CHAPTER 38 — Elowen's Warning
The storm eased—
but it didn't leave.
Even after the coherence circle dissolved and the courtyard returned around them, the air felt crowded. Charged. Waiting.
Aiden breathed in slow, trying to let the world settle in his lungs again.
Rain still fell, tapping softly against the wards overhead like fingers searching for seams.
Nellie wiped her cheeks with the blanket sleeve she still hadn't taken off. "That… was a lot."
"It was invasive," Myra corrected, shaking out her hands like she could fling the vulnerability off her fingertips. "Necessary, but invasive."
Runa stood with her arms crossed, jaw set. "It told the truth. Better to be shown it than blindsided."
Aiden didn't say anything.
He was still staring at his hands—
hands that moments ago had been nothing but storm wrapped around people he cared about.
Elowen stepped closer.
The rain parted above her like it respected her space.
"Stormbound," she said calmly, "look at me."
Aiden looked up.
So did the others.
Elowen's gold eyes were softer now—not warm, exactly, but steady. Like someone adjusting a weapon to fit the hand that held it.
"You four are not just a Cohort," she said. "You are a hinge. A pivot. The world has begun moving around you. That makes you dangerous… and vulnerable."
Myra muttered, "I prefer dangerous."
Runa murmured, "We're both."
Nellie hugged the pup tighter. "Why… why us?"
Elowen's gaze flicked to each of them before answering.
"Because the Gate did not test what you could do," she said.
"It tested what you could become."
The courtyard quieted.
Aiden's throat tightened. "What are we becoming?"
Elowen stepped closer. Rain hissed against her aura, sliding sideways instead of touching her.
"That," she said, "depends on the choices you make next."
A gust of wind cut across the courtyard—
not ordinary wind.
A pulse.
A push.
The wards around the Academy shimmered and flickered like something large had brushed against them.
Nellie gasped and clutched her chest.
Myra grabbed the hilt of her dagger.
Runa planted her feet, bracing.
Aiden's storm jumped like a startled heartbeat.
Elowen's voice sharpened.
"Do not move."
They didn't.
She lifted her hand.
A thin line of gold light extended from her palm and touched the wards overhead. The barrier rippled again—like something massive had dragged a claw or a limb across the outside.
The pup whimpered.
Myra whispered, "Elowen… that's not just pressure, is it?"
Elowen lowered her hand.
"No. It's seeking."
Aiden felt ice slide into his ribs. "For me?"
"For all of you," she said. "Threads twist both ways. What you touched in the Hollow… has begun touching back."
Nellie's voice cracked, "But we're safe in here, right? The wards—"
"Are holding," Elowen said. "But storms erode, Eldenora. They erode stone, wood… and magic."
Runa stepped forward. "Then train us to stop it."
Elowen's eyes sharpened, approval flickering through them.
"That," she said, "is the plan."
She lifted her hand and snapped her fingers once.
A rumble answered.
The courtyard tiles shifted.
A training arena rose from the floor—circular, stone-lined, lit by soft green flames that burned without heat. Runes crawled across the surface like vines waking up from sleep.
Myra's eyes widened. "Are we—starting today?"
"Elowen…" Aiden said under his breath, "I'm not sure I'm ready for another fight."
She tilted her head.
"Then we make you ready."
---
THE FIRST TRIAL OF COHORT NINE
They stepped into the arena.
The runes brightened with each footfall, sensing their marks, their fear, their resolve.
The pup trotted to the center and sat like it was reporting for duty.
Elowen circled them slowly.
"To face what waits beyond the marsh," she said, "you will need three things:
Strength.
Resonance.
And clarity of intent."
Runa nodded once.
Myra cracked her knuckles.
Nellie swallowed.
Aiden steadied his breaths.
Elowen lifted her hand.
The arena darkened.
Only the flames remained—circling them, tall as a person but soft, flickering with no heat.
"These flames," Elowen said, "respond to resonance. Not power."
A swirling shape appeared beside her—a construct of light and shadow forming a faceless opponent.
"This," Elowen said, "responds to intent."
The opponent stepped backward. And split.
Into four.
Nellie's breath hitched. "Elowen—"
"The world did not give you one danger," she said. "Neither will I."
Runa stepped in front of Nellie. Myra flicked her dagger into hand with a twist. Aiden felt the storm coil up his spine.
Elowen's voice carried:
"Begin."
---
THE RESONANCE TEST
The first construct lunged at Aiden.
