The first sign that Lina was truly VOID wasn't the Runic Grave wall.
It was the door.
They climbed out of the underwing through a narrow passage that smelled like damp stone and old ink, emerging behind a tapestry in a corridor that looked almost… normal. Torchlight. Polished floors. A painting of a Founder whose eyes followed you just enough to feel alive.
For half a second, Lina's heart loosened.
Then she stepped forward—and the corridor's runes flickered like they'd seen a ghost.
A thin line of light snapped across the hallway in front of her, as if an invisible barrier had decided to exist specifically where she stood.
Lina flinched back.
Kai's hand shot out and caught her wrist—anchor touch, quick and instinctive. "Say your name."
"Lina Veris," she whispered.
"Again."
"Lina Veris."
"Stay real."
"I'm here," she breathed. The words felt like she was arguing with the building.
The barrier didn't move.
It didn't react.
It simply… refused.
Reyon exhaled shakily behind his mask. "Cool. Love that the school has now decided you're a pop-up ad it can block."
Seren stared at the rune-line, eyes glowing faintly. "It's not an attack ward."
"What is it?" Mira asked, clutching Lina's sleeve like she might forget how Lina felt if she let go.
Seren's voice came out thin. "It's an access ward. It's checking whether Lina exists in the academy's records."
Lina swallowed. "And I don't."
Kai's jaw tightened. "Not officially."
A portrait on the wall shifted—an old, smiling Founder in rich robes. Its painted eyes flicked to Kai, then to Seren, then to Reyon…
And slid right over Lina like she was a blank patch of air.
The portrait's mouth moved, voice warm and booming.
"Students," it said. "Welcome to Aetherion Academy."
It didn't address Lina at all.
Mira whispered, voice shaking, "It didn't see you."
Lina's chest tightened until it hurt. It was one thing for a wall to write VOID. It was another for the world to behave like it believed it.
Kai stepped closer until his shoulder brushed hers—subtle, protective. "You're not alone."
Lina tried for sarcasm and failed. "Tell the hallway that."
Kai's eyes darkened, a flash of something fierce beneath the calm. "I will."
He reached out, placed his palm against the rune-line, and let shadow ripple faintly beneath his skin—controlled, minimal.
The barrier wavered.
Not for Lina.
For Kai.
The runes recognized him like a key.
Kai looked at Lina and held out his hand. "Stay with me."
Lina took it without thinking.
The barrier shivered.
Then—just barely—split open enough for Kai to pull her through in his wake, like she was being smuggled inside someone else's permission.
Seren slipped through next, dragging Reyon by the sleeve before he could complain.
Reyon whispered, "I'm sorry, are we… illegally entering our own school?"
Mira followed last, nearly tripping as the barrier snapped shut behind them with a quiet, satisfied click.
Lina's pulse hammered. "So I only pass if I'm attached to you."
Kai's mouth twitched—so slight it was almost not a smile. "Try not to sound jealous."
Lina's cheeks warmed despite the fear. "Try not to sound smug."
Seren shot them a look that said please flirt later, which was impressive considering her eyes were still glowing like the dead were whispering in her ears.
They moved fast, keeping close.
The corridor opened into a wider hall—and Lina stopped short.
Because the academy had changed without changing.
Banners hung from the ceiling—fresh cloth with ancient crests stitched in shimmering thread.
Four symbols.
Four colors.
Four doors at the far end, each carved with a different motif.
A staff notice board glowed near the center, letters writing themselves as if excited.
FOUR RESONANCE ORDERS — FOUNDER TRADITION RESUMESEMBER • UMBRAL • PRISM • ECHOORDER ACCESS ROUTES ACTIVE — UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY WILL TRIGGER CONTAINMENT
Reyon stared. "Oh. Great. The school has decided to become even more… school."
Seren's gaze sharpened. "Orders."
Mira whispered, "Like… groups?"
Kai's voice was low. "Containment lanes."
Lina's skin prickled. "So the academy is sorting students based on how to control them."
Kai didn't deny it.
The Ember door was carved with flame filigree and a crest that looked like a burning veil.
The Umbral door was darker, smooth stone etched with chain-like runes and a shadow crest that seemed to move if you stared too long.
The Prism door shimmered with mirror-glass inlays—too reflective for Lina's comfort.
And the Echo door was lined with pale silver, engraved with tiny sound-wave runes that made Lina's ears ring faintly.
Seren swallowed. "Echo Order…"
"Of course they have an Echo Order," Reyon muttered. "Why wouldn't the creepy school have a creepy sound-death club."
