Chapter 28
Rynlee’s POV
I spotted Aiden and Alaric in the snowy field, locked in what looked like a brotherly snowball fight. A rare sight, really. Alaric tackled Aiden to the ground with a grin, and for once, Aiden didn’t immediately shove him off. He let the moment happen. I didn’t call out to them.
Instead, I lingered by the side, my green cloak catching the cold wind. It was officially December now, though the whole world had felt frozen long before winter arrived. It was strange standing out here and not seeing Firebeard.
This used to be our training ground. My gut twisted with worry; wherever he was, I hoped he was alive.
That he knew we hadn’t given up on him. A smile tugged at my lips as Aiden tossed a handful of snow straight at Alaric’s face.
But as my gaze wandered, it drifted to the yellow orb nestled against my chest.
I pulled it free, cupping it in my palm.
Hemera’s power still pulsed within it, warm and golden.
But there had been silence from her since the day she told me she thought she was going to die.
I missed her voice. Her light. My fingers reached into my satchel and retrieved one of the corrupted runes.
The second it neared the orb, it recoiled.
The shadow magic inside it flinched. It was afraid.
I narrowed my eyes, studying the jagged shape.
Maybe, just maybe, I could cleanse it. Burn out the darkness.
Restore whatever enchantment it once held before it was twisted.
I slipped both the orb and the rune away and turned, heading in the direction of the academy, my boots crunching in the snow.
Inside, the warmth of the stone corridors did little to ease the tension that always lingered now.
I was making my way toward the library when I nearly collided with someone rounding the corner.
“Aunt Mira,” I breathed, steadying her by the arms. Her golden eyes, normally soft and bright, looked glassy and dull. “You, okay?” I asked softly
“Rynlee… yes, I’m okay, I guess. Just…” she trailed off and took my hand, her fingers trembling slightly.
“The school feels different now. Heavier.” I saw it then, tears glistening at the corners of her eyes.
Mira never cried. Not in front of me. She was the calm in every storm.
But she wasn’t a soldier. She was a healer.
Without thinking, I pulled her into a hug.
She held onto me tighter than I had expected.
“It’s going to be okay, Mira,” I murmured, holding her close. “We’ll get through this.”
“I hope so,” she whispered into my hair. The scent of chamomile clung to her robes, grounding me like it always did. When we stepped apart, she quickly wiped at her eyes with a shaky laugh.
“Remember, we’re Yarrows. We can get through anything,” I said, offering a soft smile.
She chuckled. “Yes, we are. Besides, your mother would haunt me from the afterlife if I didn’t take care of you.”
I laughed, the sound easing something in both of us. “Ain’t that the truth. Nothing is worse than my mother’s wrath.” She smiled, brushing my cheek with her knuckles.
“Just ensure the nurses are prepared,” I added, my tone turning serious again. “Aiden has a plan. I think we’ll make it, but we’ll need every healer ready.”
She nodded, placing a hand over mine. “I can see it now. Why your father placed you here. He didn’t do it to push you away, Rynlee, he did it because he saw something in you.
Something strong. And now, so do I.” Her words landed heavily in my chest, stirring a feeling I hadn’t wanted to admit.
Maybe my father hadn’t abandoned me. Maybe…
he believed in me more than I ever had in myself.
“Yeah,” I said quietly, “I’m starting to see that, too.” I leaned in and hugged her one more time. “I love you, Mira.”
“I love you, too, Ryn. And please… be careful.” We stepped apart, heading in opposite directions: her to the infirmary, me toward the endless rows of dusty shelves and ancient secrets waiting in the library.
The library was nearly deserted now. No surprise there; there was no time for quiet study anymore, not with the academy on the brink of war.
Students had traded books for blades, parchment for power.
The silence felt heavier than usual as I stepped inside, the echo of my boots bouncing off the stone walls.
Dust floated in the beams of winter light filtering through the high stained-glass windows.
It smelled of old ink and forgotten secrets.
A place once full of knowledge… now almost forgotten.
I made my way toward the rune section at the far end, brushing past towering shelves that seemed to have not been touched in weeks.
I scanned the spines until my fingers landed on a worn leather tome, Runes of Power and Decay.
I pulled it down along with a few scrolls, their edges curling with age.
The faded ink hinted at forgotten magic, maybe something useful.
At one of the long oak tables, I spread the materials out and set a corrupted rune on the surface in front of me.
Its dark exterior pulsed faintly with that same sick magic I’d felt the day I first touched it. I opened the tome and began reading.
Runes contain etched channels, conduits of magic once pure or now perverted. To reveal the full carving of a rune, one must use light, sunlight, fire, or divine essence.
Narrowing my eyes, I summoned a flicker of firelight to my fingertips and engulfed the rune in flame.
The shadows inside it writhed for a moment before the carvings came to life, glowing softly in flickers of gold and violet.
They weren’t like any runes I had studied before.
The shapes twisted unnaturally, unfamiliar and almost… primordial.
Getting up, I wandered toward the section that housed books on forbidden magic.
The ones no one was supposed to look at.
I found a thick, dust-coated grimoire on the occult of black magic and another cataloging ancient symbols and their origins.
I flipped through them feverishly at the table, comparing sketches, cross-checking patterns, but none of the symbols matched.
Frustrated, I stood and made my way to the aisle on divine lore.
I wasn’t sure why, but something tugged me there.
Almost as if the orb at my collar was pulling me forward.
My fingers trailed over the volumes until I landed on a tome bound in deep blue leather: Primordial Pantheon: Forgotten Gods and Eternal Lore.
