The academy's entrance, now bathed in the slow agony of a twilight that seemed to stain the soul with melancholy, rose like a spectral fortress—forsaken by the favor of any god.The sky, stripped of its daylight brilliance, wore shades of purple and ashen gray, like a wounded heart bleeding slowly into the void.In front of it, hovering with a deceptive stillness that pricked the chest with silent premonition, stretched the Veil of the Eternal Flame: a barrier of stellar energy pulsing softly, like the final breath held in the midst of nothingness.It wasn't the fire that devours, nor magic summoned through spoken word; it was something older—an ancient presence that seemed to absorb the pain of dusk and return it with a gaze heavy with secrets.
Aria stopped cold, just steps away from the veil, her face mirroring the somber tension of the world around her, lips slightly parted as if reaching for a word lost in the immensity of silence.Since the icy echo of the emergency alert shook the academy's foundations, a bitter certainty had rooted deep inside her: time was now a cruel luxury denied.Yet no matter how hard her mind fought to find a breach, the logic behind that luminous mystery felt as lost as a tear in the rain.She extended her hand, painfully slow, letting her fingers brush the incandescent surface. A subtle vibration—loaded with an ancestral warning—ran through her, like a chill reaching the bones, protective, almost maternal, amidst the desolation.
"Wishing it desperately isn't enough," she murmured to herself, her voice barely a thread in the vast silence. "You have to… match this place's frequency."
She closed her eyes, seeking refuge in inner darkness, trying to connect with the core of herself through the anguish.Her stellar energy, a faint blue glow within her chest, beat with the fragility of a lone flame in the night. She tried to shape it, to guide it to her hands like a silent prayer.But as it met the veil, it was rejected with unwavering firmness, as if her essence didn't belong to the elegy of that place.This wasn't a simple defense, not a wall. It was a living membrane—allowing only that which resonated with its frequency to pass, unmoved by brute force or fear-born pleas.
A faint crunch of footsteps broke the oppressive stillness like a shard of ice, snapping her back into the present.She turned instantly, adopting a defensive stance, though her heart thudded with the weariness of anticipation.But the figure that emerged from the shadows carried no threat—only a bittersweet familiarity, moving with the calm of someone who had learned to read twilight's signs.
"You again? Seriously?" Aria let out a sigh, dragging both frustration and a flicker of surprise.
Aldrich stopped beside her, his silhouette etched against the veil's ghostly shimmer.His face was a mask of impenetrable calm, though his eyes held the shadows of countless dawns and dusks.His presence didn't overwhelm—but radiated a quiet authority, the kind that made you feel he had already figured out the trick.And still, he carried that intuitive spark, that ability to read between the lines that so few ever bothered to cultivate.
"How long have you been here, turning the problem over in your head?" she asked, her voice still marked by the urgency gnawing at her.
"Long enough to see you're wrestling the veil instead of trying to vibe with it," he replied with a faint, near-invisible smile, as if sharing a secret with the shadows."It's not about breaking through. It's about convincing it you belong on the other side."
Aria raised an eyebrow, equal parts skeptical and inwardly burning with frustration."And do you have a more enlightened idea of how I'm supposed to convince a wall of cosmic energy that I'm on the guest list?"
Aldrich stepped closer to the veil with disarming calm, showing his open hands, no trace of threat in his posture.His stellar energy began to radiate gently, spreading around him like a tranquil wave of light.Not a burst of power—but a soft harmony. As it touched the veil, it didn't resist—it resonated, as if recognizing an old melody.
"It's not about imposing your will," he said, almost in a whisper, as if afraid to break the moment's spell. "It's a test of resonance. Of intrinsic belonging."
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean? You want me to go full mystic now?" Aria asked, her impatience clawing at her composure.
Aldrich turned his head slightly toward her, his eyes speaking with calm wisdom."It means if you really want to cross… you have to stop fighting the flow of the world. And start listening to its rhythm. Feel how the energy moves around you."
For a moment, a shadow of bitterness crossed Aria's face. His words struck too deeply, brushing wounds that hadn't yet healed.Stop fighting… a cruel paradox when every second mattered. She closed her eyes, searching for a sliver of calm within the storm.She breathed in slowly, trying to soothe the tremor that ran through her.This time, she didn't push her energy out like a desperate blow—she let it flow gently, like a river surrendering to the terrain, seeking the natural path.
The change was immediate—almost imperceptible at first, but undeniable.
The veil, once an unyielding barrier, began to ripple with ethereal softness, responding to the delicacy of Aria's energy.Slowly, an opening formed at its center—a luminous portal, just wide enough for two figures to slip through.
"See?" Aldrich said, stepping toward the passage with a calm that starkly contrasted Aria's inner turmoil.
She didn't answer right away. Her eyes remained fixed on the hollow that had appeared, her mind struggling to grasp the simplicity of the answer that had eluded her.Listen… feel… Was it really that simple?With a mix of wounded pride and the relief loosening her shoulders, she followed Aldrich—stepping through the threshold into the unknown, into the heart of the academy, now pulsing with a deeper, hidden mystery.