EMPIRE HIGH: SCHOOL OF SHADOWS

The change was subtle—so subtle Seraphina almost didn't notice.

Until she did.

She woke to the sound of her own heartbeat. Not just in her chest, but in her ears, her fingertips, the back of her throat. It pulsed like an echo, louder than before, louder than any dream. And when she opened her eyes, the mirror across the room was already fogged with breath she hadn't exhaled.

She stepped out of bed.

The door was gone.

The sigil on her palm had faded, but in its place was a new mark—smaller, more intricate, as if the first had grown roots.

She traced it gently, her skin tingling beneath her touch. Her blood felt… aware.

And someone—or something—was listening.

Classes that day passed in a blur.

Students still avoided her. Whispers trailed behind her like invisible threads. Even professors paused longer than necessary when calling her name.

During Spellcraft, her wand sparked to life without being lifted. The glyphs around her began to spin. Her magic, untethered, surged at the sound of ancient incantations.

"You need grounding," Professor Marrow said, eyeing her like she was a ticking bomb. "Your soul is stretching into places it shouldn't."

Sera stared at her hands. They shimmered slightly under the light. Not golden. Not silver. But… shadowed.

She felt unmoored.

Like her body was no longer just hers.

Elijah found her that afternoon in the underground atrium. The place was full of old statues from the school's founders, most eroded by time. Ivy grew through the floor. Aether dust floated in beams of pale light.

He said nothing at first.

Just sat beside her.

"I feel like I'm breaking apart," she said finally.

"You are."

"That's not comforting."

He pulled a satchel from beneath his coat and handed her a small book. The cover was deep blue leather, almost black. A ribbon dangled from its spine.

"What's this?"

"A blood ledger. It belonged to your great-grandmother. She tracked every member of the Shadowbound before the Vault was sealed. Every marked one. Including herself."

Sera opened the book. Inside were names written in tight, looping cursive.

Some she didn't recognize.

Others made her breath catch:

Evelyn Cole – Faded, lost to the mirror

Darius Vane – Sealed

Aramis Thorne – Reversed lineage

Seraphina Cole – Incomplete

Her name was already there.

"How?"

"The ledger writes what is known, even if you don't know it yet," Elijah said.

She flipped the page.

A new section had begun to write itself in ink made of darkness:

THE END-BEARER. THE LAST FLAME OR THE FIRST NIGHT.

"What does it mean?"

He hesitated. "It means you're the last. The last marked to appear before the curse completes its cycle. If you survive, the curse dies. If not... it begins again. Stronger."

That night, she sat at her desk, staring at the ledger.

Nyra burst in without knocking.

Her eyes were wild. Her cloak soaked with rain and dirt.

"You need to come. Now."

Sera followed her through the lower passages beneath the school. Corridors no student had permission to enter. Ones that smelled of dust and forgotten memories.

"Where are we going?"

"The Echo Sanctum. The last known location of the First Bound. Amara herself."

They reached a wall of bone-white stone. Nyra pressed her hand to it. Her fingers glowed red. The stone groaned open.

Inside was a small, octagonal chamber.

At its center: a mirror. Cracked but not broken.

Around it were hundreds of glyphs carved into the floor, forming a spiral that led to a single point.

Sera stepped inside. The glyphs glowed black beneath her feet.

"This is where Amara sealed the first fracture," Nyra said. "She did it alone. The school says she died afterward—but the truth is she became part of the seal. Her consciousness. Her essence."

Sera's eyes widened. "She's still alive?"

"Not alive. Not dead. Bound. Watching. Waiting."

The mirror pulsed.

A voice slipped through.

"Blood of my blood. Come forward."

Sera approached the mirror.

Her reflection changed again. Older. Scarred. Dressed in armor of dark crystal.

"You are at the edge," the reflection said. "The threshold of destiny and oblivion."

Sera swallowed. "Which should I choose?"

"That's the wrong question," it replied. "Ask yourself what you're willing to become to save them."

The mirror shattered into a thousand pieces.

One shard floated before her.

She reached out—and it sank into her palm.

The sigil burned bright.

And her heartbeat stilled.

When she woke the next morning, her bed was gone.

She was in the Vault.

Alone.

The door had vanished.

But in the darkness, something moved.

Not shadow.

A person.

"I've been waiting," the girl said.

Sera turned.

It was the girl from the mirror.

But this time… she didn't look hollow.

She looked afraid.

"You don't understand," the girl whispered. "They think you're the key. But you're the lock. And I—I'm the thing trying to get out."

The world around her cracked like glass.

And Sera screamed.

She woke in the infirmary.

Elijah was by her side.

"You were missing for two days," he said. "No one could find you. You left nothing behind. Not even your shadow."

Her throat was dry. "The Vault. I was inside."

He nodded. "I know. It opened again. And this time... it called my name too."

She stared at him.

"Then you're marked too."

He took her hand.

And for the first time, the sigil appeared on his palm as well.