The campus was eerily quiet the next morning.
News of the "incident" had already begun to ripple through the halls — distorted and exaggerated, like oil swirling in dirty water.
Some said Elias had attacked someone.
Others claimed he had been the attacker, a rogue nobody finally showing his "true colors."
The truth, as always, was irrelevant.
Elias kept his head low, hands tucked into the pockets of his worn jacket, ignoring the stares that burned into his skin.
But deep down, something inside him had shifted.
He was no longer playing by their rules.
He was rewriting them.
---
That afternoon, a note appeared under his dorm door.
No name.
No signature.
Just three words written in tight, slanted handwriting:
"Tonight. Rooftop. Midnight."
No explanation.
No threat.
Just an invitation.
Elias hesitated only a moment before tucking the note into his pocket.
His instincts screamed trap.
But another part of him — the part that refused to cower anymore — burned with curiosity.
Who would dare reach out now, when he was practically radioactive?
---
Midnight.
The sky was heavy with clouds, a restless wind tugging at Elias's clothes as he climbed the rusty fire escape to the old administration building's rooftop.
The city stretched out around him, a thousand points of dim light in the darkness.
Waiting.
A figure stepped from the shadows.
Not Maxwell.
Not any of the thugs who had tried to break him before.
A girl.
Tall, willowy, wrapped in a dark trench coat that flapped around her ankles like wings.
Her hair was silver — not dyed, not fake — but naturally silver, catching the moonlight in a way that made her seem almost otherworldly.
Her eyes were sharper than any blade.
"Elias," she said, voice low and smooth like velvet over glass.
"You don't know me," she continued. "But I know you."
Elias said nothing, watching her with the stillness of a hunter.
"My name is Selene Veyron," she said, lips curving into a faint smile.
"And if you're smart... you'll listen carefully."
Elias raised an eyebrow, arms crossed loosely over his chest.
"I'm listening," he said.
Selene moved closer, her boots silent against the cracked rooftop.
"There's a war coming," she whispered.
"Not the petty games the students play. Not the social wars of spoiled heirs. Something bigger."
Her silver eyes gleamed.
"Families are shifting. Alliances are crumbling. Inheritances... are being reassigned."
She paused, letting the words sink in.
"You're in the middle of it now," she said.
"Whether you like it or not."
Elias's mind raced.
He thought he had been fighting to survive against school bullies and backstabbing classmates.
But this — this sounded bigger.
Older.
Darker.
Selene smiled, sensing his realization.
"I'm offering you something," she said. "A chance to survive. A chance to win."
"And what do you want in return?" Elias asked quietly.
Selene's smile widened slightly.
"For now?" she said.
"Nothing."
A lie.
There was always a price.
But Elias knew better than to call it out now.
He extended his hand slowly.
Selene took it, her grip cool and firm.
"A pact, then," Elias said.
"A whispered pact," Selene agreed.
And in that moment, something shifted.
Not just between them — but in the very air itself.
A new alliance had been born.
Secret.
Dangerous.
Deadly.
And Elias had just taken his first real step into a world he had only glimpsed from the shadows before.
A world where betrayal was currency.
Where loyalty was a weapon.
And where survival meant becoming something more than just strong.
It meant becoming ruthless.
---