The creature was gone.
Or at least… that's what they told themselves.
After the battle in the Hall of Replacements, the sanctuary returned to a strained sort of peace.
Magic stabilizers hummed beneath the floor. Mirrors were sealed in enchanted vaults. Students were restricted from entering any corridor that hadn't been re-scanned by Nadia or Halcyra.
But peace was a fragile thing.
And Eleanor could still feel it.
Something… ticking.
Not a sound.
A pressure.
Like time hesitating.
Like fate watching.
The Missing Echoes
Even after the chamber was cleared, four students didn't return. Calen's reflection was lost. Another student, Liris, spoke only in mirror phrases now: reversed speech that made glass crack.
Tobias hadn't touched his instruments since the battle. His hands shook at night, as though his soul still trembled from a song the creature had sung.
Mira stopped dreaming entirely.
Sarai tattooed a new glyph on her skin every day, but none of them stayed.
