POV: Lucian
The numbers don't make sense.
I stare at my tablet, refreshing the biometric readings for the third time. Aria Blackwell's magical signature is spiking—heart rate elevated, adrenaline through the roof, but her power output is still normal.
Too normal.
I'm monitoring her from the observation deck above the combat arena, where instructors usually watch training sessions. Except I'm not an instructor. I'm a student who hacked into the academy's biological monitoring system because I need data.
I always need data.
Below, Aria gets hit again. Sebastian Blackwell—her stepbrother and a complete waste of oxygen—is using her as a punching bag while Instructor Graves watches with crossed arms.
This is wrong. First-day students should be practicing basic shields, not fighting advanced opponents.
"This is brutal," mutters Chen, another Celestial student beside me. "Why isn't Graves stopping it?"
"Because he wants to see what she can do," I reply, not looking away from my screen. "Or he's being paid to humiliate her."
Chen glances at me. "You're that interested in her?"
"I'm interested in anomalies. She's the biggest anomaly this academy has seen in three centuries."
That's a lie. I'm not just interested. I'm obsessed.
Since the Sorting Ceremony, I've been compiling everything I can find on Eclipse bloodlines. Ancient texts. Forbidden research. Medical records from families that no longer exist. The Eclipse line wasn't just powerful—they were reality-breakers. They could bend the laws of magic itself.
And somehow, one survived.
On my screen, Aria's readings spike slightly. She's angry now. Good. Anger might trigger—
Sebastian leans close to her, whispering something I can't hear.
Aria's biometric data explodes.
"Impossible," I breathe.
Her heart rate triples in one second. Magical output jumps from barely measurable to levels that shouldn't exist. The numbers keep climbing—past any recorded measurement, past what should be survivable.
"Something's wrong," Chen says, leaning forward. "Look at her."
In the arena, light erupts from Aria's body. Not one color—all five. Gold, black, blue, red, silver, swirling together like a storm.
My tablet screams an alarm. System overload. Too much data. The sensors can't keep up.
"She's going to blow," I say, already moving. "Everyone needs to evacuate—"
Time stops.
Not slows. Stops.
One second, students are screaming and running. The next, they're frozen mid-step. Chen beside me is suspended with his mouth open, hand reaching for the railing.
I can still move. Why can I still move?
Below in the arena, everyone is frozen. Sebastian mid-stumble. Graves mid-shout. Other students mid-panic.
Everyone except Aria.
She stands at the center, glowing with impossible power, her eyes white with energy. The five colors spiral around her faster and faster, creating a tornado of pure magic.
Then she looks up.
Directly at me.
For three heartbeats—I count them, because I'm still tracking time even though time has stopped—we stare at each other across the frozen arena.
Her expression isn't angry. It's terrified.
She doesn't know what she's doing. She can't control this.
My tablet explodes.
Not metaphorically. It literally shorts out in my hands, sparks flying, the screen going black. Every piece of equipment in the observation deck does the same—lights, monitors, magical sensors, all dying simultaneously from the power surge.
"Aria!" I shout, but my voice sounds wrong in the frozen air. "You need to stop!"
She can't hear me. Or she can't understand. Her eyes are completely white now, no pupils, just pure magical energy.
The arena starts to crack. Not just the floor—reality itself. I can see fractures in the air, like glass about to shatter.
If this continues, she won't just destroy the arena. She'll tear a hole in the dimensional fabric of the academy. Thousands of students will die when the barrier between worlds collapses.
I have to reach her. Have to break through whatever mental barrier she's trapped behind.
I vault over the observation deck railing, using Celestial magic to slow my fall. My feet hit the arena floor, and the impact feels strange—like landing on ice that's too thin.
The frozen students don't move as I push past them. Time hasn't just stopped for them; they're completely suspended, not even breathing.
I get within ten feet of Aria and the power surge hits me like a wall. It feels like standing in front of a jet engine made of pure magic. My clothes whip around, my hair stands on end, every nerve in my body screams danger.
"Aria," I try again, forcing myself closer. "I know you're scared. I know this feels impossible. But you need to pull the power back. Visualize it retreating into your core. Imagine—"
Her head snaps toward me.
For one second, I see her—the real her—buried under all that power. Frightened. Lost. Desperate for help.
Then time crashes back.
The sound is deafening. Every frozen person suddenly moves again, screaming, stumbling, their momentum carrying them forward. The power tornado around Aria implodes, sucking back into her body with a flash of blinding light.
She collapses.
