The Tranquility Garden lived up to its name. A serene space nestled at the heart of the Academy, it featured meandering stone paths through beds of exotic flowers, a small stream that fed into a circular pool, and at its center, an enormous banyan tree. The tree's canopy stretched wide, its aerial roots descending from branches to form additional trunks, creating a living cathedral of wood and leaf.
But the moment Saguna set foot in the garden, he knew serenity would not be his experience here.
The whispers that had followed him through the Academy grounds suddenly focused, no longer a jumble of overlapping voices but a single stream of urgent communication. The marks on his neck burned hotter than ever, pulsing in time with his racing heart.
Here... where the worlds touch... see me...
It was Sahara's voice. He was certain of it now.
"The Tranquility Garden," Radji began, consulting his notes with characteristic precision, "was established during the founding of the Academy. According to historical records, it represents the balance between the elemental domains, water from the Azure Depths in the stream, flora from the Verdant Coils, stones from the—"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Osa interrupted, stretching his arms overhead. "It's pretty. Can we sit down somewhere? My feet are killing me after all this walking."
Saguna barely heard their exchange. His attention was fixed on the banyan tree, its massive form seeming to pulse with unseen energy. Without conscious thought, his feet carried him toward it, drawn by a pull he couldn't resist.
"Saguna?" Radji called after him. "The assignment requires us to document the garden's historical significance, not just—"
"Give him a break," Osa said. "He's been acting weird since we got here. Maybe he needs some shade."
As Saguna approached the banyan, the rest of the garden seemed to fade around him. Colors dimming, sounds muffling, until there was only the tree and the whispers. He reached out to touch one of the aerial roots, his fingers trembling slightly.
The moment his skin made contact with the living tree, fire exploded behind his eyes.
The garden vanished. In its place, a landscape of nightmares. Swirling mists that cut like glass, ground that shifted beneath his feet, a sky that wasn't sky but an endless void filled with watching eyes. The spirit realm. He knew it without being told, recognizing it from glimpses he'd caught through the tear in reality on the day Sahara vanished.
"Hello, little brother."
Saguna whirled around, his heart seizing in his chest.
Sahara stood before him, not as she had been at fourteen, but as she would be now, a young woman in her mid-twenties. Yet there was something wrong about her appearance. Her form flickered at the edges, like flame in a draft. Her eyes held an exhaustion that went beyond physical tiredness, and frost rimmed her fingertips despite the fire that danced across her palms.
"Sahara," he breathed, reaching for her. "You're alive!"
His hand passed through her shoulder like smoke. She smiled sadly.
"Not alive. Not dead. Something in between." She gestured at the bizarre landscape around them. "Trapped. Held. Used."
"Used? By what? The shadow creature? Is it still—"
"Yes." Sahara's face hardened. "The Soul Drainer. It feeds on me, on my fire, using it to survive here where it doesn't belong. But I've learned things, little brother. Found ways to reach out. Ways to fight back."
Saguna's mind raced, trying to process what he was hearing. "The whispers—that's been you all along? All these years?"
"When I could. When the Veil was weakest."
Saguna saw now that chains of shadow bound her wrists, her ankles, her throat, though they seemed to stretch and thin as she spoke to him. "The Veil is thinning, Saguna. Especially on Wednesdays. I can reach further now, but so can others."
"Others? You mean more shadow things?"
Sahara nodded grimly. "The Soul Drainer was just a scout, a lesser entity. Greater shadows have noticed our world now. They hunger for it." Her gaze suddenly intensified. "They know about you, little brother. About what you might become. What we might become."
"I don't understand," Saguna said, frustration building. "What am I supposed to do? How do I help you?"
"The triangle," Sahara said, her form beginning to waver more severely. "Find the others. Complete the triangle. Learn to walk the Veil as I did."
The shadow chains around her suddenly contracted, pulling her back. She grimaced in pain. "It knows I'm reaching you. It's coming."
"I won't leave you here!" Saguna cried, desperately trying to grab her fading form.
"You must," she insisted. "I've bought you time, but you're not ready to face what holds me." Her expression softened. "The disk I gave you—"
"I lost it," Saguna admitted, shame washing over him. "It fell into the bay when I escaped. I'm sorry, Sahara. I failed you."
To his surprise, she smiled. "You were seven, little brother. And the disk served its purpose. It marked you." She nodded toward his neck. "The seal awakens in you now. All three points."
