On a crisp early morning, the winds wove through the long robes of Regort students, making them flutter. The sun was no longer as scorching as the summer heat. Autumn had arrived.
Along the hallways filled with the sounds of hurried and then slow footsteps of students. Small brass speakers, no larger than a palm, mounted on the walls turned on by themselves, their mouths opening as if speaking, making everyone startle:
"Announcement, announcement! Students of Regorts, tonight at the great square — there will be an Early Season Spell-Fire Festival. The Spell-Fire Festival takes place at 19:00 tonight. All freshmen, prepare your performances according to the instructions of your house heads. Please be present in full."
After the announcement finished, it folded itself into the shape of a tiny fire bird, bearing the colors of the four houses, flew a lap around the hallway, and then turned off. Cheerful laughter rang out after that fun performance. As for the Serpentis side, after hearing the news of the festival, Rugi was much more excited. She lightly shook Regurn's arm:
"Hey, I wonder how that festival will be? I'm looking forward to it so much!"
Detus, walking with them, let out a sigh as if he was too used to her excitement:
"Is it really that special that you have to be so excited?"
Those words from Detus extinguished the energetic girl's excitement.
"You don't know how to be excited about anything!"
It wasn't a surprise to them because the grey-haired boy rarely showed much joy. Occasionally, he would just slightly curl his lips into a light smile and then stop, as if smiling only made his life more boring. Aliss's face was enough to prove that. When he was little, he smiled quite a lot; but because his family was beneath the status of the other family due to the relationship with the Nesties, the Aliss house had to serve the Nesties in many tasks, even though the Aliss lineage was the most privileged.
❖ 100 years ago – The Origin of the Aliss–Nestie Bond
Back then, he was only 6 years old, and the Nestie grandparents forced him to serve them like a "servant." They made him clean that whole large villa. It wasn't just large, it was very wide with many structures. Although he didn't have to clean alone, being forced to clean an entire flower garden or the hallways was too much for him. Then they made him bathe a pack of their dogs in the late afternoon. It was hard to accept that the noble Aliss family would ever bathe dogs, wasn't it? But Detus didn't say a single word of complaint; he not only did it but also quite liked those dogs.
At that time, a short-haired girl with sparkling eyes walked toward him while he was absorbed in pruning the roses in that garden.
"Hello... grey-haired boy."
Detus turned to look at her. A young lady of the Nestie house actually initiating a conversation with him? It was quite a surprise to Aliss because he knew the Nestie grandparents would be angry if they knew their precious daughter was standing near to talk to an Aliss like him. Setting aside that matter, Detus smiled and handed her a white daisy blooming in a pot.
"Hello."
She smiled and reached out to receive that flower pot.
"I'm Rugi Nestie. You're Detus Aliss, right?"
Detus smiled slightly, pruning a few leaves on the flower stem he had just given Rugi.
"What made a young lady of the Nestie house come out to talk to me?"
Rugi puffed out her cheeks at his sarcastic words:
"I'm not that arrogant!"
Detus said nothing, he just smiled back, making her even more annoyed.
"Hey, what kind of smile is that?!"
"No one forbids me from smiling."
Right then, a slightly chubby boy came there with a box of chocolates in his hand.
"Rugi! You ate all my chocolates, didn't you?"
Rugi frowned. Nestie hadn't eaten them; she didn't even know how many were in there. Not surprising either. With his habit of eating and drinking, he only ever thought about food. Moreover, his head didn't have a good memory to know where those chocolate bars went.
"I didn't eat them. Maybe you gave them to Para or the pack of dogs and forgot, more likely."
"How can a parrot or a dog eat that?"
Rugi set the flower pot on a shelf nearby and crossed her arms as if verifying the words.
"The other day you said the same thing then fed Para your apple."
Detus stood right there laughing, a broken, intermittent laugh, as if trying to hold it back to keep from bursting out further – a subtle contempt.
The two siblings stood there dazed, not yet understanding why he was laughing.
"You probably ate them all and forgot. Dogs and parrots cannot eat chocolate. In chocolate, there is theobromine and caffeine (substances that are extremely toxic to birds (Para) and to dogs), so they cannot eat it."
