After a grueling morning of bruises, dodges, and adrenaline-fueled clashes on the combat field, the afternoon sun bathed Aetherion Academy in a warm, golden glow. The energy that had crackled through the training grounds now gave way to something quieter—no less powerful, but more restrained. Focused.
Kaito walked alongside Elya through the quieter eastern halls, nursing a slight ache in his ribs from the earlier sparring match. His mind still flickered with images of Liora's lightning-fast daggers and Seraphine's commanding interruption, but he tried to shake them off as they approached the next destination.
"You said this one's... enchantment class?" Kaito asked, adjusting the strap of his sword, the Echo of Arcanum, across his back.
Elya nodded, her tone softer than usual. "Professor Elyndra Vexis. She's not like Ironbrow. Less yelling. More… mystery."
The hallway ended at a pair of tall, silver-veined oak doors inlaid with glowing runes. As they stepped forward, the doors opened on their own with a whisper of magic, revealing a wide, domed chamber humming with quiet energy.
Inside, artifacts floated lazily in suspended animation—pendants, staffs, circlets, and enchanted tomes—all orbiting softly glowing pedestals. Enchanted glass cases lined the walls, each displaying items that radiated faint magical resonance. In the center, a large rune-inscribed platform gleamed beneath the afternoon light streaming through the high windows.
Standing near the dais was Professor Elyndra Vexis.
She turned at their entrance, violet eyes catching the light like twin amethysts. Her dark purple robes shimmered faintly with embroidered silver runes, and her long black hair, streaked with silver, flowed freely down her back.
"You're late," she said, though her tone lacked any real annoyance. "The echoes of your duel carried all the way to the east wing."
Elya bowed respectfully. Kaito, caught off guard, gave a clumsy nod. "Apologies, Professor."
"Mm," she murmured, then turned away, gliding toward the center of the room. "Afternoon light suits enchantment. It reveals flaws that morning shadows hide."
The students present—no more than a dozen—gathered around the rune dais in a quiet semicircle. Professor Vexis extended a hand over it, and with a shimmer, a series of magical constructs hovered into view: a jeweled circlet, a rune-etched dagger, a cracked mirror, and an old wooden ring that pulsed faintly with inner light.
"Enchantment," she began, "is not the act of simply imbuing magic into metal. It is a conversation. A song. The artifact must resonate with the wielder."
She gestured to the ring. "This was once a warding charm for a child. It still remembers warmth. Protection. Fear." Her fingers brushed the air near it, and the pulse quickened briefly. "Every object holds a story. Your task today is to listen."
A few murmurs passed through the class. Kaito leaned toward Elya. "How do we 'listen' to a ring?"
"You don't," Elya whispered back. "You feel it."
Professor Vexis walked among the students as they paired off at artifact stations. Kaito and Elya found themselves before the cracked mirror. The surface shimmered as they touched it, and in a sudden flash, they saw—
A battlefield. Smoke. Fire. A soldier planting the mirror in the ground, standing before a horde of enemies. The mirror gleamed, a ward against death.
Kaito pulled back slightly. "It… showed us something."
"It showed us why it exists," Elya said. Her voice had dropped to a hush. "Its last purpose. Its last memory."
Professor Vexis passed behind them, pausing briefly. "Artifacts remember emotion more than words. Fear. Resolve. Grief. Tap into these, and you will understand their magic."
Kaito looked down at the Echo of Arcanum at his side. He could almost feel it humming faintly, reacting to the mirror's memory—like it was… listening too.
"Professor," he asked cautiously, "what does it mean if a weapon… reacts to other magic like that?"
She turned toward him, eyes narrowing with interest. "Your blade is not merely enchanted. It is bound. Not to magic, but to intention—your will, your memory. It speaks because it chooses to."
He swallowed. "And what if I don't know what it's trying to say?"
She offered a rare, almost imperceptible smile. "Then you must learn its language."
As the lesson wound down, Professor Vexis addressed the class one last time from the center of the room.
"True enchanters don't force power into objects—they awaken what already sleeps inside. Ask not 'what can this do for me,' but rather, 'what does this want to become?'"
With a final shimmer of magic, the artifacts slowly returned to their pedestals.
