Chapter 58 – Ezra & Marcel

  Twilight had draped itself over the academy like a worn, familiar cloak, soft, heavy, and silent.

  The wind stirred gently through the trees along the outskirts, brushing against Kaelin’s skin as she wandered aimlessly near the edge of the grounds. Her boots scratched across the gravel path, each step muffled beneath the settling hush of early evening.

  Lanterns were just starting to light with warm golden light, one by one, lining the cobbled walkways like distant fireflies. In the far distance, the occasional murmur of laughter drifted from the dormitories, but here, pressed between the trees and shadowed brick walls, the world felt almost entirely hers.

  She liked it this way. Distant. Quiet.

  Her thoughts needed room to breathe.

  Maybe too much room, she thought with a bitter flicker of amusement.

  She stopped near the edge of a low stone railing, its surface cool beneath her fingers. The view from here stretched past the school's eastern slope, into the trees and hills beyond. The last colours of day were draining from the sky, bruised purples and faint embers smeared across the horizon. She watched until the trees blurred, lost in shadow.

  But her mind wouldn’t still.

  She was avoiding them. Lena. Zephyr.

  And even now, when the immediate guilt had faded to a dull ache, she still didn’t know if she’d made the right choice.

  Was it selfish?

  They’d only wanted to talk. She’d shut them down before they could even try. No explanation. No apology. Just a retreat into herself.

  Because explaining it... any of it, meant dragging them into something darker. Something she still didn’t understand, but happening around her, nonetheless.

  And part of her was still angry. At Zephyr, mostly. At how easily he’d dismissed her during the tests. At how Lena had looked at her like a stranger. At how close they still seemed to each other, even when she’d been cut out of the picture.

  But more than anything… Kaelin was scared.

  Scared that they were better off without her.

  She glanced down at her hands. There was still dirt beneath her fingernails from the mountain climb. Her wrists bore faint red marks from gripping rock too tightly. Her shoulders ached. She had pushed through the last test with sheer willpower and instinct, and even then, she’d barely made it.

  And there's still one more.

  A full-blown battle royale, where power wasn’t optional. Where manipulation, strategy, control, real strength would decide everything. And she was still falling behind.

  She thought of Kana. The strange, flickering alliance they’d formed over the last few days. The girl who once mocked her was now… tolerable. Almost like a mirror. Rough edges meeting rough edges. A bond that made sense because neither of them pretended.

  Unlike Lena. Unlike Zephyr.

  She exhaled sharply, jaw tightening.

  She missed them.

  But Aric... if the things she’d seen were in fact the real him, then getting close to anyone was dangerous. Aric had seen things Kaelin couldn’t understand. He seemed almost unstable. He was keeping things from her. And yet, something about him kept drawing her back.

  Even if his mental wouldn’t hold up, she had to find out what was going on.

  Her brows furrowed. That wasn’t just a suspicion anymore. It was fact.

  The man she once thought brilliant, mysterious, but kind, was fractured now. Sometimes lucid, sometimes unnervingly strange. And the things he said to himself left her unsettled. The dream she had after can’t have been a coincidence. He had something to do with it.

  He knows something. He sees something coming. And I’m at the centre of it.

  She folded her arms, shoulders hunched slightly against the chill. The wind picked up again, stirring the trees at the edge of the path. Their limbs creaked softly in protest.

  A rustling behind her made her tense.

  She turned.

  Footsteps echoed softly down the stone path.

  From the curve in the walkway, a figure emerged, tall, lean, his dark robes catching the light from a nearby lantern.

  Kaelin’s breath caught.

  Aric.

  He wasn’t wearing his usual expression. The smile was missing. The calm, methodical presence that usually made him seem so composed was gone. His face was unreadable, eyes shadowed, mouth drawn tight.

  She straightened instinctively, hands lowering to her sides. Her fingers brushed the edge of her belt, where her thread crystal sat hidden in its pouch. Just in case.

  He said nothing.

  Just kept walking toward her.

