CHAPTER 37 — First Day of the Stormbound
Aiden woke to the sound of rain hitting the dorm roof in slow, deliberate taps—
not normal rain.
Every drop hummed.
Every drop vibrated faintly against the wards like someone drumming on glass from the outside.
The storm inside his ribs stirred in answer.
Not alarmed.
Not calm.
Aware.
Aiden sat up slowly, blankets sliding off him. The pup, curled at his hip, lifted its head and blinked sleepy sparks into the air.
"Morning," he whispered.
The pup sneezed lightning.
The sound was soft, but the storm outside shifted in reply—like something had turned its head toward the building.
Aiden exhaled.
Great. Very comforting.
He swung his legs over the side of the cot, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. The faint Thorn-Mark sigils along his ribs and arms glowed low and steady—almost like light under water.
The dorm was half-lit; soft glow from the runes along the ceiling, the faint smell of warm tea from the common kettle, and—
"Myra, stop staring at me."
Myra froze mid-sip at the table. She had one foot up on the bench, an apple halfway to her mouth, hair in a messy bun that screamed I've been awake for hours but also refuse to be fully awake.
Her eyebrows shot up. "How did you know I was staring?"
"You hum when you stare."
"I do NOT," she said, absolutely humming.
Nellie peeked up from her corner—she was sitting cross-legged on the floor with the pup's bed in her lap, carefully stitching a torn seam. Her cheeks were flushed with warmth and embarrassment.
"She does," Nellie whispered.
Myra gasped. "Et tu, healer burrito?"
Runa appeared from the hallway with her hammer strapped across her back and a bowl of oatmeal that looked offended by its own existence.
"She stares at everything in the morning," Runa said flatly. "It's how she decides if she hates it."
"I don't hate everything," Myra protested.
"You hated the sunlight this morning."
"It was too bright!"
"You hated the freshman shouting near the stairs."
"He was too loud!"
"You hated the apple you're eating."
"It—okay, that one is fair."
Aiden let the banter ground him. Normal. Warm. Safe.
Almost.
Because beneath it, the storm still paced in his chest, unsettled.
Today was their first official day as Cohort Nine.
Special training.
Special oversight.
Special danger.
Aiden could feel it—like the day had weight.
"Myra," he said quietly. "Where's Elowen?"
Myra pointed her apple toward the door. "She sent a light-thread about twenty minutes ago. Said to meet her in the central courtyard when we're ready."
Runa swallowed a spoonful of oatmeal the way a soldier accepts bad rations. "She didn't say why."
"She never says why," Nellie murmured. "She just knows we'll show up."
"And we will," Aiden said.
The pup yipped in agreement.
They gathered quickly—belts buckled, boots tightened, cloaks clasped, marks dimmed to a manageable hum. Aiden hesitated near the door, glancing once more at each of them.
Myra—bright-eyed, restless, pretending not to be worried.
Nellie—steadying herself with small breaths, soft but glowing.
Runa—silent promise in armor form.
The pup—crackling with readiness.
They were different.
Together, they were something the world had started watching.
Aiden pushed open the dorm door.
Rain hit him instantly—cool drops tapping against his cheeks. The wards above glowed faintly as each drop touched the barrier overhead.
It wasn't normal rain.
It was ward-testing rain.
Something outside was feeling for cracks.
Aiden swallowed.
"Let's go."
---
The courtyard was half-empty when they arrived.
No crowds.
No noise.
Just the steady hum of the wards and the faint smell of wet stone.
Elowen stood alone at the center.
She wasn't facing them.
She was facing the sky.
Her cloak rippled around her ankles, untouched by the rain. When she heard their footsteps, she didn't turn—just spoke softly, voice carrying like a thread woven into the air.
"You feel it."
Aiden didn't pretend he didn't. "Yes."
"What is it?" Nellie whispered.
Elowen slowly lowered her gaze.
"The same pressure that tested the wards last night," she said. "But growing. Almost… curious."
Myra shivered. "That's not a word we want for a giant fog monster."
Runa's hand settled on her hammer. "It wants to see him again."
Aiden's storm clenched. He hated how right that felt.
Elowen stepped forward, eyes bright as gold under the rain-filtered light.
"I will not allow it to step inside these walls. The wards will hold."
Her tone left no room for question.
"But," she added, looking directly at Aiden,
"It is time for you to learn what it means to be Stormbound."
Aiden stiffened. "Elowen… am I ready for that?"
