It began slowly—like the unsettling quiet before a storm.
One student failed to show up to class. Another never returned from morning drills. A few more disappeared from their dorms overnight, their beds cold and unslept in. Most thought it was stress. A prank. Someone skipping off with a lover or getting expelled for something scandalous.
But it didn't stop.
Within two weeks, nine students vanished.
No warnings. No screams. No signs of struggle. Just... gone.
It wasn't until Meng Ji disappeared that the unease thickened into fear.
She had been the only known survivor of the night Raelius died—a brutal, bloody affair no one wanted to talk about openly but couldn't forget. She'd been hospitalized after the incident, her body broken and bruised, her mana system overexerted.
Two days ago, the nurses had seen her sleeping. Calm. Breathing steadily.
The next morning, her bed was empty.
