EMPIRE HIGH: SCHOOL OF SHADOWS

When the shadow behind the mirror smiled, Seraphina knew it wasn't just a trick of the light. It wasn't her imagination. It was her future.

The Vault pulsed with ancient energy. Nyra backed away slowly, her face pale, while Elijah stepped between Sera and the mirror. He drew his wand, the obsidian wood glinting with silver veins.

"It's not just a reflection," he said, voice low. "It's a fracture. A portal."

"A portal to where?" Sera whispered.

He didn't answer.

The cracked mirror trembled. From the fissure, a voice rose—Amara's voice, but deeper. Rougher.

"You opened the door. Now you must walk through."

The glass rippled. A shadowy hand reached through and gripped the edge, fingers long and too thin to be human. Before anyone could react, the mirror exploded in a burst of black mist.

Sera threw up her arms, shielding her face, but the mist didn't strike her. It curled around her like a cloak—cool, heavy, familiar.

When the air cleared, the mirror was gone.

And in its place was a sigil, etched into the wall with glowing black fire: the same mark on Sera's palm.

"It's a summoning seal," Nyra whispered. "But it's incomplete."

Sera turned to Elijah. "What was that thing?"

He looked pale. "Not a thing. A piece. A shard of her. The version of you that's already crossed the line."

"You mean... I become that?"

He didn't answer.

Back in the East Tower, Sera couldn't stop staring at the mark on her hand. It was no longer just a sigil. It pulsed faintly in time with her heartbeat. Like it was alive.

She curled on her bed, fingers trembling. The Vault. The shadow. The cracked mirror. It was all starting to feel like a chain reaction—and she was the fuse.

She flipped open Amara's journal, searching for something, anything, that might explain what had just happened.

She found it halfway through the book

"The mirror shows not who we are, but what we might become. It reflects our worst truths—and dares us to meet them."

Sera shut the book and looked out at the moon. It was red again.

A blood moon.

The same one that rose the night her mother vanished.

The next morning, the headmaster summoned her.

Headmaster Aurelius Thorn's office was less an office and more a museum of magical relics. Crystal globes hovered in corners, muttering ancient languages. A sword hung above the fireplace, humming faintly. The air smelled of smoke and stardust.

Thorn sat behind an onyx desk, his long silver hair tied back, eyes sharp and too old for his youthful face.

"Ms. Cole," he said, voice velvet and iron. "I trust you've found your accommodations... tolerable."

She nodded.

"And the Vault?"

She hesitated. "You know?"

"Of course. I sealed it myself."

She stepped forward. "Then you also know I didn't open it. It opened for me."

"That's what concerns me. The Vault responds only to blood. To legacy. Yours runs deeper than we anticipated."

He slid a scroll across the desk.

"Your lineage has been traced. You are a direct descendant of the Thorne bloodline. Not mine—but Amara's."

Sera's breath caught. "Then she's—"

"Your great-grandmother."

The room tilted.

Thorn continued. "You inherited more than her name. The curse that followed her has awakened in you. The mark on your palm is a binding sigil. It links you to the school, to the Vault, to the Shadowbound."

Sera gritted her teeth. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Because knowledge is dangerous. Especially to those chosen by darkness."

He leaned forward.

"The mirror showed you a choice. Don't take it lightly. Shadows do not make room for weakness."

Later that day, she found Elijah in the garden.

He sat under a tree reading a worn book, eyes scanning pages but not truly reading.

She sat beside him. "You knew about my bloodline. Didn't you?"

He closed the book. "I suspected. But the seal... that confirmed it."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because if I had, you would've run. And you can't run from who you are."

She stared at him. "Tell me the truth now. All of it."

He sighed.

"Fine. I was born in the Shadowbound wing too. My mother died here. My father disappeared after touching the Vault door. They never found him. I stayed to understand the curse. And to make sure it doesn't claim anyone else."

"But it already has."

"Yes," he said quietly. "You."

That night, Seraphina dreamed again.

This time, she stood in a version of Empire High where the moon never rose. The halls bled ink. The portraits screamed silently. And her reflection followed her down the corridor.

"You can't escape me," it whispered.

She ran—but every turn brought her back to the same door. The Vault.

It swung open.

And inside, her mother stood, eyes black, voice hollow.

"You were supposed to save us."

Sera woke with a scream.

In the days that followed, the students grew more distant. Some even vanished.

Rumors spread. That the curse was spreading. That Seraphina's presence was accelerating it.

Then one morning, a girl was found asleep in the Mirror Hall—unconscious, her hair turned completely white.

On the wall above her, etched in blood:

"Break the seal. Or watch them fall."

Professor Vellum called a school-wide meeting. Guards were stationed outside every dorm. The gates were locked. No one in. No one out.

But the shadows still moved.

And they moved for her.

That evening, she found Nyra again. This time in the old observatory tower.

"We're out of time," Nyra said. "The seal has to be completed."

"What happens if it isn't?"

Nyra looked at her sadly. "Empire High will fall. Just like it did before."

"Before?"

"This has happened before. Once every century. A Shadowbound rises. The mirror cracks. The Vault opens. And the school either seals it—or burns with it."

"And the seal?"

"It can only be completed by a Thorne. With willing blood."

Sera took a breath. "You mean a sacrifice."

Nyra said nothing.

Back in her room, Seraphina stood in front of her mirror.

It didn't crack this time.

It opened.

And through it, the shadow-her spoke.

"I am not your end, Seraphina. I am your beginning. The truth. The power. The price."

Sera stepped closer. "Then show me."

The mirror shimmered.

And pulled her through.