Bound to nothingness

Chapter 8:"The forbidden land. "

By midnight, Nyla had stopped pretending the assignment was still homework. It was punishment.

Books were scattered across Nyla’s bed, the rug, and the narrow table by the window. The four of them had spent hours going through ancient lineage dates, forgotten regional treaties, and enough border decrees to make Emily regret why she ever agreed to this.

Emily dropped her head onto the table, her forehead hitting the wood with a dull thud. "I hate history."

"You've read three pages," Elsie said from the floor, turning a leaf of yellowed parchment.

"Three pages too many," Emily muttered into the grain. "Dead men write too much."

Nyla smiled from her corner of the rug, adjusting her position as her legs went numb. For the first time since arriving, it felt almost normal. The kind of school life her father had promised her. Emily was complaining on her bed, Elsie was quietly fixing Lucien’s notes, and Lucien had somehow managed to keep a tedious reading assignment from being completely miserable.

Then Lucien pulled a dark, spine-cracked volume from the bottom of his leather satchel. It hit the table hard enough to send dust into the air.

There was no title on the cover, just a faint silver crest pressed into the corner.

Emily lifted her head, squinting. "Please tell me that's a novel."

"Not quite," Lucien said. He flipped past the blank endpapers and opened it to the middle, flattening the crease with his palm.

Elsie leaned over his shoulder. "What is that?"

Lucien turned the book toward the center of the table. A hand-drawn map spanned both pages, depicting Veylcrest and the surrounding hills. A thick dark line cut through the eastern wall. Beyond it lay a dense, unmapped stretch of woodland labeled in thin, slanted script:

The Hollow.

Nyla pulled her knees to her chest and leaned in. "What is it?"

"An old survey," Lucien said. "Look at the note at the bottom."

Elsie squinted at the faded writing. "'The eastern reach was sealed after the border collapse. The stone boundary remains under faculty ward. No student is permitted beyond the perimeter.'"

Emily sat up, crossing her arms. "Absolutely not."

"You don't even know what's out there," Lucien said with a half-grin.

"I know the word forbidden usually means people die, Lucien."

Lucien turned the page. A sketch filled the middle of the leaf: a low stone altar surrounding a dark, polished stone. Beneath it, the illustrator had written four words: The Heart of Veylcrest.

"It's an old core marker," Lucien said, looking up at Elsie. "It's supposed to be sitting in a ruin half a mile past the treeline. Aren't you even a little curious?"

Elsie studied the sketch for a moment. "It's a breach of school rules."

"We'd be back before the second bell," Lucien pressed. He looked over at Nyla. "Nyla?"

Nyla looked at the drawing. Her father's letter was still folded inside her jacket, hanging from the back of her chair. His warning flashed through her mind: stay out of trouble, keep your head down.

"Just to the treeline?" she asked.

Emily threw her hands up. "You are all completely out of your minds."

Cold dew soaked their shoes as they crossed the grounds.

Emily grabbed Nyla's sleeve. "Last chance to be smart."

Nyla looked back at the castle. All the lights were out.

Then she stepped through.

Without the daytime noise of students in the quadrangles, the castle grounds seemed twice as large. Empty windows stared down from the towers. Their footsteps echoed between them. They moved along the base of the eastern wall, keeping low until they reached the tall iron gate at the edge of the manicured lawn.

Beyond the bars, a faint silver shimmer hung in the air between the trees, the outer boundary ward.

Emily stopped ten feet back, her boots sinking into the damp sod. "There. It's sealed. Can we go back now?"

Lucien reached into his coat and pulled out a flat brass disc etched with small, shallow grooves.

Nyla frowned. "What's that?"

"My brother left it with me," Lucien said, stepping up to the iron bars. "It disrupts field wards."

He pressed the brass against the shimmering air. For a few long seconds, nothing happened. Then the silver light flickered and buckled, leaving a gap barely wide enough to walk through.

"You first," Lucien whispered to Elsie.

Elsie slipped through. Lucien followed, then motioned for Nyla.

Nyla took a quick breath and stepped through the gap. Emily let out a breath, muttered something under her breath, and scrambled after them just as the silver light snapped shut behind them.

The moment they crossed the barrier, the air and all noises faded into the background. The wind dropped out, muffled by the pine branches above, and the only sound was the damp crunch of needles beneath their boots.

"It's just trees, Em," Lucien said quietly, navigating by the light of a small brass pocket-lantern.

They walked for ten minutes, following a faint path choked with weeds and moss, until the trees opened into a cleared stone circle.

In the center stood four broken granite pillars around a low stone platform. Resting on the pedestal was the dark sphere from the book. It didn't glow, but under the moonlight, it looked almost wet, its black surface showing thin, silver veins running beneath the exterior.

They stopped at the edge of the stone.

"It really is here," Lucien said, taking a step toward the platform.

"Lucien, wait," Nyla said. "Don't touch it."

He paused, looking back. "Why?"

"Just don't."

Before he could answer, the ground gave a low, heavy shudder.

A sharp crack sounded from the base of the platform. The black stone flared with a sudden, blinding flash of white light, and the silver ward lines along the surrounding trees snapped with the sound of breaking dry pine.

