The Academy tried to return to calm, but calm could not survive around Neel Sharma.
Every step he took across the stone courtyards carried whispers. Students moved aside, not in respect, but in unease. Some whispered Shattered Core under their breath like it was a curse. Others laughed nervously, trying to mask their fear with mockery.
Neel ignored them, though every word gnawed at him. The storm inside his chest never let him forget. Every breath felt like striking flint against steel - sparks waiting for tinder.
Leela walked beside him, her braid swinging lightly, her water-cool aura tempering his fire. She was the only one who dared stay close. "They'll grow used to you," she murmured, voice gentle. "Storms frighten at first, but storms pass."
Neel tried to smile, but his lips trembled. "What if this one doesn't?"
Leela's hand brushed his arm. "Then we'll learn how to live inside it."
From behind, Aarav Menon's voice rang across the courtyard. "Or maybe we'll all drown in it instead!" His friends laughed, their eyes darting nervously toward Neel as if half expecting him to explode on the spot. Aarav smirked, satisfaction sharp as a blade.
Neel clenched his fists, but he didn't respond. Leela's touch anchored him.
---
That afternoon, the initiates were ordered into the Meditation Hall, a vast dome where sunlight streamed through a lattice of glass. Here, they were told, they would learn to quiet their cores, to hear their element's voice.
For most, it was a calming exercise. Students sat cross-legged, breathing slow, their flames dimming, their storms steadying. Even Shanaya closed her eyes, her phoenix fire curling around her like a calm heartbeat.
But for Neel, meditation was a battlefield.
The moment he closed his eyes, the storm surged. Fire and lightning clashed in his veins, screaming against each other. He gritted his teeth, sweat breaking across his brow.
And then came the whisper.
"Shattered one... awaken... break the chains..."
His breath hitched. His vision blurred. Suddenly, the hall dissolved into darkness.
Before him rose the Origin Crystal - not whole, but fractured, its cracks glowing with stormlight. From within those cracks slithered a shadow. Scales darker than night. Eyes burning with hunger.
A serpent, vast and endless, coiled in broken chains. Its hiss echoed through his bones.
"Mine..."
Neel jerked, his body convulsing. Lightning erupted from his palms, arcing across the meditation circle. Students screamed, scattering. Flames roared to life as defensive wards flared.
"Contain him!" shouted an instructor.
But before anyone could act, Keshav Rao stormed into the hall, his staff blazing. With a single strike, chains of fire wrapped around Neel, pinning his limbs, smothering the storm.
The vision shattered. The serpent vanished. Neel collapsed, gasping, his skin scorched by the fire-bindings.
Keshav's gaze was colder than the chains. "Enough," he said, his voice sharp. "Take him out. Now."
---
Later, Neel sat trembling in a quiet corner of the dormitory yard. His arms burned where the chains had bound him. He pressed his head into his hands, heart hammering.
Leela knelt beside him, her touch gentle as she healed the burns with waterlight. "What happened?" she whispered.
"I saw it," Neel choked out. "Something in the Crystal. A serpent. Bound in chains." His voice shook. "It was alive, Leela. It spoke to me."
Leela's eyes widened, but she steadied her voice. "It was a vision. Nothing more."
"No," Neel whispered. "It was real."
---
From the shadows of the courtyard, Shanaya Rajput leaned against a pillar, her crimson cloak glowing faintly in the torchlight. Her smirk was gone. Her eyes, sharp as fire, fixed on Neel.
She whispered to herself, so low only the wind could hear:
"So... you finally saw it too."
That night, Neel couldn't escape the serpent's hiss. Every time his eyes closed, he was back inside the cracked Origin Crystal, chains rattling as something vast shifted in the dark. The Whisper pressed against his skull, faint but endless.
"Shattered one... the fire burns... the storm breaks... the chains weaken..."
He sat up on his cot, breath ragged. He couldn't stay still. Something in him pulled, like a tide dragging him out to sea.
