Lyra's POV
"Don't move."
Kael Voidstrider stood between me and the security mages like a living weapon. His hands crackled with dark purple energy that made the air smell like a thunderstorm.
I scrambled backward, my new glowing marks burning against my skin. The Codex hummed in my mind, feeding me information I didn't ask for: Kael Voidstrider. Age nineteen. Void magic specialist. Dangerous. Unpredictable. Trust level: unknown.
"Thanks for nothing," I muttered at the voice in my head.
"Step aside, Voidstrider," one of the security mages barked. He was a big man with a scar across his nose. "That girl's trespassing in a forbidden area. This doesn't concern you."
Kael tilted his head, and something about the movement reminded me of a wolf spotting prey. "Actually, it concerns me very much. She's under my protection now."
"Your protection?" The security mage laughed. "Since when do you protect anyone?"
Good question. I wanted to know the answer too.
Kael's eyes flicked to me for just a second, and what I saw there made my breath catch. Not anger or cruelty—but hunger. Like I was something he'd been searching for and finally found.
"Since about thirty seconds ago," Kael said. Then he moved.
It happened so fast I barely saw it. One moment he stood still. The next, darkness exploded from his hands like ink in water. The shadows wrapped around the security mages, covering their eyes, filling their mouths, making them stumble and shout in confusion.
"Run!" Kael snapped at me.
I didn't need to be told twice. I jumped to my feet and sprinted toward the door, my legs shaky from the bonding with the Codex. Behind me, I heard spells firing, crashes, someone screaming.
Kael appeared beside me in a blink of darkness, grabbing my wrist. "Not that way. They'll have the main exits blocked."
"Then where—"
He pulled me into a side corridor I hadn't noticed before. We ran through a maze of twisting hallways, the alarms screaming overhead. My lungs burned. My marks throbbed with each heartbeat.
"Why are you helping me?" I gasped as we ran.
"Because you activated the Codex," Kael said, not even breathing hard. "That makes you the most important person in this Academy. Possibly the world."
"I'm not important. I'm nobody."
He shot me a look that was almost angry. "Stop saying that. It's annoying."
We burst through a door and into a stairwell that spiraled down into darkness. Kael didn't hesitate—he jumped straight down the center, pulling me with him. I opened my mouth to scream, but before I could, shadows wrapped around us like a cushion. We floated down gently, landing at the bottom without a sound.
"How did you—"
"Void magic," he said shortly. "It lets me manipulate space and darkness. Now be quiet. We're not safe yet."
He led me through another door into a chamber I'd never seen in any Academy map. It was small and circular, with walls made of smooth black stone. A single light orb floated in the center, casting long shadows.
Kael sealed the door behind us with a wave of his hand. Dark symbols appeared across it, locking it tight.
Only then did he turn to face me fully.
"Show me," he said.
"Show you what?"
"The marks. The bond. Prove you actually activated the Codex and this isn't some elaborate trick."
My temper flared despite my fear. "Why would I fake being attacked by security mages? Why would I fake any of this?"
"Because three people have tried to steal the Codex in the last five years," Kael said coldly. "All of them failed. All of them died. If you're lying about bonding with it, I need to know now before I risk everything to protect you."
The way he said "died" made ice run down my spine.
Slowly, I held out my wrist.
The marks glowed brighter in the dim light—intricate symbols that spiraled up my arm like vines made of starlight. They pulsed gently, and I could feel them connected to something vast and ancient inside me.
Kael stepped closer, his eyes locked on my wrist. He reached out carefully, like he was afraid I might bite him, and brushed his fingers across one of the symbols.
Power shocked through both of us.
Kael jerked his hand back, his eyes wide. "It's real. You're bonded. How is that possible?"
"The Codex said I'm a Cipher. That my family protected magical seals. That someone killed my parents and now they're trying to break those seals." The words tumbled out fast. "Is any of that true? Or is this thing in my head lying to me?"
"It's true," Kael said quietly. "All of it."
My knees felt weak. Part of me had hoped it was all some crazy dream. "How do you know?"