The name Erebus nearly leapt off the page when I opened it.
Erebus: the primordial god of darkness. A chill swept down my spine as I read.
The words clawed at the edges of my mind, confirming everything I had feared: “Erebus is the personification of shadow, the first darkness birthed before even light itself. Dwelling in the void between realms, he is said to have walked among the underworld long before gods ruled the heavens. His essence corrupts all it touches: dreams, minds, souls.”
I swallowed hard, fingers tightening on the page. So, he had been in our midst. Not just a gifted student with creepy eyes. Not just a manipulator. But a god. The kind of darkness that existed before creation even thought about fire. I kept reading.
“His powers include dream manipulation, fear illusion, and soul tethering. Often, Erebus bites or marks a target to form an anchoring bond. Through this bond, he may haunt dreams, manifest hallucinations, and in some cases control behavior if the connection remains strong.”
My heart skipped a beat. I remembered the shadowy creature I saw in the shower.
The fact I killed another student, thinking I was seeing a demon.
It hadn’t only been fear or instinct. It was him.
Aiden was right, so was Firebeard; Erebus had marked me.
That bite… That mark he left on my neck, it wasn’t just violence.
It was a claim. He had been tethering himself to me. Feeding off my light.
Trying to pull me into the dark so slowly I wouldn’t even notice until I was already drowning in it.
But something had weakened that bond. Maybe Hemera’s power.
Maybe the bond with Aiden. Maybe me. Still, Erebus was attempting to find his way back in.
And Ivy had to be helping him from the beginning, sneaking him in here, setting up the fights so he could get close to me, and forging the cadet roster. Everything made sense.
All the pieces were falling into place like shattered glass coming together again. Erebus hadn’t only been after the students. He had been after me. And not just me… Hemera.
Her light. Her legacy.
Suddenly, a deafening boom shook the library, rattling the ancient windows in their panes. My heart leapt as I instinctively grabbed the corrupted rune and shoved it back into my satchel. Another blast echoed overhead, and I sprinted toward the nearest window.
The wards were under attack. Light exploded across the sky in a ripple of golden shields as fireballs crashed against the magical barrier. Sparks rained down like meteors. The protective dome around the academy flickered, strained but still holding, for now.
Panic roared to life in my chest. I bolted from the library, my boots echoing sharply down the corridor as the distant screams and chaos of cadets broke through the calm.
First years, terrified and unprepared, scrambled in every direction.
I wove between them, heart pounding. I had to find my friends.
Aiden. Alaric. Were they still outside? Shoving my way through the doors of the feeding hall, I found a group of cadets inside.
They looked lost, wide-eyed, and unsure where to go. But then— “Rynlee!” Luna called out. Relief flooded me as I spotted her near the back, Ryan standing protectively beside her with a dagger already drawn and palmed. I rushed over.
“It’s happening,” Luna said, voice tight as her olive eyes searched mine. Her dark hair was secured into a high ponytail, but strands had come loose, whipping in the wind from the open doors.
“Yeah,” I replied breathlessly. “The wards are taking direct hits now.”
Ryan gave a sharp nod, jaw clenched. “What do we do?”
“You two stay together,” I told them quickly, my gaze darting around. “I’m going to look for Gia and Jackson.” But before I could turn, the academy’s summoning bells rang, three rapid tolls. A signal to gather in the courtyard.
“Come on,” Ryan said. “We’ll find them there.”
We joined the wave of students flowing out of the dining hall and into the open space. The sky above was storm-gray, and the golden shimmer of the wards flickered wildly. More flaming debris slammed into the dome, sending ripples of magic through the clouds.
“Listen up!” Aiden’s voice cut through the chaos like a blade, commanding and steady.
My eyes scanned the crowd until I found him standing on the wooden platform at the center of the courtyard.
The same place his father once stood. But now, Aiden stood alone, taller, fiercer, and somehow…
more. Gia appeared at my side, grabbing my hand.
Jackson was right behind her, his usual carefree grin replaced by a grim, set jaw.
I squeezed Gia’s fingers, giving her a quick smile of reassurance, then turned back toward the stage.
Jasmine and Brandon were at Aiden’s sides, both armed and alert.
But one name was glaringly absent. Ivy. Where the hell was she?
“War is now among us,” Aiden declared, his voice rising with each word, “and this is the moment we’ve all been training for.
I know it’s scary. I know most of you are only first years.
But we are the Fourfold Rite; we were born for this.
” The air around me pulsed with a shift.
Gasps turned into silence. Whispers of courage spread like sparks.
Aiden continued, his gaze sweeping across us like firelight.
“Erebus is the enemy. Anyone who stands with him, anyone who raises a weapon against us, is the enemy. But we stand together. We fight for each other. We fight for what’s right.
” Alaric stepped beside me, taking my free hand.
His fingers slid between mine, grounding me.
I didn’t even glance at him; I couldn’t take my eyes off Aiden.
His presence radiated command. Power. A fire began to spark in my chest. “Now let’s go out there,” Aiden finished, his voice thunderous, “and show those bastards why we’re not to be messed with!” A cheer broke out in the courtyard, raw, loud, fierce.
Second-years, third years, even first-years joined in.
The fear in our chests was still there, but something new rose up with it.
Defiance. Unity. Purpose. As Aiden stepped off the stage, his eyes found mine across the crowd.
Our gazes locked. Just for a second. Just long enough for that fire in my chest to flare brighter.
The bond between us buzzed quietly in the background, a silent acknowledgment passing between us.
And then he turned away, toward the professors, toward the battlefield rising beyond the wards. The war had come.
But so had we.