Before he could question it, his legs carried him out of the dormitory, across the quiet courtyards, into the abandoned cloisters where the stone arches sagged with ivy. The night air bit at his skin, but his chest still burned.
"Neel Sharma."
He froze.
From the shadows stepped Elder Meera, her silver hair loose around her shoulders, her lantern glowing softly. Her face was calm, not hardened like Keshav's. Her eyes, though, carried sorrow older than stone.
"You saw it," she said simply.
Neel's voice cracked. "The serpent. In chains."
Meera nodded. "My grandmother spoke of such visions. When a core shatters, sometimes the veil thins, and the Serpent stirs. Few believed her. Most dismissed it as myth." She stepped closer, lowering her lantern. "But I believe. And I fear."
Neel's fists trembled. "Why me? Why now?"
Her expression softened. "The world does not choose kindly. Fire and storm are creation and destruction, chained in one vessel. Perhaps you are cursed... or perhaps chosen. But remember, Neel - the Whisper is not truth. It is temptation."
She placed a hand gently against his chest. Warmth spread through him, steadier than any flame. "Do not let Rao's fire chains crush you. And do not let the serpent choose your path. Make it your own."
With that, she slipped back into the cloisters, her lantern fading, leaving Neel trembling in the silence.
---
The next day, the sparring grounds buzzed with noise. Students trained in pairs, fire serpents dancing against stone walls, water streams bending through the air. But Neel was pushed to one side, ordered to practice alone. His storm was too dangerous, the instructors said.
He tried anyway. He raised one palm, fire blazing. The other - lightning sparked. He strained to keep them apart, sweat running down his back. But the storm wanted to merge. With a snap, they collided, bursting into a flare that scorched the ground.
Laughter rippled from the other end of the yard.
"Pathetic."
Neel turned. Shanaya Rajput leaned against a post, arms crossed, her phoenix fire curling lazily around her. Her smirk was sharp as ever.
"You call that control? You're more spark than storm."
Neel's jaw tightened. "What do you want?"
She stepped forward, fire licking at her heels. "To see if you'll drown... or rise."
Her smirk faded to something fiercer. "Do you know why I marked you as rival, Sharma? Not just because you cracked the Crystal. Not just because you embarrassed me in the circle." She leaned closer, her eyes burning. "It's because I saw it too. That day in the village square, when your storm struck me... I glimpsed the shadow behind you. The serpent. Watching."
Neel's chest tightened. "You... saw it?"
"Yes," Shanaya whispered, her voice like flame. "And I knew then - if you fall, you'll drag us all with you. If you rise, you'll burn brighter than anyone else. Either way, you are mine. My rival."
Her phoenix roared to life, wings spreading, heat flooding the grounds. "So fight me. Prove you're not just whispers and fear."
Neel's storm burst out in answer, lightning carving through the dust. Sparks danced in the air, tension crackling.
And then-
"Enough!"
Leela Deshmukh stormed into the circle, her wards glowing blue, waterlight rushing like a wave. She threw herself between them, her braid whipping over her shoulder, her eyes blazing.
"Are you both insane?" she cried. "You'll kill each other before your destinies even touch you!"
Her gaze pinned Shanaya first, unafraid. "You treat him like some trophy rival, but he's bleeding inside. Can't you see it?"
For a moment, Shanaya's flame faltered. Then her smirk returned, smaller but unyielding. "If he's breaking, then it's my job to either sharpen him... or shatter him. That's what rivals are for."
She turned, cloak flaring, and left without another word.
Leela dropped to Neel's side, her hands glowing as she soothed his scorched arms. Her touch was cool, steady, gentle. "Don't let her get to you. You're not breaking. Not while I'm here."
Neel's storm eased, flickering weakly in the air. He let out a shuddering breath.
---
But from the shadows near the wall, Aarav Menon had watched everything.
