Awakening
1593 Words
They didn’t even let me finish my breakfast.
Not that it was a great breakfast—some kind of gray porridge and a suspiciously glowing orange fruit—but still, it was mine. And I liked eating without fear of incineration or public shaming.
Unfortunately, those were now standard features of my life.
The moment I touched my spoon, the summons came. Not a note. Not a knock. Not even a polite magical scroll. Just a sudden twist in the air, a pulse of invisible pressure, and two council guards appearing like badly dressed ghosts outside my door.
The knock came the first time and it took everything in me to not ignore them. But I obviously couldn't do that.
Letting out a deep sigh, I pulled the door open.
“Aeris Vale,” the taller one said. “The Council requests your presence.”
“Requests,” I said, blinking at him. “As in… politely asks?”
They didn’t laugh. Or blink.
So apparently not a request. I was being summoned with no option to refuse.
“Now,” the second added.
Rowan popped her head out of the bathroom, her toothbrush still in her mouth. “Dude, you’re in trouble again?”
I gave her a wide-eyed what-the-hell-is-happening look. She just shrugged.
Ever since that soul bond nonsense, my life has never been the same.
Fabulous. I was being kidnapped again. That made it twice in one week.
The guards didn’t touch me—just flanked me like I was some magical nuke they didn’t want to risk setting off. Which, you know, is fair. I had accidentally soul-bonded myself to a fire-wielding golden boy with rage issues.
Speaking of.
Kael was already there when we reached the Council chamber.
Standing like he belonged there. Like he’d been born in a marble throne room and cradled in prophecy.
Maybe he was born royalty, unlike me.
He had fire shimmering faintly around his shoulders—controlled this time, not the explosion I’d seen in the sparring hall.
And he didn’t look at me.
I didn’t look at him either.
I had other things to focus on—like the five intimidating mages seated in a crescent on a raised dais.
The Council. All robed and powerful. And they were staring at me like I was an experiment that had grown too many limbs.
I straightened my spine and tried not to vomit.
“Miss Vale,” the center figure said. A woman with silver hair braided like a crown. “Do you understand what has occurred between you and Cadet Virel?”
I hesitated. “We… bonded?”
I mean? I thought it was obvious by now.
A flicker of emotion passed between the Council members—barely visible. Like a current running through still water.
“This is no ordinary bond,” the silver-haired woman continued. “It is ancient. Wild. And exceptionally rare.”
“We believe it was dormant,” another added, “until you awakened it.”
I blinked. “Awakened it how?”
“Unknown,” the first said, tone clipped. “Which is precisely the problem. Nullborns cannot bond. Nullborns cannot even access the Old Magic. And yet, you did.”
“Sorry?” I offered. “Next time I’ll ask permission before nearly dying.”
Kael finally moved. Just slightly. Like he was trying not to sigh.
“We believe the soul-thread must have originated from him,” the woman continued, nodding at Kael. “And you—somehow—triggered it.”
“And now you’re… what?” I asked. “Studying us like rats?”
“We are assessing the risk,” another Council member said, this one older, his beard nearly touching his robes. “The bond cannot be broken. Therefore, it must be… monitored.”
I did not like the way he said that word.
“What does that mean?”
“It means,” the silver-haired woman said, “you and Kael Virel will undergo observation. Separate quarters. Controlled instruction. Supervised combat scenarios.”
Kael’s jaw tightened. Still silent.
I stepped forward. “You’re saying we’re prisoners.”
It was the same thing, just sugar-coated.
“We are only being cautious,” one of the younger councilors said, his mouth twisting. “You are a Nullborn, girl. You shouldn’t be capable of any of this. And yet, here you are—glowing with soul magic, reacting to high-level combat glyphs like a trained caster, and surviving attacks that should have broken your body in half.”
“I didn’t ask for any of this!” I screamed.
I didn't even want to be in this school.
“But you have it now,” the silver-haired woman said sharply. “And that makes you ours.”
