It was strange how quickly the academy returned to normal.
Too quickly.
Classes resumed. Professors smiled like nothing had fractured beneath their halls. The dueling courts reopened, though few dared sign up. The snow melted slowly around Arcanum's gates—but students noticed something new in the air: the way reflections didn't always match, or how certain staircases now counted eleven steps going up but only ten coming down.
Reality had a cough.
Lucien Drex noticed, of course. But noticing was free. Interfering? That cost effort. And Lucien, in all his brilliance, considered effort a luxury best spent on tea and tactical naps.
Unfortunately, someone else didn't share that opinion.
---
The Visitor
He came during the Dusk Hour.
Lucien had just returned to his room, holding a half-eaten loaf of honeybread in one hand and a stolen maintenance schedule in the other.
The door was unlocked.
That was mistake one.
Inside, standing calmly at the center of his room, surrounded by inert traps that had all been deactivated without triggering, stood a tall figure in gray.
His face was unreadable. Not magically concealed—just... distant. Like he was remembering someone else's dream.
Lucien didn't flinch.
He finished the honeybread, tossed the wrapper onto a glyph-shelf, and walked in.
"You know," Lucien said, "breaking and entering is usually reserved for deranged exes or obsessive House Umbra professors."
The man didn't laugh.
He held out a hand. Not threateningly. Just... precisely.
"Your layer sequencing is noisy," the man said. **"Trap sigils that shout their existence. Sloppy."
Lucien blinked.
Then squinted.
"You must be Aurex Cain."
---
Echo Rule
Aurex didn't confirm. He didn't need to.
He handed Lucien a thin strip of sigil-paper. Perfectly measured. It contained three hand-drawn glyphs — one of which Lucien hadn't seen since before the Obsidian Project wiped his records.
"Where did you get this?" Lucien asked.
Aurex finally spoke again.
**"From a dead man who once called himself The Architect."
Lucien's smile vanished.
---
Their Conversation
"You're from Year Four. I thought you people were forbidden from interacting with us untouchables."
Aurex tilted his head.
"You call yourself untouchable. Yet you layer spells in recursive loops and encrypt doorways with predictive collapses."
"So you watch me."
"I echo you."
Lucien blinked.
Aurex stepped around the room, touching one of Lucien's anchor stones.
"You think like someone who remembers forgetting. I came to ask you why."
Lucien shrugged. "Is this an interview or an existential breakup?"
"What did you leave behind in the Labyrinth?"
"Lunch. Maybe dignity."
Aurex paused.
"You know the rules of mirrors. Echoes are born from structure. If someone built the Labyrinth—they left reflections of themselves."
Lucien didn't answer.
He turned the sigil paper over.
On the back was a child's drawing. A spiral. The same spiral from his dreams.
---
Ending: The Sigil Shift
Aurex moved toward the window.
"You need to start breathing quieter, Lucien Drex. The things that hear you... are getting closer."
Lucien stood in silence. Watching. Weighing.
"Do they hear you too?"
Aurex paused.
**"No. They obeyed me once. But not anymore."
He stepped through the window, into air—and vanished. No teleport sigil. No flash.
Just absence.
Lucien sighed.
"That was almost nostalgic," he muttered, rubbing the spiral between his fingers.
He sat down. Poured tea. Drank.
Then very quietly, he said to himself:
"Dead men don't draw spirals."
Later on Lucien's dimly lit room. The traps have just deactivated. Aurex Cain has left through the window, leaving a chilling silence. The moonlight spills across Lucien's spiraled sigil paper. Lucien stares at it for a second, then speaks:
Lucien: "You can come out now, Cealum. You're not that subtle when you hold your breath."
[Cealum steps out from the shadowed corner, arms folded.]
Cealum: "Do you trust him?"
Lucien (dryly): "Wrong question. The real question is: are you taking your job way too seriously, or does the Pale Sigil offer free snacks now? Because if so, I might consider switching sides."
Cealum: "If I took my eyes off you for one second, the school might vanish."
Lucien (grins): "Close your eyes for one second. I'll still be right here. Probably."
Cealum (quietly): "He said the Architect was dead. I thought you were the Architect. Or are there others?"
Lucien (leans against his desk, thoughtful): "I… might be wrong. But I'm fairly sure I used the name 'Architect' as a handle before the Obsidian Project. Though I can't even recall most of my childhood. Maybe someone rewrote parts of me. Or maybe I left those memories behind on purpose."
Cealum: "Did you ask who the Architect he mentioned was?"
Lucien (mock yawns): "Oh sorry, it was too exhausting to be curious. Maybe you should ask him?"
Cealum: "I didn't want to blow my cover."
Lucien (raises brow): "And you think Aurex didn't notice you watching us? He's Year Four, Ceal. Stop underestimating these people."
Cealum (defensive): "I'm not a tool. I know what I'm doing. I have my own mission."
Lucien (waves it off): "Sure. Sure. So do vending machines. You want lunch?"
Cealum (eyes narrowing): "What if your father was the real Architect? Do you remember anything about him?"
Lucien (pause, then quietly): "Only his face. Vaguely. If he was the Architect... how did he know there would be five of us in the Labyrinth? Do you remember how it opened? Our magic synced: fire, time, chaos, perception, and spatial compression. That's not luck, Ceal. That's orchestration."
Cealum (low voice): "What if there are three different people using the name 'Architect'? What if your memories are just one version of the story?"
Lucien (smiling darkly): "Then finally… someone else is playing the game. Good. I was starting to get bored. But one thing's off: the exit we saw? I never designed that. My version of the Labyrinth didn't end that way."
Cealum (tense): "So someone tampered with your work. That means the other Architect's been watching you. Since you were a kid. Lucien... that's not strategy. That's stalking."
Lucien: "And yet, you're still skipping lunch?"
Cealum (ignores it): "What if Aurex is part of the Pale Sigil?"
Lucien (chuckles): "Relax. You're spiraling. What's next? He eats moonlight and speaks to birds?"
Cealum: "I didn't hear you mention the Pale Sigil to him. But he reacted like he knew."
Lucien: "You're afraid of the Pale Sigil? Aren't you in it? They paying you in gold or paranoia?"
Cealum (flat): "They have too many layers. I can't even read them anymore."
Lucien (leans in): "You don't even trust money, Ceal. You check it for curses."
Cealum (eyes narrowing): "How do you know Aurex isn't working for them?"
Lucien (serious now): "Because I saw his face when I mentioned nothing. And he still flinched. That kind of hatred? That doesn't come from employment. It comes from betrayal."
Cealum: "What if he's connected to your missing memories? What if he knows what happened before the Obsidian Project?"
Lucien (quietly): "Then maybe he's the last witness to a version of me I don't remember. And maybe... that version needed to disappear. For a reason."
Cealum (starts walking away): "I'll pass on lunch."
Lucien (gasps): "Wait—what?! All those dramatic questions and now you ditch me before dessert?! Cealum!—"
[But Cealum was already gone, fading into shadow before Lucien could throw his teacup.]
Lucien (grumbling): "I'll find you. And I will snack-shame you, Cealum. You traitor."