The purple sky of Arcania shimmered as if filled with liquid amethyst. The air rang with a strange tension, as if each breath filled his lungs not with oxygen, but with magic itself.
"What is this place?" I asked, still clutching the book. She was warm now, as if she had been dozing after a burst of energy.
The shadow girl crossed her arms.
"It's a world where magic doesn't hide. Where she is not caught, banned, or locked up in laboratories. She nodded towards the floating castle. — And this is the Eternal Flame Academy. People like you study there.
"How am I?"
— The awakened ones.
I wanted to ask what it meant, but at that moment the book in my hands twitched. The pages turned over by themselves, opening a new section — "Acceptance".
The text lit up:
"1. Touch the ground.
2. Say your name.
3. Accept the gift."
I hesitated.
"Are you afraid?" The girl laughed, and her voice sounded like the rustle of the wind in a dark forest.
"I was almost killed just now, yanked out of my world and thrown onto the roof of a skyscraper in a world with flying castles. Yes, I'm a little scared!
She shook her head.
— Fear is normal. But if you don't do it now, the Book will fall asleep again. And without her..." She didn't finish, but I understood.
I knelt down, pressed my palm to the cold surface of the roof, and whispered,
"Sato."
Immediately, the ground exploded with light.
Rays similar to lightning, but dark blue, like the depths of the ocean, burst out from under my hand and wrapped around my body. Pain shot through every cell—not burning, but icy, as if I were being disassembled into molecules and reassembled.
"What's going on?" I tried to pull my hand away, but I couldn't move.
"Your gift,— the girl said, watching with interest. "He chooses you.
Suddenly, the pain was replaced by silence.
Absolutely.
I stopped breathing.
I stopped feeling it.
And at that moment I saw it.
Not with my eyes, but with something deeper.
* Shadows*.
They were everywhere—not just the absence of light, but alive, writhing like black snakes. They wrapped around buildings, flowed between people in the streets below, and entered their mouths when they inhaled.
"You're a Seer,— the girl whispered.
I inhaled sharply, and the vision disappeared.
"What was that?"
"Your gift." You see a Shadow—a real One, not the puppet magic that is used in this world. She leaned closer. — It's rare. Very.
I got to my feet, trembling. The book in my hands now glowed with a barely noticeable blue halo.
"Why am I...?
" But now you have two options. She held up a finger. — The first one is to go down and try to survive on your own before the agents from your world find a way in here. — The second finger. — The second one: come with me.
"Where to?"
— To the Academy.
I looked at the floating castle.
"What's in there?"
She grinned.
—Enemies. Friends. And the answers to the questions you didn't even have time to ask.
There was a crash somewhere below, as if something huge had fallen. Then the screams.
"They're already here,— her voice became harsh. — Choose one.
I looked at the book.
She was pulsing in time with my heart.
"Come on."
The girl held out her hand.
— By the way, my name is Lyra.
I took her hand.
— Sato.
— I know.
She snapped her fingers, and the darkness swallowed us up again.
This time, when she retreated, we were standing in front of the Academy's gates.
Huge, black, covered with runes that moved like worms.
—Welcome to the game, Sato," Lyra whispered.
The gate creaked open.
And something inside me stirred in response.