A second later, something slammed into the earth behind them, followed by the sound of snapping saplings.

Emily shrank back. "What was that?"

"Runnnn!! ,"

Elsie said, already turning.

They ran. Branches whipped against Nyla's face as they scrambled through the dark brush. Behind them, heavy impacts hit the earth, shaking the loose soil beneath their feet.

Nyla glanced back once over her shoulder. Through the dark trunks, she caught a brief glimpse of something massive moving through the brush... a thick, shadow-draped shape with curved horns, its eyes shining a dull, pale silver.

High up on the mountain, the heavy iron bells of Veylcrest began to ring. Bright flares of red light shot into the night sky over the trees as the faculty responded to the broken ward.

"This way!" Elsie called, pointing toward the boundary line ahead.

Nyla pushed herself to keep up, but her foot caught on a slick tree root. Her ankle twisted, and she went down hard into the mud and sharp gravel.

"Nyla!" Emily yelled from ten yards ahead.

"Keep going!" Nyla gasped, trying to scramble up, but her leg buckled under her weight. "Go!"

A heavy crash sounded right behind her as the brush parted.

The horned shape burst through the pines and stopped. It lowered its head, its heavy hooves tearing up clumps of wet earth as it tracked her movement on the ground.

Nyla scrambled backward against a tree trunk, raising her arms.

Something caught the back of her coat and yanked her sideways into the shadow of a broad oak. Before she could scream, a palm clamped over her mouth, pinning her against a solid chest that smelled of rain and tobacco smoke.

"Quiet," a voice muttered in her ear.

"Karl."

Karl eyes dropped briefly to the edge of her jacket. A corner of folded paper had worked its way out.

Nyla tried to pull away, but his arm locked her waist, keeping her pinned against his chest. He lifted his free hand, caught the edge of the paper and tugged it loose. The folded sheet slipped on the wet grass.

Karl tightened his hands around her waist, then he spoke two low words under his breath, and a shadow spilled from his hand and wrapped around them, swallowing their outlines.

A moment later, the horned beast thundered right past their oak, oblivious, crashing out into the open area where bright beams of spell-light were already raining down from the sky.

Karl waited until the sound of the fight moved further down the ridge before he let go of her mouth and released her coat.

Nyla hit the wet grass, turning around to face him. Her heart was beating fast in her throat. "What are you doing out here?"

Karl watched her, his expression hard. "You broke past the boundary, Vale. What did you think was going to happen?"

"So did you!"

"People don't just wander into the eastern reach, Vale. Who sent you?"

"Nobody!"

"Don't lie to me."

He reached down and grabbed her arm to haul her up, his fingers catching the bruised skin of her wrist. Nyla winced, a sharp breath catching in her chest.

Karl paused, his grip loosening slightly as he felt her flinch, but he didn't let go entirely. He pulled her along through the shadows, keeping away from the bright flashes of magic near the ridge.

"Let go of me," Nyla demanded, pulling back against his weight. "I'm going back to the dorms."

"You're coming with me," Karl said, his voice flat. "Before the guards clear the wood and drag you to the main hall."

He took her through a low side door near the western towers, up a narrow set of stone steps, and pushed open the door to his quarters.

He shoved her inside and pulled the door shut behind them, throwing the iron latch.

Nyla turned around immediately, her back hitting the wooden panel. "You can't lock me in here!"

Karl ignored her. He unbuttoned his wet coat, tossed it onto a bench, and walked over to the small table by the wall. His face was pale.

He picked up a small metal box, took out a cigarette, and struck a match. The small orange flame flickered for a second.

"Who told you about the Heart?" he asked.

"Nobody!" Nyla said, her voice rising. "Lucien found a map in a book!"

Karl walked over, stopping a few feet away. "Four first-years just happen to find a map and break the ward on the exact night the eastern boundary slips?" He shook his head and gave out a humorless laugh. "Try again."

"It's the truth!" Nyla yelled. "Because we were being stupid! I don't care about your family, Karl, and I definitely didn't come out here looking for you!"

Karl took another drag, watching her over the narrow line of smoke. "You expect me to believe you walked into a restricted forest just because you were bored?"

"Yes!" Nyla wiped a streak of dirt off her cheek, her hands shaking as the adrenaline started to drop. "We didn't know what the stone was, and I wish I had stayed in my room!"

Karl stared at her.

He didn't move for several seconds, his dark eyes searching her face. All he saw was a terrified girl standing in muddy boots on his rug as mud streaked down her skirt.

Slowly, he lowered the cigarette.

"You really don't know," he said quietly.

"I've been yelling that at you for ten minutes!" Nyla snapped, her breath hitching.

Karl turned toward the narrow window overlooking the quad. He dragged a hand through his damp hair, looking out at the rain hitting the glass.

"Sit down," he said.

"I'm leaving."

"Sit down, Vale," he repeated. "The guards are clearing the grounds right now. If you walk out there looking like you just crawled out of a ditch, you'll be in front of the board before morning."

Nyla wanted to run. But the boots were getting closer.

She sat down on the edge of a plain wooden bench near the cold fireplace, wrapping her arms around her knees.

The cigarette burned down to his fingers. Neither of them spoke.