The two siblings were stunned; they didn't expect him to have such knowledge of animals. Regurn suddenly realized he had never met Detus before, yet today he was standing in his garden. Regurn's eyes narrowed, showing suspicion and surprise:
"Whoa! Who are you? Why are you standing in my garden?"
His brother's foolish question made Rugi feel ashamed for him. She tapped Regurn lightly on the shoulder.
"Why are you so dim? He has been serving our house for 2 months and you still don't know."
"Apart from eating and drinking, he doesn't pay attention to other things," Detus said with a feeling of being both helpless and amused.
"Serving our house? Aren't the elders of the Aliss family enough?"
"He is their son. Detus Aliss. Don't you know anything about it? If I were someone else, I would laugh in your face hearing the foolish questions you ask," Rugi was a bit angry when she heard Regurn ask.
"What is that thing?" Regurn still innocently asked back.
The Nestie girl sighed. She took a small book from her coat pocket and handed it to Regurn.
"Better for you to read it. It's written on page 10."
Regurn hurriedly set the chocolate box on the ground then flipped through each page. The pages seemed to have been preserved for decades, making their color look not new but very neat, without a single fold.
"This is it, right? 'The Aliss–Nestie Bond'?"
"Right."
"A century ago, when Regorts had just experienced the most chaotic period in history, the two most powerful families of the time, Aliss and Nestie, stood on opposite sides of the front line.
The Nestie family was the pillar of the Council of Ancient Lore, representing those who held ancient spells and absolutely valued order. While Aliss was a prominent family with a rare ability: the capacity to manipulate protective seal layers, something that even Nestie found hard to break.
The biggest rift began when an ancient sealing contract of the Council cracked, threatening to release a dark force. Nestie tried every way but failed—until an Aliss patriarch stood up to stop it. But the price to reseal was not cheap: an ancient ritual had to be activated, only effective if a 'Bond of Service' existed between the two families for a minimum of 10 years.
To protect Regorts, the two families were forced to sign, even though in nature they did not see each other as 'equals.'
The Aliss family, despite having high status, voluntarily put their names into the ritual:
one Aliss heir in the future must serve the Nestie for 10 years to maintain the seal.
The form was not intended to humiliate, but was a condition for the Aliss's seal line to merge with the Nestie's ancient magic – keeping the rift under control.
That ritual left a mark of a torn half-star on the necks of those belonging to Aliss – the mark only activated when starting the period of service."
"Oh, now I understand," Regurn said in surprise.
"Your brain finally cleared out a bit," Rugi said.
Regurn turned to look at Detus with eyes full of remorse.
"My apologies..."
Detus just smiled.
"It's fine."
The three children just like that created a beautiful friendship without knowing when. They played together, took care of the flower garden and pets together, then told each other interesting stories they had witnessed,... A wonderful thing for them.
It was thought everything would last for the set 10-year cycle, but in Detus's generation…
…then in the second year, the seal suddenly changed and the ritual was permanently banned, making the service alliance be cut off without explanation.
The Nestie mansion in winter was always lit by a silvery blue light – cold, pure but not warm. Long hallways were hung with sea-dragon badges of the family. The air was so still one could hear the wind passing through the narrow windows.
Detus Aliss, eight years old, walked through that hallway with a tea tray in both hands.
Despite being small, his posture already exuded the characteristic training of the Aliss house: straight back, eyes lowered just enough, walking without creating sound.
Right as he passed the large mirror in the middle of the hallway—
the seal located right under the nape, a pale purple spiral shape,
suddenly flared up.
It wasn't a warm light. But a magical light that was trying to pierce through the flesh.
Detus froze.
No pain, but the feeling was as if someone was strongly pulling a thread from inside the skin.
Then—
BOOM!!!
A shockwave from the upper floor swept down. Glass doors shook strongly. Ancient vases swayed and fell with a crash.
Shouts rang out:
"The seal is shifted!"
"Call the seal-locking mages! Quickly!"
"Cannot let it spread to the Primal Seal room!"
Detus stood in the middle of the hallway, hands still holding the tea tray without dropping a single drop.
His dark eyes reflected the purple light emitting from his nape.
From the seal, each strand of thin light began to pull out, winding around the air like demonic threads.
They touched the walls, leaving thin cracks running long like claw marks.
Two Nestie mages rushed over.
One reached out to touch Detus's nape—
BOOM!!