"No," she said simply. "But ready or not, the world does not wait."
She lifted her hands.
The courtyard runes flared.
A circle of green and blue lightning carved itself into the wet stone—wide, humming, alive. The air shivered as the markings formed a tall ring around them.
Myra's mouth fell open. "Is this—"
"A coherence circle," Elowen said. "For most students, it is introduced in their second or third year. You will learn it now."
Runa raised an eyebrow. "All of us?"
"All of you," Elowen confirmed. "Cohort Nine moves as one."
Aiden stepped forward. The storms inside him stirred, uneasy but intrigued. "What does a coherence circle do?"
"It reveals," Elowen said. "It shows what you are when your strength is laid bare."
"That sounds awful," Myra muttered.
"That sounds necessary," Runa corrected.
Nellie swallowed hard and stepped closer, her fingers brushing the edge of the circle. The runes glowed under her touch—Verdant green flaring like a heartbeat.
"It doesn't hurt, right?" she asked softly.
Elowen paused.
"Myra," Aiden whispered, "she paused."
"WHY DID SHE PAUSE."
Elowen lifted a single finger. "It does not harm."
"That is NOT the same thing!" Myra yelped.
But they stepped into the circle anyway.
Aiden first.
Myra at his right.
Nellie at his left.
Runa behind them like an anchor.
The pup trotting forward in the center, sparks already dancing.
The circle closed.
The courtyard dimmed.
Light pulsed.
And the world shifted.
---
Aiden gasped as the ground fell away—not literally, but like his senses had been pulled somewhere deeper. He stood in a space that wasn't stone or air or rain.
It was resonance.
A place made of the threads that tied them.
A soft, glowing green cord linked Nellie to all of them—heartbeat steady, warm.
A sharp white-gold line flickered from Myra—erratic, quick, wind-edged.
Runa's connection was dark bronze—solid, unbreaking, anchored deep.
The pup's thread was bright blue—small but fierce, sparking like a living lightning vein.
And Aiden—
Aiden's thread wasn't a thread.
It was a storm.
Spiraling.
Heavy.
Alive.
Rooted in his ribs and reaching into the others like a protective wall that had not yet learned how to be gentle.
Nellie inhaled sharply. "Aiden… your storm…"
Myra reached toward the spiraling light. "It's—huge."
Runa studied it with a warrior's eye. "No. It's contained. Dangerous, yes. But not wild."
Aiden felt exposed—like every fear, every hope, every piece of him was visible.
"Elowen," he said quietly, "what is this for?"
Her voice came from everywhere and nowhere.
"To show you who you are together."
Lightning arced from Aiden's storm-thread into the others—testing, brushing, not quite touching.
"Myra," Elowen said, "step forward."
Myra did.
Aiden's storm flared in response—not in threat, but in instinct.
Protect.
Myra's wind-thread tightened, weaving around his storm for one heartbeat before snapping back.
Elowen murmured, "Your instinct to shield is strong. Too strong. You smother when you try to protect."
Aiden winced.
Myra's expression softened. "Hey," she whispered. "I don't break that easily."
"Elowen," Runa said, "what do you see?"
"Potential," Elowen answered.
Then—
"Fear."
Aiden's breath caught.
The storm inside him tightened like a fist.
Elowen's voice cut through the resonance:
"Aiden Raikos. You do not fear your storm. You fear what happens when others stand close to it."
Nellie flinched—because it was true.
Myra looked down—because she already knew.
Runa nodded once—because she'd seen it.
Aiden swallowed hard.
"Then how do I fix it?" he asked.
Elowen stepped into the circle.
"You don't."
His heart dropped.
"You learn to trust," Elowen said. "Trust them to stand with you. Trust your storm not to consume what it wants to protect."
The resonance shimmered.
Aiden looked at them—
Nellie glowing soft and brave.
Myra crackling with stubborn fire.
Runa a wall of iron and quiet loyalty.
The pup buzzing with fierce devotion.
—and finally understood:
He wasn't the only one holding things together.
They all were.
Elowen lifted her hand.
"This is the first lesson of Cohort Nine," she said.
"Your storms are not meant to stand alone."
The circle dissolved.
The courtyard returned.
Rain hit his hair.
The pup shook out sparks.
Myra let out a shaky breath.
Nellie wiped her eyes.
Runa exhaled like she'd been waiting her whole life for someone to say that.
Aiden stood in the center of them.
Not alone.
Never again.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hey everyone — quick update.
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