The world returned in fragments - light first, then sound, then breath.
Lyra gasped, her body weightless for a moment before the ground found her again. The air around her shimmered, thick with magic, as if starlight had been dissolved into mist.
"Draven…?"
A groan answered from nearby.
He lay a few feet away, one hand braced against the floor, crimson aura flickering weakly around him. Bruised. Dazed. Alive.
"I'm here," he muttered. "That pulse- it felt like the world folded in half."
Lyra pushed herself upright, heart racing. The ruins around them were no longer broken. Cracked stone had reformed into smooth crystal walls, veins of soft light pulsing through them like a living heartbeat.
"Where are we?" she whispered.
Draven scanned the chamber. "Still inside Aethern Hall… but deeper. Like we fell into its core."
Then a familiar sound cut through the silence.
A soft, musical chirp.
"Lumi," Lyra breathed.
The Bonds Awaken
Elsewhere in the depths, Seren Cale blinked against a haze of blue light. She lay beside a wide crystal basin filled with luminous water that glowed faintly with shifting symbols.
"Seren are you hurt?"
She turned her head to see Nyra Vale kneeling beside her, shadow aura coiled protectively around her hands.
"I'm okay," Seren said slowly. "Just… feel like something touched my thoughts."
Before Nyra could reply, a streak of light bounded into view.
Lumi leapt onto the basin's edge, fur shimmering no longer pure gold, but threaded with violet and soft blue, like multiple colors learning to breathe together.
Nyra narrowed her eyes. "Its resonance changed."
As if responding, Lumi lowered its head. The water in the basin rippled, lines of light forming briefly across the surface a map, incomplete, ancient.
Seren gasped. "It's showing us a path."
The image faded, but the hum remained.
The Gathering
One by one, the others were drawn by the same low resonance a pull only those touched by the Echo could feel.
Lyra and Draven arrived first.
Then Riven Dax, sparks of stormlight dancing across his shoulders, followed by Eira Wynn, frost mist curling around her breath.
When all six finally stood together, the chamber responded.
Lumi padded forward, tail leaving a thin trail of light across the stone floor. With every step, ancient runes ignited - symbols older than Spectrum Academy itself.
Draven crouched, running his fingers just above the glowing lines."These aren't seals," he said quietly. "They're invitations."
Lyra looked at Lumi. "You're completing them, aren't you?"
Lumi chirped once.
The final rune flared - and instead of an explosion, the chamber filled with a deep, resonant chime that echoed inside their minds rather than their ears.
A voice emerged - layered, ancient, and neither fully light nor shadow.
"Six hearts bound by fear and hope.When resonance aligns, the Vault awakens."
The wall ahead shifted, crystal folding into itself, revealing a spiral staircase descending into glowing mist.
Seren swallowed. "It's opening… for us."
Draven's jaw tightened. "Or testing whether we deserve what's inside."
Above - The Headmistress Watches
High above the ruins, within the highest spire of Spectrum Academy, Headmistress Veyra Lys stood before a tall prism window.
The same faint resonance flickered through the Academy grounds - subtle, but unmistakable.
Behind her, a masked figure stepped from the shadows.
Kaelith, Echo Mentor.
"It has begun," he said quietly. "The Vault responded to the familiar."
Veyra's eyes shifted color — light bending within them.
"Not just the familiar," she replied. "The bond between them. Six lights, stabilizing each other."
Kaelith hesitated. "Should we intervene?"
Veyra shook her head.
"No. The Vault does not open to warnings. It opens to truth."She turned back to the window."If they are meant to awaken what was sealed… they will reach the heart on their own."
Far below, thunder rolled softly across the valley - not in anger, but anticipation.
As if the world itself had begun to listen.
Somewhere below, something shifted — and it was not sleeping anymore.