Ari Solen
Age: 12
Appearance: Lean, wiry frame from years of commoner work; dusky skin tanned from outdoor labor; sharp gray eyes that flicker like static when he concentrates too hard; messy black hair with an undercut done by accident more than style. His presence is unnerving—too calm for a child, too quietly calculating.
People say he has the eyes of someone who's died once already.
Cerys Aetherrose
Age: 13
Appearance: Pale skin like porcelain kissed with sunlight; long platinum-blonde hair tied into a braid that floats subtly with her wind-thread affinity; eyes a deep violet, the kind that glimmer with layered thoughts and veiled suspicion. Wears a modified noble academy coat—sleek, reinforced with light-plate runes.
She walks like a storm that hasn't decided whether to pass or strike.
The Journey Begins
The spell-carriage hovered quietly as it moved through the morning mist, its rune-wheels spinning with soft violet light. Ari sat across from Cerys inside the enclosed cabin, awkward in the velvet-cushioned space that reeked of incense and cold luxury.
He still wore his village clothes—patched linen, worn boots, a hand-wrapped belt. The contrast to her polished armor-coat was like a glitch in a rendering script.
"Try not to look like you broke in," she said without looking at him.
Ari blinked. "This is literally your invitation."
"Right, but if they think you stole it, that's still treason."
He leaned his head against the glass. "You nobles are weird."
"And you're dangerous." She looked at him directly now. "You realize that, don't you?"
He didn't answer.
But his silence said yes.
They passed through the Veilgate hours later. The spell-carriage slowed, entering a massive chasm lined with floating glyphstones that emitted soundless music. It wasn't a gate in the traditional sense—it was a filter, scanning the nature of every soul that passed through it.
"Don't flinch," Cerys warned.
"Why would I—"
Ari winced as a wave of pressure tore through him like a virus scanning old code. Something inside him—something deep—flickered in resistance.
ALERT: ROOT ACCESS SIGNAL MASKED
PASSAGE PERMITTED [STATUS: UNCLASSIFIED]
The stones shimmered green for him.
Cerys raised an eyebrow. "It let you through. Unlabeled."
"...That's bad?"
"That's impossible."
Beyond the Veil was Sanctum Proper—a massive floating isle locked in orbit above the ruins of the First Script War battlegrounds. Tall spires jutted from its surface like crystalline trees, each one carved in layer after layer of interlocking glyphs.
And at the center stood the Academy.
It looked less like a school and more like a spellforge built by gods—a circular complex with rising towers, rune-rings orbiting its highest dome, and a shielded dome of living glyphs that flickered like stars.
"Welcome to Sanctum," Cerys said. "Where lineage is everything."
"And secrets die quick."
The moment they stepped out, Ari was met with stares.
Noble students in gold-stitched uniforms. Apprentices from merchant guilds. Even foreignborn magic-scribes who wielded spell-scrolls instead of raw glyphs. All stopped to glance at the barefoot boy with strange eyes walking beside the Aetherrose prodigy.
A few smirked.
A few frowned.
One whispered, "That's the Threadless?"
Cerys led Ari through the intake process: scan-ins, sigil branding (temporary), and spell-spectrum recording. When his scan returned null-thread but elevated glyph response, the staff mage paused awkwardly.
"New anomaly?" she muttered. "Again?"
"Probationary," Cerys said flatly. "Registered under Code Azure-Five."
"You're using your house code to shield him?" the woman raised a brow.
"I don't sponsor trash."
Ari looked away. He wasn't sure if she meant to protect him or keep him leashed.
They gave Ari a ground-tier dorm—shared with merchant-class initiates and low-bloodline spellkin. It was cleaner than anything he'd ever seen. Polished floors. Sigil-lamps. Even an adjustable spelldesk with a personal projection array.
He stared at it for a long time.
Cerys stood in the doorway, watching him.
"Get used to this," she said. "You'll be living above your station… but still below theirs."
"You think I'll survive?"
"I think you're something the system doesn't recognize yet."
"And the system doesn't like blind spots."
She paused.
Then added, softer: "That's why I picked you."
He met her eyes. "You're scared of me."
"I'm scared of what's behind you."
And then she left.
In the silence of his new room, Ari activated System Echo. The memory of the forbidden spell still lingered.
But now something new whispered at the edge of his senses.
Not a spell. Not even a voice.
A presence.
Watching.
Still there.
But closer.