The Emberlight Institute stood like a wound carved into the cliffside—old stone halls, towers leaning at impossible angles, and lanterns that whispered forgotten spells. It wasn't a place of safety, but of transformation.
Kael's dormitory sat in the eastern wing of the Novice Annex, reserved for students who hadn't yet aligned themselves to any of the Four Pillars: Mystics, Forgers, Seers, or Wielders.
A cracked mirror hung above his desk, the same one that shattered during his Entry Evaluation. No one had spoken to him since. A few kept their distance; others watched him too closely.
And the relic still pulsed in his mind, glowing softly—three rotating glyphs interlocking in a perfect triangle: Body, Mind, and Spirit.
Kael exhaled and turned to the parchment in front of him: diagrams of the human soulweb, detailing how "Anchoring" allowed a novice to connect qi to their nervous system. It was basic Arcane Physiology, something all students had to master.
But his method was different.
The Path of Syncretic Ascension wasn't built for a student. It wasn't meant for mortals, even. The diagrams the relic showed him made soulweb theory look like cave drawings.
He closed his eyes and breathed. As he entered a meditative trance, the glyphs spun faster.
A knock.
Kael opened the door to a tall figure with a wiry frame, messy bronze hair, and a long coat embroidered with elemental glyphs.
"You're the Mirror Boy, right?" the stranger grinned. "Name's Thorne Everfall. You nearly broke the Entry Oracle. Respect."
Kael blinked. "I didn't—"
"Yeah, yeah, nobody 'means to' blow up a divine artifact. Look, I've been assigned to shadow you for a week. Mentorship crap. I'm an Intermediary Year student, majoring in Elemental Adaptation and Advanced Wielding."
Kael frowned. "Why would they assign someone like you—"
"Because someone up there thinks you're dangerous. Or important. Or both."
Thorne stepped in, uninvited, surveying the room like it was a crime scene.
"By the way, you've got a duel scheduled tomorrow. Some first-year named Riven Valemir challenged you formally. Something about bloodlines and broken pride."
Kael's shoulders stiffened. So it had already begun.
The next morning, students gathered in the Spire Arena, a circular pit suspended between towers by reinforced glyphs. Mist curled beneath their feet, and glowing runes circled overhead.
"This is not a duel of death," the voice of the presiding professor boomed, an elder Seer with hollow eyes. "But a duel of declaration. Speak your intention."
Riven stepped forward, clad in a high-collared uniform stitched with silver crest-lines.
"I declare Kael Veyren unworthy of the Emberlight Rite. I challenge his legitimacy as a student of the Arcane Path."
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Kael remained silent. Then stepped forward.
"I accept."
Riven smirked. "Good. Try not to scream too much."
The duel began.
Riven moved fast—years of formal training crackled in every motion. He conjured spears of frozen mist, each sharpened with intent. Kael dodged the first, parried the second, and rolled beneath the third.
But the fourth pierced his shoulder.
Blood sprayed. The crowd gasped again.
"You'll break," Riven sneered. "Everyone like you does. No house. No name. No legacy."
Kael's vision blurred. But the relic within him stirred.
"Activate Phase One: Triform Resonance."
The glyphs rotated faster. His blood slowed, hardened. His mind cleared. And then—he struck.
His palm landed on Riven's chest—not with force, but with a resonance that rippled through bone and qi.
Riven stumbled back, eyes wide.
Kael followed with three strikes—body, mind, and spirit. A tri-pulse technique only whispered about in the older texts.
Riven collapsed, twitching, eyes rolled back. He wasn't unconscious. Just… disconnected.
The Seer raised his hand. "Duel complete."
Silence.
Then murmurs.
Kael left without waiting. He didn't care for their stares.
But high above, behind a veiled pane of spiritglass, a masked elder in black robes watched intently.
"It's confirmed," the elder whispered.
"The boy's technique resonates with… forbidden structure."
"Call the Council of Nine. The Emberlight Convergence has begun."