Magic power from the seal rebounded so strongly that both were thrown back, hitting the wall.
No one understood what was happening.
An old mage, grey-haired, said in a trembling voice:
"The Aliss bloodline seal… is no longer compatible with the ritual. It is… self-unraveling."
Only a few seconds later, the seal glowed intensely— then snapped off, leaving thin smoke.
The whole seal became a faint circle, as if carved with cold ash onto Detus's skin.
The scene fell into silence.
The Nestie patriarch stepped forward, looking at the child who had just made the whole mansion chaotic. His gaze was not angry, just… wary.
Detus bowed his head, voice small but calmly cold:
"If I have caused chaos… I apologize."
No one answered.
Everyone was looking at the mark on his neck — something that was supposed to be permanently dependent on Nestie — now in a semi-unraveled state, completely not under control.
And therefore…
The Ritual of Family Service (originally lasting 10 years) was cancelled right in the 2nd year.
Announced reason:
"Unstable seal, dangerous for Nestie."
But the truth no one spoke:
During the chaos, Nestie managed to copy and keep a portion of the Aliss's Original Seal in the forbidden room – something that should have been sealed in the hands of the Aliss family head.
No one returned it.
No one mentioned it.
The two families went their separate ways, but the connection from that piece of seal…
still remained.
That night, Detus sat alone in the small room returned to the Aliss lineage.
He touched the back of his neck — where the seal still throbbed, like a second heartbeat.
And he promised himself:
"No one… is allowed to touch this place again."
But even though the ritual was abolished, Nestie still held the secret of the rift from years ago, something Aliss absolutely would not let anyone know. And because of that secret… they still had the right to force Aliss to bow their head at any time.
THE YEAR THE RITUAL WAS ABOLISHED - THE BOND WAS BROKEN
At the side of the four Phoenixes children
Hearing the news of the festival tonight, Rissy couldn't help being excited in her heart. The girl skipped along the hallway, feeling like the whole world was brilliant under her heels.
"Rissy, can you walk normally?" Neval said.
"No! I have to be special!" Rissy said with innocence.
Juston smirked, walking behind:
"Who are you being special for?"
Rissy stood frozen, she turned back to look at Juston. Her eyes were full of annoyance.
"Don't you know how to joke?"
Lena sighed at the overly childish behavior of the two. In a day, they bickered not a few times.
"That's enough. Let's go quickly, don't stand there arguing anymore, I'm so hungry!"
The two glared at each other without blinking. Lena had to squeeze between the two to continue walking.
AT THE MAIN HALL
On the table were all sorts of new dishes, the fragrance was fragrant, making the stomachs of each child growl.
The four of them sat down at the table. They sniffed as much as they could the scent of the new soup.
Lena couldn't wait any longer, she picked up the spoon and began to enjoy. Rissy was the opposite. She didn't pay attention to the new food today but only thought about how the festival tonight would be. She turned to ask Lena:
"Lena, you often read books about Regort so you probably know something about this festival, right?"
Lena heard, she sat back for half a second thinking then used her spoon to stir her soup.
"I don't know. I only looked over it. Besides, I thought you didn't want to know to create a surprise for yourself?"
Rissy knew that Lena had read about them and what she meant was she wanted Rissy to find out for herself and cause curiosity for Rissy. When did Rissy ever sit and read books like Lena?! Her face slumped, she tugged Lena's arm.
"Come on Julier. I know every day you find out about them. Tell me how it takes place."
Lena sighed. Her eyes glanced lightly toward Rissy.
"According to every year, the 'Spell-Fire Festival' is known as the first magic festival for freshmen. That is when Regort students can be creative - show the spirit of each house - show the solidarity in the coordination of the group. Each house will perform magic fire lights with props, charms, small creatures, stage elements to create the most beautiful performance. After that performance will come the part of the Inherited Flame. Simply put. Each captain of each house will carry a symbolic object up to drop into the bowl. I heard them say it will glow brightly and students usually sit around that to chat."
Rissy thought for a bit then asked:
"No winning or losing?"
Lena shook her head:
"No. It's just an initial festival for the school year. It's completely different from Regort Magic."
Neval was silent from beginning to end to hear Lena tell. He nodded then turned to ask Julier:
"Is that all?"
