Night fell too quickly.
It wasn't the kind of night that eased gently over the academy like a blanket—
it dropped, sudden and heavy, as though someone had dimmed the sky by hand.
By the time the triad training ended and we walked the quiet path toward the east dormitory, the lanterns flickered with restless energy. Not malfunctioning—
warning.
The wards hummed beneath the stone walkway, their glow pulsing with a rhythm out of sync with their usual pattern.
Lira noticed first.
She slowed, eyes lifting toward the shimmering lattice above. "The wards… they're reacting."
Seris stepped closer to me automatically, her hand brushing my shoulder. "They only do that when something is close."
I swallowed. "Halin said the entity might notice changes in my resonance."
Seris exhaled sharply. "Great. So it's eavesdropping on your soul now."
"It's not funny," Lira whispered, voice trembling slightly.
"No," Seris said quietly, "it's not."
We reached the courtyard fountain—the same place where life had once felt simple. Tonight, the water barely rippled, as if even it felt the air tightening around us.
Then the bond pulsed.
Hard.
Not from me.
Not from them.
Something outside pressed against it—
a faint brush, like fingers trailing across a window.
Searching.
Testing.
Lira gasped. "Arin… did you feel that?"
I nodded. "It's probing the bond."
Seris stepped in front of me, muscles tensing like she expected something to leap from the shadows. "Let it try. It won't get past me."
But the pressure wasn't attacking.
It was listening.
Listening to the triad.
Listening to the fracture.
Listening to me.
And then—
the faintest whisper slithered through the marks beneath my skin.
Not a word.
A presence.
Like a breath against the back of my neck.
My heart lurched.
"Arin?" Lira whispered. "Arin—what is it?"
I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing. The whisper wasn't clear enough to form a message, but it carried a tone—
Recognition.
Curiosity.
Hunger.
"It's… watching," I murmured. "It knows we stabilized."
Seris clenched her fists. "So it's reacting because you're getting stronger?"
"No." Lira shook her head slowly, eyes widening with dread. "It's reacting because the triad changed the fracture."
And she was right.
I could feel it.
Deep inside the fracture, where the imprint slept like a forgotten ember, something new flickered—a resonance not fully mine, not fully foreign.
The entity felt it.
Recognized it.
And now…
It wanted to know why.
The pressure tightened—not enough to hurt, but enough to squeeze a cold thread into the bond.
Lira stumbled forward, clutching her chest. "It's—pulling—"
Seris caught her instantly. "HEY. Back off!" she snapped at the empty air, voice cracking with fury.
I reached out, taking Lira's hand and Seris's wrist at the same time, forcing the bond open toward them, not the entity.
"Stay with me," I whispered. "Both of you."
The entity's pressure hesitated—
as if surprised by our unity—
then slowly withdrew.
Not defeated.
Not repelled.
Just observing.
Waiting.
The wards shuddered overhead, then settled back into their regular glow.
Lira leaned against me, breathing unevenly. "It sensed us."
Seris shook her head. "No. It sensed you. And because we're tied to you—it sensed us too."
I swallowed hard.
The entity hadn't attacked.
It hadn't spoken.
It hadn't reached for the fracture.
It had simply listened.
And that terrified me far more.
Lira looked up at me with soft, shaken eyes. "Arin… it knows we're growing stronger."
Seris's hand slid to the small of my back, steadying me. "Good. Let it know. Let it fear us for a change."
But I couldn't shake the feeling that the entity wasn't afraid.
It was preparing.
Calculating.
Learning.
And as we walked the rest of the way to the dormitory, Lira's hand in mine, Seris close at my side, the bond warm and protective around us—
I understood something I hadn't before.
The entity was no longer just hunting a fractured resonance.
It was hunting a triad.
And that meant its next move would be far more deliberate.
When we finally reached the entrance to the dormitory, the lanterns hanging above the archway flickered again.
Not like flames disturbed by wind—closer to a heartbeat struggling to keep rhythm. The wards along the stone walls pulsed in quiet succession, almost as if responding to the bond rather than the other way around.
Lira's fingers trembled slightly around mine. Seris noticed instantly, sliding her hand over Lira's for a moment, steadying her before letting go.
Even that small touch made something warm press through the bond, reminding me that nothing about this path was mine alone anymore.
Inside the corridor, the academy felt strangely silent. Doors were closed, curtains drawn, candles dimmed as if the entire building was holding its breath.
Maybe it was paranoid, but I couldn't shake the feeling that every shadow was listening—that every corner might carry an echo of a whisper only I could hear.
Yet every time that fear began to rise, Lira's presence brushed gently against my pulse, and Seris's warmth settled around my shoulders like a shield, pulling me back into myself. I could feel her.
Keeping me grounded in the now instead of the past I couldn't remember.
By the time we reached my room, Lira paused just outside the doorway, her eyes flicking toward the ceiling as though checking for invisible threats. "Do you want us to stay?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper. Seris didn't even wait for my answer—she stepped closer, expression softening in a way she rarely showed anyone but us. "We're not leaving you alone after that," she said.
And even though her tone held its usual edge, her eyes betrayed something raw. Fear.
And hidden beneath it—something deeper. Something that felt a lot like devotion.
I opened the door, letting them step inside before me, and as the door clicked shut behind us, the world outside seemed to settle into its distant hum once more.
The bond remained warm and steady, tightened in a way that felt protective rather than confining.
We three slept together in mine bed. Lira on mine left and seris on my right.
Lira holded one of mine hand and seris put her chest over mine head. Both not letting me go and pulling me closer towards their inner love for me.
Whatever watched from beyond the wards had retreated for now.
But it hadn't turned away. It hadn't finished. It had simply paused—waiting for the next opportunity to reach through the fracture.
And as I stood between Lira and Seris in the quiet dark of my room, I knew one thing with absolute certainty: whatever came next, the entity wasn't the only one preparing.