The next morning came with fog.
Thick and silent, it wrapped around the academy like a ghost. Even the torches lining the halls flickered weakly.
Leon met Astha near the old library, carrying a worn satchel. Inside were books, notes, and the strange things he'd found since the Wraith attack.
She looked at him with sharp eyes. "Ready?"
Leon nodded. "Let's find out what a Flameblood is."
š The Forbidden Wing
They moved quickly through the library, past shelves of magical history, until they reached a locked iron gate.
"This is the Forbidden Wing," Astha whispered. "Only professors are allowed inside."
Leon smirked. "Since when do we follow the rules?"
Astha didn't answer. She tapped a rune on the gate. It glowed blueāthen clicked open.
Inside, the air was colder. Older. Dust floated like mist. The shelves were taller, the books thicker, bound in dragon hide and sealed with spells.
Astha found a book titled Ancient Bloodlines: Lost Magics of the First War.
She flipped to a marked page.
"Flamebloods," she read aloud, "were once warriors of fire. Born with the spark of an eternal flame in their veins. Feared. Hunted. Nearly extinct."
Leon stared. "Soā¦ I'm one of them?"
Astha nodded. "Maybe the last."
He sank into a chair. "No wonder they want me gone."
She closed the book slowly. "There's more. A prophecy."
Leon raised an eyebrow. "Of course there is."
Astha read the faded words:
"When the Last Flameblood rises,Shadows will wake.The lost war will return.And the Academy will burn."
Leon swallowed. "Burn? That'sā¦ comforting."
š³ A Hidden Door
As they searched deeper, Leon noticed something behind a row of scrollsāan odd mark on the floor. A burned circle. The same as the one on his hand.
He touched it.
Click.
Part of the floor cracked open, revealing stone stairs leading down into darkness.
Astha whispered, "This isn't in the school's map."
They looked at each other.
Then they descended.
š„ Below the Academy
The air grew hot and dry as they moved deeper underground. Walls flickered with red runes. The path opened into a wide cavern filled with molten cracks and an old stone altar.
At the center floated a burning orb. It pulsed with fire.
Leon stepped closer, drawn to it. His mark glowed again.
"This isā¦ calling me."
But before he could touch itā
BOOM!
The ground shook.
From the walls, two dark creatures formed from ash and smokeāWraith Guardians.
Astha pulled Leon back. "It's a trap!"
One Wraith slashed toward them. Astha deflected it with a light barrier.
Leon raised his handāno spell readyābut something instinctual awoke.
His eyes glowed red.
He stepped forward, fire rising from his skin.
"Stay back," he told Astha.
Then, with both hands, he reached for the orb.
FLASH!
A wave of fire exploded from his body, burning the Wraiths to ash in seconds.
Astha shielded her face. When the light faded, Leon stood alone at the altar, breathing heavily.
The orb had vanished.
But on his palm, the flame mark now shined brighter.
Something had changed inside him.Something had awakened.
šÆ In the Tower
Far away, a cloaked figure watched through a magic mirror. The voice behind the hood growled.
"The Flameblood has accepted the ember."
Another voice whispered beside him.
"Then it has begun."