Chapter Five: Yesterday's Bad News
Morning arrived quietly over Spēju Akadēmija.
Golden sunlight filtered through the towering crystal windows of the East Dormitory, painting long streaks of light across polished wooden floors. Outside, a cool breeze carried the scent of dew-soaked grass and blooming moon lilies from the academy gardens Somewhere in the distance, the cheerful and echanted birds chirped their customary tunes, creating a peaceful symphony beneath the morning sky while it echoed through the campus, blending with the faint toll of the morning bell and like tiny living petals, butterflies floated among the flowers, collecting their daily nectar beneath the warm embrace of the sun.
For most students, it was the beginning of another exciting day but for Darkus, it felt as though the academy had never slept.
His eyes slowly fluttered open, welcoming the gentle sunrays that slipped through the narrow gap in his curtains. He squinted, giving his vision a moment to adjust to the sudden brightness as the golden morning light bathed his room in a warm, tranquil glow. Darkus remained motionless, staring blankly at the unfamiliar ceiling above him for a several moments while thinking back about what happened yesterday.
The events of yesterday replayed one after another inside his mind— The Grand Session Hall, The Headmaster's speech, The strange academy rule, The ancient bell and the girl— the girl who had been laughing only moments before she disappeared without a trace.
"..."
Darkus sat upright, rubbing his temples.
But it wasn't a dream. Everything had felt too real.
The sound of the bell still lingered in his ears. The cold breeze. The faint giggle that had whispered beside his ear. He remembered each of them with unsettling clarity, yet the more he dwelled on those memories, the stranger they became. It was as though they belonged to a dream that refused to fade— or a reality that had never truly ended.
How had she vanished?
There had been hundreds of students walking through the corridor. Someone should have seen her leave. Someone should have noticed.
Unless...
Darkus immediately shook his head.
"No."
There had to be a logical explanation.
Maybe she simply slipped into another hallway while he was distracted.
That had to be it.
He refused to entertain anything else.
After changing into his academy uniform, he stepped outside his dormitory.
The morning air was refreshingly cool.
Students filled the stone pathways, chatting excitedly as they hurried toward their first classes. Some carried thick books nearly as large as their torsos, while others practiced simple spells that danced like colorful fireflies around their fingertips.
The academy no longer carried yesterday's solemn atmosphere.
It looked...
Normal.
Too normal.
Darkus walked in silence.
As he passed several groups of freshmen, fragments of conversation reached his ears.
"... I heard the Sword Department has over three hundred applicants." One said with cheerful tone.
"They say the library is haunted." His friend added with a horror in her voice.
"My roommate kept talking in his sleep."
"No, that's nothing. I heard someone crying outside the dormitories last night."
Darkus slowed. That last one caught his attention.
"... Someone crying?"
One of the students laughed nervously.
"Probably just another rumor."
The group continued walking.
Darkus stood where he was.
He remembered the academy rule.
"Should you hear someone calling your name after curfew, do not answer."
His gaze unconsciously drifted toward the tallest bell tower.
Morning sunlight bathed its ancient stones.
Nothing seemed unusual but for reasons he couldn't explain the tower felt like it was watching the academy.
Watching everyone.
"... You're staring pretty hard."
He was pulled from his thoughts by a cheerful voice that suddenly spoke from behind him.
Darkus froze.
That voice.
He immediately turned around and standing there with a bright grin was the same girl from yesterday.
As though nothing had happened. As though disappearing into thin air had been perfectly ordinary.
She waved enthusiastically.
"Morning!"
Darkus stared.
"..."
"..."
"... You're alive."
The girl blinked twice.
"I certainly hope so."
"You disappeared."
"I did?"
"You vanished."
She tilted her head.
"I just went back to my dorm."
Darkus frowned.
"... No."
"You disappeared."
She placed a finger on her chin, pretending to think.
"Hmm..."
"Oh."
"I might've."
"... Might've?"
She smiled.
"I forget things sometimes."
Darkus could feel another headache coming.
"... That's not something people forget."
She laughed.
"Depends on the person." She chuckled.
He couldn't tell whether she was avoiding the question or genuinely didn't remember but even before he could press further, another student accidentally glanced in their direction.
The student's face immediately turned pale.
"... Bad News..." They said in unison.
One friend grabbed the other's arm.
"Let's go." He said after, in a haste to left the around the vicinity.
Within moments, several nearby students quietly changed direction, just like yesterday, the invisible circle around her returned.
Darkus watched the scene unfold, this time he didn't look at the students, he looked at her.
She laughed. She smiled. She waved at everyone leaving, but her eyes were quietly lowering toward the ground and for the second time since meeting her Darkus realized something...
The loudest person in the academy was also the loneliest.
A strange feeling settled in his chest. He had come to Spēju Akadēmija seeking peace. Instead, on only his second day he found himself becoming increasingly curious about the one mystery he had sworn to avoid.
Darkus shakes the thoughts off before the two of them continued walking, with BN annoying him.
≈≈≈≈≈
High above the academy, beyond the towering spires and concealed behind layers of drifting clouds, a lone raven remained perched upon an unseen ledge.
It neither cawed nor spread its wings.
It simply watched.
Its crimson eyes, glowing like dying embers beneath the silver veil of the clouds, followed the two figures walking side by side through the academy grounds. The boy who sought answers. The girl who carried far too many questions.
To everyone else, they were merely two first-year students heading toward an uncertain future.
But to the raven, they were something else entirely. Its unblinking gaze lingered upon them, as though witnessing a scene it had already seen countless times before. A meeting that had been written long before either of them had taken their first breath. A reunion orchestrated not by chance, but by a force older than kingdoms, older than the academy itself.
Somewhere beyond the reach of mortal eyes, invisible threads slowly stirred. One thread reached toward another. Then another. Until countless strands intertwined, weaving an intricate tapestry that no blade could sever and no hand could unravel.
A thread of fate that could never be broken.
A whisper carried upon the wind that could never be mistaken.
A story whose ending had yet to be written, yet whose beginning had already been set into motion.
Neither Darkus nor Laima realized it.
Neither of them noticed the unseen eyes watching from above, nor did they hear the silent gears of destiny turning with every step they took.
For every choice they would make from this day onward...
Every victory.
Every betrayal.
Every loss.
Every sacrifice.
Every life they would save...
And every life they would fail to protect...
...would trace its origin back to this very moment.
The academy had opened its gates.
The pieces had taken their places upon the board.
The players had unknowingly made their first move.
And somewhere within the endless silence beyond the heavens, something smiled.
The game...
...had only just begun.