The stone under Karl's hand had cooled.
But the heat inside him hadn't.
He stood for a long time at the overlook, letting the breeze run through his hair as the echo of the dragon faded from the air. Raiven's presence pulsed gently at his side—a flicker of shadow barely visible unless you stared.
And Nareth hadn't moved.
Still watching. Still silent. Like he already understood the language of Karl's silence.
Karl turned away first, descending the stairs that led back toward the main Academy tower. The closer he drew to the heart of campus, the louder the city around it became—students trading spells, instructors shouting from sparring rings, the crackle of spellfire flaring through training fields.
The world was moving.
And now… it was watching him.
"There you are."
Nyra's voice came from beside the training hall entrance. She leaned against the wall, arms crossed, mana dagger twirling between her fingers like a bored cat's tail.
"You disappeared again. Thought the Trial Forest swallowed you back up."
"Just needed quiet."
"Well, too bad. Your quiet time is officially over. Guess what class we have next?"
Karl blinked. "Combat?"
"Worse. Soulbind Application."
She grinned. "Apparently, we're gonna 'explore our bond manifestations in public conditions.'"
Karl's heart skipped.
Public.
They joined Kael and the rest of the Soulbind class in the open-aired Rune Arena—one of the largest rings on campus. Circular platforms hovered in the sky like floating stone petals. Mana channels ran across the surfaces like veins, reacting to the presence of any bond spirit.
Instructor Renia hovered above them on a small disc of air, arms behind her back.
"Welcome," she began. "Today, you will call forth your Soulbound partners—not in theory, but in form."
Whispers spread quickly through the class.
Karl didn't move.
Renia raised a hand.
"Don't worry. Those without an awakened Soulbind will simply observe. No one will be punished for being late to the path."
Karl let out a slow breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
But Raiven's energy flickered again—closer than ever.
Student after student stepped forward.
A small fox spirit wrapped in flickering flame.
A stone golem the size of a shield.
A water-snake that shimmered mid-air, coiling around its caster's arm.
Then came a beastkin boy—hawk-blooded—with a wyvern hatchling spirit barely visible through its translucent form. The crowd whispered in awe.
Karl stayed still.
Then Renia called his name.
"Karl Valen."
Silence fell over the platform.
He stepped forward, boots echoing on rune-etched stone.
Renia's expression didn't change. But her eyes sharpened.
"You have registered resonance."
Karl nodded.
"Then call it."
He closed his eyes.
Focused.
Raiven… you're here.
Let them see you.
The mark on his chest flared—just once.
Then came the pulse.
Soft at first. Then surging.
The wind shifted around him.
Shadow curled across the stone platform like ink spilled across sunlight. From his feet outward, a circle formed—etched in violet and blue light, spiraling outward in silent, cold waves.
And then—
Raiven appeared.
A silhouette of a wolf, shadow-forged and tall as Karl's chest, its fur rippling like mist, its wings folded tight to its sides. Two piercing eyes of glowing silver-blue locked with the instructor's.
The arena went silent.
Students whispered.
"It's… full-bodied."
"That's not just a projection."
"What class is that spirit?"
Renia didn't speak for several seconds.
Her hand twitched once, faintly—like resisting the urge to draw a glyph midair.
Then she said, "Interesting. A true partial manifestation."
She walked a slow circle around Raiven, examining him.
"Wolf form. Shadow-aspected. Winged… and yet not avian. Unusual mana density."
Karl said nothing. Raiven stood still, like a sentinel.
But then—
It happened.
The pulse.
Karl staggered slightly.
Raiven's form flickered—not destabilized, but pressured. From the inside.
The mark on his chest glowed brighter—then changed color for the briefest second.
From blue-violet… to deep ember-red.
And in that flash, a second circle flickered beneath Raiven's shadow—larger, coiled, and distinctly not wolf-shaped.
The instructor's eyes widened.
The runes under the platform reacted, shifting lines and glyphs toward Karl's feet.
Then it was gone.
Raiven remained.
But everyone felt it.
Something else had tried to rise.
Karl stepped back.
Raiven vanished like a wisp.
Renia spoke again—carefully.
"You may return. Thank you."
Karl walked back to Nyra and Kael's side without looking at anyone.
Kael leaned in.
"That wasn't just Raiven, was it?"
Karl shook his head slowly.
"No."
After class, Renia remained at the center of the arena, her hand tracing a residual glyph in the air.
She murmured to herself.
"Two beasts. Bound to one mark… That's impossible."
But the rune under Karl's name hadn't faded yet.
It pulsed faintly.
Blue. Violet.
Then—again—
Red.