Kael avoided Eli for the rest of the day.
Not out of distrust — but fear.
The blade had shattered midair. Splinters of hardened steel scattered like ash in the wind. No enchantments, no spell circles. Just will. Just Kael.
And whatever was inside him now.
The Whisper in the Mirror
That night, Kael stared at his reflection in the dormitory washroom. Candlelight flickered over his features — sharper than he remembered. His eyes were darker, deeper.
There was something in them now.
Something else.
He splashed water on his face, gripped the basin, and whispered, "What's happening to me?"
The mirror fogged — not from heat, but from some unseen breath. The glass shimmered like a rippling pool.
And then…
A voice.
Not from the Threadkeeper this time.
Something colder. Closer.
"You've stolen a thread that was never yours."
"And now the world will take something back."
Kael's heart thundered.
In the mirror, behind his reflection — a shape flickered. Tall. Cloaked in black. Its face hidden, but eyes burning with scripted fire.
Then it was gone.
Consequence
The next morning, Kael found blood.
Not his.
A first-year student — a young girl named Lira, who had trained with him once — had been found unconscious in the gardens, her aura shattered. Her memories, gone.
A clean break.
No attackers. No witnesses. Just a husk of someone who used to exist in the narrative.
Kael froze as he heard the news.
Because Lira had spoken to him two days ago.
She had called him "the servant who defied fate."
Now she was nothing more than a ghost in the Academy records.
And he knew — this was the correction.
For every thread he rewrote, the story took another.
Eli's Warning
Eli found him in the stone courtyard that night, lit by moonlight and tension.
"You felt it too, didn't you?" Eli said, breathless. "That pull after the duel. Like something ripping open."
Kael nodded. "Someone's watching us. And something's balancing the damage we're causing."
Eli hesitated. "What if it's not just watching?"
Kael turned.
"What if it's hunting us?"