Dawn stood alone within the Hollow of Stilled Glass.
The cavern stretched outward like a cathedral carved by time and silence. Smooth walls of pale crystal reflected faint, unmoving beams of light—caught in eternal pause. The stillness was profound, unnerving even, but to Dawn, it felt like alignment. As if the entire world was holding its breath with him.
Gary and Ingrid remained just beyond the boundary of the hollow. They said nothing, eyes fixed on the platform where their friend stood. The platform, metallic and intricate, unfolded like a blooming mechanism. In its center, Dawn took his stance. The 360 needles surrounding him—each thin as a strand of hair, each shimmering faintly—suddenly moved.
The apparatus activated.
One by one, the needles pierced Dawn's skin, slipping into joints with mechanical precision. No blood flowed. His body, already tempered by resonance, accepted them like long-lost threads returning home. They sunk into his skeletal system, forming a radiant lattice. Not all the needles moved at once. They responded to his breath, his pulse, his intent.
Outside, Ingrid's hands clenched. Gary didn't speak, but his eyes were like steel. He trusted Dawn, but this was beyond anything they'd seen before.
And then it began.
Dawn released his halos.
Three twinkling rings emerged around his chest, each circling the heart-space. They were invisible to the untrained eye, but here—where light had lost its will to move—they glowed with impossible clarity. Each halo pulsed, warping the stilled light around the cavern. Where once the light stood frozen, now it bent, curved, danced toward him.
The Hollow trembled.
All around him, the beams of ancient light twisted in slow, elegant spirals, converging on his form. Drawn not by force, but by resonance. Dawn had already stepped beyond the mortal layer at Verdant Echoes. He had felt the breath of the world then. Now, he was not asking for nature's energy.
He was wielding it.
The needles, each a tunnel and a vessel, conducted the still-light directly into his bones. One by one, joints ignited with a glow that shimmered just beneath the skin. A faint outline formed within him—an inner constellation.
The process was nothing like his ascension to resonance. That had been a submission, a surrender to something greater. But this—this was an act of creation. He was not merging with the world.
He was shaping it within himself.
Inside his body, the captured light moved again, but only within his bones. It was limited, structured, channeled. Circulation patterns emerged—collisions, echoes, overlapping waves. Resonance within a frame. Each clash of light built another layer of pressure, another field of strength. His bones became conduits. His body became a beacon.
Outside, the wind shifted.
---
Far below, Cedric Vaughn and his trailing group had lost track of Dawn's party hours ago. The terrain had grown treacherous—twisting slopes, confusing paths, strange, half-heard echoes that disoriented even the hardiest. More than once, one of Cedric's companions had slipped or cursed the detour.
But then it came.
A sudden burst of light and a shift of wind.
It pierced the sky like a lance of morning through a night too stubborn to leave. Cedric froze mid-step. His companions turned, wide-eyed. It wasn't just brightness—it was pressure. A weight, a call.
He said nothing. But now, they knew where to go.
---
Back at the hollow, Ingrid stepped back instinctively as a ripple of energy surged outward. Gary steadied her with a hand. The platform beneath Dawn glowed now, glowing lines snaking through the metal. His frame was forming.
Bit by bit, a web of light etched itself into his body. Lines along his collarbone, his spine, his shoulders. The patterns were not visible in full—but occasionally, when he moved slightly, the light caught and revealed glimmers beneath his skin.
The forcefield forming was unlike any weapon or armor. It wasn't external. It came from within—a harmony of structure and light, will and resonance.
This was the Luminous Frame.
And still, he stood tall. Silent. Focused.
Gary exhaled slowly. "He's… done it."
Ingrid could barely nod. Her eyes were wide open in astonishment. "It's different from mine. I too have a luminous frame but mine seems like a firefly compared to his!"
Gary was uncertain too but replied anyway, " With great risks, comes greater achievement. You can try to ascend your luminous frame too."
Ingrid flinched, shaking her head oike a rattle drum, "No thanks. I am not a machoist looking for pain. I can safely do that after Celestial Bonding."
Gary said nothing in return, they both turned their attention to Dawn.
It wasn't over. Not yet. The apparatus continued to hum with ancient precision, feeding and shaping the light. Dawn's heartbeat, steady and deep, was now the rhythm of the Hollow itself. His body no longer resisted the force—it conducted it. Light no longer hovered uncertainly—it obeyed.
There were still risks. The clash of circulating beams within could rupture the frame if misaligned. But Dawn didn't falter.
Because this wasn't just about strength.
This was a declaration.
A frame not forged in safety or peace, but in resistance, silence, and will.
Back within the Academy, far away from the Hollow, Instructor Aeliana stood before one of the scrying mirrors. She watched in silence. Behind her, Instructor Valeris leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed.
"So," Valeris murmured, "they have caught up, hadn't they?"
" Hmm," Aeliana replied, voice faint with concern, "What if he does something stupid? He is a muscle head after all and I don't want my students to fight each other."
"Should we have stopped him?"
She shook her head. "He wouldn't have listened."
Valeris smirked. "Let them fight then. If I don't teach them a harsh lesson, thwy will forget how strict the academy can be!"
"But....," she admitted. "Whatever, I hope the children stay safe.."
Valeris turned to leave. "Let's see if they fight. I won't let anyone die under my watch."
Aeliana stayed a moment longer, her hand brushing the mirror's edge.
"I hope so," she said.
Because she could see it now.
The light no longer stood still.
It had found its new center. Just like Cedric and his group had.
And it had chosen Dawn.