The voice of the senior professor teaching Advanced Potion Brewing echoed through the grand circular lecture hall. But my focus drifted far beyond the antidote formula for shadow spiders projected onto the crystal wall before me. My gaze flickered toward the large stained-glass window, where the towering spires of the Royal Academy of Magic pierced the clear blue sky.
Life at the university was supposed to be thrilling—filled with discoveries of new and mysterious arcane knowledge. Yet lately, a faint haze seemed to dull that excitement, like an unseen cloud hovering over everything.
"Lyra! What are you daydreaming about?" A sharp, familiar voice jolted me back, accompanied by an elbow lightly nudging my side—just enough to make me jump. Seraphina Vanya, my so-called best friend… or at least, she considered us close, turned to me with a playful grin. Her bright blue eyes sparkled mischievously, but I found myself instinctively shrinking away just a little.
"Nothing… just lost in thought," I murmured, lowering my gaze to the open textbook before me.
"Thinking about passing this class? Or thinking about that handsome shapeshifting student from the Transfiguration department?" She winked. "Don't even try to deny it. I saw you glancing at him during lunch!"
I forced a weak smile. "It's nothing like that, Seraphina. You're imagining things."
The truth was, no boy had occupied my thoughts. Instead, my mind kept returning to the news I had overheard that morning—the case of a man named Kaelen Stonehand, who had just lost his family's land in court.
When class ended, we stepped into the wide courtyard outside the main lecture hall. The afternoon sun cast a warm glow on the polished stone pathways, where students bustled past—some chatting in small groups, others hurrying toward dormitories or the library. Seraphina chattered excitedly about the upcoming university gala and the gowns she was considering, but my attention wandered toward the enchanted notice board in the corner of the courtyard, where a small crowd had gathered.
"I'll be right back, Seraphina. I just want to check the announcements."
"What could be more interesting than my new dress?" she huffed, but let go of my arm. "Don't take too long! We need to grab a good table at the cafeteria. They're serving griffin meat pies today!"
I wove through the small cluster of students and scanned the board. There were scholarship announcements, exam schedules, and… a small headline about the Kaelen Stonehand case. It read: "Court Rules Stonehand Estate to Be Transferred to State for Management."
Beside it was another notice—a statement from Prime Minister Valerius Thorn's office detailing the latest "Borderland Development Project for the Welfare of the People." It mentioned plans to "enhance the landscape" near the Whispering Woods.
My heartbeat faltered for a moment.
The Whispering Woods… That name stirred memories of old botanical tomes I had studied. The forest was known to be home to rare magical flora and rumored to hold latent energies. Altering the land near such a fragile ecosystem—what effects would that have? And Kaelen's land… Was its confiscation truly unrelated? A quiet unease coiled in my chest.
"Oh, this?" Seraphina's voice piped up behind me. She must have followed. "Yeah, shame about the Stonehand family, but really, if they couldn't manage their own land, isn't it better for the state to step in? For the greater good, right?" She shrugged, uninterested. "Speaking of important matters… Do you think sapphire blue or emerald green suits me better?"
I turned to look at her. Her words echoed the general sentiment I had heard from others. But deep down, I disagreed. It was far too easy to dismiss the pain of the displaced under the excuse of "the greater good." I recalled the brief image of Kaelen Stonehand from the morning's news—a face marked with bitterness and rage.
"I… I'm not sure, Seraphina," I replied softly, sidestepping the real topic. "Maybe blue? It might complement your complexion better."
"I knew it!" She beamed, looping her arm through mine. "Come on, let's eat. I'm starving!"
I let her pull me along, but my thoughts remained tangled in the news I had just read. A quiet conflict was forming inside me—between the trust in the government I had always been taught to uphold and the instinct that something was deeply wrong about the situation with the Whispering Woods and the Stonehand estate.
As we passed a small garden by the walkway, my eyes caught on a young Whispering Spirit plant I had helped a professor plant last year. Normally, its leaves shimmered silver in the light. But today… one of its leaves had begun to darken, curling at the edges as if withering unnaturally.
I halted, a strange sense of unease creeping over me.
"Lyra! Hurry up!" Seraphina called from ahead.
Reluctantly, I tore my gaze from the plant and followed her.
Yet the image of that dying leaf clung to my mind.
A small omen.
A reflection of the unease stirring inside me.
A whisper of something… terribly wrong.