The call came at midnight.
A sharp chime cut through Kael's apartment—three notes, descending.
Not an academy tone.
Not a student summons.
Council priority.
Kael's eyes opened instantly. He slid off the bed without a sound, moving across the dark floor like a shadow. The message orb hovered above his desk, pulsing with a deep imperial blue.
A voice filtered through, clipped and authoritative:
"Kael Veyne. Report to the Grand Council Tower.
Immediate compliance required."
No explanation.
No name.
Only that tone—the one used when something had gone very, very wrong.
Kael threw on his cloak, secured the last of the broken orb's remnants into a concealed pocket, and stepped into the hallway.
The city was unnaturally silent.
As if the mana grid itself was holding its breath.
The Grand Tower
The elevators rose with the smooth, silent acceleration only the Council possessed. Through the transparent walls, the city shrank beneath him—lights turning into constellations, streets into thin rivers of fire.
At the 99th floor, the doors slid open.
A woman waited for him—Agent Seris, a royal-blue uniform and a face carved from steel.
Her eyes flicked over him, assessing. Measuring.
"Follow me."
He did, noting the unusual tension in her posture.
She didn't speak until they passed three sealed checkpoints and stepped into a dim hallway lined with black crystal walls.
Only then did she turn.
"Kael Veyne," she began, voice lower, "you were present during the anomaly yesterday."
"…yes."
"And you were the first to respond."
A beat of silence.
"You acted with speed and precision," she continued. "Suspiciously so."
Kael's expression did not change.
"Do you want to accuse me of something, Agent Seris?"
That earned him a cold smile.
"No. I want to show you something."
She pressed her palm to the obsidian wall.
The surface dissolved into light.
The Black Archive
Cold air washed over them.
Rows of containment pods lined the chamber, each holding swirling masses of unstable mana—the archives of phenomena too dangerous to be studied in open labs.
Seris led him to a pod near the center.
Inside was a small crystalline shard.
Faintly glowing.
Faintly trembling.
Kael instantly recognized the signature.
His heartbeat spiked—not from fear, but from understanding.
It was a piece of the veil.
"This fragment," Seris said softly, "was found after the anomaly. Our analysts believe something—no, someone—tore through the boundary."
Her gaze slid toward him, piercing.
"We also detected traces of energy we cannot classify. And yet—"
she stepped closer—
"you closed the anomaly with techniques we've never seen.
Runes we cannot identify."
Kael remained still, silent, unreadable.
Seris leaned in.
"Where did you learn them?"
Kael tilted his head slightly.
"I didn't."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Every technique has a source."
"Not this one."
A flicker of irritation crossed her face—but she hid it well.
She tapped the crystal glass.
"Then answer a different question:
Why does this fragment resonate with your mana signature?"
Kael's pulse stopped.
She knew.
Or rather—
she suspected.
But before he could respond, Seris pressed her palm to the pod again.
The shard inside flared—brilliant and violent.
A wave of energy exploded outward, slamming into both of them.
Kael staggered—
not from the force—
but from the echo it carried.
A whisper.
A breath.
A voice.
Lian.
Tianluo — The Ritual of the Silver Staff
The moon hung lower now, crimson bleeding into violet.
Lian knelt inside the temple hall, surrounded by runes that glowed on the stone floor. The elders' chants echoed through the pillars like the hum of a storm.
Elder Hu raised both hands.
"The veil has been pierced," he intoned.
"We must learn who—or what—crossed into the other world."
Lian lifted her staff. Silver light spiraled from its tip, swirling like dragon breath.
She could feel it—the same strange energy she had sensed the night before.
The boy's presence clung to it like a stain.
The ritual began.
Qi surged through the hall, bending to her will.
Her vision blurred, then sharpened into two planes of existence—Tianluo before her, and another world behind it.
A world made of glass towers and glowing veins of mana.
She whispered, "Show me again…"
The staff trembled.
A pulse shot outward.
For one moment—
one impossible moment—
she saw him.
A boy standing beside a containment pod.
Eyes like quiet frost.
A shadow behind him, smiling cruelly.
Her heart seized.
"There—!" she gasped.
But the vision shattered as a violent shockwave ripped through the veil.
The ritual circle exploded.
Lian was thrown backward, crashing into a pillar.
The elders were hurled to the ground.
The barrier between worlds screamed.
Ætheris — Breaking Point
Seris hit the floor hard, but Kael didn't fall.
Mana warped around him, instinctively stabilizing.
The shard cracked inside the pod—
and for a heartbeat, a tear flickered in midair.
A tear into Tianluo.
A mountain ridge.
Red moon.
A girl with silver hair reaching toward him.
"Kael," she whispered—
though the sound carried no voice, only intention.
Kael's calm mask snapped.
His darker self surfaced instantly, thrilled.
"There she is."
Kael's hand moved toward the tear—
—but the veil slammed shut, severing the contact with a thunderous snap.
The pod shattered.
Lights went black.
Sirens began to scream throughout the tower.
Seris stared at him, breathless and shaken.
"What… was that?
Who did you see?
What did you DO?"
Kael said nothing.
Because the truth was simple:
He hadn't done anything.
The veil itself had reached for him.
Or rather—
she had.
The Turning Point
Seris straightened, fury and fear warring in her eyes.
"This incident," she said hoarsely, "will be classified at the highest level.
Kael Veyne… from this moment forward, you are under Council observation."
She stepped toward him, voice low.
"And if you hide anything else from us—anything at all—
we will find out."
Kael's expression didn't shift.
But inside, his darker self whispered:
"Let them watch."
"Let her search."
"Let the gate awaken."
For the first time in days, Kael felt something unfamiliar flicker in his chest—
anticipation.
The next tear…
the next anomaly…
would not be an accident.
The path between worlds was opening.
And soon—
very soon—
someone would cross it.