The whispers of the past still lingered in Elira's mind as she stepped out from behind the library ruins. Her hands trembled with the residual aftershocks of the stone's echo—those otherworldly voices calling out her name, those speaking of the Aetherion lineage, and of the one "beneath the mark of the void."
Kael hadn't spoken a word since they'd left the hidden corridor. The silence between them was oppressive, not because it felt awkward, but because it felt weighted—with secrets, with the weight of fate, with the vibration of something ancient stirring in the marrow of the academy.
"Elira," Kael said finally, catching her on the spiral staircase at the exit of the catacombs. "What you heard… what we heard. You can't tell anyone. Not yet."
"Do you know what that was?" Her voice was barely more than a whisper, as if she feared the stones would wake again if she spoke too loudly.
"I have… suspicions." Kael's icy eyes flashed with a touch of nervousness. "The stone speaks of old blood. You've awakened something old. Something the Council would kill to keep silent."
Elira's throat dried. "You think I'm Aetherion?"
"I think," he said slowly, "that we need to know before others do. And that we're being watched."
---
When they returned to the dorms, Elira fell onto her bed, not sleeping though she was exhausted. Every time she closed her eyes, the whisper returned—"Bound not by choice, but by the old pact. Marked to awaken the storm."
She trembled. Had she been fated for this? Since birth? Since the moment Kael's soul became bound to hers?
The vision that had come to her was vivid and dreamlike. A woman who stood under the veil of starlight came to her, eyes blazing with twin suns. She stood armed with a sword that gave off light and emptiness in equal measure.
"You were not called to serve," the woman stated. "You were called to unmake what was incorrectly made."
Elira gasped as the blade pierced her chest—but instead of pain, she felt clarity. She awoke drenched in sweat, clutching her blanket like a lifeline.
Across the room, Kael stood at the window. He hadn't moved all night.
"You saw her too," he said quietly, not turning.
"The woman with the blade." Elira nodded. "She said we're not meant to serve… but to unmake something?"
Kael turned, and moonlight caught the faint glint of the bond mark on his neck. "She's part of the bond prophecy. One of the keepers of the soulbound."
"How do you know all of this?"
Kael hesitated. "Because she found me… years ago. When I first touched the void."
That night, the academy buzzed with tension it had not experienced before. The air was sharp, like a storm leaking in, unseen but tangible.
Teachers were tight-lipped. Wardens patrolled the corridors more frequently. And at the head table in the dining hall, there was a new presence—a man in silver cloak and an emblem Elira did not recognize.
"That's Inquisitor Maerik," Kael answered, his tone low. "Sent by the Inner Council."
Elira's gut dropped. "Why?"
"Because the stone stirred."
Individuals parted around them as they moved towards their next class like a wave parting. Where there once was scorn or mocking, now there was wariness. Even fear.
"Word gets around quickly," Elira complained.
"Magic creates ripples," Kael said. "And our connection is a storm."
---
Their Elemental Theory lesson was broken in ten minutes when Inquisitor Maerik arrived.
He didn't talk. He merely entered the class, his cloak of silver following him like a moonlight curtain, and fixed Elira with a cold glare.
"You," he growled. "Get up. Follow me."
Professor Aerwyn tried to speak out in defense, but Kael was beside Elira in the blink of an eye.
"Why," Kael spoke calmly.
Maerik raised an eyebrow. "By the Council's decree, I am responsible for all soulbond abnormalities. You can bring up the rear, Void Prince. But keep this in mind—if she resists, you won't enjoy it."
They escorted him out of the class room in silence. Elira's heart beat like a war drum, but she would not show fear.
The Council's chamber beneath the northern tower was circular and dark, lit only by suspended crystal flames. Maerik led them to the center platform.
"I've read the reports," he began, pacing. "A crestless girl arrives. Weeks later, she's soulbound to the most dangerous student here. Strange magical surges. A forbidden mark. Now, echoes from a sealed ruin."
He turned sharply. "What are you, Elira Thorne?"
She lifted her chin. "A student."
Maerik's lip curled. "And yet your bond burns brighter than any I've seen. Your blood carries power that shouldn't exist."
He raised a hand. Kael stepped forward, but too late.
A golden tether flared around Elira, yanking her forward. Pain lanced through her chest, through the bond, and Kael let out a strangled sound as if burned.
"STOP." His voice cracked with power. The crystal flames guttered.
Maerik's eyes snapped open. "Interessant. The bond protects her."
"It protects us both," Kael added, standing at Elira's side, panting. "Hurt her, and you make me weaker. Or do you desire a Voidstorm in your noble Council chambers?"
Maerik's gaze was piercing. But he lowered his hand.
"Very well. But understand this—your bond may be prophecy… or curse. And I shall discover the truth."
---
That night, Elira alone occupied the moon-dome of the Astronomy Tower. The stars twinkled so brightly, so ruthlessly distant.
Kael joined her to sit beside her. He said nothing, his silence speaking words.
"They will hunt us down, won't they?" she asked.
"They already are hunting us," Kael replied. "But we will survive."
"How can you be so sure?"
He stood before her, his eyes softer than she had ever seen. "Because I've seen what happens when I don't have control. I've seen what the Void does to me when I am left on my own."
He stroked her palm with tender care. "But with you… I feel it shift. As if it wants to protect, not destroy."
Elira looked down at their fingers threaded together.
"I do not want to be used by them in their prophecy," she whispered.
"Then we'll write our own."
And far above them, a shooting star carved across the sky, as if the world itself bore witness to their vow.