The night settled over the city like a velvet curtain, thick and humming with secrets. Cars still rushed along the far roads, horns echoing faintly, but here,at the outskirts, deep within the abandoned industrial zone silence ruled.
It was in this silence that the Four Elders gathered.
Not in their mortal disguises, but in their true forms: robes woven from celestial silk, threads shimmering with constellations that no mortal eye could name. Their meeting place was at a skyscraper where it is only available to those in power, the people with the real old money. In a room there the three elders along with Victor Long, Elena Zhou and Adrian Wu all sat round a table with a glowing orb in the middle as they are in the mist of something that looks like a serious meeting. The night was supposed to be quiet and still Yet tonight, the air trembled with divine power, the steel beams casting shadows that twisted like living ink.
Elder Guo Tianming stepped forward first, staff touching the cracked concrete and lighting faint sigils along the floor.
"The specter's disturbance is confirmed," he said, his voice quiet but heavy. "It should not exist anywhere near this realm. And yet… one was detected inside a human school."
Elder Qin Yaohe folded his hands inside his sleeves. His silver hair drifted as if underwater, though there was no wind. "A banished darkness belonging solely to the Oracle of Demons. For it to be here means only one thing."
Elder Bia Hanzhou eyes hardened. "The seal is weakening."
A beat of silence.
Elder Shen Rui'an spoke at last, his voice ce through from the glowing orb, calm but grim. "And the seven disciples have already sensed it. Their reports aligned."
Guo Tianming tapped his staff again. "There is something else."
Elena gaze lifted sharply. "The child?"
Victor long nodded. "Seven candidates. Born across different corners of the world. Each bearing an energy signature tied to the ancient prophecy."
Adrian Wu stepped forward, dropping a sealed scroll onto the old wooden table. "I gathered their records. Their locations. Their bloodlines."
Elena added another set of documents,old papers, smelling faintly of incense and age. "And I retrieved these from the forbidden archives. Texts on demon lore. Lost prophecies. The last recorded sighting of the Oracle herself."
The air chilled.
Elena took a slow breath. "If the prophecy is true… then the Child of Destiny is among them. But which one?"
"Or," Qin Yaohe whispered, "if the demons are already moving… perhaps the child is in danger. Or compromised."
lifted a single page—its edges burnt, its ink smudged like tears.
"The prophecy says:
'When stars darken and silence falls, the chosen will rise not in brilliance, but in shadow.'
The silence has begun. The heavens no longer answer."
A thin crack spread across the concrete floor beneath them, reacting to her words.
Varyn shook his head. "We need to decide what to tell the seven."
Caelius sighed. "Not everything. Not now. They are still adapting to mortal life. They barely survived their first day of human schooling without incident."
Serion chuckled softly—just a hint of warmth breaking through the tension. "Barely is generous."
Mira's lips tilted. "Three arguments, one almost-duel, two minor spells, and a cafeteria food fight. Yes. Barely."
Varyn cleared his throat. "Then we keep it simple. For now."
Caelius nodded. "We watch. We investigate. And we protect the candidates."
"And the specter?" Mira asked.
The warehouse lights flickered.
Serion answered softly, "We find who summoned it… or who freed it."
Their robes fluttered as ancient sigils glowed beneath them, sealing the meeting's words into oath-bound secrecy. A faint pulse echoed through the space—a celestial heartbeat—before the elders vanished, leaving the warehouse silent once more.
The night held its breath.
---
The Next Morning
Sunlight streamed through the apartment windows the disciples shared, warm and golden. Yet the atmosphere inside was thick, tired, quiet, still weighed down from the previous night's discoveries.
Jason was the first awake, brushing his dark hair back while staring out the window. "Mortals wake up too early," he grumbled.
Ethan, already dressed, sipped a steaming mug of coffee he pretended not to love. "You said that yesterday."
"And I'll say it again today," Jason muttered.
Susana emerged next, yawning dramatically, her robe barely tied. "If one more human bumps into me in the hallway, I swear I'll..."
Ethan cut in, calm as always. "We're supposed to blend in."
"That's hard when they're annoying," she replied.
Caleb tied his shoelaces, glancing at them with mild amusement. "Patience. We have a long mission."
Susana looked half-asleep still, hair sticking upward. "Do mortals really do this five days a week?"
Logan the last, finally came out of his covens immaculately dressed as always
"We have a lot to watch out for today so let's get going, we can't be late again."
The group fell silent.
Late. Again.
Not a good record for immortals.
They filed into their assigned car,a basic silver vehicle that Jason claimed stripped him of dignity. As they drove, the morning sun washed the city in warm light, making everything look too peaceful to hide the dangers they now knew existed.
Shen Rui'an drove with steady grace.
Behind him, the conversation slowly opened.
"Why didn't I see Leon?" Susana asked and the rest finally realized he really wasn't with them
"Busy. He will meet us at school" Logan replied from the front and they all kept quiet not asking anymore, not that they didn't want to but just to lazy to ask so they kept quiet.