Starborn Shadows

Chapter Six

The academy grew quieter at night.

Not silent.

Just softer.

From the large window beside her bed, Isla could still see lights glowing across the campus, students occasionally crossing the courtyards below, distant laughter drifting faintly through the night air.

Velmorne never fully slept.

But for the first time since arriving, Isla was finally alone.

The room felt different because of it.

Bigger somehow.

She sat beside the window for a while, staring out at the academy grounds while Mira’s folded letter rested beside her hand.

Everything had changed too quickly.

Yesterday morning she had still been home.

Now she was here.

Inside a hidden academy filled with magic, strange evaluations, impossible buildings, and people who kept looking at her like they were trying to figure something out.

Her chest tightened slightly.

Not painfully.

Just enough.

She still didn’t understand why Mira sent her here.

Or why Velmorne accepted her so easily.

Or what exactly happened with the sphere.

Not again.

The words lingered unpleasantly in her mind.

Eventually exhaustion settled over her properly.

She changed into one of the academy sleep shirts left neatly inside the wardrobe and caught sight of herself briefly in the mirror.

Everything fit perfectly.

Like the academy had known she was coming long before she arrived.

The thought stayed with her longer than she wanted.

Then eventually, she slept.

***

Morning at Velmorne felt completely different. The academy was alive now.

Students filled the courtyards and pathways, conversations overlapping from every direction while sunlight spilled across the stone buildings and gardens.

Some students wore their uniforms properly.

Others clearly gave up halfway.

Ties loose. Sleeves rolled. Blazers hanging open.

First years were obvious immediately.

They looked around too much.

By the time Isla reached the lower courtyard near West Dormitory, Kaia was already sitting near the fountain.

“You survived.”

“Barely.”

Kaia nodded seriously. “Haunted room?”

“Unfortunately not.”

Leo appeared out of nowhere carrying food.

“I brought breakfast.”

“You brought yourself breakfast,” Jax corrected behind him.

“Why are you ruining the moment?”

Lena laughed softly as they started walking together through the courtyard.

Students passed constantly around them, greeting friends across balconies and pathways.

“Cassian!”

“You’re late!”

“I’m literally right here—”

A group nearby burst into laughter.

Everything felt loud in a comfortable way.

Like Velmorne had already existed long before them and didn’t care whether they caught up or not.

“This place still feels unreal,” Lena admitted quietly.

“That’s because it is unreal,” Kaia replied.

“That’s not helping.”

As they crossed one of the larger courtyards, Isla noticed a few students glance toward her before whispering quietly to each other.

Subtle.

Still obvious.

Leo noticed immediately. “Congratulations. You’re gossip now.”

“I already hate that for me.”

“It is,” Kaia said sympathetically.

Before Isla could answer, three older students approached from across the courtyard.

Not aggressively.

Just confidently.

The kind of confidence that came from already belonging somewhere.

One of the boys looked at Isla directly. “You’re Isla, right?”

Kaia crossed her arms instantly. “Depends.”

The boy grinned slightly. “Cassian.”

He gestured beside him. “Vivienne. Elias.”

Vivienne looked Isla over once before speaking.

“You’re not what I expected.”

“What were you expecting?” Kaia asked immediately.

Vivienne shrugged. “Someone taller.”

Lena laughed before she could stop herself.

Cassian’s attention stayed on Isla. “So what actually happened yesterday?”

“I touched the sphere.”

“That can’t be all.”

“It literally is.”

He looked unconvinced.

Around them, students still moved normally through the courtyard, but Isla could feel people listening anyway.

Not openly.

Just enough.

“I heard they stopped the evaluations because of you,” Vivienne said.

“People exaggerate.”

“They do,” Elias said quietly, “but the evaluations did stop.”

Kaia pointed at him immediately. “You’re officially the least annoying one here.”

Cassian looked offended. “I’m being nice.”

“You approached us like investigators,” Leo replied.

Vivienne rolled her eyes slightly. “You people talk a lot.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Leo said.

“It is.”

Jax sighed softly. “I’m starting to understand why upperclassmen scare first years.”

Vivienne smiled faintly at that.

Cassian looked back at Isla again, curiosity more obvious now than arrogance.

“You don’t seem bothered by the attention.”

“Should I be?”

That made him pause briefly.

Then Vivienne folded her arms. “Most people would enjoy it.”

“Most people are strange.”

