Lumi had become the quiet heart of their world.
After Headmistress Veyra's reluctant approval, the sharp edge of fear finally softened into something warmer laughter, whispered jokes, a fragile sense of normalcy the Academy rarely allowed.
The next afternoon, the six of them gathered near the Academy gardens the same place where resonance had first answered Lyra's call.
Lyra stretched her arms, breathing in the prismatic air."Feels strange being out here," she said softly. "Without worrying about alarms… or Councils."
Seren adjusted the time-thread clasp at her wrist, Lumi perched comfortably on her shoulder."Let's not tempt fate," she replied, though her smile betrayed her relief.
Draven, leaning against a broken stone arch, gave a rare half-smile."There's still one place the Academy doesn't talk about."
Everyone knew what he meant.
The old gate half-buried beneath vines and fractured stone led into the ruins of Aethern Hall, the first incarnation of Spectrum Academy, sealed centuries ago after the Collapse.
Rumors said the building still remembered magic too old to obey rules.
The Forgotten Halls
The gate groaned as they pushed it open.
The air changed instantly colder, heavier, threaded with something ancient. Dust motes drifted like tiny fireflies, glowing faintly as if reacting to their presence.
Tattered tapestries clung to the walls, depicting dragons of light, fractured stars, and figures wielding colors no longer taught.
Riven exhaled slowly."It feels like the walls are watching us."
Lumi's fur bristled. A low hum rippled through the corridor familiar now, but deeper. Older.
Without warning, glowing lines of light awakened along the floor, spreading outward like veins.
"What's happening…?" Lyra whispered.
Before anyone could react, the ground split into six luminous paths.
A surge of magic tore through the hall — and the world fractured.
Separated
Lyra & Draven
They landed in a circular chamber lined with floating mirrors.
Each reflection showed fragments of memory Lyra's childhood balcony, Draven standing amid crimson fire, moments neither had spoken aloud.
At the chamber's center hovered a cracked crystal, pulsing with faint red light.
Lyra stepped closer. The hum roared.
"Draven… it's resonating with you."
"No," he said sharply, eyes darkening. "It's responding to you."
The crystal flared violently. Cracks spidered across the walls as the room began to collapse inward.
Seren & Riven
They tumbled into a narrow hallway choked with living vines.
At its center floated a blue crystal orb, trembling like a living heartbeat.
Seren approached carefully. Lumi chirped a warning.
The moment her fingers brushed the surface, the orb shattered in a burst of light.
The corridor screamed.
"Move!" Riven shouted, grabbing her wrist as the ceiling began to cave in.
Runes along the walls ignited the ruin awakening in protest.
Eira & Nyra
They emerged in what looked like an ancient classroom.
Books floated midair, pages whispering spells that had not been spoken in centuries. Frost crept instinctively along Eira's fingers.
One tome slammed open.
A circle of violet runes ignited beneath their feet.
Nyra swallowed."This place doesn't want us here."
Eira narrowed her eyes, steady and calm."Then we don't give it a choice."
The floor began to spiral downward, pulling them into the depths of forgotten knowledge.
The Awakening
From somewhere above distorted, distant Headmistress Veyra's voice echoed through the ruin.
"Students leave Aethern Hall! The seal is breaking!"
But it was already too late.
The crystals they had touched were not separate relics.
They were fragments of a single slumbering heart, buried deep beneath the Academy a core older than the Council, older than the Divisions themselves.
As the six called out each other's names, magic surged upward in a blinding wave.
For one heartbeat, they were connected.
Not by sight.Not by sound.
By color.
Lumi's glow flared and their minds brushed against one another, a shared resonance threading them together.
A voice whispered neither male nor female, neither light nor shadow.
"Do not fear."
"This is where your colors begin."
Then
Silence.