CHAPTER FIVE:The Mark
637 Words
The academy had never been this quiet.
By midnight, the attack had been contained. The wounded had been taken to the infirmary, the damaged sections of the academy were sealed off, and students had been ordered to remain inside their dormitories.
Liranae sat alone on her bed.
She couldn't sleep.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the purple light.
She looked down at her palm.
Nothing.
No glow.
No wound.
Just her ordinary hand.
She slowly clenched her fingers.
For years, she had believed there was something wrong with her.
She couldn't speak.
She couldn't communicate like everyone else.
She had always been the strange girl.
But now she wondered whether her silence had been hiding something.
A soft knock came at the door.
Liranae froze.
Another knock.
She walked toward it and opened the door.
Kaelan stood outside.
He looked exhausted.
“May I come in?”
Liranae hesitated before stepping aside.
Kaelan entered.
His eyes immediately went to her hand.
“Show me.”
She raised it.
He examined her palm.
Then his gaze moved to her face.
“Does anything feel different?”
Liranae thought for a moment.
She nodded.
Kaelan waited.
She pointed toward her chest.
“Your heart?”
She nodded again.
“Stronger?”
She nodded.
Kaelan's expression became serious.
“Anything else?”
Liranae shook her head.
He was silent for a long moment.
Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out an old piece of parchment.
He unfolded it carefully.
Liranae looked down.
There was a drawing of a woman surrounded by glowing light.
Beneath the drawing were ancient symbols.
Kaelan pointed at the woman.
“Do you know what this is?”
Liranae shook her head.
“The last recorded healer.”
Her eyes widened.
Kaelan continued.
“She lived more than three hundred years ago.”
He pointed at the glowing hand in the drawing.
“This ability disappeared after her death.”
Liranae stared at the picture.
Then she looked at her own hand.
Kaelan folded the parchment.
“Until tonight.”
Liranae's heart began pounding.
The word felt impossible.
Kaelan nodded.
“Yes. You're a healer.”
Liranae swallowed.
She pointed toward the academy.
Why me?
Kaelan seemed to understand.
“I don't know.”
He paused.
“But someone does.”
Liranae's expression changed.
The mysterious figure in the hallway.
The attack.
The strange power.
None of it felt accidental anymore.
Kaelan noticed her fear.
“I won't let anyone hurt you.”
Liranae looked at him.
There was something about the way he said it.
Not as a teacher.
Not as an instructor.
Something deeper.
She felt that strange warmth again.
Kaelan suddenly stiffened.
His eyes darkened.
Liranae felt it too.
A pull.
Invisible but undeniable.
She stepped closer without meaning to.
Kaelan's breathing changed.
For the first time, the cold Alpha looked completely shaken.
His gaze dropped to her neck.
A faint silver mark had appeared beneath her skin.
Liranae touched it.
Kaelan whispered one word.
“Impossible.”
She looked at him questioningly.
He didn't answer.
Instead, he stepped backward.
“We need to get you out of the academy.”
Liranae shook her head.
She pointed toward the students.
She wouldn't leave them.
Kaelan stared at her.
“You don't understand what's happening.”
Liranae held his gaze.
For the first time, she didn't look frightened.
She looked determined.
Kaelan saw it.
The girl who had entered his combat class earlier that day was already changing.
Something inside her had awakened.
And he had a terrible feeling that this was only the beginning.
Outside the window, the moon disappeared behind dark clouds.
Far beyond the academy walls, a howl echoed through the forest.
Then another.
And another.
The attack was over.
But the hunt had only begun.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD