Chapter 12: Cinders in the Blood
Three Days Later – Western Training Annex.
Steam hissed through fractured pipes as the underground annex trembled under the strain of awakened mana. The chamber was long abandoned—deemed too volatile after a student had been reduced to ash mid-ritual.
Yet here Kairos stood, shirtless again, markings on his skin now pulsing like an open wound. In front of him, Selene watched from the edge of the sigil circle, arms folded, a mix of awe and concern in her violet gaze.
"You're sure about this?" she asked.
"I need more power if I'm to make it across the city," Kairos replied.
He didn't say what they both already knew—that it wasn't just for power.
It was for his family.
Selene stepped forward, eyes narrowing. "Then I'm helping."
She bit her palm without hesitation, allowing a drop of her blood to fall onto the central glyph. Crimson met crimson—hers cooler, more silvered, his dark and molten.
The room howled.
Magic surged. Fire spiraled. Pain bit deep.
Kairos screamed—but he didn't stop. Not this time.
---
Later That Night – Baths Beneath the Dormitories.
Steam clouded the tiled chamber. The Academy's hidden bathhouse was a luxury few used, mostly forgotten by the newer students.
Kairos lowered himself into the obsidian pool, hissing slightly as hot water kissed fresh sigils now burned into his arms and chest.
Selene entered moments later, robed loosely, then shed the garment like a discarded thought.
She slipped into the water beside him, her skin a contrast of smooth moonlight against the faint glow of fire dancing along his scars.
They didn't speak for a while. The warmth of the water, the silence, the closeness—it all blurred the lines between pain and peace.
"Your marks changed," she finally said.
"They're evolving," he murmured.
She pressed a kiss to his collarbone.
"And you're still mine?"
Kairos met her eyes. "Always."
Selene smiled—then climbed into his lap.
---
Next Morning – Dean's Tower.
The Academy's highest spire pierced the storm clouds like a dagger to the sky. Within it, the Dean sat cloaked in deep emerald, eyes focused on a floating crystalline map of the city.
Beside her, a younger man, cloaked in violet, spoke. "He's nearing the threshold. If he continues..."
"He'll either break," the Dean said calmly, "or ascend."
She tapped the map.
"And if he tries to leave the Academy grounds..."
She didn't finish the sentence.
The map flared, and Kairos' flame-shaped rune burned at its center.