Dawn light filtered through the dormitory window, painting stripes of gold across Kael's sleeping face. Something warm and impossibly soft was nuzzling against his cheek, emitting a low, chirring purr that vibrated through his very bones.
Kael's eyes fluttered open.
Two brilliant amber orbs stared back at him, inches from his face. Ignis was curled on his pillow, tiny claws kneading the fabric, his scales shimmering with internal firelight.
The Ember Drake pup had grown overnight not in size, but in presence. His scales, which yesterday had been dull and ashen, now glowed with healthy crimson gold hues, like embers in a well tended hearth. The scent of sun warmed stone and cinnamon filled the small space between them.
"Morning," Kael whispered, his voice rough with sleep.
Ignis chirped happily, a tiny puff of smoke curling from his nostrils. He butted his head against Kael's chin, then scrambled up to perch on his chest, tail wrapping possessively around Kael's neck like a living, warm scarf.
The previous night's terror, Malakai's suspicious eyes, the frantic rush of learning the Beast Space, the Earth Soul Dragon' grinding sorrow all of it melted away for a moment under the simple, profound reality of this small life trusting him completely.
Kael raised a hand, hesitant, then gently stroked the ridge between Ignis's eyes. The scales were smooth and warm, thrumming with a gentle, steady pulse of draconic energy. Ignis leaned into the touch, his purr deepening.
"He imprints," Vaelthryx's voice murmured in his mind, not as the distant cosmic presence, but closer a weary, ancient grandfather observing from the next room. "The bond forms in shared survival. You stole him from death. He will now steal your blankets and your breakfast such is dragon nature."
Kael huffed a quiet laugh. Already, Ignis was sniffing toward the small stash of nutrient bars on Kael's bedside table.
"Not that," Kael said gently, scooping him up. Ignis wriggled in his hands, surprisingly strong for his size, but didn't try to escape. "You need real fire energy. But I have no idea what that means for an Ember Drake."
"The Beast Space will sustain him for now. But soon, you must find Fire Star Grass or a small, flawed fire-crystal. He is a hatchling. His needs are simple. His mischief, however, will be… inventive."
As if to prove the point, Ignis twisted and puffed a tiny, precise flame that singed the corner of Kael's textbook. Not enough to burn it, just enough to leave a blackened edge and the smell of ozone.
"Hey!" Kael scolded, but couldn't keep the smile from his face. The drake looked ridiculously pleased with himself, puffing his chest out.
It was time Dominic would be waking soon, and Ignis couldn't be seen.
"Okay, little spark," Kael murmured, holding the drake up to eye level. "Back to the quiet place for now. Just until I can figure things out."
Ignis's happy chirps ceased. He tilted his head, his intelligent eyes seeming to understand. A flicker of disappointment, then resignation. He nuzzled Kael's thumb once more.
Kael closed his eyes, reaching inward to that new, fragile sense the Beast Space. It wasn't a place he could visualize clearly, more a feeling, a pocket of silent warmth adjacent to his own soul. He gently nudged Ignis's essence toward it, repeating the fold Vaelthryx had taught him.
With a soft whoosh of inhaled air, Ignis vanished from his hands. The weight on his chest, the warmth around his neck gone.
But in his mind, Kael felt it, a tiny, bright ember, nestled safely in that private pocket. A faint, sleepy chirp echoed in his consciousness, then quiet.
Good and Safe.
THE BEAST SPACE
Ignis tumbled into the not place with a soft squeak. It was… nothing, and yet everything. A void without cold, a darkness that didn't frighten. The ground beneath his paws felt like solid intention, the air like still mana. And in the center of this formless realm, something was materializing.
Light didn't flood the space it coalesced. Particles of starlight and ember drew together, weaving a form of breathtaking, impossible scale.
First, a skeleton of cosmic fire, then veins of molten gold, then scales that drank the light and reflected back nebulae. Vaelthryx did not appear all at once; he remembered himself into existence.
To a human eye, he would have been a towering, majestic terror, an Ember Aether dragon the size of a cathedral, wings that seemed to fold reality, eyes containing dying stars.
But to Ignis's newborn draconic senses, he was not a monster. He was… Grandfather. The source. The deep, ancient song at the heart of all fire.
The immense head lowered, until one golden eye, slit with a pupil of infinite black, was level with the tiny drake. The eye alone was larger than Ignis's entire body.
Ignis froze, every instinct screaming to prostrate himself, to hide, to flee. But another instinct, deeper and older, made him stand his ground.
He was Ember Drake. This was Ember Aether. They were kin, however distant.
He took one wobbly step forward. Then another.
A sound like mountains laughing softly, like continents shifting in amusement, vibrated through the space.
"So," Vaelthryx's voice was a physical thing here, warm and heavy as magma, yet strangely gentle. "The thief's stolen spark has courage. Good. You will need it."
Encouraged, Ignis scampered forward, his fear evaporating under the dragon's approving tone. He stopped just before the colossal snout, tilting his head back so far he almost toppled over. Up close, he could see that each of Vaelthryx's scales held swirling galaxies within its depths.
"You have bonded well to the Child of Stars," Vaelthryx observed. "He is… unbalanced. Powerful but untethered. Your fire is simple. Pure. It will anchor him. And he…" a tendril of smoky thought, affectionate and exasperated, brushed against Ignis's mind, "…will undoubtedly spoil you rotten."
Ignis, emboldened, reached out a tiny claw and tapped the tip of Vaelthryx's nose.
Tap.
The cosmic dragon went very still.
Then, a true chuckle, a sound that made the Beast Space shiver with delight. "Impertinent." A wisp of star-flecked smoke, gentle as a summer breeze, swirled around Ignis, lifting him into the air. "Come, little spark. We have much to discuss. First lesson: how to singe a miner's socks without burning the cloth. A delicate art…"
LORRI'S ARCH ACADEMY – FUNDAMENTAL CONJURATION HALL
The shift from the profound silence of the Beast Space to the chaotic noise of a first year spell craft class was jarring.
Kael slid into his seat between Justin and Ellora just as the bell tone chimed. The hall was a vast, circular chamber with rune-inscribed floors and ceiling crystals that shimmered with ambient mana. Around him, sixty other students buzzed with first-week energy, comparing vein revelations and speculating about instructors.
A side door opened, and Professor Lyra Proxima entered. The buzz died instantly.
She moved with a predator's quiet grace, her auburn-and-silver hair a cascade down her back, her hazel eyes scanning the room with terrifying efficiency. She wore practical scholar's robes, but they were tailored with sharp lines, and at her belt hung not a wand, but a complex, multi-geared device of crystal and silver a mana calibrator.
"Welcome to Fundamental Conjuration," she said, her voice clear and precise, needing no amplification. It was the same voice that had dissected his mana veins. Kael fought the urge to sink into his seat.
"You are here because you have Awakened. You have veins. Some of you even have… attributes." Her gaze flickered, for a millisecond, to Sora, then Lisa, then landed on Kael. It felt like a pinprick. "That means nothing today. Today, you learn the first principle of magic: Intentional Release."
She gestured, and the main crystal above flared. Images of spell forms simple geometric shapes appeared in the air.
"Magic is not waving your hands and hoping. It is a precise transaction. You offer mana the energy in your veins. You offer will, the focus of your mind. In return, reality offers you an effect. The spell form is the contract language."
She paced along the dais. "You will begin with the most basic offensive construct: the Mana Bolt. Star Grade, Low Level. A sphere of unfocused kinetic mana. The form is a simple three circle convergence. Watch."
She didn't make a grand gesture. She lifted a finger, and in the air before her, three rings of pale blue light appeared, interlocked, and spun. With a soft thump, a bolt of blue energy shot across the room and dissolved against a practice ward.
"Your turn. Page four of your grimoires. You have twenty minutes. Begin."
Chaos erupted. Students fumbled with their new, Star Grade grimoires thick books with blank pages that only revealed text when mana was channeled into them. Kael opened his, and the page shimmered, showing the three circle diagram. It looked simple.
Around him, the air filled with sputters, fizzles, and the occasional successful pop.
"Focus, Corvin," Lyra's voice cut like a whip. The bronze-veined noble jumped. "Your intent is 'I want to show off.' The spell requires 'I want to project kinetic force.' They are not the same intent. Try again."
To Kael's right, Ellora had her eyes scrunched shut, her hands cupped. A wispy, pathetic puff of blue mist coalesced, then fell apart. She groaned.
"You're trying to coax it, Ellora," Lyra said, appearing suddenly behind her. The commoner girl yelped. "You are not asking a spirit to tea. You are commanding raw mana. Command it."
On Kael's left, Justin had already produced a stable, if wobbly, mana bolt. It hovered above his palm. His Silver veins glowed faintly along his wrist. Lyra gave a slight, approving nod and moved on.
Kael took a deep breath. He reached for his mana, for the Black-Gold river within. It responded eagerly, too eagerly, surging toward his palm. He saw the three circles in his mind, tried to shape the power.
The result was not a bolt.
A tiny, perfect sphere of nothing appeared in his palm. A hole in reality, silent and hungry. The air around it warped, and the pages of his grimoire fluttered as if in a wind. It wasn't a Mana Bolt. It was a miniature Unmaking.
He clenched his fist, panicked, and the sphere winked out. His heart hammered. Had anyone seen it?
Lyra was suddenly at his desk. She hadn't seen the sphere, but she had seen the warping air. Her analytical eyes bored into him.
"Your control is binary, Kael," she said, her voice low. "All or nothing. You must learn the spectrum in between. Do not release your power. Direct it. Try again. And this time… think of a candle flame. Not a wildfire."
She moved away, but her attention lingered.
Kael swallowed. A candle flame. Control. He tried again, pouring out a mere trickle of power, forcing it through the three-circle pattern. This time, a pale, ordinary Mana Bolt sputtered to life above his hand. It was weak, pathetic compared to Justin's, but it was the correct spell.
Lyra gave a microscopic nod.
For the rest of the class, Kael practiced the boring, correct way. He felt the Earth Soul Dragon's sorrow as a dull ache in his teeth, a counterpoint to Lyra's sharp instructions. Find the Heartstone… the echo whispered. The song…
When the bell tone chimed again, Lyra spoke over the rustling of closing grimoires. "Kael Osborn. A word."
His stomach dropped. The others shot him sympathetic looks as they filed out. He approached the dais.
Lyra waited until the hall was empty. "Your performance was adequate," she began, tapping her calibrator device. "And a lie."
Kael froze.
"The first energy you conjured was not a Mana Bolt. Its signature was… negation. That was your unique affinity expressing itself." She leaned forward. "I am not your enemy, Kael. I am your tutor. My job is to ensure you learn control before you accidentally unmake your dormitory. So we will start with a foundation even Gareth Stoneheart cannot give you: Elemental Sequencing."
She pulled out a small, complex chart. "You have a Sovereign affinity. You resonate with all eight base elements. Learning all at once is impossible. It would be like trying to learn eight languages simultaneously. You will master them in pairs."
She pointed to two symbols on the chart: a jagged flame and a branching bolt. "Fire and Lightning, They are both aggressive, transformative, fast. They share a 'family resemblance' in mana behavior. You will learn their basic spells in tandem, teaching your mind to differentiate between similar yet distinct energies. This will build the neural pathways for later, more complex differentiations."
Kael stared at the chart. It made a brutal kind of sense.
"Your homework," she continued, "is not in your grimoire. You will go to the practical yard, you will practice the Flame Fan"
she conjured a tiny, controlled fan of fire that waved gently in her palm, "and the Spark Touch." A crackle of electricity danced between her fingers.
"Not to mastery. To familiarity. I want you to feel how Fire wishes to spread and consume, while Lightning wishes to jump and shock. Report back to me tomorrow with your observations."
She dismissed him with a wave. As he turned to leave, she added, "And Kael? The small… anomaly in your mana signature that appeared this morning? It is now gone. Keep your secrets. But ensure they do not interfere with your lessons."
His blood ran cold. Ignis. She'd sensed Ignis's presence in the Beast Space. She knew, or suspected, something.
He merely nodded and hurried out, the dragon's plea for the Heartstone and Lyra's warning about control now twin drums beating in his skull.
He had a bond to nurture, a dragon to free, eight elements to master, and a secret that was already drawing the attention of the most dangerous minds in the academy.
But as he walked, the memory of Ignis's warm weight on his chest, and the feel of that first, proper Mana Bolt forming under his conscious direction, kindled a small, stubborn flame of hope. It was a start.