Whispers of Worlds Beyond: A Series-Chapter 149: Orchestral Symphony [14]

The golden-orange hues of dusk had already faded into a deep cobalt when the duels finally ended for the day. Whispers filled the air like restless spirits- whispers of the fights and most of all, the match that was scheduled for dawn tomorrow: Emmeranne versus Ambrose.

But Aiden wasn't thinking of Emmeranne. Not entirely. His mind was fragmented: frayed at the edges like an old book. He was exhausted, the type of exhausted that didn't settle in your bones but hollowed out your mind. He looked pale, almost translucent under the warm lights of the dining hall. His plate was barely touched, though he tried to make it look like he was eating, cutting his bread and nudging vegetables around his plate.

After dinner, they practiced. Adrian threw tight, sharp shadow strikes that Aiden dodged with uneven footwork.

Sevan offered tips, occasionally pulling a water replica of a sword to correct Aiden's posture or rhythm. But even in the flickering light of the practice chamber, it was clear Aiden's concentration was fraying.

"He's not in it," Adrian muttered under his breath.

"I know," Sevan replied.

By the end of the practice, Aiden had sweat dripping from his temple, though it was more from nerves than exertion.

"I'm going to the Headmaster," he said quietly.

Both boys turned to him.

Adrian tilted his head. "Now?"

Aiden nodded. "I can't keep feeling like this. I- I don't feel safe. It's like something is watching me... Hunting me."

Sevan frowned deeply, but after a long silence, he simply said, "Then let's go."

The three left the training chamber, their footsteps echoing louder than usual in the emptiness of the hallway. The farther they walked, the quieter the world became, like the academy itself was holding its breath. As they approached the final corridor that led to Headmaster Kairos's office, the air grew heavy.

And then they saw it.

A cloaked figure stood outside the Headmaster's door. Silent, motionless, like a statue carved out of the night itself.

Adrian's instincts kicked in instantly. His shadows rose like a living curtain, wrapping the three of them in veils of shifting darkness.

But Aiden didn't hesitate. His fire was already dancing across his palm. His eyes widened in recognition.

"It's him!" Aiden shouted, the flame surging in his chest, rushing to his arm, and with a crackling roar, he hurled it forward.

"Wait-!" Sevan shouted, trying to grab his arm, but it was already too late.

The fire wave scorched forward, illuminating the hallway in blinding heat and color, but the cloaked figure was gone before the fire could touch them. A sudden rush of wind, a ripple of movement, and the hallway fell into silence again.

"I should be the one asking that."

They turned, and there stood Emmeranne.

Her dark cloak swirled faintly around her ankles, and her dull eyes flicked over the three boys in dispassionate confusion. If she was surprised, it didn't show.

"I was just going to speak with the Headmaster," she said flatly. "And I didn't expect to be set on fire..."

Aiden's mouth fell open. "You were the cloaked figure?"

She looked at him as though it was obvious. "Yes."

Before he could respond, the office doors swung open and Headmaster Kairos stepped out, his white robes fluttering faintly from the motion.

"Ah," he said. "I was wondering what the commotion was."

He looked over the scene calmly- Emmeranne, the singed marks on the stone floor, the three boys cloaked in shadows. His sharp eyes lingered on Aiden the longest.

"You look… shaken, Mr. Chase."

Aiden tried to find the words, but his throat had gone dry.

Kairos turned to Emmeranne. "Miss Emmeranne, I will speak with you tomorrow morning. There's no need for you to wait tonight."

She gave the smallest nod and disappeared down the corridor without so much as a glance back.

Once she was gone, the Headmaster's gaze returned to the boys.

"Come in," he said, stepping aside. "You all look like you have quite a bit to say."

Aiden took a seat, hands clenched tightly on his lap, while Adrian and Sevan stood behind him.

Kairos took his own seat behind his desk.

He leaned forward, steepling his fingers.

"Now," he said, eyes sharp. "Tell me everything."

And Aiden did.

Or at least, he tried. Words stumbled out of him in uneven waves- about the nightmares, the cloaked figure, the feeling of something missing in his mind, how things kept blurring together.

