The testing grounds were chaos.
Nobles whispered like buzzing flies, the examiner argued with his assistants, and Cassian — Rayan's oh-so-charming half-brother — stood frozen, jaw tight. His golden affinity suddenly didn't seem so impressive compared to the boy who had just vaporized the crystals.
The Duke arrived.
Valcrest himself was a towering man with hair black as midnight and eyes like cold steel. He didn't look at Rayan like a father. He looked at him like a problem.
"You," the Duke said, voice flat. "You will enroll at the Arcana Academy immediately. The instructors there will… figure out what to do with you."
It wasn't a request.
⸻
By afternoon, a sealed envelope arrived at Rayan's room — stamped with the crest of the Arcana Academy: a silver eye surrounded by seven stars.
Inside was a single sentence.
"Attend the Initiation Ceremony at dawn. Your presence is… expected."
The word "expected" felt like both an invitation and a warning.
⸻
That night, Rayan sat at his desk, the Eternum Grimoire open before him.
The second page had fully revealed itself. Symbols shifted like living ink, rearranging into an incantation he didn't recognize.
The Law of Unseen Chains — Bind that which cannot be touched.
He tested it by holding his palm over a candle flame and whispering the words. The flame froze mid-flicker, as though caught in invisible threads. No heat. No movement. Just stillness.
Rayan grinned. Now we're talking.
⸻
The grin didn't last.
A noise — faint, but sharp — came from the window.
He turned, catching a glimpse of that same shadow from the rooftops. This time, it wasn't watching. It was approaching.
A sliver of moonlight revealed the glint of a curved dagger.
Rayan stood slowly, his hand closing over the Grimoire. The runes on its cover flared faintly, as if eager for use.
From the darkness outside, a low voice whispered:
"The Vessel must not reach the Academy."
The glass shattered.