  Shit, is he lucid?

  Kaelin swallowed, shifting a half-step back.

  Something was wrong.

  This isn't Aric. It must be like I saw him last night.

  "Professor?" she said carefully, her voice a low ripple in the silence.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Still, no answer.

  He moved without hurry, but there was a rigidity to it, like each step was being measured, restrained. His arms stayed at his sides. His gaze never left her.

  Kaelin’s mind raced.

  He’s not acting normal again. This is the second time. The other day… I saw it too. The talking to himself. The silence when I knocked. The way he stared through me, like I wasn’t even there.

  She took another step back, this one more deliberate.

  I should go. Run. While I can. But what if... Does he need help? I can’t just leave him.

  Aric stopped a few paces away, still within the halo of the lantern’s glow. His face was clearer now paler than usual, his eyes slightly too wide.

  And Kaelin felt something strange in her gut. As if she wasn’t looking at one person.

  But two.

  Something shifted in her chest. A warning bell.

  She lifted her chin, slowly, as though bracing for a blow that hadn’t come yet.

  “I’m sorry I was out past curfew. I promise Iwas just heading back,” she said, watching him carefully. “I needed some air.”

  Aric tilted his head. A slight twitch at first, then more pronounced. His gaze flicked toward the walls, then back to her.

  Still silent.

  Kaelin’s heartbeat thudded louder.

  She took one more step back.

  Every instinct she had was on edge now. Her mind turned over the options, call for help? Use Time magic? Could she even make it work in time?

  But Aric wasn’t moving.

  He just stood there, unmoving, eyes fixed on her with a strange intensity.

  So Kaelin stayed frozen too.

  Waiting.

  Preparing.

  Just in case.

  Then darkness wrapped around Kaelin like a velvet cocoon, thick, oppressive, and utterly silent.

  Not the comforting darkness of sleep, nor the dizzy, rolling void of unconsciousness. The air felt wrong, like it wasn’t air at all but a memory of breath, thin, weightless, yet heavy all at once.

  She tried to move.

  Nothing.

  Tried to speak.

  Only silence.

  Kaelin’s mind was a blur, fragmented pieces struggling to come together. The dim light filtered through the slats of canvas as the gentle rocking of the carriage nudged her awake. Her body felt heavy, her limbs sluggish, like they weren’t entirely hers. There was an odd disconnection between her thoughts and the motions of her body.

  She could feel the faint scent of dried citrus and leather hanging in the air, mixing with something spicy, faintly herbal. The steady sound of hooves on dirt filled the silence. The world outside seemed blurred, distant. The cool evening air brushed her face, but it felt like she was a passenger in her own body, someone else’s consciousness inhabiting her mind.

  She wanted to move, to get up, but her limbs refused to obey.

  What’s happening?

  There was a man sitting across from her, someone she didn’t recognize, he had to be at least twenty. He was leaning back against the wooden seat, legs stretched out lazily. His dark brown skin contrasted with his simple but well-worn traveling clothes, and his black curls were neatly combed, though a few strands still stuck out. He glanced up at her with a casual, easy smile.

  “Hard to believe it's our final year, huh?” His voice was warm, friendly, familiar.

  Kaelin’s gaze sharpened as she tried to piece together where she was and what was happening, but the haze in her mind kept slipping away, like water through cupped hands.

  The boy, was he talking to her? He must’ve been, they were the only people there, but something was off. His words didn’t make sense. How did she end up here? Who was he? Where was she?

  He spoke again, his voice drawing her back. “Final year, Ezra,” he chuckled. “We’ve come a long way since the first term.”

  Kaelin’s continued to stare at the boy sitting across from her, but her mind was still too foggy to register his words. Ezra? Who the fuck is Ezra?

  That’s not my name…

  “Yea. Been quite the ride, eh Marcel” the voice from her mouth spoke, but it wasn’t her own voice. It sounded calm, relaxed, much unlike her own confused self.

