It felt like an eternity, but also like a moment. The look was heavy as a mountain and cold as the interstellar void. They didn't just see him - they absorbed his essence, scanning every thought, weakness, and thread of his soul.
Just as suddenly as he appeared, he was gone. The gap in reality closed with a final pop, leaving only silence and the smell of ozone behind. The pressure that had threatened to crush them disappeared.
Lin Mei collapsed to her knees, sobbing from the horror of what she had experienced. Han, pale and shaking, leaned against a tree.
"What... what was that?" Lin Mei gasped, trying to stand. "Is this the end? Are they gone?"
Leng Wei's voice sounded hollow and empty. He still stared at the place where the gap had been. "This is not a withdrawal. This is a declaration of war, a real one. Before that, we were just insects that disturbed their peace, but now... now we are an enemy that deserves to be destroyed."
He turned and ran back towards the house, the trap deactivated. He rushed inside. The mother was sitting in her chair, still holding the book, but her face was pale and her fingers clutching the cover were white with tension. She saw his look and felt his presence.
"Mom!" He crouched in front of her and grabbed her hands. "I'm fine, son," she tried to smile but it was weak. "It worked. You did it."
"It wasn't a victory," Jin said, entering the house with a gloomy expression. His analytical mind was already processing the events that had taken place. "It was an escalation. We'd poked the hornet's nest, and instead of a swarm of angry bees, the queen bee herself has emerged. They know about our trap. They're aware of the Heart of Harmony, and they won't directly attack us anymore."
Just then, one of the guards outside shouted. Leng Wei rushed out. "Sky... it's changed." He said, pointing up. "Above the Academy, as large as the continent itself, hangs a giant, deadly gray eye. It's not a physical object, it's a projection superimposed onto reality. It doesn't look threatening. It just watches. It's cold and indifferent, like a scientist observing an ant hill before conducting an experiment."
Lin Mei, who had also left the house, raised her head and whispered, "What are they planning to do?"
"They're changing the rules," Leng Wei said, horrified by what was happening. "They won't send their servants anymore. They'll act precisely, using reality itself as a weapon."
His words proved prophetic. The following morning, the nightmare began.
The first incident took place in the academy gardens. One half-blood student, watering magical herbs, screamed and fell to the ground. The grass around him turned black and died instantly. He wasn't injured, but his connection to the vampires' power was erased. He became a normal human. In panic, he described a "cold emptiness" piercing through him.
Later, in the ancient scroll library, several valuable manuscripts containing ancient spells from the first kings turned to dust without explanation.
The third blow struck at the very heart of Harmony. The keepers reported that its pulsation had become uneven and the light had dimmed. The artifact, the source of their hope, had begun to weaken under the relentless, all-pervasive pressure of the gaze.
They did not attack the walls; they attacked the very essence of the academy - knowledge, magic, and hope.
The Council of Equals gathered in full force, panic reigning. One of the vampire aristocrats cried out, "They're burning out our magic! Without our power, we're nothing!" The Elder echoed his sentiment, his face contorted with grief, "They're destroying our heritage! They're erasing our history!"
Leng Wei stood at the head of the table, listening to the chaos. He shared their fear and helplessness in the face of absolute power, but there was nowhere to retreat. "Be quiet!" His voice boomed like thunder, silencing them all. "That's exactly what they want - our panic, our destruction from within."
— What should we do? Jin asked, his usually impassive face expressing deep concern. "We can't fight the sky. We can't shut out this view.
Leng Wei agreed. "We can't, but we can do something they don't expect us to do." He walked over to the window and pointed at the giant eye in the sky. "They look down on us as an experiment. They think they understand our motives and our nature. They saw my love for my mother and our magic and history, but they didn't see everything."
Turning to them, the same fire that had guided him through the tomb of his ancestors lit up in his eyes. "They didn't understand our ability to unite, not the real one. They saw us as vampires and half-breeds and humans separately, but not together as something new, not a hybrid or mixture. They didn't see the synergy."
Returning to the table, a plan forming in his mind, he continued, "What if we could show them that we are more than just a collection of different races? What if we could prove that we can work together as one?"
"Are they attacking magic? Well, we will give them magic, but not the kind they're used to. Are they attacking knowledge? We will create new knowledge. Right in front of their eyes."
"I don't understand," Lin Mei confessed.
"We will not hide," Leng Wei said, "we will live brighter than ever. We will gather all those who know how to create - runemasters, scientists, artists, musicians - on the main square of the Academy. We will create new magic together, not combat magic, but the magic of life, the magic of growth, healing and creation. We will fill this place with a force of life and a will to exist that their gaze, carrying emptiness, cannot absorb."
Someone exclaimed, "This is madness! They'll just wipe us out!"
—Perhaps, — Leng Wei replied coolly, — but if they do, it will only prove one thing — that they are not all-powerful. They can destroy, but they cannot control. And life itself, in all its vivid manifestations, is a threat to them. This knowledge will be our legacy, our last, loud message to the world.
He looked around at the council, their faces fearful but determined. "We will not fight them with their weapons. We will force them to fight us with our own. We will show them the very heart of life, and let's see if their empty souls can withstand the light.
The decision has been made. Crazy and desperate, but the only option we have.
The next day, the square in front of the main spire of the Academy became a sight to behold. Vampire runemasters and human gardeners worked together to plant magical seeds, displaying their growth symbols. Half-bloods, with their innate talent for manipulating energy, channeled streams of power as elven musicians played melodies that weaved spells, their numbers dwindling after the fall of the Old Order. Lin Mei and Jin coordinated the effort, while Han and his fighters maintained order, their fierce determination becoming a form of its own magic.
In the center of it all, Leng Wei stood, with his father's dagger at his belt and a bracelet on his wrist. He was not a ruler, but a conductor of this great orchestra of life, projecting his will and faith, linking the efforts of thousands into a single chord of being. Above them, a giant eye watched as the power grew, filling the air with the hymn of life.
As the power reached its peak, the eye blinked for the first time, watching as the orchestra played its final note, creating a harmony that resonated throughout the world.
It was a barely noticeable movement, a subtle oscillation in the projection. However, everyone noticed it.
Despite their inability to defeat the True Masters, they managed to make them doubt their absolute confidence. There was a whole world of hope hidden in that tiny crack.
Late at night, when the square was empty and the glowing trail of collaboration was still in the air, an Elder visited Leng Wei. He was thrilled. "The heir," he said in a whisper. "What you did today awakened something in the ancient archives. One of the oldest crystal records... began to show images. Not of the past, but of the future. A possible future where there is another like you. Not half-breed, something else. He is fighting them. We are not alone."