The clock struck ten, its mechanical gears echoing softly in the gentle wind. Moonlight bathed Ka in silver. The sky was clear, not a single cloud in sight, leaving the stars to gleam unobstructed above the city.

  While the world above slept in peace and quiet, the world below told a very different story.

  Albo and Saya moved quietly through the academy halls, their steps muffled by old stone tiles as they kept close to the torchlit walls.

  According to Albo, security at the academy was usually x, but tonight was different.

  Dozens of royal knights patrolled every corridor and junction, their presence turning even short stretches of hallway into dangerous crossings. Sprinting through the halls was out of the question.

  Albo’s mind raced as he searched for alternatives, only for each possibility to be dismissed the moment it surfaced. They had met beforehand to discuss their pn of action, but Albo hadn’t imagined it would be this difficult.

  Small disks engraved with glowing runes were embedded along the walls, magical detectors that were often used to alert everyone in the vicinity of magical usage. It was a tool that was well-known, but not often seen.

  Stopping at the door, Albo tested the knob, frowning as he repeatedly twisted the handle.

  “They must have locked this, it's usually left open,” Albo whispered, “follow me.”

  Their steps matched that of the distant rhythm of armored boots, breathing shallow enough that even the scrape of cloth against stone felt dangerous.

  Even their clothing was not spared from that caution. Both had dressed lightly, abandoning their coats and accessories alike.

  Albo’s own coat, although designed specifically for stealth, had been left behind. He couldn’t afford even the slightest gamble, not when it wasn’t only his tuition at stake.

  Slipping into an unlocked cssroom, they pressed themselves beneath the tall windows where moonlight spilled across overturned desks and scattered cleaning equipment.

  They took a moment to catch their breath, Albo slumping against a bookshelf until the wood creaked. The dust they’d kicked up danced in the light, settling back onto the floor as their heavy panting began to slow in the quiet air.

  Leaning his head back, Albo exhaled slowly, letting the tension drain from his shoulders.

  “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted under his breath. “All the routes I usually take are being blocked.”

  “As expected of royal knights,” Saya murmured. “They don’t py around.”

  Her eyes swept the room, searching for anything; any tool or angle that could help them retrieve some books.

  Their issues not only consisted of trying to leave the academy, but also of returning. Even if they somehow managed to escape through a loose window, with the strange arms in pce, there would be little hope of coming back without causing a ruckus.

  “Hey,” Saya called out to Albo, “those circle thingies, if they detect magic, could we maybe use them to create a false arm?”

  Albo looked at her with a curious expression. “We could try, but how would it work?”

  “You know how, in those novels, whenever a prince is trying to rescue his lover and needs to get her back?” Saya asked.

  “No, I don’t read.” Albo confidently fired back. However, there was no chuckle or teasing edge to his reply, only seriousness.

  It was a fact she had known all her life, but to actually hear it in such a dire situation nearly popped a vein in her head. An urge to smack him in the shoulder rose in Saya’s chest. She stared at him with a dull expression as a way to suppress her frustration.

  “Anyways,” she continued, “in these stories, the protagonist usually throws like a pot or something. After that, the guards quickly check out the noise, letting the protagonist slip by.”

  Albo pced a hand on his chin, thinking through the idea.

  “But instead of that, we could cast a spell toward those detectors and use the distraction to slip past.”

  “Not bad,” Albo inserted himself, “but there’s one problem.”

  “What if the detector is proximity based?” he continued. “Like, instead of reacting to magic casted near it, it searches for active Birthmarks?”

  Saya frowned as she peered down the narrow corridor, where the high arched ceiling acted like a megaphone, catching the metallic cnk of patrolling armor and funneling the echoes directly toward them.

  “If you want to try it, we can give it a shot,” Albo said quietly. “And if we get caught, I’ll just say we were trying to grab some snacks or something. We’re not even out of the academy yet, so we probably wouldn’t get expelled over something small.”

  Saya weighed the option carefully. It was a viable experiment, but the risk troubled her. With their ck of knowledge and spontaneous pn, luck would have to be on their side.

  A loud rolling sound cut through the silence. Guarded by two knights, a single wooden crate was rolled down the academy corridor. The idle conversation between the knights halted as a fsh of blue hair caught one’s peripheral vision.

  Saya quickly lowered her head, “hide!”

  They both scurried toward potential hiding spots, Saya choosing to take cover under a closed desk and Albo deciding to hide inside a wooden storage closet across the room. As they adjusted their bodies accordingly, footsteps grew closer to the doorway.

  Gently twisting the metallic handle, the knight swiftly made his way inside the empty cssroom. Saya’s hand cmped over her mouth, holding her breath as anxiety tightened around her chest. Despite her body squirming in discomfort, she kept herself as steady as she could.

