The academy had grown quieter since the Labyrinth collapsed.
Too quiet.
Whispers had returned. Not the dramatic kind that echo off marble walls, but the kind that crawled along your shoulder and pretended to be a breeze. Something about the air itself felt... cautious. As though the building was holding its breath.
Lucien Drex, as usual, didn't appear to notice. He was slouched backward across a bench outside the Alchemic Wing, eyes half-closed, fingers lazily flipping a biscuit over and over like he had invented gravity.
"I swear you're going to die from boredom before anyone manages to kill you," Renn muttered beside him, scribbling in a sigil sketchbook with a twitchy wrist.
Lucien took a deliberate bite of his biscuit. "That would be efficient. Saves everyone time."
"Except the headmistress. She's looking for you. Again."
Lucien waved the biscuit like a divine ward. "If she asks, tell her I ascended."
Before Renn could respond with a lecture, a chill ran through the bench.
It wasn't magical. It wasn't wind. It was just... presence.
Lucien straightened, only slightly. His eyes tracked a silhouette moving past the far arch near the Arcanum Hallway.
A tall figure.
Not in a uniform.
Wearing gray robes with no sigils. Head down. Quiet steps. Too quiet.
Renn turned too late.
"Who was that?" he whispered.
Lucien didn't answer. He chewed slower. Thought deeper.
---
The Assembly Warning
Later that day, students gathered in the Great Assembly Hall for what was supposed to be an "Administrative Reset Briefing."
The Headmistress stood before them like a statue with secrets.
"A disturbance during the winter arc has activated surveillance across our senior halls. You are not to approach, disturb, or engage with any Year Four students outside approved lectures or invitations."
Students murmured. Seraphina Vale narrowed her eyes from the House Ignis section. Marcus leaned in, whispering something crude.
Lucien blinked slowly.
Caelum, seated beside Seraphina, didn't move.
But his pupils contracted. Just a bit.
---
Later: The Shadow in the Mirror
Back in House Umbra's dormitory corridor, Lucien opened his room door, stopped, and stared.
Someone had tampered with his trap sigils.
But not clumsily. Elegantly.
The ink was still damp—but rearranged. His pressure glyph had been inverted inward, not disabled. The perimeter marker had been swapped to his original prototype format from over a year ago. And in the corner, someone had left a note:
"Clean geometry. But your layering is loud. Breathe quieter. – Echo Rule"
Lucien stared.
Then laughed.
"Oh gods," he said, reaching for a fresh biscuit, "he's bored too."
---
Final Scene: Caelum Watches
Caelum stood on the upper balconies of the Hall of Sigils, arms crossed, watching Lucien exit his dorm with the note.
Behind him, shadows moved.
One of them paused.
"He designed the trap?" the figure whispered.
Caelum responded softly. "No. He designed the map it was written on."
The shadow stepped back, unsure.
Caelum watched Lucien hold the note up to the sky.
Lucien whistled once and flicked the note away like it meant nothing.
It burned midair.
The sky above the Academy shimmered faintly—as if something larger had just blinked.
And decided to keep watching.
Later that day
Seraphina is already seated on the low stone bench, sketching sigils into the frost-covered marble table. Lucien walks in with a snack bag and freezes.]
Lucien:
"Oh. I thought this place was certified 'unbearably peaceful and completely Seraphina-free.'"
Seraphina (not looking up):
"I was here first. Go find another rock to nap on."
Lucien:
"I've built emotional bonds with this rock. We've shared dreams. And biscuits."
[He sits next to her anyway, noisily opens the snack bag.]
Seraphina (sighing):
"Are you always this insufferable, or do you practice?"
Lucien:
"Practice? I teach it."
[She hides a smile. Beat of silence.]
Seraphina:
"You don't usually sit near people."
Lucien:
"Maybe you're not people."
Seraphina:
"Is that your idea of flirting?"
Lucien (mock offense):
"Flirting requires effort. You're lucky to get sarcasm."
[Seraphina laughs—soft, rare. Then turns serious.]
Seraphina:
"Why do you avoid everyone?"
Lucien:
"Because everyone is exhausting. You're... only medium-exhausting."
Seraphina:
"That sounds dangerously close to a compliment."
Lucien:
"I'm filing a complaint with myself right now."
[They sit in quiet again. The wind shifts, brushing frost from her sigil drawing.]
Seraphina (softly):
"You're not weak, are you?"
Lucien:
"Oh no. I'm terribly fragile. My only weapons are snacks and passive aggression."
Seraphina:
"Lucien."
Lucien (smiling faintly):
"Why ruin the fun with truth, Vale?"
[She watches him. Something about the quiet, tired way he says it feels… hollow.]
Seraphina:
"I remembered something recently. A dream, maybe. Seems another memory of you
[Lucien stills, just briefly.]
Lucien:
"Sounds unsanitary."
Seraphina (tilting her head):
"He told me to forget him." that keeps replaying
Lucien (softly):
"Sounds smart."
[Beat.]
Seraphina:
"You think we'll survive this place?"
Lucien:
"No. But I think we'll outwit it long enough to make it wonder how."
[Seraphina laughs again, brushing snow off her coat.]
Seraphina:
"You're very confusing, Lucien Drex."
Lucien:
"Thank you. It's how I stay single and alive."