Students began filtering out quietly, contemplative after such an introspective lesson. Kaito and Elya lingered at the doorway.
"She's… something else," Kaito muttered.
Elya chuckled softly. "Told you. She doesn't teach you what to do. She teaches you to feel it."
Kaito looked down at the Echo, fingers brushing its hilt. "I think this sword and I have a lot more talking to do."
The amber hues of twilight cast long shadows across Aetherion Academy's sprawling campus. The clamor of midday had faded, replaced by the distant hum of wards activating, lanterns flickering to life along the walkways, and the gentle rustling of leaves stirred by evening wind.
Kaito and Elya stepped out of the eastern hall into the cool, open courtyard. The day's lessons still weighed heavily on Kaito—not just in his aching muscles from the morning sparring match, but in his thoughts, which twisted around everything he'd learned about combat, enchantments, and the strange, persistent resonance of his sword.
He exhaled slowly, then glanced at Elya beside him. Her expression was unusually serene, reflecting the soft light of the sky.
"You were right," he said, breaking the quiet. "Vexis doesn't exactly give answers. Just more questions."
"That's how she teaches," Elya said, giving him a sidelong smile. "She wants you to chase the truth on your own. Because once you find it, you won't forget it."
Kaito nodded, running a hand through his hair. "It's just… there's so much I don't know. About this world. About the Echo. About me."
Elya looked at him for a moment, her voice quieter when she replied. "You're not alone in that, you know. Everyone here's figuring themselves out. Even the top students."
He chuckled softly. "Tell that to Liora Venn."
She smirked. "Okay, maybe not everyone. But don't let him get in your head. He's talented, sure, but he's not invincible. You held your own."
"Barely," Kaito muttered.
Elya turned to face him fully, her tone more insistent. "Kaito, you have something no one else here does. That sword chose you. It's reacting to magic, to emotion. That's not normal. That's something powerful. You just haven't unlocked it yet."
He looked down at the Echo of Arcanum, still resting at his hip. "Vexis said it speaks because it chooses to. But if it's speaking, I don't know how to listen."
Elya tilted her head, thoughtful. "Then we figure it out together."
Kaito blinked. "You'd help with that?"
She smiled again, this time with a warmth that pushed back the lingering doubts. "Of course. You're not some lone chosen one in a legend. You're my friend. And whether it's reading runes, dodging fireballs, or interpreting sentient sword-speech, you're not doing it alone."
That unexpected word—friend—landed in his chest with a kind of quiet weight. It didn't feel like pity, or obligation. It felt real.
He laughed under his breath. "Thanks. Honestly, I needed to hear that."
Elya nudged him lightly with her shoulder. "I know. You were getting all broody again."
They walked in companionable silence through the twilight-bathed garden paths behind the lecture halls. Birds sang in the trees as magical lanterns flickered on one by one, bathing the path in soft hues of blue and gold. Students passed them here and there—some chatting, others deep in thought—but the world felt quieter now.
Eventually, they reached a fork in the path—one toward the dormitories, the other toward the library and quiet study rooms.
"Going to rest?" Elya asked.
"I probably should," Kaito admitted. "But part of me wants to try what Vexis said. Meditate with the Echo. Maybe see if I can 'hear' it."
Elya raised an eyebrow. "You're going to talk to your sword."
He grinned. "When you say it like that, it sounds insane."
She stepped closer and gently tapped the hilt with one finger. "Then go be insane. That's where magic lives anyway."
Kaito chuckled. "What about you?"
"I'll be in the garden terrace for a bit. I like watching the stars come out."
He hesitated, then offered, "Maybe I'll join you… after I talk to my sword."
She gave him a playful wink. "I'll save you a seat."
With that, they split paths under the last blush of sunset—Kaito heading off toward the dorms, Echo humming faintly at his side, and Elya drifting into the gardens beneath the rising stars.
As he walked, Kaito felt a strange stillness settle over him. The chaos of the day, the clash with Liora, the cryptic lessons, even Seraphine's unexpected intervention—all of it blurred into a quiet undertone now.
There was only one thing that stood out in sharp relief.
He wasn't alone anymore.
And maybe… that was how his real strength would start.