The Administrator moved fast, his dark robes flowing over the stone floor. Nyx followed, her mind a frantic mix of fear and strange resolve. The brief, intense clash with Lucian, the revelation of her Celestial lineage it all led to this. She was being pulled deep into the Academy's secrets, and she knew she couldn't stop it.
"Where in the hell are you taking her?" Iliana demanded, her voice cutting through the remaining noise of the shocked students.
She was already pushing past the crowd, her sharp eyes scanning the corridor for an obstruction.
Kian stepped forward, his cold face tense. "She is under our observation. You must state your purpose, Administrator. This is illegal."
The Administrator didn't even look back. A sudden, raw, cold pressure hit the air around them the Suppressing Aura. It was designed to stifle elemental power, and it made Iliana's energy feel thick and useless.
"Stay," the Administrator ordered, his voice echoing with finality. "This concerns the immediate stability of the entire Central Region. Interference will result in immediate detention and the seizure of all elemental assets."
Iliana gasped, feeling her power go numb. Kian's pale eyes flashed with contained rage, but he stood still. He knew that threat was absolute.
"Go, Nyx," Kian muttered, low. "Just listen to their demands."
Nyx nodded once and followed the Administrator. They didn't take any public paths. They went through a hidden door, down a winding stone passage carved deep beneath the fortress. The air became colder, metallic, and strangely sterile. This was not the student area this was the secret, political core of Vespyr.
Nyx felt a cold certainty take hold. This academy was not about learning; it was about holding power.
After several minutes of walking through the silent, oppressive tunnels, Nyx spoke, her voice shaking slightly from the air and the stress. "What about Lucian? Is he being arrested for that blast?"
The Administrator didn't slow down. "Lucian is already contained. Do not waste energy on the Shadow-slinger. You have bigger concerns."
They came to a massive, iron-reinforced door. It wasn't guarded by human soldiers, but by two hulking figures carved from obsidian. They were Automata ancient elemental constructs, massive and powerful, their eyes glowing a deep, moss green with raw Earth power. They were relics of a forgotten, dangerous past.
The door hissed open.
The chamber inside was a vast, circular room with no windows, lit only by a faint, sickly green light that pulsed from the center of the ceiling. Seven figures the Grand Council sat around a huge stone table. They looked like the seven most powerful, ruthless people in the world.
"Welcome, Nyx of Atgeren," the central figure, a woman with tight silver hair, said. Her voice was flat and professional. "Sit."
Nyx sat, gripping the edge of the stone table, forcing her power to be silent.
"We saw your assessment," the woman continued. "You are not Wind. You are a descendant of the Celestial lineage. We confirmed the strength of your Legendary bloodline."
The Administrator added, "Her power is already instinctively pushing back against the surrounding Static Decay fields, Council. She is the solution we have waited for."
"We know about the Static Decay. What are you hiding about its true source? And why have you covered up the damage?"
A massive man from Pyren, dressed in harsh red and black, slammed his fist on the table. "The decay is a sickness! It is anti-magic, coming from the Deep Void Wastes! It makes elemental power fail, turning elementals into mindless, aggressive Drones! It has reached the Aether Cradle."
He pointed to a large, fading holographic image above the table. It showed the huge, twisted tree the Aether Cradle. But it was fading, turning a sickly gray, flickering like a faulty light. The damage was devastatingly clear.
"The Aether Cradle is the heart of our world's magic," the silver-haired woman explained. "It is falling asleep, starved of energy by the Static. If it sleeps, all magic dies. The world will be defenseless against the Silent Pact, the Ash Walkers, and the political opportunists who intend to seize the ruins."
"And I fix it?" Nyx asked, her disbelief turning to a furious coldness. "I'm a student who just failed an assessment."
"You are a Legendary element," the Administrator stated simply. "Your Celestial power is the only energy that can jump-start it. To reach the Cradle, you must activate the Five Keys of Restoration."
The woman from Nivara, severe and sharp, leaned forward. "These Keys are not simple objects. They are powerful elemental tools, hidden in the six regions. You must collect them with a balanced team of five. You have no choice. We have chosen the necessary elements for you Iliana (Mirror), the Strategist Zyon (Phoenix), the Healer and Kian (Ice), the Anchor. They provide the necessary Complex and Basic coverage."
"And the fifth?" Nyx asked, her throat tight. "You need the fifth person to be Duality."
The Council exchanged slow, tense glances, and the silence thickened.
"The fifth person must provide The Key of Duality," the Administrator said, his gaze flat and unmoving. "You will bring Lucian, the Shadow-slinger."
Nyx stood up, scraping her chair loudly against the stone. She was too angry to be afraid. "Lucian? He's a political bomb! He nearly killed a student! Why in the hell would you send him with the key to save the world?"
"Because his lineage is the key to both the problem and the solution," the Pyren man sneered. "His father founded the Ash Walkers the Legendary Void users who want to destroy the Cradle. Lucian's dual power Shadow and Thunder is a genetic anomaly, the only known balance that can counter the Void poisoning the final seal."
"So I bring your enemy's son?" Nyx challenged, her voice low and dangerous. "And if he resists? If he betrays us?"
"Then you eliminate him," the silver-haired woman stated, her eyes like chips of ice.
"Your Celestial power is the only thing strong enough to do it. You are his executioner. Save the world a single life is nothing. You have twenty-four hours to gather your team and leave the Central Region."
She pushed a small, glowing sphere across the table. "This is the Celestial Map. It holds the location of the first Key, hidden in the ruins of your home region, Atgeren. You start immediately."
Nyx took the sphere. It was warm and thrummed with her own energy. The meeting was over. The Administrator immediately escorted her back out.
As they walked rapidly through the winding tunnels, Nyx clutched the Map, its faint glow a terrifying reminder of her impossible orders. She had her mission, her team, and a shocking execution order for the man who was currently occupying all her thoughts.
Just before they reached the final exit door, the Administrator stopped her, his cold face close.
"Nyx. A final warning," he whispered, his voice dropping all pretense of officialdom. "When Lucian used his Black Lightning in the mess hall, his Shadow energy didn't just protect him. It instinctively absorbed your fear and your excess energy from the arena clash. He did it without thinking. He is a power-sink. He needs your light to survive the Shadow, or the Shadow will consume him completely and make him a leader of the Ash Walkers. Do not try to fight him. Use the connection. Control him. If you fail, he will lose control and his blast will kill you both."
Nyx stared at the Administrator, a terrifying clarity washing over her. The connection wasn't fate it was a leash that cut both ways. He was her balance, and she was his life support.
"You knew this would happen," Nyx said, the accusation a raw whisper.
The Administrator opened the exit door. "The world is dying. Go save it."
Nyx stepped out of the tunnel and back into the confusing noise of the Academy. The small Celestial Map burned in her hand. She had twenty-four hours to find her wary friends, convince them to risk their lives, and she had to find the volatile, dangerous man who was genetically programmed to be her enemy.
She paused, taking a ragged breath. The fear was still there, but now it was mixed with a sharp, cold determination. The Grand Council had given her an impossible task and a killer on her team. She had to control the game.
I have to find Lucian.
She walked towards the student barracks. First, she needed to gather the three people she could trust. Then, she would face the one person she couldn't.