Chapter 35: The price
The aftermath of the cataclysmic battle between Vasra and Tashi had left a mark not only on the dueling realm but on the very structure of Dawn Academy’s internal politics.
Though no physical damage had reached the academy grounds, the sheer magnitude of spatial and life energy that had clashed sent tremors of concern through the administration. It had not gone unnoticed.
The next morning, the skies above the academy were calm, with no trace of the storm that had once threatened to boil over.
Classes resumed as usual. Students, unaware of the true depth of what had transpired, whispered about the rare magical fluctuations from the day before, blaming it on training exercises or artifact experiments gone wrong.
The instructors carried on with their duties with professional ease, but behind the scenes, the academy’s top authority, the Council, was already in session.
The Council was not merely a governing body of academics. It consisted of elders, many of whom were among the oldest and most powerful humans alive.
Each bore decades of experience and influence. The academy’s very foundation was intertwined with their legacy.
The Council was the safeguard of order and the last line of balance within humanity’s stronghold.
They were not pleased.
On one of the high towers of the Dawn academy.
A vast chamber of crystalline walls, glowing with pulsing veins of runes, served as the Council’s meeting room.