Ava led us through a soaring courtyard lined with marble pillars, each one etched with griffin reliefs that seemed ready to leap into the night. Lanterns burned along the walkway, glowing with arcane flame that shifted shades of blue and silver. Overhead, the canopy of the World Tree stretched endlessly, its leaves whispering with the breath of unseen winds. It felt less like a courtyard and more like some fragment of a Roman amphitheater hidden under a god's shelter.
We walked until the path opened into a vast plaza. There, Instructor Steven adjusted his thin spectacles and halted. His presence was precise, clipped, like the ticking of a clock.
"Introduce myself properly—Steven," he said, sparing us only a curt nod. "Pleasure to meet you both, Feng Jian, Maria Shulin. But our time is short tonight."
Maria and I bowed with polite restraint. Steven turned to Ava, his gaze already somewhere else.
"Ava, you'll handle the rest. Remind Lisa to see Sora tomorrow. Her paperwork isn't finished."
Ava inclined her head. "Understood."
With that, Steven vanished down a shadowed hall, his departure as abrupt as his words.
Ava faced us again, the faintest smile softening her otherwise steady expression. "I'm Ava—Lisa's classmate, her friend. She sent me to bring you here. Let's go."
She raised her hands, and the air itself responded. Azure light spread across her palms, humming like a river finding its current. The aura wrapped around us, and before I could do more than reach for my blades, my boots left the ground.
Maria gasped and clutched her dress as the courtyard fell away beneath us. My hand tightened on my hilts, more instinct than threat. Ava's deep-blue aura bore us upward with a steady, confident pull.
The sky opened around us. Floating dorm islands dotted the heavens—small estates with gardens, mid-tier towers, modest cottages held aloft by shimmering runes. Yet none of them compared to the one ahead: a sprawling aerial island crowned with a marble estate, its roof gilded in gold leaf, its gardens arranged like living sigils.
Ava lowered us gently onto a walkway of glimmering tiles. Before us loomed the mansion's gilded doors, and above them, a plaque read in ornate script: Rexford Mansion.
Inside, the air was cool and perfumed faintly with white blossoms. Two figures awaited us—Lisa, her composure unbroken, and beside her, Rena, another of her classmates with sharp eyes and a faint smile.
"Thank you, Ava," Lisa said, her tone polite but weighted with finality. Her gaze shifted, landing on Maria. "Maria. How are you adjusting?"
Maria bent into a curtsy, her cheeks faintly pink. "I am… well, Lady Lisa."
A rare smile brushed Lisa's lips. "No need for such formality. Just Lisa will do." Then, without hesitation, she looked past me. "Rena. Ava. Take Maria. Show her to her room and the orientation."
Both girls blinked, exchanging a quick glance. Lisa hadn't spared me so much as a word—yet Maria was being treated like kin. Without question, Ava and Rena guided Maria toward the stairwell. Maria's head turned once, curiosity flickering in her eyes before she disappeared down the corridor.
Silence stretched across the hall. It was a grand space—vaulted ceilings carved with drifting leaves, white quartz columns rising like frozen waterfalls, and tapestries bearing the Wind Dragon crest fluttering in the soft indoor breeze.
Lisa's eyes softened as they rested on me. "So," she said at last, voice calm but edged with teasing warmth. "After all these years, not a word? You'll just stand there?"
I shifted, scratching the back of my neck. "Long time… Why exactly am I here?"
Click. Click. Her heels rang on marble as she approached. Her steps were measured, her poise immaculate, yet her smile curved with something wickedly amused.
"So you can speak," she murmured. "I was ready to knock you out if you kept quiet."
She stopped close enough that her perfume—jasmine and steel—brushed against me. My chest tightened with something unfamiliar, old yet new.
"Lisa—" The name slipped out awkwardly.
Her head tilted. "Feng," she said softly. The sound of my name—my true name—on her lips made my heartbeat stumble. She repeated it, deliberate, testing. "Feng. Go. Take a bath. We'll talk afterward."
Before protest could form, she turned me toward the right staircase with a firm hand at my shoulder.
We ascended together. On the landing, Ava and Rena passed us coming the other way, leading Maria. Both froze. Their eyes widened—the cold, distant Lisa, walking side by side with someone, close enough their shoulders nearly brushed? Neither had ever seen such a thing.
Whispers would spread.
Far across the academy, in a chamber dimly lit by runes, Arthur's rage smoldered. He glared into a crystal orb replaying the image of Rexford Mansion's gates opening for us. His jaw locked, his hands trembling.
"So he knows Lisa…" The words were a growl. His fist clenched, and he hurled the orb into the wall. It shattered, shards scattering across the stone like dying stars.
Arthur's eyes blazed as his followers bowed low around him, uneasy under his fury. "Tomorrow," he spat. "Tomorrow, I'll pay Lisa a visit myself."
Above it all, the World Tree's canopy swayed in the night wind. Its leaves rustled like whispers of fate, hinting that the real trials—the ones hidden behind academy walls—were only just beginning.
End of Chapter 22