Lena responded to his question:
"Yeah, just that. But I heard them say it's great."
Juston rested his chin on his hand, eyes looking into the air.
"Sounds okay. Truly looking forward to it."
AT THE SERPENTIS DORMITORY
Fragile rays of sunlight crept through the deep blue water, breaking into thousands of tiny shimmering pieces. They danced on the window glass like golden silk ribbons, lunging and moving according to each ripple. That light was sometimes sparkling like a school of silver fish passing by, sometimes stretching like bands of stars falling to the bottom of the lake. The basement window was like a pair of giant glasses opening to the ocean, catching every mystical streak of light. Outside was brilliant and constantly moving, while inside was still, cold, creating a mesmerizing contrast, as if the world outside was whispering through the deep water layer.
The weak rays of light lightly shone on Aliss's silver hair in the moss-filled room. Detus had finished breakfast. He sat preparing books and pens to go to school later. Aliss remembered the announcement of the festival this morning. Actually, he was also quite interested in that festival. Magic was something he always looked forward to using. At home, the Aliss grandparents had also told him about many festivals at the school.
He carried his bag and stepped out of the dormitory. The sound of footsteps echoed along the hallway. Immediately, he bumped into a chubby body: Regurn Nestie.
Regurn was startled, he was about to jump up. In his hand he held a cake, almost dropping it.
"Ouch! Detus? Where are you going? You know, the bread in the hall today is delicious!"
Detus looked at Regurn who was chewing the bread with crumbs sticking around his mouth. He slightly curled his lips.
"I think you should worry about keeping your bread more than worrying about me."
Regurn stood dazed looking at the bread in his hand. Detus went straight. After walking a distance, that voice rang out again making him stop.
"Ah, no. I remember... I remember I have to tell you this. My father said... my father said you must keep silent about... about what was it? Ah! About the round mark behind your neck, at the festival tonight. Don't make it glow, hear? It... it ruins my bread."-Regurn tried to look serious to say.
Detus stood still for half a second then he turned to look at Regurn, the broken, intermittent laugh appeared again. He knew Regurn was just repeating what his parents had instructed, but didn't understand anything about its meaning.
He spoke in a small voice, sounding humorous:
"What if I make this round mark glow, will your bread turn into... poisonous mushrooms?"
Regurn heard that, he was immediately panicked.
"Really?! Don't! I don't want bread to become poisonous mushrooms!"
Detus just shook his head, feeling both helpless and amused at the innocence of the Nestie guy. He slipped past Regurn, the quiet mocking laugh rang out. The warning had been delivered, but through a form... that couldn't be more humorous.
The sound of footsteps rang out again. But not like the last time, it sounded a bit heavier.
EVENING ARRIVES BEHIND REGORT SCHOOL
At a vacant plot of land behind Regort school, shimmering candles were lit by colorful fires, flying in the sky. The mysterious dark green grass stretched from the covenant tree to Foxly's dormitory area.
This plot of land was very wide, it contained a brass bowl (which is the house sorting bowl), around the bowl there were four models built by wooden sticks: A Phoenix flapping its wings; A Fox holding a sphere; An Eagle taking flight and A Snake winding around a wand. Those four models symbolized the four houses: Phoenixes, Foxly, Eaglie and Serpentis. They were about four meters high.
Four towers stood straight, looking into the still center which was the large bowl, where all hopes would be gathered, ten steps away from the bowl.
Further than the pile of wood and the central bowl ten meters, a square block of stone was placed neatly. It wasn't too high, but enough to raise the Professor above the crowd, becoming the only visual focus. Though simple, it was the throne of words, where every word was amplified in power. The podium stood there, solitary but authoritative, like an ancient pedestal, completely separate from the chaos of the ground.
At this time, hundreds of robes were still mixing together. Every young face had appeared, but they were still enjoying the last moments of freedom. They walked lightly on the grass, slowly looking for a best view before the bell for gathering rang.
Rissy ran to see the piles of wood stacked on each other so fast it made her friend Lena have to run after with tired feet.
On the side of Detus – Rugi – Regurn, they were gathering at the quiet architectural structure of Serpentis to look at it.
"They look so beautiful!" – Rugi said with sparkling eyes full of interest.
Detus nodded lightly. He also had to admit, it was very beautiful.
