The towering doors of the Veltharion Council Hall opened with a groaning resonance, echoing across the ancient dome like a warning. Light spilled through stained-glass windows, scattering violet and gold across the marble floor.
At the far end sat the High Council of Echo Affairs, arranged in a crescent.House leaders.Elders.Echo scholars.The Academy's highest authorities.
And at the center of them all — the sharp, cold gaze of High Matron Ka'tarel, Saphine's grandmother, shoulders stiff with disapproval.
Saphine Ka'tarel entered beside Eris Vale, her shadow.
The crowd whispered.
"She survived…""And he stands beside her.""Akasha… awakened?""The elder who fought him still can't speak.""Be silent — they're here."
They walked to the center of the hall.Saphine's hands trembled.Eris's did not.
Far away, in the restricted infirmary wing, Alia slept under layered wards.Even asleep, her presence flickered — a soft ripple of power traveling through the thread of connection Valari had set up for safety.
A faint pulse.Almost like she heard what was happening.
Eris's gaze twitched briefly.He smiled.
They reached the dais.
A judge-proctor slammed a crystal staff on stone.
"Begin the Inquiry."
Accusation One: Collapse of the Resonant Hollow
Lord Verradine Calvess rose first.
"Eris Vale. Saphine Ka'tarel.The Resonant Hollow collapsed under your interference.Explain yourselves."
Eris tilted his head, almost bored.
"It collapsed because it had exceeded its temporal limit.Not because I inhaled too aggressively."
Saphine elbowed him.
Some council members sputtered indignantly.
Eris continued:
"Rifts woven from multiple timelines degrade after one century.This one endured two hundred and fifty-three.It fell apart naturally."
A hush.
Professor Myr murmured, "He's correct…"
Alia's ward-thread flickered — a faint confirmatory ripple.
The recording stones glowed.
Accusation One: INVALID.
Accusation Two: Illegal Resonance Activation
Lady Koralis stood, jaw tight.
"You activated Resonance.A forbidden technique capable of destabilizing entire cities."
Saphine's stomach dropped.
Eris calmly stepped forward.
"Correction: I activated Resonance.Saphine merely survived it."
"ERIS—!"She flushed bright red.
He smiled angelically.
Koralis snarled, "You admit to violating Echo Law?"
"Law prohibits unstable Resonance.Mine was stable."
"How—!"
"Because I'm me."
Somewhere, a scholar muffled a laugh into a sleeve.
Saphine covered her face.
The wardstones shimmered — the Resonance signature on record was stable, not destructive.
A faint pulse came again from afar — Alia's sleeping Echo fluttering.
Accusation Two: WEAKENED.
Accusation Three: Assault on a Ka'tarel Elder
The room stiffened.
High Elder Terva Ka'tarel rose, fury trembling in his cane.
"You shattered the aether channels of a Ka'tarel elder!You crippled him!"
Eris didn't blink.
"Correct."
The hall gasped.
Even Saphine froze.
Then his voice turned sharp — cutting, controlled.
"He attempted to murder Saphine Ka'tarel.""He attempted to abduct the Saintess's daughter.""He used forbidden aether inside Veltharion grounds."
Terva sputtered."LIES! Your Echo manipulates perception!"
"No," Eris replied, stepping closer."Akasha shows truths you would rather die than acknowledge."
The scribe stones pulsed — the recorded aether signatures confirmed every word.
Alia's aura flickered in distant resonance.
Accusation Three: NEUTRALIZED.
Accusation Four: Threat to Echo Balance
The most dangerous accusation.
High Matron Ka'tarel herself rose.
Her gaze cut like glass.
"Eris Vale.Akasha is not an Echo.It is a primordial concept.Such power cannot remain unrestrained.We cannot allow a being like you to exist unchecked."
Saphine's breath choked.
Eris bowed his head slightly — not in respect, but acknowledgment.
"High Matron.If I intended to disrupt your balance…"His smile was soft."…none of us would be standing here."
A tremor moved through the hall.
Then he added gently:
"I do not seek power.I do not seek a throne.I seek only to protect the one person who pulled me from the edge of eternity."
Every heartbeat froze.
Saphine's cheeks flushed scarlet.
Elders stiffened.
High Matron Ka'tarel's fingers tightened around her cane — but not in anger. In calculation.
"And the Saintess's daughter?" she asked, voice thin.
Eris bowed.
"I will guard her because it was the Saintess's final will.Not because you demand it."
The faint flicker of Alia's dormant Echo pulsed again — confirmation from afar.
The wardstones glowed.
Accusation Four: ALLEVIATED.
Council Verdict
The judge-proctor lifted the crystal staff.
"The Council finds insufficient cause for punishment.The events shall be recorded as:Acts of protection under unstable dimensional conditions.Saphine Ka'tarel and Shadow Eris Vale are cleared of charges."
A wave of disbelief rippled through the hall.
Valari exhaled in visible relief.Myr sagged back in her seat.Elder Terva nearly fainted.
High Matron Ka'tarel stared for a long moment…
…then slowly nodded.Not in acceptance — but in acknowledgment of something inevitable.
Outside the Hall
Cold wind dusted the academy courtyard.
Saphine collapsed onto a bench, face in her hands.
"We actually survived that."
Eris stretched lazily.
"See? Politics. Easy."
"That was NOT easy!"
"You're tense."
"Because you kept provoking them!"
"Technically, they provoked first."
"ERIS!"
He grinned at her.
"You're cute when you panic."
Saphine threw a book at him.He caught it without looking.
Students gawking nearby flinched.
Eris waved cheerfully.
"Good morning."
A student dropped all their scrolls.
Saphine glared."Stop terrifying people!"
"I literally said good morning."
"You smiled!"
"Ah. Yes. That would do it."
She groaned.
He laughed — bright, disarming, human.
Then a faint whisper brushed the air.
"E…ris…"
Both froze.
The sound faded — only a ripple from Alia's slumbering Echo.
Eris exhaled. "She's stabilizing."
Saphine nodded softly.
Then, her voice barely above a whisper:
"Eris… stay with me?"
He took her hand.Warm, steady.
"Always."
They walked back toward the infirmary.
Unaware of the figure in the academy's upper balcony, watching with a trembling hand.
"Akasha… has returned.The world will not remain the same."