Chapter 14 — The Walls Begin to Close
I didn’t breathe until I was out of the Headmaster’s office.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
The moment the door shut behind me, the pressure around my lungs loosened, and air rushed back into my chest like I’d been drowning. My hands shook. My vision blurred at the edges. The cold beneath my ribs pulsed in jagged, uneven beats.
The system flickered.
Deathbound Resonance: Unstable
Emotional Stress: Critical
Recommendation: Seek isolation immediately
Isolation.
Right.
Because that had gone so well the last few times.
Students passed me in the hallway, chatting, laughing, complaining about assignments. None of them noticed the way my hands trembled. None of them noticed the faint shadow?pulse leaking from my skin.
But someone did.
“Arin.”
I flinched.
Instructor Varron stood at the end of the hall, arms crossed, expression unreadable. His gaze swept over me — not suspicious, not hostile, but sharp. Too sharp.
“You missed morning drills,” he said.
“I had… an evaluation.”
“With Calder?”
I hesitated. “No.”
Varron’s jaw tightened. “The Headmaster, then.”
I didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
Varron stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Listen carefully. The academy is on edge. There have been disturbances — mana fluctuations, ward disruptions, scry?orb malfunctions. And every time, you’re nearby.”
My pulse spiked.
The system pulsed sharply.
Alert: Instructor suspicion rising
Risk of exposure: Moderate → High
Varron’s eyes narrowed. “If something is happening to you, you need to tell me. Now.”
I forced my voice steady. “Nothing is happening.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
The cold beneath my ribs surged, reacting to the pressure in his tone. Shadows flickered at the edges of my vision.
Not now.
Not here.
I stepped back. “I need to get to class.”
Varron’s expression hardened. “Arin—”
“I’m fine.”
I wasn’t.
But I walked away anyway.
---
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### **Class D Training Hall**
Ren waved me over the moment I stepped inside.
“Dude, where were you? Varron was in a mood.”
“I noticed.”
“You okay? You look like you’re about to pass out.”
“I’m fine.”
Ren frowned. “You keep saying that.”
I didn’t answer.
Varron entered a moment later, expression carved from stone.
“Line up.”
We did.
“Today’s lesson is stability under external pressure,” he said. “If you cannot maintain control, you cannot cast safely.”
He raised a hand.
A pulse of mana rippled through the room — subtle, but destabilizing. Students staggered. One girl yelped as her mana flickered out of her control.
My cold surged instantly.
The system pulsed.
Warning: External mana pressure amplifying Deathbound output
Stability: Falling
I clenched my fists.
Not now.
Not here.
Varron walked down the line, watching each student attempt to stabilize their mana. Most failed. A few managed a flicker.
Then he stopped in front of me.
“Your turn.”
I raised my hand.
The cold rose with it.
I reached for surface mana — thin, weak, barely there — and shaped it into a faint shimmer. The destabilizing pulse hit me like a wave.
The shimmer darkened.
Just for a heartbeat.
But Varron saw it.
His eyes widened — not in fear, but in recognition.
“Again,” he said quietly.
I tried.
The shimmer flickered.
Darkened.
Collapsed.
Varron stepped closer. “Arin. Look at me.”
I didn’t.
Couldn’t.
The cold beneath my ribs was rising too fast, too strong, answering the pressure in the room like a predator scenting blood.
“Arin,” Varron repeated, voice low. “Breathe.”
I forced a breath.
The cold resisted.
The system pulsed violently.
Deathbound Instability: Critical
Recommendation: Remove yourself from the environment
I stepped back.
Varron reached out. “Wait—”
“I need air.”
I didn’t wait for permission.
I walked out of the training hall, ignoring the whispers behind me, ignoring Ren calling my name, ignoring Varron’s footsteps starting to follow before stopping.
The cold was rising too fast.
I needed to get away.
---
### **The Courtyard**
The moment I stepped outside, the cold surged like a wave breaking free.
Shadows rippled across the ground beneath my feet. The lamps flickered. A scry?orb overhead glitched, its glow sputtering.
The system screamed.
Alert: Deathbound resonance leaking
Warning: Detection risk extreme
Shadow Veil: Ready
I activated it instantly.
The shadows wrapped around me, muffling the cold, dimming the pulse, hiding the leak.
Barely.
I stumbled behind a stone pillar, gripping it until my knuckles went white.
The cold thrashed beneath my ribs, furious, hungry, demanding release.
“No,” I whispered. “Not here.”
The system pulsed again.
Recommendation: Descend to Underhalls immediately
Fracture Activity: Rising
Entity Presence: Active
Of course it was.
The fractures were waking.
The academy was watching.
The Deathbound inside me was slipping.
I pushed off the pillar and moved toward the west wing, keeping to the shadows, keeping my head down, keeping my breathing steady.
I didn’t make it far.
A voice cut through the courtyard.
“Arin Vale.”
I froze.
Not Calder.
Not Varron.
The Headmaster.
Again.
He stood at the top of the courtyard steps, coat fluttering in the wind, eyes sharp as blades.
“Come with me.”
My pulse hammered.
The cold surged.
The system pulsed violently.
Critical Alert: High?tier magical pressure approaching
Shadow Veil Integrity: Failing
Recommendation: Flee or risk exposure
Flee.
From the Headmaster.
In broad daylight.
In the middle of the courtyard.
I didn’t think.
I ran.
The Headmaster’s voice echoed behind me — calm, cold, certain.
“You cannot run from what you are, Arin.”
The cold beneath my ribs roared.
The fractures pulsed beneath the ground.
And the shadows answered.
