The relic wasn't supposed to react.
It had sat dormant in the Academy's vault for over a century—an obsidian amulet etched with star-script, sealed behind five wards, and labeled "Not to be touched under any circumstances."
So, naturally, Elias touched it.
He hadn't meant to. He was just passing the display on his way to the deeper archives when the amulet pulsed—once, like a heartbeat.
Then again.
Then it lit up like a falling star.
A surge of silver fire flooded the corridor, spiraling upward around him. Scripts unwound from the amulet, glowing mid-air, forming one word:
"Spellwoven."
The energy struck him in the chest—and Elias collapsed.
---
Kael heard the blast from the east tower.
He was mid-conversation with Professor Thistle when the surge rolled across the stone, humming through his bones like an old tune suddenly remembered.
"Elias," he breathed.
He ran before anyone could stop him.
---
Japer arrived moments after Kael, out of breath and still in his night robe. The sight that greeted them stopped both cold.
Elias was on the floor, surrounded by ash spirals. His hands were glowing faintly, as if something inside him had been pulled halfway out—and was still deciding whether to return.
"Is he—?" Japer began.
Kael knelt beside him, pressing two fingers to Elias's wrist. "He's breathing."
Japer crouched beside him, his voice low. "That relic wasn't supposed to respond to anyone."
"Well, it responded to him," Kael snapped. "What the hell does that mean?"
Japer stared at Elias's face—strangely peaceful, for once.
"It means," Japer said carefully, "he's not just some forgotten heir or scholar with a tragic backstory. He's something older."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "You knew?"
"I suspected."
"You let him walk around unguarded?"
"I didn't think it would wake."
The tension between them crackled like dry wood.
Before Kael could say something sharper, Elias stirred.
---
He woke slowly.
The ceiling looked unfamiliar. The light was wrong.
Then Kael leaned into view, expression a strange mix of relief and restraint.
"You're awake."
"Are you—hovering?"
Kael leaned back. "Wasn't worried or anything. You just exploded."
Japer's voice chimed in dryly from the corner. "Congratulations, Elias. You've officially become a magical hazard."
Elias sat up, wincing. "The amulet…"
"It recognized you," Japer said, serious now. "It called you Spellwoven."
Elias swallowed. "I've seen that word before. In my mother's notes. It's older than the houses. Older than the Academy."
Kael crossed his arms. "So what are you?"
"I don't know," Elias admitted. "But I think it's starting to wake up. Inside me."
---
Later that night, after the professors had scolded, healed, and declared Elias temporarily off-limits to relics, Kael and Japer sat in the moonlit common room in tense silence.
"He's going to be hunted," Japer said.
Kael nodded. "Which means we either leave him or—"
"—stand in the way."
Kael stared at the fire. "You planning to be noble all of a sudden?"
Japer didn't answer. Just looked toward the hallway where Elias had gone.
"Not noble," he said. "Just tangled. Like the rest of you."