"Right. I only heard my parents tell about it. Today is the first time seeing it."
Regurn asked Detus:
"You were invited tonight, right?"
Detus smirked:
"Of course. Even your younger sister was invited."
Regurn frowned looking at Rugi. He couldn't believe Rugi was invited to participate.
"Invited? Why didn't I know about that?"
Rugi dodged eyes. She rolled her eyes around, showing clear confusion not knowing how to tell her brother.
"Um well.. at that time I saw you were busy feeding the parrot so I didn't say."
"So boring! Once a year and she gets invited." – Regurn showed boredom because he wasn't invited to participate.
Detus saw that, he teased Regurn more.
"Don't worry Regurn. Each lineage is only invited one person. This year Nestie was invited, you don't have to worry anymore. Clumsy like you sitting and watching is also good."
Nestie heard that and was immediately angry.
"Shut up!" – saying that he walked away to find food.
ON THE SIDE OF LENA AND RISSY
After a while of running through the festival, they stopped at a hidden corner nearby. There were two silhouettes standing in front of them. The wind blew lightly making Lena feel a chill down her neck. She was a bit wary so she took a step back.
Rissy came near those two. The girl lightly tapped her hand on the shoulders of the two silhouettes. They startled and turned to look at Keila.
Turns out it was Neval and Juston. They opened their eyes wide looking at Rissy. Neval frowned.
"You made us startle!"
Rissy laughed happily, it seemed she had made them afraid. Lena sighed, she walked near to where they were standing. A step away, she crossed her arms.
"You two also made me shiver a bit. What are you doing, standing under the moonlight."
The two guys laughed, their hands scratching their heads.
"Oh, then our apologies."
"But why are you two standing here moon-gazing? Why standing dazed like that?" – Rissy asked.
The two friends looked at each other then looked toward the tree.
"No. We are not free to moon-gaze. What we have been looking at is that tree over there."
Rissy and Lena looked out in front. True, a tree looked quite strange. The trunk was big. The leaves were long and trailing into strands, the silver-blue foliage hung down like a curtain, creating thin and cold mist. They looked exactly like bundles of thread tied up. Anyone looking in would find it mystical, a bit creepy.
Seems Lena knew something about that tree.
"Looks like… that is the covenant tree."
Juston was dazed as if trying to remember something. Right, he had once read about it.
"It is the tree likened to the [Soul of the Vow: It plays the role of a 'living witness' for every vow, contract, and even lies told within the school campus] right?"
Lena nodded.
"Right. Looking at its characteristics will recognize it."
Rissy was dazed, sounded a bit strange but she also knew a bit about that tree. It was described very carefully by her sister Arlist but she didn't read that part.
The bell pulled them away from that tree.
On the mossy stone podium, Professor Lourie stood there with a silk robe woven in mauve purple, as long and wide as a sail catching the wind. The graceful sleeves hung down past the knees, and every movement made the silver threads embroidered in constellations on the hem blink in the lights. The robe was not just clothing, but a collection of the night sky enveloping his wisdom.
"Dear students and professors. It is wonderful to welcome all of you at the Square tonight, under the early autumn moon and the warm fire of Regorts itself!
Today is not a competition, not an arena to compete for cups or scores. Today is the Spell-Fire Festival – the Full Harmony Version!
We together celebrate the first journey of the freshmen. The theme of the ceremony is 'The First Flame'—the flame symbolizing the beginning, for the creative spirit, and above all for the spirit of cooperation between Houses.
Freshmen, freely perform your magic identity, interact and show your own colors. We, the professors, will only observe your creativity and cooperation, ensuring that we all have a truly memorable night.
Let our fire burn beautifully, differently, but still perfectly blending into each other. Don't worry, those fires are harmless.
No need to worry about perfection, only worry about fun! And you should remember that: only the specific lineages of each house with magic talent invited can participate in the performance on stage. Others in the academy will create friendship flames of two people toward each other. It means you must have a companion to be creative.
Please invite House Phoenixes—the first flame of the ceremony—to begin the performance!"
