Chapter 13: The Path Between Walls
One Week Later – South Courtyard, Dawn.
The Academy basked in the pinkish haze of morning light. Students shuffled to early drills, yawning, oblivious. But beneath that mundane rhythm, a storm brewed.
Kairos stood at the southern perimeter, his shadow long and still. Crimson strands of his hair flickered in the rising breeze. He stared at the black-iron gate beyond which lay a city broken by ash and screams.
His hand tightened around a folded parchment. It was a coded map. Smuggled to him through discreet channels. Marked: Silvarn Row – Shelter Point: Possible survivors.
His family's last known location.
Selene arrived moments later, a hood covering her moonlit hair. Her steps were silent, measured. Her gaze was sharper than usual.
"I knew you'd be here," she said, stepping to his side.
Kairos didn't look at her at first. "They might still be alive. But not for long."
Selene tilted her head, eyes narrowing. "Then why wait?"
Kairos finally turned. "Because power alone isn't enough. If I leave now, I die. And they're next."
She took a breath and nodded. "You're not going alone."
Kairos exhaled, his jaw tightening. "If I don't return—"
"I'll burn the gates myself," she said quietly. "And drag your stubborn ass back."
He gave a faint smile.
---
Later That Day – Sealed Altar, Deep Hollow Vault.
The sealed altar pulsed like a heart buried in stone.
The path leading here was ancient, closed off with rusted sigils, the kind only decipherable with blood and intent. It hadn't been touched in decades. Whispers surrounded the chamber—phantoms of the past, echoing screams of long-dead flamebound initiates.
Kairos knelt, his palm flat against the cold stone, Selene standing behind him with her arms crossed tightly, as if bracing for something neither of them could predict.
He let his power sink into the altar.
Pain came fast. Searing. A burning thread laced with memory, slicing into his mind.
Visions slammed into his mind.
—A boy playing with two younger sisters near a rusted water pipe, their laughter pure in a world already dark. —A mother with burned hands cooking despite pain, tears falling unseen into the pot. —A father coughing blood as he hoisted sandbags to cover an open window, shielding his family from the falling ash.
Then came flames, smoke, collapse. Screams swallowed by silence.
Kairos gasped, staggering backward as if punched in the gut. He would've fallen if Selene hadn't caught him.
"They're alive..." he whispered, voice hoarse. "They're fighting."
Selene didn't smile. Instead, she held him upright, face unreadable. "Then we fight harder. Together."
He nodded.
---
Two Days Later – Tower of Trials, Final Chamber.
The Tower of Trials loomed like a jagged fang in the Academy's northern sector. Blackened stone coiled upward like petrified smoke. At its peak, the entrance to the final chamber stood open, but not welcoming.
The final test awaited.
Students rarely passed it. Many didn't even try. Those who did returned... different. If they returned at all.
Kairos approached the entrance, shirtless again—his newly inscribed marks glowing like molten iron across his torso. The runes shifted, almost breathing.
At the top of the stairwell, the final inscription hovered in the air, etched in golden flame:
"Enter not as student, but as flame reborn."
Selene walked beside him, but stopped just before the archway.
"I can't go in," she said. "Not this part."
"I know."
He turned, held her gaze a moment longer than he meant to.
"Don't die," she said.
"Not yet."
Kairos stepped forward.
The door closed behind him, and the flames rose to greet their heir.