The moon was high, casting pale silver light through the tall windows of the eastern tower. The Academy slept, unaware—or perhaps pretending not to notice—that four students were about to cross a line no one was meant to cross.
Elara. Kieran. Darian. Me.
The team was complete, for now.
Each of us wore cloaks enchanted with mana-dampening thread, stolen from a long-abandoned scout locker in the eastern supply wing. If the Council detected us, we'd be labeled enemies of the institution.
But if we succeeded?
We'd learn why the Academy had been built on a lie.
Descent Into the Forbidden
The entrance was hidden beneath the east wing chapel—an older section of the Academy rarely visited anymore. Dust lay thick over every surface, undisturbed by student traffic.
We removed a stone panel beneath the altar, revealing a spiral stair that twisted deep into the earth.
Kieran held up a faintly glowing shard of Divin Crystal, modified to emit only the barest light. "You're sure this is the right passage?"
Elara checked the map she'd reconstructed from fragmented scrolls we'd stolen two nights ago. "This leads to the Sub-Arcane Vault. It predates the Academy. It's older than the central mana well."
Darian stared down into the darkness, arms crossed. "Whatever's down there… you sure we want to wake it?"
"I don't want to wake it," I said. "I want to understand it."
He snorted. "Same difference."
We descended in silence.
The staircase was endless, cut from smooth black stone, untouched by erosion. As we went deeper, the very air began to hum—low and steady, like the vibration of a sleeping beast beneath the surface.
When we reached the bottom, we found the Vault.
A massive circular door stood embedded into a wall of carved obsidian. The runes across its surface didn't glow—they absorbed light, casting faint shadows that pulsed in a slow rhythm.
At the center was a handprint. A lock.
Kieran looked at me. "Your turn."
I placed my hand against the metal.
The runes hissed. The door pulsed once.
Then it opened.
The Room That Breathes
We stepped into a vast, circular chamber lit by strange, floating crystals that didn't glow with mana—but with something else. Something cooler. Deeper.
At the far end was a pedestal.
And on it sat a box.
Plain. Silver. No symbols. No glow. Just a sealed container about the size of my chest.
Darian walked slowly around the edge of the room, glancing up at the dome-shaped ceiling.
"There's no dust," he muttered.
Kieran knelt beside the pedestal. "No signs of decay. Or wear."
Elara narrowed her eyes. "This chamber… it's preserved by Divin Fielding. Not mana."
Which meant whoever built it was from the forgotten continent.
Or worse—something older.
I stepped forward, the blade from the ruins strapped to my back pulsing as if recognizing the box. It had felt faint before, almost dormant. Now?
It was awake.
Waiting.
I reached out and touched the top of the box.
The Artifact Awakens
The moment I touched it, the room shook.
The box split apart—not with noise, but with a shimmer, like glass melting in reverse.
Inside, floating in midair, was a small black sphere, smooth and featureless except for the way light bent around it.
It was warm.
Not to the touch—but to the soul.
The moment I laid eyes on it, I remembered.
A storm of stars collapsing.Armies of thought and steel.The Harbinger standing before the final gate, holding this sphere aloft, calling forth something buried in time itself.
"It's not a weapon," I whispered. "It's a signal."
Elara's face paled. "A signal to what?"
I looked at them all.
"Not what. Who."
The Harbinger's Mark
The sphere pulsed once.
Dark light shot through the room, lancing across the walls like living shadows. The floor beneath us thrummed with power, revealing a massive symbol etched into the stone—one we hadn't seen before.
It was the same one I'd seen in my dreams.
A circle divided into seven parts, each containing a different sigil—each representing a Pathway.
Kieran's breath caught. "This… this is a convergence site."
"What's that?" Darian asked, squinting.
Elara answered, her voice low. "A place where multiple Pathways intersect. They're not supposed to exist anymore."
But they did.
And I was standing at the center of one.
The symbol glowed with dark fire. The sphere hovered into the air, then began to melt into a line of symbols that spun slowly, orbiting me like ancient satellites.
Then—
It branded itself into the floor beneath my feet.
And in that moment, I felt something change inside me.
Like a door had opened. A weight I hadn't realized was pressing down on me was suddenly lifted.
Kieran stepped back, eyes wide. "Sylas… look at your hand."
I held it up.
The skin shimmered. Beneath it, a mark had appeared—an eye-shaped sigil surrounded by seven smaller stars, pulsing faintly with energy.
The first Harbinger's Mark.
A Presence Unseen
Then the room darkened again.
The light of the floating crystals dimmed. The air grew thick.
And from the back of the chamber, a voice spoke.
"You were not meant to awaken this place."
We turned.
A figure stood in the shadows—no footsteps, no entrance. Clad in dark robes that flickered like smoke, their face hidden behind a blank silver mask.
The aura they exuded was not mana. Not Divin Force.
It was wrong.
Corrupted.
Kieran stepped forward. "You're a Watcher."
The figure tilted its head. "I am what remains of those who once watched. But now… I deliver."
"Deliver what?" Elara asked, her voice cold.
The figure's gaze settled on me.
"A message."
They raised a hand, and the floating symbols around me condensed back into the sphere, dropping into my palm.
Then the Watcher said a single phrase:
"The other continent stirs."
My blood ran cold.
"Prepare yourself, Endbringer. The old wars will burn anew. And this time—you must choose who to destroy."
Then they vanished, leaving only silence behind.
The First Spark
We stood there for a long time, none of us speaking.
Finally, Darian exhaled. "So. That happened."
Kieran turned to me. "You know what that means, right?"
I nodded. "The forgotten continent is on the move."
"They're not waiting anymore," Elara said quietly.
"They've seen the signs too," Kieran muttered. "They know the Forsaken are stirring."
"And we just lit the beacon," I said.
I looked down at the sphere.
At the mark on my hand.
"I think I just told the world I'm alive."