The Academy had always thrived on whispers. Rivalries, scandals, duels gone wrong — rumors were as common as torchlight. But after the Ember Hall, whispers turned to daggers.
"Chains couldn't hold him."
"Rao nearly lost control of him."
"If he breaks again, the Academy will burn."
Every corridor echoed with it. Neel could feel the weight pressing on his shoulders, each glance sharper than a blade.
–––
That evening, the Council met in secret. The Council of Seven, robed in flame-red, gathered in the Chamber of Embers beneath the Academy. The air burned hot, but the words spoken were colder than stone.
"We should expel him," one Elder spat. "The Shattered Core is not a gift — it is corruption."
"And drive him into the wilds?" another countered. "You'd hand the serpent's vessel to the darkness beyond our walls?"
"He cannot stay here!" the first snapped. "Already he cracks our wards. Already he spreads fear like plague."
At the head of the chamber, Archon Keshav Rao remained silent, his staff burning faintly. His eyes flickered as the debate raged, but he said nothing.
It was Elder Meera who finally rose. "Neel Sharma is not a monster," she said, her voice calm but unyielding. "He is a boy. A boy caught in chains he did not choose. If we cast him out, we seal our doom. If we destroy him, we may awaken the serpent ourselves. We must guide him."
"Guide him?" scoffed another. "Or chain him until the end of days?"
The chamber rang with argument. Above, the Academy slept — but its fate was being decided in whispers below.
–––
Neel knew none of this. He sat alone in the courtyard, the night sky heavy with clouds. Leela sat beside him, her braid undone, her hands fiddling nervously with a wardstone.
"They're afraid," she murmured. "All of them. Even the ones who don't say it. They think you'll snap."
Neel gave a bitter laugh. "Sometimes I think so too."
She turned sharply, gripping his arm. "Don't. Don't let them put that in your head. You're not a monster. You're Neel. My friend." Her voice wavered, but her eyes were steady. "The boy who used to share half his lunch when I had none. The boy who pulled Aarav out of the river when he fell in. Don't forget that."
Her warmth steadied him, but only for a moment. Because even now, the Whisper coiled through his mind.
"They conspire. They chain. Burn them. Break them."
–––
Meanwhile, in the dormitories, Aarav Menon gathered a knot of students in the shadows. His eyes gleamed as he spoke.
"You saw it in the training circle. You heard the screams in the Ember Hall. The Council debates, but we know the truth — Sharma's storm isn't his own. It belongs to the serpent. Every day he stays here, we risk our lives."
The students muttered nervously. Aarav leaned closer, voice a venomous whisper. "If the Council won't act, maybe we should."
Fear flickered into resolve in their eyes. Aarav's smirk widened. The poison was spreading.
–––
The next day, Neel was called to the Hall of Trials. Not for combat — but for questioning. The Elders sat in their high seats, their eyes weighing him like scales.
Keshav Rao's voice was thunder. "Do you hear it?"
Neel stiffened. "What?"
"The voice," Rao pressed. "The serpent's whisper."
The hall fell silent.
Neel's chest tightened. If he lied, they would know. If he told the truth, they would chain him again.
His lips trembled. "Yes."
Gasps rippled through the chamber.
One Elder spat, "Then it is inside him already. We cannot allow this—"
"Enough," Meera cut in sharply, her staff glowing with calm blue fire. She looked down at Neel, her eyes soft. "Do you resist it?"
Neel met her gaze, and for the first time, he saw not fear, but faith. "Every moment," he whispered.
Her nod was almost imperceptible. But it was enough.
–––
When the session ended, Neel staggered out, his legs weak. Shanaya waited in the shadows, arms crossed, her smirk thin but her eyes sharp.
"So it's true," she said. "You hear it."
Neel flinched. "And if I do?"
She stepped closer, firelight flickering across her face. "Then it means you're further gone than I thought. But it also means our fight matters more than ever. If you fall, I'll be the one to end you. Rivalry or not."
Her words cut deeper than Rao's chains.
–––
That night, the conspiracy deepened. Students whispered in the dorms, in the mess hall, in the training yards. Some called for Neel to be expelled. Others whispered darker things — that he should be ended before the serpent fully awakened.
Neel stood at his window, the storm restless in his chest, his heart breaking under the weight of eyes that no longer saw him as human.
The Whisper curled through the silence, velvet and cruel.
"See how they plot. See how they chain. They will never trust you. Break them. Burn them all. Only then will you be free."
Neel pressed his fists against the stone, shaking, his breath ragged.
For the first time, he wondered if the Whisper was right.
–––