside a stone table, posture controlled, expression unreadable.
"Seryn," she said, "today we're conducting a special test."
"For the official exam?"
"No. This test is for me alone."
That sentence always meant the same thing: she was either trying to protect me… or she was worried about what I might become.
"What kind of test?"
"Control," she said. "Simultaneous management of three flows—mana, ritual imprint, and mental focus."
I went silent.
Even advanced students struggled with this trial. Loss of focus could cause mana backlash, or break ritual alignment, or fracture a mental thread. The risk wasn't theoretical. Students had been carried out of this hall before.
"Are you ready?" she asked.
"I am."
I stepped onto the platform. The stone vibrated faintly under my boots; the measurement spell was already active. Seraphine lifted her hands. Lines of violet and silver spread across the floor, converging beneath my feet like veins.
"Begin. First: mana. Then: ritual resonance. Finally—hold both without letting them bleed into each other."
I closed my eyes.
Mana flowed—cold, familiar, steady.
Ritual resonance pulsed—heavier, slower, from deep within bone and muscle.
I separated the two in my mind, holding them apart like two blades hovering close but not touching.
For a moment, everything was under control.
Then—
The gray light flared.
I hadn't called it. I hadn't even thought about it.
But it surged upward anyway, like something inside me had been waiting for this exact moment.
The runes beneath the platform flickered.
A low hum built beneath the stone.
Seraphine stepped back sharply.
"Seryn—!"
The gray light didn't break out of me.
But I felt it press against my ribs like a tide.
It drew back after a moment, but not without leaving a trembling echo through every nerve.
My knees gave way, and I fell forward onto my hands. A fragment of stone rolled against my palm—neither hot nor cold. Numb.
Seraphine knelt beside me, voice lower than usual.
"Did you trigger that?"
"No… I was holding it back. It moved on its own."
For the first time since I met her, I saw real concern in her eyes.
"If this happens again," she said, "the mana wardens will detect it."
"What happens then?"
She exhaled, the sound sharp.
"We don't want them to notice. Not yet."
Yet.
The word struck like a blade.
Valen – Afternoon
Seraphine had delivered the report. I understood why they called me.
Valen's study was lit by dim lanterns. Not maps of war this time—mana models, seal diagrams, recalibration charts. He didn't look up when I entered.
"This wasn't a simple reaction," he said.
A statement, not a question.
He continued reading the parchment for several seconds before speaking again.
"There is something inside you," Valen said. "Something that responds to both mana and ritual energy. You aren't summoning it. It acts on its own."
Seraphine added quietly,
"And it reacts to the Academy's detection spells."
Valen turned to me fully.
"Seryn," he said, "I'll give you two truths."
I waited.
"One: If you do not gain control, others will attempt to control you."
My breath froze.
"Two: Ability is rarely the danger. Timing is."
Seraphine's voice sharpened.
"In the exams, you will not use that energy."
"I can't use it," I said. "I don't even know how."
"That's what concerns us," Valen replied. "If the power chooses the moment instead of you… it could pick the wrong one."
His words sat heavy in my stomach.
Academy Courtyard – Late Afternoon
Kai and Rien found me sitting near the central fountain. I didn't try to hide how drained I felt.
Kai stared at me. "What happened to your face? You look like something grabbed your soul and shook it."
Rien crossed his arms. "You were with Seraphine, weren't you? She tested you."
I stayed silent.
Kai stepped closer. "Okay, look. You don't have to tell us anything. But if you keep acting like this, you'll collapse before the exams even start."
Rien added, "Power always costs something. If you ignore the cost, it'll charge interest."
Those words hit too close to what Valen had said hours earlier.
"I'm fine," I said. "Just tired."
"Good," Kai said. "Because tomorrow we train early."
Rien nodded.
"And tonight, we rest."
"I wasn't planning to—"
"No," Kai said firmly. "Order."
For some reason, I actually laughed. Faint, brief, but real.
Night – Northern Tower
When I closed the door behind me, the gray sensation stirred again.
Not weak.
Not hesitant.
Not random.
Purposeful.
I sat at my desk, palms on my knees. The candlelight flickered across my notes—mana diagrams, ritual charts, control grids. But none of them mattered in this moment.
"Why now?" I whispered. "Why right before the exams?"
No reply.
But the flicker didn't fade.
It grew.
A shiver went down my spine—a cold warning, or something like the beginning of one.
Then a flash in my mind:
A cracked seal.
A dark room.
Three silhouettes.
A whisper:
"Be ready."
My eyes snapped open.
My heart steadied itself slowly.
The exams were not the closest danger anymore.
Something else was coming.
Closer.
Soon.