"Because I've been investigating the seal breaks for two years." He moved to a corner of the room and pulled out a bag hidden behind loose stones. From it, he took out papers, maps, photographs. "My sister died because of them. Because someone is using forbidden magic to crack open dimensions that should stay locked forever."
He spread the papers on the floor. I knelt beside him, studying what he'd collected. Photos of strange symbols carved into Academy walls. Maps with locations marked in red. News clippings about mysterious accidents.
"These accidents," I said slowly, pointing at the clippings. "The classroom collapse last month. The explosion in the East Tower. The students who disappeared during night classes. They're not accidents at all."
"No. They're ritual sacrifices. Blood magic. Each one weakens a seal." Kael's voice was flat, but I could hear the fury underneath. "Three seals are already broken. Four remain. When all seven fall, the Primordial Magic they're holding back will be released."
"What's Primordial Magic?"
"The raw power of creation. The magic that existed before our world had rules or laws. It can remake reality itself." He looked up at me, and for the first time, I saw real emotion in his cold eyes—desperation. "My sister Aria used forbidden magic to save my life five years ago. It shattered her soul across dimensions. The only way to get her back is to navigate those dimensions and collect the pieces. But no one can survive in broken dimensions. No one except—"
"A Cipher," I finished. Understanding crashed over me. "You need me. That's why you've been waiting for me to wake up."
"Yes." He didn't try to deny it. "The Codex chooses one Keeper per millennium. I've watched you for three years, hoping you might be the one. Tonight, when the Archives opened, I knew."
Three years. He'd been watching me for three years, and I never noticed.
He's been protecting you too, the Codex whispered in my mind. Seventeen times someone tried to hurt you. Seventeen times he stopped them without you knowing.
"Is that true?" I demanded. "Have you been protecting me?"
Kael's jaw tightened. "That's not important."
"It's important to me!"
"What's important," he said harshly, "is that you're in danger now. Whoever is breaking the seals will know the Codex has bonded. They'll come for you. You need my protection, and I need your Cipher abilities. So we work together, or we both lose everything."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him I didn't need anyone after what Cassia and Dorian did to me. But I wasn't stupid. Alone, I'd be dead by morning.
"Fine," I said. "We work together. But I have conditions."
His eyebrow raised slightly. "You're in no position to make demands."
"Yes, I am. You need me, remember?" I held his gaze, refusing to back down. "First, you tell me everything you know about my parents. Second, you help me clear my name about the stolen research. And third—" I took a deep breath. "You help me make Cassia pay for what she did."
Something flickered in Kael's expression. Almost like... approval?
"Revenge," he said softly. "Now that's something I understand." He held out his hand. "Deal."
I shook it, and the moment our palms touched, my marks flared with light. Power surged between us, creating a connection that snapped into place like a lock clicking shut.
The Codex's voice rang in my mind, excited and urgent: Bond recognized. Partnership sealed. Warning: hostile entities approaching. Multiple signatures. Powerful. They're coming for you NOW.
The door behind us exploded inward.
Five figures in black robes flooded into the room, their hands glowing with deadly magic. But it wasn't the robes that made my heart stop.
It was the face I recognized when one of them stepped forward and lowered their hood.
Professor Winters. My favorite teacher. The one who'd always been kind to me, who'd encouraged my research, who'd smiled so warmly whenever I asked questions.
She looked at me now with cold, empty eyes.
"Hello, Lyra," she said pleasantly. "I'm sorry, dear. But you've activated something that doesn't belong to you. We're going to need you to come with us quietly."
Kael moved in front of me instantly, his void magic crackling to life. "Over my dead body."
Professor Winters smiled. "That can be arranged."
She raised her hand, and the other robed figures began chanting in a language that made my bones vibrate. Dark energy gathered above them, forming into something huge and terrible—a creature made of shadows and screaming faces.
"Kael," I whispered, terror freezing my voice. "What is that?"
"A soul eater." His voice was grim. "And we're trapped in here with it."