He dodged right, lightning snapping off his palms, the storm flaring in sharp pulses. His strikes landed—
but the construct didn't shatter.
It changed shape instead, mimicking the Thorn-Mark pattern glimmering on his ribs.
Elowen called:
"Storm meets storm. Shape it. Don't let it shape you."
Aiden exhaled and pulled the storm in tighter, refining his arcs, striking with focus instead of panic.
The construct flickered—
but held.
---
THE CLARITY TEST
The second construct went for Myra.
Fast.
It mimicked her—speed, footwork, angles. She dodged, twisted, flipped, barely keeping ahead of its movements.
"It's copying me!" she yelped.
"That means," Runa shouted, swinging at her own opponent, "stop giving it a pattern!"
Myra blinked.
"Oh. …chaotic time."
She changed direction mid-step, kicking off a wall with no rhythm at all.
The construct hesitated—
and she tackled it straight into the flame ring, dispersing it in a puff of golden shards.
Myra threw both arms up. "I AM A GENIUS!"
Elowen sighed softly. "She is… something."
---
THE COURAGE TEST
Runa's construct was the largest—
a giant silhouette with a hammer.
She met it, blow for blow, her own hammer ringing out like thunder.
But the construct's strikes weren't the real danger.
Its presence was.
It pressed down like years of expectation, the weight of family, tradition, unspoken laws. Runa's jaw clenched as she fought—
not the construct.
Herself.
Elowen's voice cut through the clash:
"Ironblood. The only thing that has ever chained you… is hesitation."
Runa roared and stepped forward through the construct's next blow, hammer swinging in a brutal arc that shattered the silhouette into dust.
Nellie actually clapped.
Myra wolf-whistled.
Aiden's storm lit with admiration.
---
THE THREAD TEST
Nellie's construct was different.
It didn't attack.
It stood there.
Waiting.
Watching.
Nellie trembled. "Elowen… I can't fight something that won't fight back."
"You misunderstand," Elowen said. "It is fighting. Your job is not to strike. It is to choose."
The construct shifted its form—
into a person curled on the ground, shivering, wounded.
Then into something monstrous.
Then into a shadow.
Then into nothing.
Nellie clutched her chest.
"It's—like the threads," she whispered. "Too many. Too loud."
The pup whined.
Aiden stepped forward—"Nellie—"
Elowen's hand lifted, stopping him.
"She must choose on her own," she said quietly.
Nellie stared at the construct—breathing fast, eyes filling with fear, confusion, compassion.
Then she stepped forward.
And lifted her hand.
"I choose to help," she whispered.
The construct dissolved.
The arena hummed.
Runa exhaled in relief.
Myra wiped her eyes.
Aiden felt the storm inside him settle—just a little.
Nellie dropped to her knees, shaking.
The pup crawled into her lap. She clutched it like a lifeline.
---
The arena settled.
The flames dimmed.
The constructs vanished.
Aiden wiped sweat from his brow. Myra sat on the floor like she'd been through a war. Runa stood tall but exhausted. Nellie leaned against Aiden's side, breathing hard.
Elowen waited until they were steady.
Then she spoke:
"You passed."
Myra groaned. "That was passing? What's failing—death?"
"Usually," Elowen said.
Myra choked.
Runa whispered, "Called it."
Aiden forced a weak smile. "So… what now?"
Elowen's expression shifted.
The warmth faded.
The seriousness deepened.
And the rain outside grew louder.
"Now," she said softly,
"I give you the warning that all Stormbound must hear."
She stepped closer, rain hissing around her like she carried a pocket of clear sky.
"The thing in the marsh is not just seeking you."
Aiden's heart stumbled.
Nellie froze.
Myra's grip tightened on her dagger.
Runa reached for the hammer at her back.
Elowen met all their eyes.
"It is learning you."
Wind swept across the courtyard.
The wards shook.
Lightning flickered in the clouds.
"And if you do not grow faster than it," she said,
"it will take one of you."
Silence.
Heavy.
Cold.
Real.
The pup whimpered and pressed against Aiden's leg.
Myra's voice cracked: "Elowen—who?"
She didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
Aiden could feel the storm's answer in his bones, in his breath, in his pulse.
Me.
Elowen looked at him last.
Softly.
Steadily.
"Stormbound," she whispered,
"the world is choosing its battlefield.
Choose yours before it does."
The rain surged.
The storm listened.
And Cohort Nine stood together—
four students and one lightning cub—
bound by threads the world had already begun to pull.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hey everyone — quick update.
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