He didn't say anything about the teleportation. Or Lopt. Not yet.

But by the end of it, his voice was shaking, and the room had gone completely still.

Kairos studied him with the careful precision of a man who had seen far too much, and still knew there was more waiting in the dark.

"You're not crazy, Aiden," the Headmaster finally said. "But what you are… is in danger. I know he is after you but he will not be able to go inside this walls without my permission."

Aiden swallowed.

Adrian glanced sideways at Sevan, who looked like he already knew.

Kairos stood. "I have begun investigating from my end. But for now… I suggest all three of you keep your heads low. And stay together. Fear not that as long my plant who I will entrust with your safety will not be led away, you will be safe. Genvah Academy will always be safe as long as I am here."

He walked to the shelves behind him, ran a finger along one of the spines, and pulled out a dark, leather-bound book.

"Because if what I suspect is true… tonight, things are about to change."

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The sun had barely begun its ascent when a faint amber glow crept across the first-year dormitory, casting soft golden light on the tiled floors and muted walls. Aiden was already awake, though "awake" felt like the wrong word. He hadn't really slept. Not deeply, at least. His dreams had been too jumbled, too fragmented, with voices whispering in corners as he sat below the tree.

So he had risen early, his limbs stiff and groggy, but his mind focused.

Today was important.

Today, he might face Emmeranne. Or Shiloh. Or Ambrose. Or Ivara. Or Amihan.

And despite what the Headmaster had said the night before, Aiden felt no safer than before. If anything, the knowledge that even the Headmaster suspected something… only made everything feel more precarious.

He finished splashing cold water on his face, ran a towel over his wet hair, and stepped back into their room still wrapped in the morning quiet. Sevan and Adrian were both still fast asleep, Sevan's hair a tousled mess across his pillow, Adrian muttering something incoherent while curled deep beneath his blankets.

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Aiden tiptoed to his desk and pulled out a small pouch filled with karatula stones. He set them down carefully and drew out strips of paper, folding each one into rings. With a steady hand, he etched the levitation rune on each stone, wrapping the karatula stone inside.

One by one, he tossed the paper rings into the air.

They hovered, unstable at first, bobbing and turning midair like drifting feathers. But eventually, they steadied into a slow orbit around him, swaying in circles like a constellation of small, glowing moons.

Aiden stepped back. Squared his stance. Inhaled.

A small flame curled in his palm, dancing with warmth and familiarity. He narrowed his eyes, focusing on the closest ring.

He hurled the flame.

It struck the ring, but the paper caught almost instantly.

"Oh no...no, no-!" he muttered, stumbling forward as the flaming ring began to dip in its levitation path. Another had caught fire. And then another.

Aiden scrambled for the pitcher of water near the window.

He tripped over Adrian's discarded boot in the process and nearly toppled forward, catching himself just in time to splash a wave of water over the air around him. Two rings fizzled out with a hiss, but the last was still smoldering mid-air.

Panicking, he flung a pillow at it.

The pillow hit the burning ring squarely, which burst into ash and fragments in a tiny, defeated explosion.

And that's when Sevan sat up, blinking, his hair sticking up at odd angles.

"…Is the room on fire?" he asked groggily.

Aiden froze. He was holding a wet pillow in one hand, and the faint scent of burnt paper clung to the air.

"No," he said far too quickly. "Just… training."

Sevan squinted at him, then glanced around the room where damp scorch marks lined the ceiling, floating ash hovered near the desk, and a few glowing karatula stones sparkled near Aiden's feet.

"…That looks like the kind of 'training' that gets us kicked out of this school," Sevan muttered, rubbing his eyes.

Aiden awkwardly set the pillow down. "They were just paper rings. With levitation runes. I was trying to practice aim and reflex with moving targets."

Sevan yawned. "And they caught fire?"

"…Yes."

"You do realize you have fire powers, right? Maybe try water next time."

"....I hate how that made sense."

Sevan smiled sleepily, his voice soft. "You're trying too hard. You don't need to push like this. Not right now."

"I might be up against Emmeranne."

"And setting your bedsheets on fire isn't going to help."