The lights of the square went out, making the space sink into absolute darkness. Only the giant metal Fire Bowl in the center and four wooden fuel structures in the shapes of animals of the four houses cast shadows on the ground. According to the hurried drum beats, House Phoenixes appeared – they moved gracefully and quickly, entering the Fuel area of House Phoenix that had been arranged. They stood in the middle of the Phoenix wooden structure, like the first flames nhen nhóm waiting to burst into fire.
In the middle of the damp ground, a wooden tower was built solidly. The dry, thin, rough, maroon-colored wood pieces huddled together to form a perfect cone shape, like a tiny tent sleeping quietly in the dark night, ready to welcome the guest which is the fire.
Scaffil raised his wand, he shouted loudly "Phoenixes". His wand shot out a type of fire magic carrying a red-purple color flying into the sky then falling right down to the red wood pile standing between them. That wood burst into red-purple light mixed with some pink-orange, making the Phoenixes house students have to step back two steps. The fire burned brilliantly.
Shouts from below from the students rang out because of interest. The students participating in that performance also raised their wands high then shouted "Phoenixes" then lowered wands horizontally to create fire magic things.
Neval conjured a strand of fire rope winding around the burning wood pile then flew high and exploded like red fireworks. Scaffil raised his hand, drew a fire circle in the air. The fire bloomed into a giant phoenix shape, spreading red wings. Juston continued the performance right after him, two hands raised high, the hot wind swirled according to his movement making the phoenix burn brighter. The stands cheered as the phoenix made a loop, leaving a trail of sparkling fire like falling stars.
Next was the Foxly house. The students with their sharp fox-like eyes stepped out into their wood pile area. An orange wood tower was built there. They began to perform. They didn't make loud noises; the stage sank into silence for a second before the ground cracked slightly, orange and amber light strands flowed out like a stream.
A light fox separated from the ground, ran around the audience, leaving a faint mint scent. Small fox cubs ran after, mischievous as if called just for fun.
The flickering orange-yellow fire looked very brilliant. From that fire tower shot out golden glitter particles sparkling around them and their wooden fox symbol model. Suddenly from within the fire, a small fire gradually separated itself from the crowd and transformed into a fire fox flying in mid-air.
Everyone had to look up at the fox. It didn't stay in one place but flew around that festival area. The mischievous orange fire fox not only hovered in the air but wherever it flew it immediately snapped its fingers to create a small fire star around everyone.
Most surprising was always Serpentis. Their performance began with the sound of metal ringing cold as frost mist. A green light line was drawn on the ground then stood up into a giant snake made of smoke and magic. It slithered around the stands with a terrifying silence, but every time it turned its head, each layer of scales flashed green like jade. A few Phoenixes shivered — but didn't look away.
Not only that, around the blue light tower, Rugi conjured a wavy fire spark winding around the burning wood tower in their pride.
After that, Detus used magic to separate the small fires into many parts then let them fly into the sky merging into a word "Serpentis" in blue then finished, they separated again, each small fire fell to the ground.
Finally, was Eaglie. They made the ground vibrate slightly as a strong wind raised the whole team off the ground. Golden light wings gradually appeared behind them.
From above, the Eaglie leader released a sharp white light beam, that light shattered into thousands of shimmering eagle feather pieces then gathered into a golden eagle spreading wide wings shining like a small sun.
The eagle's cry rang out in the sky as the whole team pointed wands to the sky. In that cry contained majesty and ferocity, like the call of the deep blue sky.
Around those burning fires, the students who didn't participate all used their own fire magic to connect with the other to create a colorful friendship fire.
Regurn stood outside watching, he pouted because he wasn't allowed to participate. Nestie's face at this time was quite discouraged, but then a housemate standing there patted his shoulder.
"Shall we be a pair?"
Regurn frowned slightly because he didn't quite understand the boy's meaning. The boy stammered to say clearly again.
"A..ah no. I mean can we together create the friendship fire?"
Regurn heard that, now he understood more. Nestie's face was happy again. Regurn nodded. After that he put his water cup down on the chair to integrate with the festival.
Back to the Phoenixes house, Rissy was so eager she accidentally made the fire burst up, it shot small sparks around making everyone have to be alert. Scaffil sighed, he waved his wand to adjust the rhythm. The whole crowd laughed sheepishly.
But just after finishing the adjustment not for long, suddenly the fire of House Phoenixes and House Serpentis suddenly burned bigger and connected to each other in an arc. The symbolic wooden structure at the intersection flickered blue, making everyone gasp. Everyone in the group looked at Lena. The girl shook her head because she herself didn't know what that incident was.
