Kael had never seen the headmaster like this.
Not in the lectures, not during the orientation weeks, not even when the sky dome cracked during last cycle's meteor glitch. Yven's calm had always been legendary—imperial, unshaken. But now… his voice was edged with something else.
Fear.
They sat across from one another at Kael's narrow dorm desk, a thin energy barrier humming quietly between the room and the rest of the Academy hall. Yven had set it up the moment he entered.
Kael stared down at the disc on the table between them. "It's not just a relic, is it?"
Yven leaned forward. "No. It's Epoch-tech. Ancient. Forbidden. And alive in ways that most wouldn't understand. Where did you find it?"
Kael hesitated. "It… found me. I was in the archives. It activated when I touched it."
Yven's face tightened. "You weren't supposed to touch anything in there. Those artifacts are sealed for a reason."
"I didn't mean to," Kael muttered, then looked up. "What did you mean by Overseers being scavengers?"
The headmaster stood, pacing in the tight space. "You think the Federation sent them here to protect peace. But they don't care about peace. They care about containment. Control. They've been collecting Epoch relics for decades—and eliminating anyone who bonds with one."
Kael felt cold. "Why?"
"Because Epoch-tech doesn't choose randomly. It remembers. It binds. And once it does… it changes you."
Kael blinked. "Changes how?"
Yven looked at him long and hard. "It awakens what was buried. Power that belonged to the old universe. Power that could fracture this one."
Kael laughed nervously. "I'm just a failed initiate. I couldn't even light a basic spirit flame."
"And now you're dreaming of the Shardborn."
Kael's voice caught in his throat.
"How do you know that?"
Yven's expression was unreadable. "Because I was one too."
Silence slammed into the room.
"You?" Kael whispered.
Yven nodded. "Decades ago. My bond was severed before it fully matured, but I remember enough. The dreams. The voices. The pull toward something vast and ancient, buried beneath all this civilization and protocol."
He turned, hands behind his back. "I swore I would never let another child fall into it blind."
Kael's mind reeled.
"Why are you telling me this now?"
"Because once the Overseers sense the pulse from that disc, they'll come. And when they do, they won't ask questions. You'll be labeled an unstable cultivator. Your mind repressed. Possibly wiped."
Kael's stomach clenched.
"So what do I do?"
Yven met his eyes. "You run."
Kael blinked. "Run where?"
"To the Stoneveil."
Kael frowned. "The mountains?"
Yven nodded. "There's a gate there. An ancient one. And the girl in your dream—she was real. Her memory is anchored to it."
The disc pulsed faintly between them, as if in agreement.
Kael reached for it, fingers hovering.
"Will it… protect me?"
"No," Yven said softly. "It will test you."
Kael closed his hand around the disc. The warmth was undeniable.
He stood, the decision clicking into place inside him.
"When do I leave?"
Yven handed him a black satchel from inside his robes. "Now. You have less than an hour before they triangulate the burst. I've erased this conversation from the system, but that won't stop their hounds."
Kael took the satchel. "Will you be okay?"
Yven smiled sadly. "They've been hunting ghosts for years, Kael. Maybe it's time they found one."
Kael hesitated—then bowed.
Not out of fear.
But gratitude.
Without another word, he stepped out into the corridor, cloak pulled tight, disc in hand.
The academy had never felt colder.