  Kaelin's heart skipped a beat as she tried to focus, trying to snap herself awake from this confusing stupor. Marcel?

  The boy, Marcel, didn’t seem to notice her confusion. Instead, he smirked at her. “You’re always the one trying to avoid making a big deal out of things, but come on. This is the year, you know? It’s the one that counts.”

  Kaelin wanted to speak, wanted to shout, ‘This isn’t me!’ but her mouth betrayed her again, her body answering instead, “Yeah, yeah. If I’m top scorer this year, I’ll let you buy me a drink.” Ezra said with a chuckle.

  What the hell?

  She wanted to scream, to demand an explanation. What was going on? Who was this Ezra, and why did his presence feel so… unsettlingly familiar? She didn’t recognize her body, it looked more like that of a young man. This wasn’t her.

  Marcel laughed again. It sounded warm, like an old friend.

  “Sure, sure. But only if you’re not trying to kill the instructors again.”

  Kaelin’s body stiffened at that, the words slipping from her mouth before she could stop them. “I wasn’t trying to kill anyone. I guess I'm just too strong for my own good.”

  Marcel’s smile faded a little, as though remembering something distant, and he leaned forward slightly, his eyes locking onto hers with an intensity that made Kaelin feel like she had been caught in a web she didn’t understand. “I know. That’s the problem, Ezra. You never listen to reason. But don’t worry. We’ve got the rest of the year to prove it.”

  Kaelin’s head spun, trying to grasp at what was happening. What is this? She wanted to ask. Where am I? But again, the words wouldn’t come. It wasn’t her body speaking. Her limbs were frozen in place, and her chest felt tight, as though her heart wasn’t her own either.

  Who am I?

  The world around her began to feel foreign, as though she were caught in a dream, a memory that didn’t belong to her. The air in the carriage was stuffy and thick with the smell of leather and old wood. The orange glow of twilight seeped in through the fabric of the canvas, casting long shadows over the interior. There was a low rumble of voices outside, the sounds of a gate opening as they were let inside.

  Marcel. His hazel eyes gleaming with an unspoken history, leaned back and stretched, cracking his knuckles. He casually dug into a pouch of dried apricots, popping one into his mouth and chewing slowly.

  “Didn’t think we’d be back here so soon, huh?” he said, with an air of nostalgia. “Funny how things always come back around. The westward wilds, the hunt… everything just feels like it’s supposed to be this way. Can’t wait to see what’s changed this year.”

  Kaelin’s thoughts were racing, trying to latch onto something familiar. The wilds? The hunt? Where was she? There was no-where in Erundal, she knew of, with such a name. What was she a part of? And this boy, Marcel, why did he seem so familiar too? She felt like she was on the verge of remembering something important, but the pieces were scattering just as quickly as they formed.

  Ezra, the body she inhabited, spoke again, his voice flat, as though everything was normal. “The hunt’s always dangerous. That’s the point, right?”

  Marcel laughed, a little too loudly. “Yeah, well, you always seem to think it’s a whole lot more fun than the rest of us. But hey, you do always seem to win.” He paused, glancing up with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Though I’d keep an eye out for the big guy this time around. They say there’s a bear big enough to flatten a cart. Not sure how you’ll dodge that one.”

  Ezra laughed. “I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”

  Marcel clucked his tongue, shaking his head. “That’s the problem. You always think you’ll figure it out. One day, you’re going to push it too far, and I’m going to be the one carrying you back out of the wilds.”

  The words, so familiar, felt almost like a premonition, but Kaelin had no idea what was happening. Her mind was still fogged, trapped in a haze of confusion.

  The world outside the carriage blurred even further. The surroundings had no clear destination, no fixed path. The image of the wilds, the hunt, even Ezra’s memories, began to drift further away, like fragments of a dream that couldn’t quite hold together.

  Kaelin wanted to break free. But her body, her limbs betrayed her again, forcing her into this strange, disorienting place.

  As she struggled against herself, Ezra got up and exited the carriage, glad to be back at the academy.