Full Chapter – Marks and Monsters, Hearts and Teeth
Location: Ashenwell Academy – One day after the Field Trial. The Irix zone has shut down. The students have returned. But the fire… has not.
The Mark
Grim stood in the quiet of his dormitory chamber, alone now. The room dimmed under the soft red-orange hue of the rising sun.
His arm still burned.
He pulled back the sleeve, staring at the mark that had crept from his wrist to his shoulder — delicate veins of ash and flickering black-red etchings that pulsed faintly with his heartbeat. In the center of it, etched above his forearm, was the faint outline of a crown — one fractured down the center, dripping fire.
He flexed his fingers.
It responded — pulsing not with pain, but awareness.
"The Crown knows you now."
The dragon's voice echoed in his mind — not aloud, but a memory replayed. He remembered the dream realm, the harshness of his training, the pain he endured there. The dragon had said the mark would come when he had begun to stir the ancient core within — the true Ashen spark.
"But be warned… those who carried the Ashen Crown before you lost more than their names. They lost what made them human."
There was no turning back.
He pulled his sleeve down.
And stepped out.
Return to Chaos
He'd barely stepped into the common area when the teasing began.
"Look who survived his existential crisis," Max said, feet up on the table.
"Did you cry?" Hadi added, sipping something pink and steaming.
"I bet he cried," Ayesha grinned.
Tristan didn't look up from the book he was pretending to read. "He brooded. Probably wrote a poem. Or five."
Sparks sat on the couch, legs crossed, chewing a flame-coated sweet.
"You're glowing," she said.
"It's the mark."
"No," she smirked. "You're glowing. Must be all the inner suffering. Makes your skin radiant."
Grim ignored them. Barely.
But then the door slammed open.
The siblings turned — cautiously.
Standing there, dirt on her boots, blood on her clothes, and something massive and limp slung over her shoulder — was Lys.
Her eyes locked on Grim's.
She dropped the body with a wet thud. It was a creature from the Thalum wilds — jagged teeth, molten underbelly, and dead.
The smell hit the room like a punch.
Grim blinked. "What… is that?"
"A gift," she said simply. "For you."
Everyone froze.
"...like a dead bouquet," Sparks muttered.
"This is happening," Max whispered.
"Is that a... mating ritual?" Hadi hissed.
"She hunted for him," Ayesha said, wide-eyed. "That's not a crush. That's a claim."
"I am begging someone to film this," Tristan mumbled.
Grim stepped forward, trying not to gag.
"Thank you… Lys. I… accept."
Lys smiled. Genuinely.
And for a terrifying moment, it looked like her pupils slitted — her beast instincts pleased.
Sparks's mouth fell open.
"You what?!"
"I'm avoiding bloodshed," Grim said under his breath. "She brought it. Rejecting it might've triggered a full-on werebeast rage imprint."
"Oh, you read about it now? That's cute."
"Not the time."
"It's never the time when she's involved."
Lys walked past them all without another word, heading toward her quarters — which, thanks to administrative chaos, was now next to Grim's.
"She lives here now?" Max asked.
"Yep," Tristan confirmed. "I checked. Apparently, she was reclassified as one of our 'foreign Kindled guests' after her power rating came in."
"Great," Sparks said. "Now we've got murder girl nesting next to broody boy. This place is gonna explode."
Later – Sparks and Grim
That night, Grim stood by the Flame Tree again. Sparks joined him, quiet for once.
"You're changing," she said. "That mark… it's more than just power. It's pulling something out of you. Something old."
"It's part of me," he said. "It always was. I just didn't want to see it."
"Do you now?"
He didn't answer.
Sparks looked up at him.
"I'm still here, you know. Even if she tries to drag you away with dead things and instinct."
"I know."
"And I'm not giving up. Not because I want to win, Grim. Because I chose you."
Grim turned toward her.
"Then stay close."
She smiled — soft and sad.
"Always."