DARK CAMPUS

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5: The Whispers

Strange things began happening more frequently in the days that followed. Every night, when

the dormitory went quiet and the only light came from the pale moon filtering through my

curtains, I heard voices just outside my door — soft whispers that called my name, clear enough

to recognize but impossible to identify. They didn't sound malicious exactly; they sounded

lonely, longing, as if someone lost was trying to find their way home through me. When I opened

the door, there was no one there — only empty corridors stretching into darkness, and the faint

smell of old books and rain. Sometimes, when I looked in the mirror while brushing my hair

before bed, I felt like someone else was looking back at me from over my shoulder. I'd spin

around quickly, heart pounding, but there would be nothing behind me except my empty room.

One quiet afternoon when the library was nearly deserted, I was browsing through the shelves

at the far back where the books looked older and smelled differently — like dust and something

sweeter, like dried flowers. Tucked away on a dusty table beneath a cracked window was a

massive old book, open to a page written in beautiful, looping script that seemed to shimmer

slightly when I looked at it from different angles. It wasn't written in any language I recognized,

yet somehow I could understand it perfectly, as if the words were forming directly inside my

mind rather than on the page itself. "Every hundred years, a maiden is sent to bring light into the darkness. She gives life to the

Lord of Darkness, and she is also his greatest weakness. Pure of heart, unknowing of her

destiny, she walks among them until the moon chooses her and the ancient pact is fulfilled. To

harm her is to invite ruin. To love her is to invite change."

The words sent a chill through me that had nothing to do with the temperature of the room.

Footsteps echoed behind me, slow and unhurried. I slammed the book shut, my heart

hammering against my ribs, and spun around. It was Professor Lux. He didn't look surprised that

I'd found it. He looked as if he'd been expecting this moment for a very long time.

"Searching for answers, Iyanna?" he asked softly, his voice barely above a whisper, as if afraid

someone else might overhear us in the empty library. "Or perhaps... searching for your destiny?"

"I don't know what you mean," I said quickly, stepping away from him, clutching the book to my

chest as if it could protect me. But he simply smiled sadly and shook his head. "You will, in time.

The questions you ask now will be the answers you live by then."