The following days settled into a surprising, comfortable routine, slipping by like pages turning in a well-loved book. The initial chaos of the academy began to organize itself into a rhythm of bells, lectures, and the lingering scent of ozone and old parchment.
Seyana and Raksha walked to class together every morning, the stone corridors echoing with the shuffle of hundreds of students. And somehow, without fail, Kairos, Luna, and Velanor always appeared near the same hallway intersection, at the exact same time, like clockwork disguised as coincidence.
Raksha noticed it first. It was hard not to. The three boys would drift out of the crowd. Velanor loud and gesturing, Luna calm and observant, and Kairos... just there, his eyes immediately scanning the crowd until they landed on one specific person.
"Do you realize those three adjust their walking speed to match ours every single day?" Raksha whispered one morning, clutching her books tight to her chest.
Seyana adjusted the strap of her bag, fighting the traitorous warmth that bloomed in her chest. She kept her gaze forward, though her peripheral vision was entirely filled with a certain boy in a slightly-unbuttoned uniform. "Maybe they're just going the same way, Raksha. It is the main hall, after all."
"Sure!" Raksha said, raising an eyebrow so high it nearly disappeared into her hairline. "And maybe the sun rises because it likes the sky, not because of celestial mechanics."
Seyana bit her lip to stop a smile. The analogy was clumsy, but the sentiment hung in the air, sweet and undeniable.
Training that afternoon took place in the lower arena, a sunken pit surrounded by stone tiers. The air was thick with the smell of sweat and scorched earth. The instructor, a burly woman with scars running down her arms, barked out the day's curriculum.
"Today we focus on close-range combat and mana reinforcement! Magic is not just about throwing fireballs from a distance. If an enemy breaches your guard, you must be able to reinforce your skin and muscles with mana to survive the blow!"
Students paired up once again, the sound of shuffling boots filling the arena. Kairos ended up with Luna, a pairing that drew immediate interest from the other students. Velanor paired with a tall boy from the wind faction, and Seyana, predictably and happily, paired with Raksha.
"Begin!"
The arena exploded into motion.
Seyana focused on her breathing. She drew mana from her core, visualizing it not as a stream of water, but as a hard, protective layer of ice coating her arms and legs. Raksha came at her with a flurry of punches, her fists glowing with a soft, orange heat. Seyana blocked, her reinforced forearm meeting Raksha's strike with a dull thud.
"Good!" Raksha grunted, spinning for a kick. "You're getting harder to hit!"
"I'm trying.." Seyana breathed, dodging the kick and resetting her stance.
But even as she fought, her attention was fractured. A few meters away, the air seemed to vibrate with intensity.
Kairos and Luna were sparring. It was a dance of contrasting styles. Luna was like a mountain immovable, his movements efficient and grounded. He used earth magic to weigh down his strikes, his punches heavy and deliberate.
Kairos was the wind. He didn't just dodge, he flowed around Luna's attacks. His mana reinforcement was faint, a shimmering haze around his body, but his speed was blinding.
As they practiced blocking spells, Kairos kept glancing over Luna's shoulder. He wasn't looking at the exit or the instructor. He was checking on Seyana. It wasn't an interfering look, he didn't look like he wanted to jump in and save her but rather a quiet, persistent attention. He watched her footwork. He watched her guard. He watched to make sure she wasn't hurt.
Luna, possessing the observant eyes of a hawk, caught it instantly.
He blocked a strike from Kairos, locking their arms together in a grapple. "You're staring again." Luna murmured, his voice low enough that only Kairos could hear.
Kairos broke and hopped back, shaking his arms out. He pretended to focus entirely on his stance, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "I'm just checking if she's okay. Raksha's fire control can be... enthusiastic."
"Right." Luna replied dryly, circling him.
"Because the daughter of the Solaris line, a trained royal, needs protection from a training ball of water and a friend who wouldn't hurt a fly."
Kairos felt the heat rise up his neck, unrelated to the physical exertion. "Shut up and fight me."
Luna laughed - a rare, genuine sound and launched a spell. He stomped the ground, and a pillar of stone shot up, aiming to trip Kairos.
It forced Kairos to concentrate. His eyes snapped back to the fight. He pivoted, his body twisting in mid-air to avoid the stone, and launched a counter-attack. His swift footwork was a blur, his movements possessing a calm precision that was unlike any other student in the first year. He didn't waste energy. Every movement had a purpose.
Seyana watched without meaning to. She had just blocked a strike from Raksha and paused to catch her breath, and in that second, her eyes found him. She saw the way his hair fell over his eyes, the focused line of his jaw, the sheer competence in the way he moved.
Raksha, seeing Seyana distracted, didn't attack. Instead, she leaned her heavy weight onto Seyana's shoulder mischievously.
"You have feelings." she whispered into Seyana's ear.
Seyana jumped as if she'd been burned. "I do not!" she stuttered, her composure shattering.
"You absolutely do!!" Raksha insisted, wiping sweat from her forehead. "You look at him the way Velanor looks at a mirror. Except with less vanity and more... longing."
Seyana didn't reply. She turned back to her stance, raising her fists, but her eyes betrayed her. They flickered back to him one last time before she forced herself to focus.
Training ended late, the sun dipping below the academy walls and casting long, stretching shadows across the grounds. Most students rushed to the showers or the dining hall, but Seyana stayed behind for a moment. She sat on a stone bench near the edge of the arena, letting the cool evening breeze soothe her heated cheeks.
The silence was peaceful, until the crunch of boots on gravel broke it.
Kairos approached without sound, his movements naturally stealthy. He stopped at a polite distance, respecting her space, his hands tucked into the pockets of his pitch-black trousers.
"You fought well today." he said. His voice was calm than usual, tired from the exertion.
Seyana blinked, looking up at him. "You were watching?"
He froze. The realization that he had admitted to watching her hit him like a physical blow. "I mean… I wasn't... I just happened to see... when I was turning around..."
He was stumbling over his words, the cool, mysterious boy suddenly replaced by a flustered teenager.
Seyana's smile interrupted his panic. It was a radiant thing, bright enough to rival the setting sun. "Thank you."
Kairos exhaled, trying his best to look composed again. He stepped a little closer. "You… improved your mana balance. Your water technique looks more stable. Less splashing, more flow."
Seyana nodded, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "Because you taught me that trick with breathing" she reminded him softy. "The four-count inhale. It helps stabilize the core."
"Oh." He went quiet, realizing she had remembered his casual advice from days ago. "Right."
Silence settled between them. It wasn't the awkward silence of strangers, but the comfortable, warm silence of two people who were happy just to exist in the same radius. The air between them felt charged, like the atmosphere before a thunderstorm.
Then, a shout shattered the moment.
"Seyana! Come quick! The dining hall is serving lemon tarts!"
Raksha's voice echoed across the courtyard.
Seyana stepped back instinctively, the spell breaking. The royal mask slid back into place, though it was thinner now.
"I'll see you later..." she said softly.
Kairos nodded once. "Later."
He watched her go, her silhouette disappearing into the twilight. He stayed there for a long time, just looking at the empty archway where she had vanished.
That night, the weather turned. The clear skies were swallowed by heavy, bruising clouds.
Seyana and Raksha sat at their usual spot in the common room. It was a cozy space filled with plush armchairs and fireplaces, a refuge from the stone cold of the dorms. Students were studying, playing cards, or dozing off.
The lights flickered.
Outside, a jagged line of lightning tore through the sky, followed instantly by a deafening crack of thunder that shook the windowpanes.
Raksha jumped in surprise, her knee hitting the small table between them. Her cup of water, filled to the brim, tipped over.
It fell toward Seyana.
Time seemed to suspend. Seyana saw the water sloshing out, the cup tilting, the liquid about to soak her uniform. She didn't have time to move.
Kairos was on the opposite side of the room, leaning against a pillar, talking to Luna.
Yet somehow, he was there.
There was no sound of footsteps. No rush of wind. One moment he was by the pillar, and the next, he was crouching beside Seyana's chair.
His hand caught the cup inches before it hit her lap. Not a drop spilled on her.
The room was still.
"You okay?" he asked softly, his eyes scanning her face for distress.
Seyana could only nod. Her heart was hammering against her ribs not from the thunder, but from the sudden proximity. He was so close she could see the flecks of gold in his dark eyes.
His hand moved away immediately, placing the cup upright on the table. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just saw it falling."
"No… thank you." she said, her voice barely rising above a whisper. She was trembling slightly.
Raksha watched the whole scene with her mouth open. She looked from the pillar where Kairos had been, to where he was now. The distance was impossible for a human to cover in that split second.
Luna and Velanor joined them a moment later. Luna's expression was unreadable, but Velanor looked impressed.
Velanor leaned back in a nearby chair, crossing his arms. "If Kairos could teleport this fast during exams, he'll graduate in a month. I didn't even see you move, man."
Kairos stood up, brushing off his trousers, looking uncomfortable under the scrutiny. He avoided Seyana's gaze. "It was just reflex."
"It was instinct." Luna corrected quietly, his eyes sharp. "You reacted before thinking. Reflex is physical. Instinct is... something else."
Kairos didn't reply. He didn't need to.
Seyana already understood. She looked at his hands, that had moved faster than thought to keep her dry.
He couldn't help protecting her. Even from small things. Even from spilled water. Because his heart didn't obey the laws of physics or logic... it simply said protect her, and his body obeyed.
The rain continued late into the night, drumming a relentless rhythm against the roof of the academy.
Seyana returned to her room. She didn't light the mana lamps. She sat near her window, watching the raindrops race down the glass like tears. The flash of lightning illuminated her face, pale and thoughtful.
She didn't know why she whispered his name softly into the quiet room.
"Kairos…"
She didn't know why her chest felt tight every time she saw him smile, or why the memory of his hand catching that cup made her skin tingle.
All she knew was that something had begun. It wasn't a political alliance. It wasn't a friendship. It was a tide, rising and pulling her out to sea, something she couldn't stop even if she tried.
And for the first time in her life, she didn't want to stop it.
Somewhere across the dormitory wings, in the boys' quarters, Kairos lay awake too.
He stared at the stone ceiling, listening to Velanor's snoring and the rain outside. He was replaying every moment of the day—the way the sun hit her hair during training, the sound of her laugh, the terrified look in her eyes when the thunder crashed.
He tried to act calm. He tried to tell himself he was just being a good friend. But as he closed his eyes, he saw her face.
His heart had already chosen.
Chapter 3 ends - Is it love?