  The desk was already cramped enough. If she were to accidentally bump a bone against the wooden structure, the knight would no doubt discover her.

  Metallic stomps echoed through the room as the knight carefully circled the cssroom. His eyes scanned the room through the metallic grills of his helmet, trying to catch any irregurity that might reveal itself.

  Just as he was about to make a second round of inspection, a sharp ringing noise screeched across the hallway. Startled, the knight immediately ran out of the cssroom, one hand flying to his hilted weapon.

  His steps grew more distant by the second, vanishing into another corridor entirely as the ringing sound slowly subsided.

  With a loud gasp, Saya finally released her breath, rolling out from beneath the desk and stretching her cramped limbs. Albo slowly opened the storage closet door, falling to the ground and crawling back to Saya.

  “What’s the pn now?” Saya asked, a drip of sweat streaming down her temple.

  “We should go right now, the halls are empty ‘cuz of that arm.”

  Without further warning, Albo bolted through the door. Her lower organs dropped at the thought of being left behind, and she forced herself up as well.

  They moved from wall to wall, crouched low and careful to make as little noise as possible. Thankfully, with the rattling wheels of other rolling crates throughout the academy, it gave the two students some leeway. Sight was something that would be hard to deceive, but the knights’ hearing was all but used up.

  Eventually, they were confronted with the next challenge: an arched stone entrance with two knights stationed there, watching the outside and preventing entry from any potential intruders to the academy.

  Spotting one of the magic detectors nearby, he signaled for Saya to press herself against the wall, positioning them back-to-back with the knights who remained on guard. His pn was to make the knights tunnel vision on the arm, missing both him and Saya in their peripheral vision.

  It was a risky attempt, but left with little choices, it was one he had to take.

  Fring his Birthmark, magical energy began circuting throughout his body. The arm stayed silent, giving Albo his answer about the device’s functionality. He released a quiet breath of relief. It was a simple answer that he had overlooked.

  If the device went off at the signal of a Birthmark being active, then every arm would bre constantly. To expect students at a Magic Academy not to use magic would be the equivalent of telling a baby to stop crying.

  With the final confirmation, Albo released a quiet gust of wind towards the arm.

  The same piercing noise screeched through the air as the knights guarding the entrance quickly sprinted past the two students. Seizing the opportunity, Albo and Saya slipped out and dived into the bushes next to the arches.

  Keeping low, they crept through the greenery, careful not to rustle the leaves or crunch the grass beneath their feet.

  Upon nearing the tent, they crouched behind one of the crates that had been left outside.

  “Okay, grab the stuff quickly,” Albo whispered, his head peeking out slightly as he kept watch for any potential knights.

  Saya pointed toward the tent. “It’s inside.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Albo stepped back, lifting the bottom of the tent as slowly and carefully as he could. A faint light emanated from within. Gncing inside, Albo couldn’t spot any human shadows, only those of furniture and objects.

  Lifting the cloth just enough to avoid drawing attention, he signaled for Saya to pass through.

  Inside, the two students pressed their bodies against the stacked crates blocking half of the tent, the rough, splintered wood snagging at their sleeves.

  Above, a swaying ntern sent jittering yellow light across the space. Had they not used the surrounding furniture to cover themselves, the massive dark shapes that mimicked their every move would have given them away to those outside.

  Saya’s fingers hooked under the lid, easing it open with slow, careful pressure.

  She groped blindly for the first thing she could feel, pulled it free, read the cover, and set it back down before reaching for another.

  This process repeated several times, and Saya slowly began to understand why these books were considered high priority. There were volumes detailing the nation’s history and inner workings, along with how mages operated during those times. These were clearly not meant for students, but for professors and high-ranking faculty.

  A few more seconds epsed before Saya finally spotted a title that caught her attention.

  Arcane and Exhaustion.

  It wasn’t enough to fully satisfy her, but it would do for now. She turned to Albo, whispering, “Okay, let’s go.”

  Just as they began to retreat, the slick, rain-soaked soil gave way. Albo’s foot skidded, his weight shifting abruptly as he dropped. His knees hit the earth with a wet, heavy thud that vibrated through the mud.

  Before Albo could scramble back up, the thick canvas of the tent entrance was yanked aside, the rings rattling against the pole as the interior light spilled onto the dark ground. He had been stationed just outside.

  The noises the wooden crates made when Saya was searching for her books had made him suspicious, but not enough to warrant an investigation. The sudden thud, however, was enough to make him check.

  And what stood before him was a vibrant golden bed of hair that poked out from behind the shadow of the crates.

  Realizing that the knight would eventually discover them both, Albo sprang upward, revealing himself as quickly as he could. His sudden movement startled the guard, who immediately drew his weapon.

