(Selene's POV)
....
Selene wasn't sure if she had just arrived… or if she'd always been here.
The tunnel was cold. The kind of cold that seeped into your skin and then sat there like it paid rent. Mist clung to the floor. The elevator behind her had disappeared.. literally vanished.. like a magician's trick. In front of her stood the gates of Blackridge Academy.
Not just a school. Not just a place.
Something else.
Something ancient.
Her breath curled in front of her lips as she stepped forward. Each footfall echoed like it didn't belong to her.
She had no memories of before. Just… flashes.
A collapsing star. A ring made of light and fire. A boy standing in the center of it all, head down, heart broken.
His face was always blurry. But his presence wasn't.
She felt it.
That gravitational pull.
That him.
....
The main dome was ridiculous. Like, over-the-top sci-fi movie levels of ridiculous. It was massive, glass and steel bending into a perfect bubble deep beneath the sea. Giant glowing fish drifted by like they were judging her outfit (spoiler: all black). A shark with three eyes winked at her.
She didn't flinch.
The glass was strong. Probably.
She was led through the academy by a woman named Sera. cold, sharp, intimidating in a "I've committed war crimes but i also bake" sort of way.
Sera didn't say much. Just handed her a student badge, a shimmering black cloak, and a warning.
"Don't get too close to anyone," she said. "You'll regret it."
Selene blinked. "K."
...….
Her dorm room smelled like new beginnings and suppressed trauma.
It was gender-neutral housing, but her suite had three other girls:
– Isha, the water healer, too emotionally mature for her age.
– Nira, queen of the ice stare and passive-aggressive tea making.
– Syra, pure chaos in the form of glitter and mirror shards.
They were already mid-conversation when Selene walked in. Syra screamed, "Oooh, mystery goth has arrived!"
Nira raised an eyebrow. "Took her long enough."
Isha just smiled, soft and warm. "Welcome. I saved you the bed by the window."
Selene threw her bag on it without a word.
She didn't plan to make friends.
But it… sort of happened anyway.
...…..
They trained daily. Brutally.
The academy wasn't here to coddle. It was here to prepare.
For what? No one said.
But the instructors moved like ex-soldiers and the training rooms were way too high-tech for just math quizzes and etiquette.
Students trained by affinity groups.
Selene was put in Group Three, the "chaotic affinities," as Pix (the AI assistant) had called it.
Her group had:
– Zane, who kept short-circuiting things with his lightning.
– Kai, who weaponized sarcasm and pressure waves.
– Ash, who joked about rot like it was a kink.
– Selene, darkness bender and quiet observer.
They sparred in simulated arenas that mimicked alien biomes, deserts with shifting gravity, underwater ruins, skybridges above electric storms.
It was intense. But Selene never broke a sweat.
She wasn't arrogant. She just knew her shadows. They listened. Obeyed. Protected.
Her power wasn't brute force. It was precision.
And she always watched him.
...…..
The 20th student.
He came three days later.
Dae.
Quiet. Awkward. Big-eyed like he'd just been yanked out of a nightmare and was still trying to figure out if he was awake.
Everyone else whispered:
"That's the last one?"
"He looks like a transfer from Trauma Central."
"What's his power?"
"Creation. Light. Sounds fake."
But Selene knew.
Not because someone told her.
Because her bones remembered.
She saw him walk into the orientation chamber and something inside her clenched.
Her shadows flickered.
And that vision returned.
The ring. The boy. The stars bending around him. The words…
"He will burn or bind the stars."
A prophecy.
Or something worse.
And he was at the center of it.
...…..
She avoided him. Obviously.
Because what do you even say to the boy your soul is apparently cosmically tethered to?
"Hey, cool ring. Wanna traumatize the galaxy together?"
No thanks.
But she watched.
Always.
He sat alone during meals even though Kio and Rea always tried to include him.
He trained like he was afraid of himself.
He smiled when someone made a joke but never laughed.
And once… just once… when he caught her looking, he gave the softest little nod.
She turned away before he could see how red her ears went.
...…..
Dorm life was lowkey chaos.
Syra kept trying to convince her to sneak into the boys' side of the dorm.. which wasn't really separate, just the bathrooms were. 'For espionage!' she claimed."
Nira wrote in her journal like her diary would one day be used in court.
Isha made tea that magically made your nightmares go away. (Selene secretly asked for it. Twice.)
And every night, they gossiped.
About the boys. About the trials.
And always.. always.. they brought up Dae.
"You like him," Syra teased one night. "It's the mysterious trauma-boy allure."
Selene: "I don't like anyone."
Isha: "That's not what your face said when he almost fell during training and you panicked so hard you summoned a demon shadow."
Selene: "That never happened."
Nira: "Pix has footage."
Selene: "Pix is dead to me."
They cackled.
She pretended not to smile.
...…
Then came the Crucible.
Trial One.
Shadow beasts formed from students' worst fears. It was hell.
Selene stayed calm. Her shadows listened. She moved through the arena like a dance.
Until Dae screamed.
She felt it.
Like someone had ripped sound from the air and punched it into her lungs.
She turned.
His shadow was attacking him. But not a regular one. It was future him.
Wearing that ring. Eyes glowing white-hot. Screaming things that hurt to hear.
"YOU'RE A MISTAKE."
"YOU'LL DESTROY EVERYTHING."
Dae curled inward.
And Selene ran.
She didn't even think.
Her instincts moved before her pride.
She leapt into the fray, shadows flaring, but Rea had already intervened. Kio too.
The danger passed.
Selene stood just out of reach.
Watching.
Shaking.
And furious with herself.
Not because she couldn't help.
But because she wanted to.
Too much.
...…..
In the days that followed, she kept her distance again.
But every time he trained…
Every time he stumbled…
Every time his smile cracked just a little…
She felt it like a bruise blooming in her ribs.
Something deep. Stupid. Real.
And when she dreamed again… the prophecy returned.
"The boy with the ring will burn or bind the stars.
And one will stand where even fate hesitates."
She didn't know what it meant.
But she was afraid of what it might cost her.
...
To be continued in Chapter 19