His eyes burned, his fists clenched. Shanaya's fire. Leela's loyalty. Even Elder Meera's secret attention. All of it - orbiting Neel Sharma.
And now, whispers of a serpent.
A slow, poisonous smile spread across Aarav's lips. "If they won't fear you enough already, Sharma... I'll make sure they do."
---
By morning, Aarav's whispers had spread faster than fire.
"Neel Sharma carries the Serpent inside him," he told anyone who would listen. "Didn't you see how he convulsed in the Meditation Hall? Didn't you see Shanaya's face when she fought him? She knows it too."
Some laughed nervously. Others nodded, fear glittering in their eyes. By the time Neel stepped into the refectory, silence fell like a blade. Students shifted away from him as if his storm might lash out at any moment.
Even those who had once greeted him now looked through him, their eyes fixed anywhere but his face.
Leela sat beside him, refusing to move, her jaw tight with anger. "Cowards," she muttered under her breath. "They feed on fear like flies on rot."
Neel didn't answer. His appetite was gone. The chains of whispers were heavier than food could lift.
---
That afternoon, the initiates gathered in the training circle once more. The instructors barked drills, calling students forward to practice channeling their awakened elements.
"Control, discipline, focus," the instructors chanted like a mantra.
When Neel's name was called, the whispers rose again. Serpent. Shattered Core. Dangerous.
He stepped into the circle, heart pounding. He tried to breathe steady. Focus. Discipline. Control.
He lifted his hands. Flame burst from one, lightning from the other. He forced them apart, straining until sweat stung his eyes. For a moment, it worked - the elements hovered, trembling but separate.
Then the whisper struck like a dagger.
"Chains burn... chains break... awaken."
The storm inside him exploded. Fire and lightning collided, surging upward into a blinding flare. The wards screamed as they struggled to hold the blast. Students cried out, some diving for cover.
And then Neel was no longer in the training circle.
---
He stood once more before the fractured Crystal. The serpent loomed, vast and endless, its chains glowing as they strained. Its eyes locked onto his, ancient hunger burning in them.
"Shattered one..." The voice coiled around his mind, heavy and deep. "You are mine. Your fire feeds me. Your storm shatters the locks. Break the chains, and I will be free."
Neel shook his head violently. "No. You're not real. You're just-"
The serpent's laugh rattled his bones. "Not real? Then why do you tremble, little vessel? Why does your storm answer when I call?"
Chains cracked. Sparks rained. For one terrible moment, Neel saw the world burning, cities crumbling under endless coils of shadow.
"No!" he roared. His storm burst outward, tearing at the vision until it shattered.
---
He collapsed onto the training ground, chest heaving, smoke rising from his skin. Students backed away, eyes wide with terror.
"Did you see that?" Aarav shouted, seizing the moment. "He's possessed! The Serpent speaks through him!"
The crowd erupted. Fear, panic, whispers colliding into a storm of their own.
Keshav Rao stormed into the circle, his staff blazing, fire snapping in the air. His eyes pinned Neel like daggers. "Enough!" His voice rang like thunder. "This ends now."
But even as his chains of fire snapped into place around Neel once more, a quiet figure slipped into the edge of the circle. Elder Meera, her face unreadable, her eyes fixed on Neel with something more complicated than fear.
Leela shoved her way to his side, dropping to her knees, her hands glowing blue as she tried to soothe the burns. "Don't listen to them," she whispered fiercely. "Don't let them chain you."
Shanaya stood further back, her phoenix flames licking higher, her gaze unblinking. Her smirk was gone. What replaced it was sharper, hungrier.
For the first time, she wasn't just intrigued. She was afraid.
---
That night, Neel lay awake, the Whisper still clawing at the edges of his mind.
"Chains burn. Chains break. The Serpent stirs..."
He pressed his fists against his temples, tears stinging his eyes.
And in the darkness, lightning cracked across the sky outside his window - as if echoing the voice that promised to tear him apart from within.