Dae stood at the edge of the broken corridor, blood drying on the walls, the air still humming with leftover echoes from the attack. The dome above had stopped trembling, but something deeper hadn't.
Pix's voice buzzed overhead on broken comms:
"Containment breached. Internal lockdown: lifted. Medical units en route. Triage priority: student cluster D."
But there was no "containment" anymore. Only cracks.
Students wandered like ghosts through the wreckage — clothes torn, capes scorched, faces pale with confusion or panic.
The attack had come without warning.
And none of the instructors had shown up.
...…
.
.
.
Survivors
.
.
.
Pix uploaded a recovery log to Dae's neural HUD. Glitchy. Incomplete. But enough.
^ Rea – Alive. Minor concussion. Silent. Eyes more haunted than usual. She hadn't spoken since the attack. She just floated near Dae like his shadow now.
^ Kio – Alive. Covered in bruises. One arm splinted. Teeth chipped from a collapsed stairwell. Still tried to make jokes like:
"Bro, you ever been punched by a shadow? 0/10, would not recommend."
× An – …Missing. No logs. No traces. No one remembered him.
But Dae felt it.
A hole beside him, shaped like a friend.
Like someone had ripped a laugh from the room.
…..
^ Selene – Unscathed. Saved Dae mid-ambush.
Now stalked the halls with her twin daggers, eyes darker than her power.
She stayed close. Too close.
Like she couldn't decide if she was protecting him or watching him.
And Dae couldn't shake the feeling that she was remembering something she shouldn't.
...
! Varo – Burned. Left arm wrapped in thick crimson gauze. Didn't complain, but kept muttering,
"Something pulled the flame from inside me."
^ Isha – Exhausted. Had healed over 9 people nonstop.
Still smiled through her tears.
Told Dae: "I'm okay," then fainted from mana drain.
^ Zane – Lightning flickered in short bursts.
Trauma-induced static. Couldn't stop moving. Couldn't stop laughing like it was all a joke.
^ Nira – No injuries. But ice crystals kept forming around her hair without her permission.
Emotion bleed. She was furious.
Said nothing. Just glared at the damaged dome like it had personally betrayed her.
^ Aro – Spent the entire aftermath whispering apologies to the plants in the corridor.
Said one of the shadows stepped on a fern.
He cried for twenty minutes.
^ Riven – Bit someone in the med bay for touching her.
Aura's toxicity had increased.
Voluntarily quarantined herself. "For their safety," she said, eyes gleaming.
^ Vera – Finger broken. Voice louder than ever. Blamed everyone for everything.
Perfection cracked. And it made her terrifyingly human.
^ Elio – Disappeared for three hours.
Reappeared wrapped in a bed sheet whispering, "I was fog. I was fog."
No one questioned him.
^ Lune – Wrote a song about the attack and played it on broken glass and a lunch tray.
Cried halfway through.
Everyone clapped anyway.
^ Kai – Refused to speak.
Kept flicking pressure bursts between his fingers like mini detonations.
Slept alone in the training room that night.
^ Drayk – Lost control mid-fight. His wings tore through three hallways.
Now refused to shift again.
Sat in a corner, ashamed. Whispered, "I almost hurt Rea."
^ Noor – Unharmed. Said the shadows ignored her.
No one could remember seeing her during the attack.
Including herself.
^ Ash – Sat calmly with cracked fingernails and a broken watch.
"Time's always been messed up here," she said.
Then looked straight at Dae and added,
"And so have you."
^ Syra – Found inside a mirror three hours later.
Said she "just wanted to check if the other side was safer."
It wasn't.
^ Jin – Pulled four students from rubble with chain extensions.
Now walked with a limp.
Didn't care.
"Chains don't break. They bend."
.....
.
.
.
Pix announced no student fatalities.
But it didn't matter.
Something was dead now.
Safety. Innocence. Memory.
.....
.
.
.
Back in his room, Dae sat on the floor, arms crossed, the Book of Knowledge cradled between his knees like a curse.
It pulsed faintly.
Warm. Alive.
The ring on his finger flickered in sync.
He opened it again.
The first few pages were still blank. Then — like something woke up — words bled into view.
Not English.
Not readable.
But he understood it anyway.
Just enough.
"Creation is the act of defiance.
What is made without permission… stays."
He stared.
Lines shifted. Diagrams unfolded — blueprints for living things. Not animals. Not machines. Something in between.
"Energy vessels," he whispered.
"Bodies forged through will."
The more he read…
the more he wasn't alone in his own mind.
...
.
.
.
It started subtle.
He'd stare at a page too long and suddenly hear music from another room.
Or smell… fire.
He'd blink — and be somewhere else.
A crumbling tower. A circle of chanting people. A boy with silver hair crying into the void.
But then he'd blink again, and he'd be back on his floor.
Holding the book.
Alone.
.....
.
.
.
One night, Rea found him in the hall — hands trembling, sweat on his brow.
"You okay?" she asked, voice like a breeze.
He looked at her and said, "I think… I'm forgetting something."
But she only blinked.
"Like what?"
And he realized he didn't know.
...….
.
.
.
Kio burst into the room two days later, limping and dramatic.
"Bro! I brought hot noodles and half my dignity. You're welcome."
Dae almost laughed.
Almost.
Rea followed behind, quieter, with a blanket in her arms.
Kio dropped the food and flopped down.
Then frowned.
"Wait…"
His brows furrowed.
"Didn't we used to have a fourth bed?"
Dae froze.
Rea stopped walking.
They all turned to the empty corner.
The bed had been removed. The sheets folded. The nameplate gone.
Clean. Too clean.
Like someone had never existed there.
.
.
.
"An," Dae whispered.
Both Rea and Kio looked confused.
Kio scratched his head.
"Who's that?"
Rea blinked like she was trying to remember a word that kept slipping.
"Wasn't there someone who used to sit next to me in protocol class?"
Her voice cracked.
"I can't… remember their face."
.
.
.
Dae's head throbbed.
And then the book whispered:
"You cannot bury what remembers itself."
...….
.
.
.
That night, Selene cornered Dae in the library.
"You've changed."
He didn't deny it.
"You're not just unlocking a book," she said.
"You're unlocking yourself. And whatever's inside…"
She reached for his hand — the one holding the ring.
"I don't think it wants to stay buried."
Then she whispered something he didn't expect.
"I remember your eyes."
Dae's breath caught.
"From when?"
"I don't know. But… in the dark. In some place… we weren't students. We weren't even real yet."
She swallowed.
"We were… chosen."
.
.
.
Dae backed away.
But the book opened again.
New page.
A blueprint for a key.
A symbol.
The name: Caladra.
He shivered.
...….
.
.
.
Late that night, as Dae sat alone again, the final unlocked page shimmered.
This one wasn't a blueprint.
It was a memory.
Text written in familiar handwriting.
"To create is to defy endings.
I remember you. Even if you forget me."
Dae blinked.
"Kaelion…?"
But the voice that answered wasn't Kaelion's.
It was younger.
Softer.
Wounded.
.
.
.
"You remember me now… don't you, Dae?"
The book snapped shut in his hands.
His breath caught.
Because that voice?
Was An.
And it came from inside his mind.
.
.
.
To Be Continued in Chapter 26 – Caladra Protocol Reborn