The air around them suddenly grew cold, frost spreading across the misty ground. Sahara's expression turned urgent.
"Professor Nyala knows the way. Trust her. And the others — the water bearer and the earth binder — they're part of this too. The Triumvirate must form again."
A dark mass appeared in the distance, moving toward them with terrible speed. A familiar shape of absolute shadow, elongated limbs stretching forward hungrily.
"It comes," Sahara whispered. "Remember, little brother: fire burns, fire cleanses, fire transforms. But most importantly, fire illuminates. Light the way through the dark places."
She pressed her palm to her heart, then extended it toward him. A small flame leapt from her hand to his chest, where it sank beneath his skin without burning.
"A piece of my fire," she said. "To find your own."
The shadow creature was almost upon them now, its hollow eye sockets fixed on Saguna with hungry recognition.
The Walker's blood... at last...
"GO!" Sahara shouted, summoning flames to create a barrier between Saguna and the approaching entity. The effort made her shadow chains tighten further, black frost spreading up her arms. "Find me when you're stronger!"
The spirit realm fractured around him, reality rushing back in a disorienting blur. Saguna found himself on his knees beneath the banyan tree, one hand still pressed against its bark, his entire body trembling.
"Saguna!" Osa's voice penetrated his daze. "Come on, man, snap out of it!"
Hands gripped his shoulders — Osa on one side, Radji on the other, their faces tight with concern.
"You weren't breathing," Radji said, his analytical tone failing to hide his alarm. "For approximately forty-seven seconds, you showed no signs of respiration."
"Your eyes were open but completely white," Osa added. "Like, no pupils at all. Just... white fire."
Saguna struggled to his feet, leaning heavily on his companions. The banyan tree loomed above them, innocent and ordinary once more, yet he knew now it was anything but.
"My sister," he managed, his voice hoarse. "She's alive. Trapped in the spirit realm."
Radji and Osa exchanged worried glances.
"Your sister?" Radji asked carefully. "You never mentioned having a sister."
"No one believes she's alive," Saguna said, the familiar bitterness rising. "They all think she died in a storm twelve years ago. But I saw her taken by something, a Soul Drainer. The same kind of thing that's coming for us now."
"Coming for us?" Osa repeated, his usual carefree demeanor giving way to concern. "What are you talking about?"
Before Saguna could explain, a shadow fell across them. Professor Nyala stood at the garden entrance, her keen gaze taking in the scene: Saguna's weakened state, the protective positions of Radji and Osa, the subtle glow emanating from the marks on their skin.
"So it begins," she said, not surprised but resigned. "I had hoped for more time to prepare you all."
She approached with measured steps, her purple robes rippling in a breeze that seemed to touch nothing else in the garden.
"The banyan is a doorway between worlds for those with the sight," she explained, stopping before them. "Most students find it merely a pleasant shade. But you, Mr. Taksa—" her gaze seemed to pierce through him, "—you are a Walker, like your sister before you."
Saguna stiffened. "You knew Sahara?"
Professor Nyala nodded gravely. "She was brought to my attention shortly before her... disappearance. Her fire affinity was exceptional, her Veil Walking potential even more so." Regret flashed across her features. "I was too late to help her then. I will not make the same mistake with you three."
She turned her attention to all of them now. "The marks you bear are no coincidence. They are the Trifold Seal. An ancient sign that appears only when the Veil between worlds grows dangerously thin." Her gaze moved from Saguna to Osa to Radji. "Fire, Water, Earth. The three pillars of balance. The Triumvirate awakens once more."
"I saw my sister," Saguna said suddenly. "She's trapped there, in the spirit realm. Being held by the Soul Drainer. She said you would know the way to help her."
Something like hope flickered in Professor Nyala's eyes. "If Sahara Taksa still exists beyond the Veil after all these years, she is far stronger than I imagined." She straightened, decision made. "Come with me, all of you. Regular classes will not serve your needs now."
"What about our orientation assignment?" Radji asked, ever the conscientious student.
"Consider it completed," Professor Nyala replied with a dismissive wave. "What I must teach you is far more urgent than Academy history, though the two are more connected than you yet realize."
As they followed her from the garden, Saguna cast one last look at the banyan tree. For a moment, he thought he saw Sahara's face in the pattern of leaves and shadows, her eyes watching him with a mixture of pride and fear.
The Triumvirate awakens, the whispers confirmed. But so do the shadows.