CHAPTER THREE: THE GATES BETWEEN NAMES (Part two)
The light wasn't bright.
It didn't blind or flash or burst.
It rose.
Like fog curling upward from a quiet lake—
Soft, slow, silver.
The glyph beneath the stone gate breathed in time with Zephryn's heart. Not a projection. Not a blaze. Just… there. Awake.
His fingers twitched. He didn't know why.
His pulse mark didn't flare.
But his chest burned anyway.
Kaelen took a step forward, eyes locked on the glyph now glowing under Zephryn's boots.
Same spiral. Same root-curve through the left side.
He'd seen it sketched on the back of a weathered page once—ink smeared, but distinct.
His father had called it "The First Seal."
And had written one word beneath it:
"Remember."
Kaelen didn't say anything. But something in him shifted.
The glyph wasn't just responding to Zephryn's pulse.
It was waiting for it.
Instructor Liraen didn't move.
Her arms were folded loosely. Her head tilted the slightest bit—just enough to make the white of her damaged eye catch the overhead light.
Selka turned her head too, just enough to see Zephryn's expression.
He wasn't breathing heavy. He wasn't shocked.
But he wasn't present either.
Whatever this gate was…
it had touched something in him that hadn't stirred since—
Since before the scarf.
Since long before Solara's hum beneath the trees.
Yolti whispered under her breath. "That's not normal, right…?"
Kaelen didn't answer.
Liraen finally blinked.
Not slowly. Just… deliberately.
"The gate responds to echoes," she said.
Her voice was still quiet.
But it cut through everything.
Zephryn blinked. Once.
The light beneath his feet dimmed.
Faded.
Gone.
Just stone now. Quiet. As if nothing had happened.
He took a single step back.
No one clapped. No one praised. No one called it out.
But something was different.
And every single one of them felt it.