  “I’m sorry!” Albo shouted, stepping forward with his arms raised.

  “A kid?” the knight asked, stunned, and while sheathing his bde.

  “I was curious about the boxes you were taking and wanted to see them!” Albo blurted out as loudly as he could, disrupting the knight’s train of thought as quickly as possible. Even if the knight were to loop back around the tent, his distraction would give adequate time for Saya to escape.

  The knight’s expression shifted instantly, from confusion to fury.

  “You stupid brat! You stupid brat!” he yelled, gripping Albo’s arm and forcefully yanking him away from where he stood. “Don’t you ever pull something like this again! Do you understand?!”

  His voice echoed beyond the tent as more knights began to gather.

  The knight dragged Albo outside and threw him forward. “Come here, you little shit. I hope you’re ready for what’s coming to you!”

  “Please! I was just curious!” Albo pleaded as circution began to fade from his arm. Although his curiosity was faked, the pain was not.

  Laughter broke out among the surrounding knights.

  “Hey, kid, come on. You can’t do something like that.”

  Thank you, Albo.

  Before she retreated, Saya swam her hands across the endless sea of books one st time, her cold skin making contact with a hard yet rusty link of metal. Upon pulling it out, her eyes caught sight of a book wrapped in bck chains and pink ribbons.

  The unusual combination caught her attention immediately, and she quickly clutched it to her chest alongside the first. The book had no title, only a strange symbol etched into its brown cover.

  Retracing the path she’d entered through, Saya stayed low, careful not to make a sound.

  “I hope you get expelled! Do you know how serious things are right now?! This isn’t a joke!” the knight’s voice rang in her ears as guilt washed over her.

  As she crawled beneath the bushes, she felt a sharp sting rushing to her left eye. Not prepared to welcome the pain, Saya recoiled, causing her to trip sideways into the bush.

  A strong sense of déjà vu fshed through her mind, as if she had stood in this exact moment before. The pain she felt was familiar, but the aftertaste of it was something she had never experienced.

  Her eye would not activate unless she stripped away her emotions; that was the condition required to trigger her unique power. But there were two instances where this rule did not apply: her confrontation against Veronica, and now.

  Inadvertently, Saya’s body brushed against the long row of bushes, rustling the leaves violently and catching Albo’s attention.

  Noticing his sudden reaction, the knight followed his gaze, turning toward the source of the sound.

  “What, you got a friend back there too?” he shouted. “Good. I’ll teach ’em a lesson too!”

  Saya pressed herself deeper into the thorny hedge lining the fence, branches digging into her sleeves as she fought to stay still.

  One st time, she held her breath, clutching the books tightly to her chest.

  The footsteps stopped right behind her, as the knight leaned forward.

  The pain was too much to handle. Although Saya knew she had to conceal herself as best she could, her body demanded that she tend to the pain in her right eye. She squirmed in response, rustling the leaves even more.

  She begged her body to stop, but her plea fell on deaf ears. In that moment, her subconscious was concerned only with her physical survival rather than her social one.

  And yet, she couldn’t ignore what was at stake. Because of her, both she and Albo were now caught, and her selfishness had led to two ruined futures. As the knight approached ever closer, tears welled in her eyes as she braced herself for capture.

  “Come out, you little twerp. I’m gonna make sure yo—”

  His armor pressed against the bush. Her breathing grew heavier, as time seemingly slowed down for her. It was an inevitable fate, one that she had led them into.

  This is it.

  …

  …

  …

  Strangely, the knight’s loud, commanding screams abruptly came to a halt.

  Instead, a heavy thud followed.

  A sudden warmth soaked her chest, the liquid heavy and smelling of copper. Saya cracked her eyes open, blinking rapidly as the moisture of her tears clung to her shes.

  When her vision finally cleared, the world seemed to tilt. Her blood ran cold, a chill that started in her marrow and turned her teeth into a chattering rhythm she couldn't stop.

  Her stomach twisted with a violent, sickening lurch, and a surge of bile rose in her throat as the knight’s head thumped onto the grass.

  Behind the head, a figure emerged from the clinging darkness, cd in a cloak of absolute bck that seemed to absorb the moonlight behind it. The figure stood perfectly still for a moment, before vanishing faster than Saya could process.

  “Saya!” Albo’s cry shredded the sudden silence, the sheer terror in his voice making her heart drop.

  She snapped her head toward the sound, stiff leaves scraping her cheeks and tugging at her hair. Peering through a gap in the foliage, she saw dozens of dark figures cutting through the moonlight.

  Shadows leapt from the darkness, closing in on the knights. Bdes glinted bck under the torchlight, matching the color of their cloaks. The knights were pinned at every side, and at the center; was Albo, sprinting towards her.