The sky above the Academy burned with an unnatural twilight—neither night nor day—when the first tremors shook the courtyard. Emberpetals fell like embers from a dying hearth, and the Memory Ward's glow flickered in alarm. I stood at its pedestal, staff in hand, as students and professors rushed from their lectures, faces pale with confusion.
Seraphina emerged from the Frost-Garden, frost-staff crackling. "Architect, something stirs beyond the Origin Halo."
Yuria sprinted in next, gauntlets sparking. "I felt it in the Lightning Tower—power shifting, screaming."
Valmira arrived, Codex clasped to her chest. "Old runes in the Archive are reawakening. Forbidden wards long buried."
Zephira and Astraea flanked me, weapons drawn. The plaza's walls shimmered, as if reality itself were breathing.
