Date: Week After the Fifth Disappearance
Location: Medical Wing – Academy of the Seven Sigils
I'm alive.
Barely.
---
I followed Hank.
It was reckless, yes — but I'd done the math.
Too many vanishings. Too many inconsistencies.
He was always near the missing. Always just away from suspicion.
That night, I left a note under Leander's pillow.
A contingency rune behind the bookshelf.
And a secondary trigger in the fourth column of the central hall — a location-tracking seal.
I was ready.
Or… I thought I was.
---
They were waiting.
Not just Hank.
Not just one.
Three mirror holders.
Slime-creatures birthed from pure mana contamination.
B-rank, intelligent, cold.
Shapeshifters that do not kill for sport — but for something darker.
They steal forms, yes — but not randomly.
They study you first. Learn your speech, your gait, your habits.
And yet… they didn't kill the students.
They kept them.
Not as prisoners.
As offerings.
To something older.
> "The Eyes Above see only what moves," one of them hissed.
"But if the prey stills… if it doesn't scream… they won't look twice."
They were hiding from the gods.
Corrupted gods — the ones who twist faith and demand blood.
These creatures are building a ritual.
The students are sacrifices.
---
I held them off.
No, I didn't win.
But I bought time.
I bled. My ribs are fractured.
But I survived long enough for the seal to activate.
Riya and Alice found it. They triggered the backup signal.
Professors came.
Too late to catch the monsters — but not too late for me.
Not too late for the others.
---
Five students, still breathing.
Drugged. Scared. Changed.
But alive.
David returned that morning.
Eyes sharper than I've ever seen them. Mireille too.
They didn't scold me.
Didn't praise me either.
They only said:
> "You did what no one else dared.
And you survived. That alone… is enough."
---
I'm not the strongest.
Not even close.
But I think, and I prepare, and I trust my team.
The title others whisper now —
Silent Tactician —
I don't carry it with pride.
I carry it like a weight.
Because silence… is what saved us.
Silence, and trust.
---
The Academy is safe.
For now.
But something is still watching.
From above. From below.
And I think…
I may have just painted a target on my back.
---