Leo gasped dramatically. “I feel seen.”

“That’s not what she meant,” Jax replied immediately.

Even Elias looked amused for a second.

The tension eased after that.

Not gone. Just lighter.

“You’re exploring?” Elias asked after a moment.

“Trying to,” Kaia answered. “This place is too big.”

“That part never changes,” Cassian said.

Then the three of them moved on, disappearing back into the crowd of students crossing the courtyard.

Kaia watched them leave. “Vivienne scares me a little.”

“She scares everyone,” a passing student muttered while walking by.

Leo looked delighted. “That makes me like her more.”

Jax unfolded the map again. “Can we continue before one of you starts another social incident?”

“No promises,” Kaia replied immediately.

Honestly, that didn’t even feel strange anymore.

***

They spent the next hour wandering around the academy with absolutely no real direction.

Which mostly meant Leo choosing random paths confidently while Jax suffered quietly behind him.

“This is the wrong way again,” Jax said eventually.

“There is no wrong way when exploring spiritually,” Leo replied.

“That sentence made me tired.”

Velmorne somehow kept getting bigger the more they walked.

Every pathway opened into another courtyard, another staircase, another building that looked important enough to have history behind it.

Students filled nearly every part of the campus.

Some sat beneath trees reading while others crowded around fountains talking loudly over each other.

Magic existed casually around them.

Nothing dramatic.

Just small things people barely thought about anymore.

Floating books.

Lights drifting lazily through the air.

Someone fixing ripped paper with a wave of their hand while continuing a conversation like it was nothing.

Kaia looked around slowly. “I genuinely don’t think I’ll ever get used to this.”

“You will,” Lena said.

“You’re saying that like you actually believe it.”

“I’m pretending.”

“That’s fair.”

The Grand Library somehow looked even bigger up close.

Tall glass windows stretched across the front while massive carved doors stood partially open at the top of a wide staircase.

Leo stopped walking entirely. “Okay no. That building knows secrets.”

“That’s how libraries work,” Isla replied.

Inside, everything became quieter.

Not silent.

Just calmer.

Towering shelves stretched across multiple levels connected by moving staircases and narrow bridges overhead while floating lanterns drifted lazily between them.

Kaia stared upward slowly. “I would absolutely get trapped in here for three days.”

“Only three?” Lena asked.

“Good point.”

They wandered between shelves for a while, occasionally pulling random books free just to stare at titles they barely understood.

Some sounded normal.

Others absolutely did not.

Forbidden Dimensional Practices.

Ancient Bloodline Theory.

The Fall of the Sixth House.

Isla paused briefly at the last title before noticing the shelf beside it sitting completely empty.

Weird.

“Found the romance section,” Leo announced proudly from somewhere nearby.

“That was fast,” Kaia called back.

“I know myself.”

By the time they finally left the library, the sun had shifted warmer overhead.

Somewhere farther down the pathways, loud cheering suddenly echoed through the academy.

Leo looked interested immediately.

“Oh that sounds fun.”

The combat arena sat lower than the rest of the academy grounds surrounded by tall stone walls lined with silver markings.

Unlike the library, this place felt loud.

Students filled the viewing platforms while others sparred openly across the arena floor below.

Some practiced with weapons.

Others fought using magic.

A burst of flame flashed briefly from one side of the arena followed immediately by cheering.

Kaia stopped walking. “Okay this might be my favorite place.”

“Violence really brings people together,” Leo said thoughtfully.

“That explains a lot about you,” Jax muttered.

Students moved confidently across the training rings below while groups gathered around the more entertaining matches.

Honestly, half of them were definitely showing off.

Especially the older students.

As they walked farther around the viewing platform, Isla noticed one quieter section near the far side of the arena.

The walls there looked older than the rest.

Darker stone.

The silver markings carved into them seemed worn somehow.

And for a second—

The air felt colder.

Subtle.

Barely there.

Still enough to make Isla slow slightly.

Kaia noticed immediately. “What?”

“…Nothing.”

Isla looked toward the wall again.

For half a second, she thought she saw one of the markings flicker faintly.

Then it stopped.

Probably nothing.

“Ghost?” Leo asked hopefully.

“No.”

“Disappointing.”

Before anyone could say anything else, loud cheering suddenly erupted from one of the lower rings.

A crowd had started gathering around a sparring match below.

And whatever was happening down there

It had everyone’s attention