Night settled badly over Dorm Nine.
Not the soft darkness of cities, nor the comforting hush of countryside.
This was a heavy darkness — dense, stagnant, as if the air itself refused to move.
Every board creaked.
Every draft carried a whisper.
Every breath felt stolen from someone else.
Caelum sat on the edge of his bed, spine straight, hands resting loosely on his knees, listening to the dorm breathe like an old animal.
The scratching had stopped—but the silence afterward was worse.
Because silence meant something was waiting.
Watching.
Thinking.
He reached down, pressing his palm flat to the warped floorboards once again.
Cold seeped in.
And then—
A faint vibration rippled under his touch.
Like a slow pulse.
Like a heartbeat too large to belong to anything human.
"…thread… bearer…"
The whisper wasn't sound.
It was pressure.
It wrapped around the edges of his mind, soft as dust, cold as old stone.
Caelum closed his eyes.
Still there.
Stronger than before.
More focused.
The presence under the dormitory wasn't just aware of him.
It was interested.
He lowered his voice into the dark.
"Curious creature."
The boards shivered beneath him.
A second whisper followed—briefer, distorted:
"…broken… but not… wrong…"
Caelum opened his eyes slowly.
So. It can identify the damage in my soul.
The presence retreated, leaving behind an aftertaste of ash and cold metal.
Caelum stood.
There was no fear in his movements.
Only calculation.
The Reject Dorm was not a home.
It was a test.
A probe.
A place where accidents happened and no one asked why.
Tonight is not the time to explore further, he decided.
But soon.
A soft knock interrupted his thoughts.
Very soft.
Almost apologetic.
"C… Caelum?"
Lira's voice.
He exhaled, smoothed the dust from his sleeves, and opened the door.
Lira stood barefoot in the hallway, arms wrapped tightly around herself. The dim lantern caught the tremble in her hands.
"I… I heard something," she whispered. "From under the floor. In my room."
Her face was pale.
Her breathing shallow.
She looked like she'd run from something — or tried not to.
Caelum stepped aside subtly so she wouldn't see the blood still drying on the wall from the mutant encounter earlier. He kept his voice warm, gentle.
"What did you hear?"
She swallowed.
"It sounded like… like someone crawling."
A pause.
"Or… something."
The hallway lights flickered.
Farther down the corridor, a door slammed.
Someone hissed a curse.
A muffled sob followed.
Lira flinched.
Caelum simply watched.
"And what brought you to me?" he asked softly.
Lira blinked, startled by the question.
Her lips parted, closed, then parted again.
"I… I don't know. I just… I felt safer if—"
Her voice cracked.
Caelum nodded slowly.
Instinct. She gravitates toward stability. Toward the calmest presence. Toward the person who saved her once. How predictable.
He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Her breathing steadied instantly.
"Go rest," he murmured. "The scratches won't harm you tonight."
She hesitated.
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
He was lying.
Something would happen tonight — just not to her.
"Okay… okay. Thank you." She bowed her head slightly, then hurried back across the hall.
When her door clicked shut, Caelum's expression changed instantly — the warmth draining like water down a drain.
His eyes darkened.
She trusts too easily. I can work with that.
He shut his own door.
Locked it this time — not for safety, but for control.
Downstairs
Dorm Nine's first-floor hall was full of sleeping bodies — or bodies trying to sleep. A few lights hummed weakly. The air was thick with fear and stale breath.
Jalen, the dorm monitor, sat awake in the common area, staring at the ceiling with tired eyes. He didn't see Caelum approach.
"Can't sleep?" Caelum asked quietly.
Jalen flinched hard.
"By the—" He clutched his chest. "You scared me."
Caelum offered an apologetic tilt of his head.
"Sorry."
Jalen rubbed his eyes.
"No, sorry… nerves. Dorm Nine does that to you. First nights are always the worst."
Caelum sat across from him, posture relaxed.
"It's more than nerves," he said gently.
Jalen froze.
Caelum's voice remained soft.
"You've lost people here."
Jalen swallowed.
"…Yeah."
"How many?"
"Six. Last year." He stared at the wall. "Three vanished. Two were found torn apart. One… drowned in their own shadow."
Interesting.
"And no one investigated?"
Jalen's laugh was hollow.
"Investigated? This is Dorm Nine. The academy expects casualties. If you want safety, perform well enough not to end up here."
Caelum nodded slowly.
Efficient. Brutal. Predictable.
The weakest were used like bait.
Jalen looked at him.
"You seem calm. Too calm."
Caelum lowered his gaze.
"I'm used to… difficult environments."
Understatement of the century.
Jalen studied him for a moment.
"You're Veylor, right? I don't know what you did to end up here, but if you want advice—just survive the first month. After that, things usually settle down."
Do they now?
Caelum filed that away.
Something changed after a month.
Pattern. Cycle. Ritual?
Interesting.
Jalen leaned back.
"But hey… maybe you'll be different. You sure look calmer than the other new kids."
Caelum smiled politely.
"I've been told I have a good poker face."
Jalen smiled back.
Caelum meant something else entirely.
Poker is a game of reading the weak.
A creak interrupted them.
Both men turned.
At the far end of the hall, the door with the cracked frame—the one nobody used—shuddered lightly.
Then again.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Caelum's eyes narrowed.
Not knocking.
Walking.
On the other side.
Jalen went pale.
"…oh no."
The doorknob twitched.
Caelum stood slowly.
"Stay here."
"Are you insane?!" Jalen hissed. "You can't just—"
Caelum didn't answer.
He walked toward the door, steps slow, silent, controlled.
He pressed his fingertips to the wood.
Cold radiated through it.
And beneath that cold…
A faint thread.
A living thread.
Moving.
He leaned close.
Whispers seeped through the crack beneath the door.
Not the presence from beneath the building.
Something smaller. Faster.
Wrong in a different way.
"…hungry… hungry… hungry…"
A thin smile crept across Caelum's face.
So. Dorm Nine has more pets than I expected.
He stepped back.
Let the creature come to him.
The door burst open.
A small, malformed figure lunged out—human-shaped but crooked, twisted, with joint angles that didn't make sense and eyes like wet glass.
A corrupted first-year student.
What remained of one, anyway.
Jalen screamed.
The creature rushed Caelum.
He did not flinch.
Instead, he stepped aside in a single, smooth motion—and extended a foot.
The creature tripped, crashed headfirst into the wall, and screeched.
It flailed, limbs twitching.
Caelum watched analytically.
Weak. Fast but predictable. Limited cognition. Corruption level moderate. Good first test for early mutation of my Sigil.
The creature lunged again, claws raised.
Caelum moved at the last second, catching its wrist, twisting it behind its back, and forcing it to the floor.
It writhed, shrieking.
Jalen stared, stunned.
"H-How are you—?!"
Caelum tightened his grip.
Thread Sense ignited.
He felt the creature's soul.
Fractured.
Hollow.
Hungry.
He pressed two fingers to the back of its neck.
"Sleep."
It didn't understand the word.
But the pressure, the intent, the Sigil threads—
They understood.
The creature spasmed.
Then stilled.
Then…
Caelum inhaled.
The threads in his soul unfurled subtly.
And the creature's essence flowed into him—weak, cold, scattered, but useful.
Memories flashed:
a door opening
a scream
darkness
hunger
fear
a shadow under the floorboards
a whisper like teeth scraping stone
Caelum absorbed everything he needed.
Then let the creature's body collapse.
Silence filled the hall.
Jalen stared at him, speechless, shaking.
Caelum turned, wiped his fingers on his sleeve, and smiled politely.
"Apologies for the mess."
Jalen could only gape.
Caelum brushed past him and started back toward the stairs.
"W-Wait!" Jalen choked out. "What… what are you…?"
Caelum paused mid-step.
He didn't turn around.
"I'm an F-rank," he said softly. "Same as you."
But his shadow stretched unnaturally long on the floor as he walked away.
Something under the dorm murmured in approval.
Upstairs, Caelum returned to his room.
He shut the door.
He sat on the bed.
His Sigil pulsed once — warm, dangerous, growing.
Chapter 10 will be interesting, he thought calmly.
He lay down again.
Smiling faintly in the dark.