Morning dawned slowly, shrouded in a pale gray mist that wrapped around the spires of Arcanis Academy like skeletal fingers. Elira walked alone on the stone paths, her head spinning from all that Kael had revealed to her the night before. His mother. The curse. The prophecy.
And the voice—echoing in both their minds—urging them to recognize that what bound them was not just magic, but fate.
She cinched her cloak tight around her shoulders as she made her way through the eastern courtyard. The students she encountered did not speak to her. Some shunned her gaze entirely. Others whispered behind her back when they believed she was not listening.
Void-bound.
Cursed.
Aether-born.
All names. None of them sounded like her.
The worst of it? She did not even know who she was anymore herself.
"Elira!"
The soothing voice made her jump. She turned around to find Sera coming towards her, her braid streaming wildly, her arms full of books.
