The moment the Academy gates came into view through the thick forest canopy, I felt it—the weight of returning to a place that no longer felt like home.
We had left as students.
We were coming back as something else entirely.
Kieran moved silently beside me, his cloak still streaked with dust from the ruins. Neither of us spoke during the final stretch of the journey. The forest behind us held too many secrets, and the blade strapped to my back—the Servant's weapon—hummed with an energy that didn't belong in this world.
Or maybe it did.
Maybe it belonged to me.
"You were the first," the Servant had said. The first of what?
I didn't have answers yet.
But I could feel one thing with complete certainty.
The Harbinger was real. And it was moving.
The Return
The Academy was unusually quiet when we entered through the rear access trail—a rarely used path built for servants and tradesmen. It was the safest way to slip back in without drawing too much attention.
I expected guards. A waiting instructor. Maybe even an ambush.
But there was nothing.
That unsettled me more than if they had been waiting.
"They know," Kieran muttered beside me. "But they're choosing not to act. Yet."
I glanced at him. "Waiting for proof?"
He nodded. "Or for us to walk into their trap willingly."
I exhaled through my nose and tightened the straps on my gear.
"Let them try."
Whispers in the Hall
Despite our efforts to be discreet, news of our return spread faster than wildfire.
By the time we reached the eastern wing, several students were already whispering behind their books. Elara found us within minutes, storming down the corridor with her silver-blonde hair whipping behind her like a flag in a storm.
"Are you insane?" she hissed, dragging me into a side hallway. "You've been gone for four days!"
"I know," I said calmly.
"They've been searching the entire Academy! Some instructors thought you were kidnapped, others thought you ran off to join a cult!"
"Technically, I ran off to fight one."
She glared. "Not funny."
Kieran chuckled. "I thought it was."
Elara turned on him. "And you—whatever twisted scheme you're pulling Sylas into, it stops now."
He met her glare evenly. "He's pulling me in just as much as I'm pulling him."
I placed a hand on her arm. "Elara, I'll explain everything. Just not here. Tonight. The hidden archive room—you know the one."
She looked between the two of us, eyes filled with fire, then finally nodded. "Fine. But you better not vanish again without telling me."
The Blade's Presence
That night, in the archive room, I unwrapped the weapon.
Even in the warm, lantern-lit air, the room grew colder the moment the Servant's sword was exposed.
Elara took a step back. "That thing isn't normal."
"No," I said, laying it on the table. "It isn't. But it's not entirely evil, either."
Kieran folded his arms. "It's a vessel. A conduit left behind by something that knew we would need it."
Elara's gaze shifted to me. "You're different. Since you left."
I didn't respond immediately.
What could I say? That I had found an echo of my past life? That I may have once served—or led—the very things we were trying to destroy?
So instead, I told her the truth I could bear.
"There's something bigger than all of us. Bigger than the Academy. Than mana. There's a force out there—ancient, watching, waiting. We've only scratched the surface."
"And this Harbinger?" she asked quietly.
Kieran answered. "It's a title. One given to those who lead the return of the Forsaken. We don't know who they are yet."
I looked at the sword.
But I had a feeling I would soon.
The Council Moves
While we planned our next steps, the Academy's leadership began to move.
The Council of Scholars—a group rarely seen outside of formal ceremonies—called an emergency meeting in the upper chambers of the Observatory Tower.
From what Kieran overheard, they weren't just reviewing recent disruptions.
They were initiating surveillance on key students.
Including us.
"I saw the list," Kieran told me the next morning. "Your name. Mine. Elara's. Even Darian Voss is on it."
"Darian?" I raised a brow.
"He's been asking questions. Loudly."
I smirked. "Sounds like him."
"They've started scanning dorms for forbidden artifacts. I give it two days before they inspect yours."
I glanced at the sword. "Then I need to move it."
Kieran nodded. "I'll help."
But even as we prepared to hide what we'd brought back, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were already too late.
The Harbinger Moves
That night, I had another vision.
Not a memory.
A message.
I stood on a cliffside, overlooking an endless black sea. The sky above was filled with gears, turning slowly, as if the heavens were driven by some forgotten machine.
In the distance stood a figure clad in pale armor, their face hidden behind a mask of glass and iron. They held a staff topped with a symbol I recognized from the Servant's blade.
The symbol of the Harbinger.
Their voice echoed across the sea.
"The world slumbers, dreaming of peace.But the storm has already arrived."
"The gods you know are liars. The gods you fear are coming home."
"And you… Valec…
You are the key."
I jolted awake, drenched in sweat, the sword beside my bed humming softly with energy.
They weren't just sending Servants now.
They were watching me. Speaking to me. Preparing something.
A Storm on the Horizon
By the next day, signs of instability began to emerge around the Academy.
Students reported mana interference during spells. Entire classrooms experienced time distortions, where minutes passed in seconds—or hours.
The head instructors tried to explain it away as residual tournament energy, but everyone knew that was a lie.
Something was warping reality.
And deep down, I knew it was a precursor.
The calm before the storm.
Elara, Kieran, and I reconvened beneath the school's chapel in one of the old prayer catacombs. We needed to prepare. We needed to move fast.
I laid the blade between us.
"This isn't just a weapon. It's a compass."
Kieran nodded. "Agreed. It's responding to something we can't see yet."
Elara crossed her arms. "Then what's the plan?"
I looked at them both.
"We wait for the Council to make their move. When they do, we'll know who's really involved."
Kieran arched a brow. "And until then?"
I stood, adjusting the wraps on my arm.
"Until then… we train."