The Forbidden Archives – Midnight
Deep beneath Ashenwell, hidden under layers of shifting stairs and illusion wards, Sparks hovered alone.
Not with Grim. Not inside his mind. But drifting—flickering—through the vault of forgotten things.
This was her first real time away from him in months.
"Creepy silence," she muttered. "Ten out of ten. Definitely haunted. My kind of place."
She drifted past crystalencased tomes and locked relics, scanning for one thing: a vessel. A body. A form that could handle her soulcore without fracturing.
A whisper echoed through the shelves.
"You are more than you remember, little spark…"
She froze.
Her glitch aura pulsed.
A sealed mirror pulsed back.
Aboveground – Breakfast Madness
Grim sat alone at the Flameborn Table—well, for two seconds.
Lys dropped beside him. A little too close.
"You didn't come to breakfast with me."
"I had to talk to the Headmaster."
"You're lying. That's okay. I like liars. They taste like guilt."
He choked on his tea.
Then Sparks' voice chimed in his head, sassy as ever.
"Wow, she's clingy. Can I haunt her sword?"
"You're literally inside a flaming teacup right now," Grim muttered under his breath.
Across the hall, Ayesha and Max had a staredown over toast. Tristan tried flirting with a ghost librarian who floated by. Hadi blew up three napkins.
Then the atmosphere changed.
The Third Years Return
A wave of energy washed through the hall—magic old and wild. Power laced with intention.
The doors burst open.
The Third Years had returned.
Led by five elite students, their uniforms were black with crimson trim, badges etched with golden script.
But none captured attention like her.
ZARIYA NIGHTWIND – Apex Witch of the Third Years
She walked like she'd never been stopped. Her hair was black with threads of violet flame. Her cloak moved like it obeyed her will.
Her core? So heavy, it bent the air.
She stopped by Grim's table. Studied him. Then... smiled.
"So this is the infamous Flameborn."
"And you are?" Grim asked, not impressed.
"Zariya. Elemental apex. First of the Third. Slayer of the Hollow Wyrm. And..." —she turned her gaze across the siblings—"interested."
Lys's expression darkened instantly.
Sparks' voice glitched. > "I will set her eyebrows on fire."
Zariya touched Grim's shoulder lightly.
"Let's spar sometime. Or… something more fun."
She walked off.
Max blinked. "Did she just flirt with all of us?"
"Yup," Ayesha said flatly.
Tristan sighed. "I think I'm in love."