Not only that, the fire also called out sounds like "u..u.." then stopped.
Professor Annatrist hurriedly ran out to cut that fire arc.
"Just a small incident. You guys continue the performance."
The whole Serpentis crowd looked at Lena warily. Lena looked back at them blankly then turned her back to perform the performance.
When all four houses completed, four bird – beast magic shapes flew into the sky, intersecting right on the top of the highest tower. The light touched each other creating a brilliant explosion — enough to make all Regorts hold their breath.
Lena looked up, the red fire reflected in her eyes, so bright that it looked like she herself was catching fire.
[...]
Regorts square gradually sank into the darkness of the night. The magic light strands at the towers turned off, leaving an warm space for the ancient fire bowl placed on the stone pedestal in the middle of the yard — the bowl that the whole school knew the name of but rarely saw light up.
Annatrist stepped forward, the staff flashed a small spark then turned off, her voice rang, serious but warm:
"Every year, Regorts relights the fire to remind that: no fire can burn alone."
Four house heads stepped forward, each carrying a symbolic object. Scaffil represented Phoenixes, his hand holding a brilliant red phoenix feather; Eaglie representative placed a golden eagle wing; Foxly gave a small and shiny stream-stone; Serpentis kept silent but placed in the bowl a blurry shiny ancient snake scale.
Scaffil dropped the phoenix feather into the bowl first. Lena — standing behind, wearing a red cloak — had no loud words but her eyes flashed when she saw the fire color reflecting on her red hair.
When all four objects lay in the bowl, a deep vibration echoed from the ground. The fire rose up — not simply red as usually seen, but twisted into four colors: red, gold, emerald, blue — winding into each other like light ribbons. The fire rose high but was not hot at all: it radiated an ôn tồn warmth, like protective arms.
The fire burst up shooting 4 fire sparks into the four symbolic wood piles of the four houses. They glowed, burning big. Each pile a specific color.
The students formed a circle around, sitting on the ground as if around a campfire. Rissy whispered funny stories, Neval chuckled, Juston smiled lightly, and some Serpentis stood solemnly but their lips curved slightly — a bit of pride. The firelight was imprinted on everyone's faces, making everyone's face glow with youthful vitality.
When the clock tower pointed to midnight, the fire column slowly shrank. It retracted as if into a small eggshell, then — a shimmering moment — turned off completely, leaving only thin smoke rising to the sky. Annatrist bowed, her voice both serious and gentle:
"The fire is out to wait for next year. You guys go rest — tomorrow still have to go to class."
Students cheered, extinguished a few small candles on the sidelines, then left the yard — ending a night both sacred and warm. Lena followed Scaffil back, her eyes still fixed on the place where the bowl fire had gone out; that quietness, to anyone observant, rang out like an unspoken promise.
While sitting watching the fire, Neval suddenly turned to look toward the covenant tree. A black silhouette was standing there. He opened his eyes wide and tugged Rissy's arm.
"Rissy! Someone is standing under the covenant tree!"
Rissy turned her eyes to look. That shadow looked back at her. Keila hurriedly stood up, then pulled Neval to run to that tree. The shadow saw that and also ran away. When she and Neval arrived, that shadow had probably escaped, leaving behind a Serpentis badge that was crossed out.
"Rissy, we must tell Juston and Lena."
"Of course we will." – Rissy said.
Then they ran like the wind toward where Lena and Juston were standing.
"Hey, just now… Neval and I… saw… a black silhouette standing at… the… covenant tree." – Neval said while panting.
Lena was surprised:
"Really?"
"Yes, there was also a Serpentis badge crossed out there!" – Rissy recounted.
They went back to the covenant tree to see it. Unexpectedly, that badge had disappeared at some point. Neval and Rissy opened eyes wide. They couldn't believe what they had just witnessed.
"The badge… where did it go?" – Rissy asked in bewilderment.
Lena patted Rissy's shoulder, because she knew Rissy never lied to them.
"Maybe that shadow took it when you guys ran to find us."
They stood dazed there. The moonlight shone down. Leaving four silhouettes merged together like a giant friendship rock with surprises yet to be answered.