The nightmare began, as it always did, with the scent of burning cedar.
Kael's eyes snapped open in the dark, sweat clinging to his skin like a second shadow. He could still hear the screams—his mother's voice, sharp with terror, his father's roar as the smoke swallowed their home. The memory played in fragments: shattered glass, the glint of a silver mask, and the cold laughter of the man who had torn his life apart. Five years, Kael thought, gripping the worn pendant around his neck—a relic of his family's crest, now blackened by soot. Five years, and they still hunt me in my sleep.
He rose from the straw cot in the inn's attic, his boots hitting the floor with a thud. Dawn seeped through the cracked window, painting the room in hues of blood and gold. Today, he would step into the lion's den. Today, Eclipse Academy would either make him a weapon or break him.
The Road to Eclipse
The academy loomed at the edge of the Crimson Peaks, its spires clawing at the sky like obsidian talons. Kael's horse snorted nervously as they approached the iron gates, where a crowd of aspiring students had gathered. Their chatter died as he dismounted, eyes trailing the scar that ran from his temple to his jaw—a gift from the night his family died.
"Name?" A bored clerk eyed him from behind a ledger.
"Kael Veyra."
The man's quill paused. "House?"
"None."
A murmur rippled through the crowd. Houses meant lineage, power, alliances. To claim none was to mark oneself a ghost. Kael ignored the stares, focusing instead on the crest etched above the gates: a phoenix engulfed in flames, the symbol of Eclipse. Rebirth through fire, he thought bitterly. How fitting.
The First Trial
New students were herded into the Grand Hall, a cavernous space lit by floating orbs of azure light. At the podium stood Headmaster Veyne, a wiry man with eyes like shards of ice.
"Welcome to Eclipse," he intoned. "Here, you will shed your weakness or be devoured by it. Your first trial begins now."
The floor trembled. Stone shifted, revealing a pit filled with writhing shadows. "Survive the Voidspawn," Veyne said. "Or die."
Chaos erupted. Students scrambled as inky tendrils lashed upward, snatching a boy by the ankle and dragging him screaming into the abyss. Kael unsheathed his dagger—a simple blade, but one he'd honed in back alleys and bloodstained forests.
A shadow lunged. He sidestepped, driving the dagger into its core. The creature dissolved into smoke, leaving behind the acrid stench of decay. Nearby, a girl with fiery hair fought with a whip of crackling lightning, while a broad-shouldered boy shattered shadows with his bare fists. Kael locked eyes with a pale figure across the pit—a silver-haired student who smirked as he watched the carnage, not bothering to lift a finger.
Enemy, Kael's instincts warned.
Alliances and Animosities
The trial ended with half the students gone. Survivors were given black uniforms emblazoned with the phoenix crest. As Kael adjusted his collar, a voice chirped behind him: "You fight like a feral cat. I like it."
He turned to find the lightning-whip girl grinning. "I'm Lyra," she said. "House Stormcrest, but don't hold that against me."
Before he could reply, the silver-haired student sauntered over, flanked by two hulking companions. "A nameless rat and a Stormcrest," he drawled. "How quaint."
Lyra's whip sparked. "Back off, Darian."
Darian House: Nightshade. Kael had heard the name whispered in fear. They controlled the northern syndicates, traffickers of secrets and souls.
"You'll regret crossing me, orphan," Darian hissed, eyeing Kael's pendant. "This academy eats your kind alive."
The Whisper in the Dark
That night, Kael wandered the academy's labyrinthine halls, memorizing exits, traps, and the faces of potential threats. In the library's restricted section, he found a mural depicting the Eclipse Phoenix—a creature said to grant power to those who could endure its trials.
"Seeking answers, or just lost?"
Kael spun. A girl stood in the shadows, her violet eyes glowing faintly. She held a tome titled Legacies of the Fallen.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
"Selene," she said. "And you're the boy without a house." She stepped closer, her voice dropping. "You're searching for the Black Dawn Syndicate, aren't you? The ones who killed your family."
Kael's hand flew to his dagger. "How do you know that?"
"Because they killed mine too." She opened the book, revealing a sketch of a silver mask—the same one from his nightmares. "They're here, Kael. In this academy. And they're watching you."
The Spark of War
As bells tolled midnight, Kael returned to his dorm. Beneath his pillow, he found a note smeared with ash:
"Run, little phoenix. You'll burn brighter when we crack your bones."
He crumpled the paper, fury tightening his chest. Let them come. Let them try.
In the courtyard below, Darian Nightshade watched Kael's window, a smile playing on his lips. The game had begun.