Chapter 14: Echoes of the Cipher
"Some answers are only revealed when minds collide and secrets bleed into light."
---
A ripple of murmurs passed through the Central Chamber. The last of the cipher's light dissolved into the air like glowing dust. Slowly, the shadows peeled away from the edges of the room as students began to file in through side doors—those who had completed their own trials, or failed before reaching the final phase.
Then, the faculty arrived.
Obsidian-robed figures emerged from the far end of the chamber like summoned phantoms—each one bearing a unique symbol embroidered on their sleeves: runes, sigils, and other arcane insignias. Their presence was both regal and terrifying.
From their midst stepped Professor Aleron Voss, the stoic and cold-eyed head of Strategic Trials. His voice rang through the chamber, perfectly clear without magical amplification.
"Congratulations. You have survived the Cipher Gauntlet."
Silence fell like a shroud.
"You were watched. Graded. Analyzed. Every decision you made was recorded. As of now, your performance has reshaped the Tier List."
With a flick of his fingers, a holographic projection unfurled above them like a star map.
Names began shifting. Glowing gold, silver, crimson. Upward arrows for ascensions. Downward spirals for falls.
One boy collapsed to his knees, sobbing. A girl from House Umbra screamed and punched the floor. Others stood frozen in quiet awe.
Lucian's name rose—from Tier 3 to Tier 1.
Alongside his: Nyra Solis. Silas Greaves.
The three looked at one another in disbelief.
"Tier One?" Silas muttered, stunned. "Already?"
Nyra gave a sly grin. "Guess we're the problem children now."
Lucian didn't respond. His gaze remained locked on Professor Voss—who had looked directly at him when he mentioned "analysis." A fraction of a second. A glance that carried the weight of awareness.
They know something.
---
After the Trial – House Umbra Courtyard
The three regrouped beneath the pale moonlight in the eastern courtyard of House Umbra. The stone garden glowed with bioluminescent vines and starlit fountains.
Silas had taken off his boots and was cooling his feet in a fountain. "I vote we retire. Become librarians or pastry chefs. This was peak effort."
Nyra sat on a bench, still cross-legged in her uniform, tapping a cipher cube she'd smuggled from the test.
Lucian leaned against a marble pillar, quietly observing them. A bond had formed between them. A trio forged not by choice, but by necessity. Yet it was real.
"Hey," Nyra said suddenly. "Thanks for trusting me back there. In the cipher."
Lucian gave a nod. "It wasn't hard to trust someone who keeps saving my life."
"You're welcome," she smirked.
Silas rolled his eyes. "Get a dorm already, you two."
They laughed.
---
Later That Evening – Rooftop of House Umbra
Lucian stood alone, wind threading through his hair, the photo of his mother in hand. The Academy stretched beneath him like a sleeping leviathan—vast and full of secrets.
He flipped the photo.
There it was again—the symbol from the cipher.
The black sun. Seven slashes.
Not just part of the test.
A sign. A clue.
"Did she come here before me?" he whispered.
Footsteps behind him.
Silas, again, balancing a plate of sweets and a steaming cup of midnight tea.
"I bring offerings," he said. "In case you were about to do something brooding and dramatic."
Lucian chuckled faintly. "Thanks."
They sat in companionable silence. The stars twinkled, and Silas took a long sip of tea.
"I was serious, by the way," Silas said. "You… you had something back there. Like, real control. I've never seen someone read a living cipher that fast."
"I've seen that symbol before," Lucian said softly. "Not just in the test. My mother left it on the back of this photo."
Silas looked at it. His face paled slightly.
"That's not just a cipher," he said. "That's a seal. Arcane. Restricted. Faculty-only kind of stuff."
Lucian stared harder at it.
He was certain now.
His mother hadn't just disappeared.
She had come here. To Academia Noctis.
And whatever happened to her… was tied to the very heart of this academy.
---
Lucian stood at the window of his dorm room that night, the stars above unusually dim, as though even the cosmos were holding its breath. The symbol they uncovered—a black sun surrounded by seven slashes—kept pulsing behind his eyes.
He had seen it before.
In a photograph buried deep within his mother's research. Hidden between lines of equations, half-erased in charcoal. It wasn't just a cipher solution. It was a message.
A knock rattled his door.
He turned, tension already curling around his spine. "Come in."
The door opened to reveal Nyx, arms folded and expression unreadable. She walked in, her boots echoing lightly on the polished floor.
"I thought you might need answers," she said. "Or a distraction."
Lucian smirked slightly. "Is there a difference?"
She didn't smile back. Instead, she walked to his desk, dropping a sealed envelope onto it.
"This came for you. No name. Just your emblem burned into the wax."
He opened it carefully. Inside was a single, aged page—an excerpt of a report. It referenced Project Nyx, unauthorized experimentation, and a name redacted by ink. But one phrase stood out.
"Subject 7: Terminated. Subject 8: Missing. Last sighted: Academia Noctis perimeter."
Lucian's blood ran cold.
He looked up slowly. "Why are you really here, Nyx?"
She met his gaze, her voice lower now. "Because I think your missing mother... and my past... might be tangled together. And I'm tired of being a pawn in someone else's game."
A heavy silence settled.
Then—
"Let's make a pact," she said. "No more secrets. You help me find the truth, and I help you find her."
Lucian hesitated. The academy was built on manipulation, deceit, hidden motives. Trusting anyone was dangerous.
But in that moment, he saw something raw in her eyes—not calculation, but desperation.
He extended his hand.
"Deal."
---
Elsewhere...
Silas sat in the observatory, fingers stained with ink as he scribbled notes. The black sun symbol was drawn on his page—surrounded by seven numbers, seven equations. And a name written at the top.
"Selene Vale."
He circled it.
"Who the hell are you, really, Lucian?"