Aiden let out a laugh despite himself, muffled beneath his arm. "Noted."

Just then, Adrian rolled over in his bed, snorting himself awake.

"What…?" he grumbled, hair a wild mess. "Is someone burning toast? Why does it smell like a campfire?"

"Our prodigy here tried to invent flaming mid-air targets. It… worked."

"Great," Adrian muttered, grabbing his blanket and wrapping it around his head like a cloak. "Can't wait to die in my sleep because Aiden decided the dorm needed to be a bonfire."

"I'll clean it up," Aiden said, already sitting up again and brushing the ash off his tunic.

Sevan stood and stretched. "Well, you better. You've got about an hour before the Mirage Field opens. That's enough time for breakfast, and maybe making rings that don't explode."

Aiden nodded and looked down at the smudged remnants of his paper rings, still glittering faintly under the runes.

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The moment breakfast ended, the air turned electric with nerves and excitement. Plates were cleared with haste, barely a word spoken between bites. The first-year duels were set to resume, and everyone knew the next match would be a spectacle.

Aiden, Sevan, and Adrian walked swiftly with the rest of the first-years toward the Mirage Field.

"Who do you think's next after Emmeranne and Ambrose?"

"My bet's on Aiden versus Ivara-"

"I hope not!"

A few upper years joined them too, eager to catch a glimpse of Emmeranne in action. She rarely fought publicly, and when she did, it was over before anyone could blink.

But as they approached the Mirage Field, the crowd began to slow. Murmurs died mid-sentence. The chatter melted into silence as more and more eyes drifted forward.

There, standing on the field, already prepared, already waiting, was Emmeranne.

She looked like a statue carved from moonlight, still and unnerving in her quiet intensity. Her long, wavy black hair drifted lightly in the breeze, but otherwise, she didn't move.

Not even when the students began to gather.

She was staring at something near her feet, unmoving.

"What's she looking at?" Sevan muttered beside Aiden.

"I don't know..." Aiden said, brows furrowed.

Amihan, who had been chatting with Morrigan a few steps ahead, suddenly broke into a run.

"Emmeranne!" she called brightly, the concern in her voice plain. "Where have you been? I-"

A scream cut the morning apart.

It wasn't loud at first, more of a choked sound, like breath being stolen from a throat.

Everyone turned.

A girl, frail, wrapped in layers despite the warmth, with a white bandage covering the left side of her face, was on her knees at the edge of the Mirage Field.

She hadn't run. She hadn't shouted at first. She simply dropped.

As if her legs had crumpled at the sight of Emmeranne.

Her lips trembled as she stared, wide-eyed, pointing a shaky finger at Emmeranne.

"It's her," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "It's her… it's her…"

Confusion broke out among the first-years.

"Wait, who is that?"

"Isn't she from-?"

Aiden's heart began to race. That girl. He recognized her.

The girl was shaking now, breath hitched as she pressed one hand to her chest.

"Don't- don't go near her!" she cried, eyes locked on Amihan. "Get away from her!"

Amihan stopped in her tracks, frozen mid-step.

Professor Anwar, standing at the sidelines, quickly strode over.

"What is going on here?" he demanded.

The girl slowly looked up at him, her voice hollow, and pointed- not at Emmeranne this time- but at the ground near her feet.

Everyone turned.

There, lying on the grass by Emmeranne's boots, half-hidden by the hem of her cloak, was a dagger.

But not just any dagger.

Its hilt curved into the likeness of wings- two identical blades branching from a single handle, its edges catching the morning light.

The crowd gasped.

Aiden's eyes locked onto the weapon. His instincts screamed.

The girl, still kneeling, spoke again. "That dagger… it's the same kind that was used on me. The one who attacked me… they used a blade like that. Two-pronged. I never saw their face- it was daylight. I only saw the glint of the weapon before I… before I ran out of the woods."

Her voice dropped into a whisper.

"I'd recognize that blade anywhere… It's the same kind of weapon that gave me this scar."

And just like that, a cold wind seemed to pass through the Mirage Field.

Everyone looked back to Emmeranne.

But she remained motionless- silent, emotionless- as if she hadn't heard a word.