"The deeper you dig for truth, the more graves you uncover."
— Academia Noctis Proverb
- - -
The dark void enveloped Lucian, his heart racing faster with each second. His breath felt shallow, as though the air itself had thinned. He stood alone in the emptiness, the sensation of weightlessness pulling at him.
And then, in the blackness, the familiar symbol—the Crownless Mark—manifested. But this time, it wasn't just a symbol. It glowed, its edges sharp and glowing with an eerie, pulsing light. Around it, intricate runes and symbols danced in patterns that seemed to shift, warping into shapes that were impossible to decipher.
Lucian reached out instinctively, his hand trembling as he tried to touch it.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind, low and distorted:
"The truth is buried beneath the crowns of the fallen. Seek the hollow echo of the past."
The words echoed in his mind like a whisper from the abyss. It wasn't just a message—it was a command. Lucian's pulse quickened as the symbol seemed to grow brighter, expanding until it filled the entire void around him. The runes swirled faster, faster, until they collapsed into a singular glyph—something new, something incomplete.
The words repeated in his mind: Seek the hollow echo of the past.
But before he could make sense of it, the sensation of falling gripped him. The pedestal flickered, and his vision snapped back to the Hall, his feet suddenly planted on solid ground. He staggered slightly but caught himself.
Lucian's head throbbed, and the world around him seemed disoriented. His heart raced, his breath shallow. It had only been a few moments, but it felt like a lifetime.
"Lucian?" Nyra's voice cut through the haze as she stepped forward. Silas followed closely behind her, concern etched across his face.
"Are you okay?" Nyra asked, her eyes searching his face for signs of distress.
Lucian swallowed hard, trying to shake off the disorientation. "Yeah, just… that test wasn't like anything I expected."
Silas frowned, his arms crossed. "What happened in there?"
Lucian hesitated, his mind racing. Should he tell them what he saw? Could he even explain it? He wasn't sure, but he could tell that whatever had happened wasn't something that could be ignored.
"I… I saw the Crownless Mark again," he said quietly, the weight of his words hanging in the air. "But this time, it was different. It… it gave me a message."
Nyra raised an eyebrow, stepping closer. "A message? What did it say?"
Lucian paused, recalling the words. "The truth is buried beneath the crowns of the fallen. Seek the hollow echo of the past."
For a moment, there was only silence. Then, Nyra spoke, her voice low. "I've heard those words before. Not exactly like that, but the concept… it's something my mother mentioned in her notes. The hollow echo. I don't know what it means, but it sounds like it's connected to the history of this place."
Lucian looked at her, his brow furrowed. "Your mother… do you think she knew something about this? About the Crownless Mark?"
Nyra glanced away, her eyes troubled. "I don't know. But I'll look through her files again. There has to be something there. My mother was involved with Project Nyx. She knew things about this academy that most people never will."
The tension in the air thickened. Lucian could feel the weight of the words hanging between them, the unspoken realization that whatever was happening at Academia Noctis went much deeper than any of them had imagined.
"Are you okay, Lucian?" Silas asked, breaking the silence.
Lucian nodded slowly, his eyes still focused on the ground. "Yeah… I just need to figure out what all this means."
The bell rang, cutting through the tension in the room. The instructors motioned for the students to move, signaling the end of the test.
As they left the Hall, the unease gnawing at Lucian's gut only deepened. The Crownless Mark, Project Nyx, his mother's disappearance—it was all tied together somehow. But how? And why?
He didn't have the answers yet, but he knew one thing for certain: this was only the beginning.
---
The following days were a blur. Lucian tried to focus on his studies, to push the gnawing questions to the back of his mind, but they kept resurfacing. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the Crownless Mark, and the words reverberated in his thoughts.
Seek the hollow echo of the past.
He spent hours in the library, pouring over the old texts and scrolls, searching for anything that could explain the symbol, Project Nyx, or the meaning behind the cryptic message. But every lead he followed seemed to trail off into nothing. Nyra, too, was combing through her mother's files, but so far, she hadn't found anything concrete.
It was a frustrating, maddening search.
Then, on the fourth night after the test, as Lucian was walking back to his dorm, he heard a voice call out to him.
"Lucian Vale," the voice was familiar but distant. He turned sharply, his hand instinctively reaching for the dagger at his belt.
Standing in the shadows was a figure. A tall man, cloaked in darkness, his face hidden beneath a hood.
"You've been searching for answers," the figure said, his voice low and gravelly. "I have one for you."
Lucian's breath caught in his throat. "Who are you?"
The figure stepped closer, revealing a faint glimmer of recognition in his eyes. "I'm someone who knows exactly what you're looking for."
Lucian's pulse quickened. This wasn't random. Whoever this man was, he knew something.
"What do you want?" Lucian demanded.
The man smiled, a cold, unsettling grin. "I want you to follow the truth—whether you're ready for it or not."
With that, he turned and vanished into the night, leaving Lucian standing in the dark, his mind racing.