Chapter 9: The Verge of Awakening
The Cindrel Academy loomed over the jagged cliffs of northern Iron March, a silhouette more war citadel than school.
Its black iron towers pierced the sky, and its halls echoed with the clash of drills and the hum of structured magic. Here, magic was not celebrated. It was regimented. Refined. Weaponized.
Students, whether they wielded humble flames or manipulations of gravity were trained as soldiers first, assets second.
Discipline was survival. Weakness was treason.
Above all others, there stood the forbidden divisions: Space, Time, Void, Gravity, Aether.
Those born under such dangerous signs were not viewed as students.
They were classified, registered, monitored and in extreme cases controlled.
Unless they chose another path, the Soulbound Accord.
An ancient oath sealed in blood and binding magic, swearing to never participate in planar manipulations. Those who submitted could leave the Academy’s walls but would forever carry invisible chains, bound by their own oaths.
Kaelyn had been among them. She was able to wield her Space affinity for storage or non military teleportation, but never for planar operations.
Now, her message, laced with curiosity and precision, arrived on the desk of Magus Arthen Vaelor.