"The others will discover fire, wind, and ice — you will walk among shadows."
Entry One: A Professor with Secrets
The morning mist clung stubbornly to the academy's towers, as if the stone walls themselves were reluctant to greet the day. I wasn't much different. My muscles still ached from the trials yesterday, and my thoughts swirled with questions that had no answers yet.
We were summoned, the First Years, to the old lecture chamber beneath the library — a place rarely used, its wooden desks scorched and cracked as if someone or something had lost control here long ago.
That's where I met Professor Dareth.
He didn't fit the academy mold. No ornate robes, no flashy displays of power. Just a worn leather coat, arms marked with scars like a map of battles survived, and eyes that held a quiet knowledge—an exhaustion that came from seeing too much.
And he noticed me.
Not like the others — his gaze wasn't the fleeting curiosity or youthful infatuation I was used to. It was heavy with something else, like he'd read my story somewhere between ancient prophecy and dark warning.
"You," he said, pointing across the room.
My pulse quickened. "Me?"
"You're the girl whose hand didn't trigger the second resonance."
I flinched, the memory sharp as a blade.
The whole academy still whispered about it: the girl the system rejected. Even Joren went silent when I told him — his kind words barely masking the doubt behind his eyes.
Only Kael looked at me differently.
But Kael and I hadn't spoken since.
"Sit up front," Dareth said. "You'll want to listen carefully."
Entry Two: The Hidden Nature of Bonds
His voice dropped low, barely more than a growl. The chalk he used to write on the board glowed faintly purple, the symbols twisting like shadows come alive.
"Everyone knows about elemental Affinities — fire, wind, ice, healing, manipulation," he said, eyes flicking around the room. "But before all of that… before even the Conduits… there were Bonds."
The word hung in the air like a spell.
Bonds were whispered rumors — ancient, dangerous, and mostly dismissed by the academy. They were myths, stories to scare children, too wild to study, too powerful to control.
"Bonds are not chosen. They're written into your very existence. Some form through trauma. Some through destiny. Most never form at all."
He looked at me again.
"They don't always show immediately. But when they do, they override everything — the system, the stones, even the instructors' teachings."
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
Maybe my failure with the resonance stone wasn't a failure after all.
Dareth turned back to the class.
"When a Bond forms, it creates a tether — not to an element, but to a source beyond understanding. A power no system can measure, no rules can contain."
His gaze settled on me once more.
"And when that happens… the world changes."
Entry Three: Unseen Eyes
After class, I tried to slip away unnoticed. The hallways were nearly empty, but I felt the weight of eyes on me.
Kael.
He leaned against the wall, silent, watching.
The air felt charged, like before a storm.
"You were late," he said without looking up.
"I wasn't aware you kept track of me," I snapped sharper than I meant.
His eyes flickered — cold blue flames simmering beneath steel.
"I don't. But that professor doesn't speak unless something's about to break."
I started to turn away, but his voice stopped me.
"I heard what he said."
"So?"
"Bonds override the system," Kael said quietly. "Rare. Dangerous. Unpredictable."
I faced him, defiant. "What are you saying?"
"You might be stronger than all of us. And no one knows what to do with that."
For a moment, I thought he might smile. Instead, he turned and walked away.
Entry Four: New Faces and Shifting Shadows
Later, new students joined our ranks — transfers from distant corners of the kingdom, carrying secrets heavier than their travel-worn cloaks.
Among them:
Dahlia — pale and sharp-featured, with silver eyes that glittered like ice. Her frost magic whispered at her fingertips, even when she was calm. She kept to herself — except around me.
Riven — quiet, heavily scarred, claiming to have seen things no one believed. Creatures not born of this world. Most called him mad. I wasn't so sure.
Tasha — tall, statuesque, once a healer but now bonded to something darker. Her smile held secrets she refused to share.
Lyra and Nia eyed them with suspicion, but I felt something else in their gaze toward me — respect, maybe even fear.
Entry Five: The Fire Garden
That night, I wandered to the Fire Garden, the academy's oldest courtyard. The stones beneath my feet glowed faintly with dragon ash, pulsing softly with forgotten magic.
And Kael was there.
This time, he didn't turn when I approached.
"Did you follow me?" I asked.
"No. I knew you'd come."
I took a step closer. "Why?"
"Because something's waking inside you," he said low. "And you're terrified of it."
I didn't answer. I thought of my sister's warnings — the shadow magic that waited in silence, patient and watching.
Kael finally looked at me — really looked.
"Everyone else is trying to fix you," he said. "I'm not."
"What are you doing? Why did you only notice me two months in?"
He stepped toward me slowly, deliberately.
"I'm watching you break the system."
His words sparked like electricity between us.
I met his gaze, chin high.
"And if I break you too?"
A flicker of something — amusement? Heat? — crossed his features.
"I think I'd let you."
He stepped back, letting the silence stretch between us.
But something was growing.
I could feel it—in the way his eyes lingered, in the way the shadows stretched toward me as I walked away.