Each night since the shrine, Caelum's dreams were not his own.
He saw flashes runes that moved like living creatures, cities in the clouds, voices calling him "vessel" and "gate." One word repeated over and over:
Arkanite.
That morning, he didn't go to combat drills. Instead, he slipped into the North Archive, a part of the academy most students ignored—too dusty, too outdated, too… unapproved.
He wasn't alone.
---
The Archive Vault
"Curiosity is dangerous," Eo whispered, slipping beside him in the shadows.
"You came anyway."
"I like danger," she said. "Besides, I've seen the symbol in your sketchbook. The chained door. The serpent mask. I saw it once in a book they weren't supposed to let me touch."
Together, they pried open the rusted gate of the lower vault, where shelves bowed under the weight of time. Old scrolls lay sealed in bone cases. Books were written in languages lost to modern spellcraft.
One scroll pulsed faintly when Caelum touched it.
The seal an eye bound by chains, cracked at his presence.
They unrolled it carefully.
---
"Before there were kings and courts, there were the Arkanites those touched not by one element, but by all, and something beyond.
*"Born in silence. Cloaked in storms. They did not cast magic. They became it."
"Feared by the old empires, they were hunted, scattered, erased from history. But power like theirs does not vanish. It sleeps."
"The Vault of the Veil was sealed with seven sigils. It must remain closed. The Arkanite Gate must never wake."
"One will return. Marked by wind. Carried by chaos. Born unaware. Bound to break the seal."
Caelum backed away slowly, his throat dry.
"It's a prophecy," Eo whispered. "Or a warning."
"Or both."
---
As he stared at the scroll, Caelum's magic flared not by intent, but by resonance.
Shelves around them rattled. Other scrolls flew open.
Rushed sketches of ancient weapons, forgotten beasts, and figures with eyes of light and flame swirled across the floor.
Then the voice returned.
"The gate waits. And so do they."
And a final line, burnt into the page by invisible fire:
"To awaken the Arkanite Gate, the seal must break in heart, blade, and bond."
---
From deeper in the vault, they heard footsteps.
Caelum grabbed the scroll. Eo snuffed the lantern.
They slipped behind a stone arch just as two robed figures entered faces masked in silver.
Inquisitors.
Sent by the Council. Magical lawkeepers. And silencers of forbidden knowledge.
One of them passed by the very shelf where the scroll had been.
"Something stirred here," the taller one muttered.
"A resonance echo. He's close."
Caelum held his breath.
Only when the wind shifted through the broken window did the figures turn and leave.
Eo gripped his sleeve tightly. "You're in more danger than you know."
Caelum looked down at the glowing seal-mark on the back of his hand.
"Then I guess I'd better find out why."