I'm running before she hits the ground, my Celestial healing magic already gathering in my hands. I'm not the only one—Caspian appears from nowhere, moving with Sovereign speed. Dante drops from the observation deck using Shadow magic. Kieran crashes through the arena door, his beast form barely contained.
We all reach her at the same time.
She's unconscious, her skin cold, her pulse barely there. But she's alive.
"What happened?" Graves demands, finally recovering. "What did she do?"
"Temporal suspension," I say, checking her vital signs. "She stopped time. Across the entire arena. For approximately eleven seconds."
The arena goes silent.
"That's impossible," someone whispers. "Even Eclipse bloodlines couldn't—"
"She just did," Caspian interrupts, his voice deadly calm. He's cradling Aria's head, and I notice his hands are shaking slightly. "And she nearly killed herself doing it."
Dante kneels beside her, checking for injuries. "We need to get her to medical. Now."
"I'll carry her," Kieran growls, already reaching down.
"No," I say firmly. "I'm Celestial. I can monitor her condition while we move. Everyone else clear a path."
For once, they don't argue. I lift Aria carefully—she weighs almost nothing—and start toward the exit.
Her eyes flutter open briefly. Unfocused, confused.
"What..." she whispers.
"You're okay," I tell her, even though it's a lie. She's not okay. She's the furthest thing from okay. "Just rest."
"Did I... did I hurt anyone?"
The question breaks something in my chest. She nearly tore reality apart, and her first concern is whether she hurt others.
"No," I assure her. "Everyone's fine."
She nods weakly and passes out again.
Behind me, I hear Caspian giving orders, Dante threatening Sebastian, Kieran clearing students out of our path.
But I'm focused on the girl in my arms and the data I just collected.
Eleven seconds of temporal suspension.
Five distinct magical signatures operating simultaneously.
A power output that exceeded my instruments' ability to measure.
She's not just Eclipse. She's something more. Something unprecedented.
And she has no idea how to control it.
We reach the medical wing. Healers rush forward, but I don't hand her over. Not yet.
"Private room," I demand. "And no visitors except by my authorization."
"You don't have that authority," the head healer protests.
Caspian appears at my shoulder. "He does now. Do it."
They scramble to obey.
I lay Aria on a bed and immediately start connecting monitoring equipment—what little still works after her power surge.
The door opens. Caspian, Dante, and Kieran file in, ignoring the healers' protests.
"Out," the head healer tries.
"We're staying," all four of us say simultaneously.
We look at each other, surprised by the unified response.
"She's in danger," Caspian says quietly. "What just happened in that arena—everyone saw it. By tonight, half the academy will want her recruited. The other half will want her eliminated."
"We need to protect her," Kieran adds, his beast eyes fixed on Aria's unconscious form.
"We need to understand her," I correct, adjusting sensors. "What she did was theoretically impossible. The power requirements alone should have killed her."
"But it didn't," Dante observes. "Why?"
I pull up the fragmented data I managed to save before my equipment died. "I don't know. But I'm going to find out."
Aria's vitals stabilize slowly. Her breathing evens out. But something's wrong.
The monitoring equipment shows five distinct magical signatures inside her body, all fighting for dominance. They're not working together—they're at war, tearing her apart from the inside.
"How long does she have?" Caspian asks, reading the data over my shoulder.
I check the degradation rate. Run the calculations. Feel my stomach drop.
"At this rate?" I look at them, letting them see the fear I usually hide behind logic. "Six months. Maybe less. Her power will consume her from within unless we find a way to stabilize it."
The room goes silent.
"Then we find a way," Dante says firmly.
"We protect her until we do," Kieran agrees.
Caspian nods. "Whatever it takes."
I look down at Aria—this impossible, terrifying, fascinating girl who just rewrote the laws of magic.
"Whatever it takes," I echo.
The door slams open.
Headmistress Voss stands there, her face grave. Behind her are three council members I don't recognize.
"Step away from the girl," one demands. "She's being taken into academy custody for evaluation."
The four of us move simultaneously, forming a wall between them and Aria's bed.
"No," Caspian says, his voice carrying absolute authority. "She's not."
"This isn't a request, Mr. Nightshade. She's a danger to every student in this academy."
"Then every student should stay away from her," Dante replies cheerfully, but his hand is on a hidden weapon. "Problem solved."
The council member's face goes red. "You can't—"
Voss holds up a hand. "Gentlemen. Perhaps we should discuss this outside and let Miss Blackwell rest."
"We're not leaving her," I state.
Voss's expression softens slightly. "I'm not asking you to. But we do need to talk about what happens next. Because that display in the arena?" She looks at Aria's sleeping form. "That was just the beginning. And everyone who wants to use her power just declared war to claim it."