The words cracked something inside me.
I felt it—like a string pulled too tight. Something old and buried deep. Some invisible thread that had been fraying ever since I stepped onto this cursed campus.
I clenched my fists. “So I don’t get a say?”
It was my life, and I didn't have a choice.
“Your safety, and the safety of this academy, is not optional,” the bearded man said.
I flinched. “I didn’t ask for this.” I gritted out.
“But you have it,” the silver-haired woman snapped. “You stand in this room, bonded to Kael Virel—one of the strongest elemental scions in the academy—and wielding magic you were never meant to touch.”
I opened my mouth to explain. To defend myself.
“You will not speak,” the bearded councilor barked.
I froze.
What?
“You’ve already proven unstable,” the woman said. “The bond is dangerous. Unpredictable. You’ve disrupted the flow of training. You’ve ignited old forces.”
“Then teach me to control it!” I cried, stepping forward. “I didn’t choose this. I didn’t even know what it was! You can’t just throw me in front of a sword and say it’s my fault for getting cut—”
“You are nothing but a liability,” another councilor snapped.
“You were never meant to be here,” said the younger one, voice soft but cruel.
“I never wanted to be here! You sent me a letter!” I screamed, but my words were ignored.
“You’re a threat to the balance,” the bearded man added. “To every student in this academy.”
I felt it. A slow, burning roar in my ribs. Not magic yet—just rage.
They didn’t want my answer. They wanted a villain. A scapegoat. Something to name and cage.
“I’m trying,” I said, quieter this time. “You act like I came here to destroy everything.”
“You are destroying everything!” one of them barked.
“You’ve polluted Kael’s channel—”
“You’ve awakened forbidden links—”
“Don’t pretend you’re innocent—”
“—You think you’re the victim?”
I shook my head. “You won’t even listen—”
“SILENCE!”
That final word echoed through the chamber like a crack of lightning.
And that was it.
That was the moment.
That little thread inside me? The one I’d been holding together with spit and fear and hope?
It snapped.
Not gently. Not slowly. Not quietly.
It broke like the sky falling.
“LET ME SPEAK!!” I screamed, barely recognizing the voice that spoke.
Heat punched through my chest like a second heartbeat. My fingers curled. My breath stopped. And then—
BANG.
The light exploded out of me.
Not fire. Not wind. Not any magic they expected.
This was light.
Not the kind you see from a flame, but something older. Gold and red and ancient. It flooded the marble floor, shattered the warded walls, twisted the chandelier into sparks. It cracked through the seams of the room like the entire world was splitting apart.
The guards shouted, each of them moving towards me but they were blown away by the force.
Kael lunged toward me— “Aeris!”
But I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t breathe.
My eyes weren’t seeing the chamber anymore.
They were seeing everything.
A battlefield.
A burned sky.
A crown of fire.
Kael beside me, blood on his temple.
Sabastian behind him, hand glowing with something not of this world.
And a figure in black—watching from the edge. Smiling.
“She’s awakening,” a voice whispered.
Then the vision vanished.
And I collapsed.
Except—
It didn’t stop.
Because the moment Kael’s hand brushed my shoulder—another burst came. This one wasn’t light.
This one was black.
Smoke. Shadow. Magic the color of death and broken oaths. It spiraled out from my skin like wings.
I didn’t know what was happening. I didn't know how to make it stop.
Something wet slid down my face and I thought I was crying until it dropped on my hand.
Blood.
I was bleeding through my eyes.
The Council screamed.
Wards shattered. Sigils flared. A ceiling beam cracked.
Kael hit the floor beside me, breathless, stunned.
I stood in the center of the wreckage—gold and void rippling from my body like I was something sacred. Something impossible. Something they should’ve never underestimated.
A pause.
Then, like a death sentence, some spoke.
“She activated the soulfire. And the void.”
“That’s not supposed to be possible.”
What is happening to me?
- Writer
