Night fell over Ashthorne like a curtain dragging across a corpse.
The academy grounds were unusually quiet; even the nocturnal beasts in the forest kept their distance. The sky held no stars—just a sheet of gray cloud, heavy and suffocating.
It was the kind of night where nothing natural dared breathe too loudly.
In Dorm Nine, lights flickered weakly.
Students whispered beneath blankets.
Doors were bolted.
Sigils glowed faintly on walls where Stabilizers had drawn emergency wards.
But none of it mattered.
Because something else was awake.
Something beneath the academy.
Something now reaching—
not for Caelum—
but for someone connected to him.
Lira Sleeps
Lira finally collapsed in exhaustion shortly after dinner.
She curled beneath her blanket, hands still shaking from the events of the day.
The East Wing tear.
Caelum walking into it like it was a puddle.
Tendrils obeying him.
His eyes glowing.
The Council backing away from him like scared children.
No normal human could process that much terror in a day.
And Lira was many things—
sweet, kind, bright—
but she was not built for this world's horrors.
Still, as she drifted into sleep, one thought clung to her:
He saved me.
He came for me.
Even when he shouldn't have.
Her heart beat slower.
Her eyelids fell.
Dreams began.
At first, it was peaceful
A field of pale flowers.
Soft wind.
Warm light.
Lira stood barefoot in the middle of the field, dress fluttering.
The sun's glow warmed her skin.
Then—
A thread dropped from the sky.
Thin.
Black.
Glowing softly.
It drifted down like a feather.
At first she thought it was harmless.
She reached out.
Touched it.
And the world shattered.
Nightmare World
The sky split.
The field twisted into a threaded maze.
The flowers turned to pale bone.
Wind became whispers—overlapping, echoing, broken.
The thread in her hand vibrated violently.
Another attached itself to her wrist.
Then another.
Then another.
Soon her arms were wrapped—
as if invisible fingers were stitching something into her skin.
She screamed—
but no sound came out.
The world dimmed.
And a colossal shadow loomed behind her.
Not human.
Not beast.
Not god.
Something in-between.
A shape woven from millions of threads, each dripping with pale light.
She couldn't see its face.
Only its towering outline.
Her legs trembled.
Her breath hitched.
Her soul-thread shook violently.
Something touched her hair.
A whisper:
"…bearer…"
Lira fell to her knees, trembling, tears spilling down her cheeks.
"N-No… I-I'm not the bearer… I didn't do anything… p-please—"
"…bearer…
…connected…"
"…connected… to him…"
Caelum.
It was looking for Caelum.
And she had touched him today.
Touched him when she was terrified.
Held onto him when he pulled her from the tear.
Let his glowing threads brush her skin.
She was marked.
By proximity.
Tears streamed down her face.
"I-I don't—don't want this—please—please—"
The threads wrapped tighter around her arms.
"…show…
him…"
Lira sobbed violently.
"S-someone help me—Caelum—PLEASE—!"
The moment she spoke his name—
The entire nightmare snapped like glass shattering.
And she fell—
into darkness.
Reality Threads
A cold wind whipped through Dorm Nine.
Lanterns flickered.
Walls creaked.
Students woke in terror.
In Lira's room—
A faint glow pulsed across her chest.
A threadlike mark—
white
thin
barely visible—
appeared over her heart.
She screamed and bolted upright.
Sweating.
Shaking.
Clutching her chest.
"NO—DON'T—DON'T TOUCH ME—DON'T—DON'T—"
Her door burst open.
Marenne rushed in first, hair disheveled, glasses askew.
"LIRA?! WHAT HAPPENED—ARE YOU—"
Lira gasped for air.
"I—I saw it again—THE THING UNDER THE ACADEMY—I—"
Jalen peeked in behind Marenne, terrified.
"What do you mean AGAIN—?!"
Lira sobbed.
"It—it wrapped around me—threads—voices—something—something was looking for him—
it saw Caelum—
it knows him—
it knows ME—
because of him—!"
Marenne froze.
Then her eyes widened as she saw something glowing faintly on Lira's skin.
"…Lira," Marenne whispered, voice shaking,
"What is that?"
Lira looked down—
Her breath caught in her throat.
The white thread-mark pulsed once.
Faint.
Soft.
Warm.
Not painful.
But binding.
Her voice broke into a whisper:
"…it marked me…"
Marenne's face went pale.
"Lira… that's a Threadbond."
Jalen fell to his knees.
"A WHAT—?!"
Lira covered her mouth with trembling hands.
"A Thread… a Threadbond…? With WHAT—?!"
Marenne swallowed hard.
Her voice was soft.
Terrified.
"It means… you are now connected to Caelum."
Lira froze.
"No—no—no, he didn't mean to—he didn't do anything—he didn't—"
"It wasn't him," Marenne said.
"It was the entity below the academy."
Lira screamed again.
At that exact moment
Caelum opened his eyes in his room.
Thread-Sense exploded through him.
A new thread—
thin
white
delicate
warm—
connected to his chest.
Leading outward.
Connecting to another heartbeat.
Lira's heartbeat.
His eyes narrowed.
Quietly.
Slowly.
He whispered:
"…unintended."
But not unwelcome.
He stood up.
Because someone—
something—
had touched Lira through him.
A violation.
A mistake the entity should not have made.
Caelum's voice went cold as steel.
"It seems," he murmured softly,
"I will need to speak to it sooner than expected."