A second notice wrote itself beneath the Orders announcement:
SIGIL CHASE (AETHER RUN) — TRIALS BEGIN IN 3 DAYSRUNE GATES SHIFTING — SIGNATURES REQUIREDONLY ORDER MEMBERS MAY COMPETE
Mira blinked. "There's… a sport?"
Kai's gaze narrowed. "A public distraction."
Seren's voice was tight. "And a perfect harvesting event."
Reyon let out a humorless laugh. "So while we're getting rewritten underground, the school's preparing a fun little murder-olympics."
Lina stared at the words SIGIL CHASE and felt her stomach twist—because she could already imagine it: crowds cheering, gates shifting, near-death awakenings, jealousy spikes, emotions spilling like fuel.
Aetherion loved emotions.
That's why it hosted traditions.
Traditions were controlled chaos.
Kai tugged Lina subtly toward the Umbral door. "We don't go Prism."
Lina's voice came out sharp. "Because mirrors."
Kai's eyes flicked to her. "Because Veilbound."
Seren nodded grimly. "Prism routes are where illusions nest."
Reyon bristled. "Hey."
Seren glanced at him. "Not you. Them."
Reyon huffed. "Thank you for clarifying. I'm fragile right now."
Kai pressed his palm to the Umbral door.
The crest flared faintly, recognizing his resonance like a signature.
The door opened with a soft hiss—like a secret being allowed.
Warm torchlight spilled out, and for a heartbeat, it almost felt like a hidden passage in a story Lina would've loved as a kid.
Then Lina stepped forward and the Umbral crest dimmed.
Not rejecting her.
Ignoring her.
Like she wasn't worth acknowledging.
Kai's hand tightened around hers. "Stay close."
Lina swallowed. "I'm trying."
Inside, the Umbral route wasn't a corridor so much as a series of narrow, shifting halls lined with old stone and faded murals. Some showed students in crested robes running through glowing gates—Sigil Chase champions, laughing, triumphant.
And between those murals were darker carvings: chains, runes, and faces with their mouths erased.
Seren's breath hitched. "Those are… un-witnessed."
Lina's skin prickled. "What does that mean?"
Seren's eyes glowed brighter. "People who were erased so thoroughly no one could remember them."
Mira squeezed Lina's sleeve. "Don't say that."
A soft rustle came from ahead.
Not footsteps.
Paper.
Kai froze. "Stop."
They stopped.
At the end of the Umbral corridor, suspended in the air as if held by invisible strings, a parchment unfurled by itself.
Not a notice.
Not a map.
A living document.
Ink shifted across it like water, forming lines and symbols and clusters.
Names flickered.
Some stable. Some smudged.
Some… half-written.
Seren whispered, reverent and terrified at the same time: "The Founder's Atlas."
Reyon's voice dropped. "The Runemap."
The parchment pulsed once—like it had a heartbeat—and ink rearranged into a floorplan of the academy, dotted with clusters of shadow and light.
Tiny icons marked danger zones.
Nightfall formation pockets.
Veilbound signatures.
And then—near their location—one label appeared in sharp ink:
KAI RHEN — FLICKER: 🪞
Lina's throat tightened.
Then her own name appeared—
—or tried to.
The ink hesitated where Lina Veris should be, as if the parchment didn't know how to hold it.
Then the words formed anyway, shaky, smudged:
LINA VERIS — STATUS: VOID
And beneath it, a new tag wrote itself—slow, deliberate, like the map was making a decision.
UNWITNESSED.
Mira made a small sound and clutched Lina harder.
Seren's voice broke. "No."
Kai went very still.
Lina stared at the word UNWITNESSED and felt the floor tilt inside her chest.
Because it wasn't just saying the academy didn't recognize her.
It was saying the world was starting to agree.
And as the Runemap pulsed again, the ink clusters shifted—Veilbound signatures creeping closer like spilled shadow.
Then, without warning, the parchment's lines rearranged.
A route highlighted itself in bright ink—an "escape path" through Prism corridors.
Kai's jaw clenched. "It's lying."
Seren whispered, trembling, "The Runemap lies when Veilbound are near."
Reyon swallowed hard. "So the map is actively trying to walk us into a trap."
The parchment fluttered like a laugh.
And in the darkness behind them, a voice—soft, familiar, wrong—murmured:
"Lina…"
Lina's blood ran cold.
Because the voice sounded like Kai.
But Kai's hand was still in hers.
And his grip tightened like a warning.
To be Continued© Kishtika., 2025
All rights reserved.