Days passed without an alarm. No tremors. No wraiths. Even the Pillars remained stable.
I hated it.
Because calm meant something was being planned in silence. Something worse.
Valmira joined me in the garden late one evening. She carried her tome under one arm, her usual expression unreadable.
"The Codex," she said quietly, "is changing."
I glanced at mine. "How?"
"Mine speaks of... resurrection. A being from before the shards. Something buried beneath the realm itself."
A chill ran through me. "You think the Demon King was just the start?"
She nodded.
I turned to the horizon. "Then the quiet is a lie. Just like always."
That night, I couldn't sleep.
I stood on the rooftop, cape whipping inside the wind. The stars above shimmered like looking eyes. Behind me, Lilith joined me in silence.
"You experience it, don't you?" she said. "The air's too nevertheless."
"Something's coming."
"Yes," she whispered. "And this time, even the shard may not be enough."
I looked out over the Academy, where every light still burned, and clenched my fist.
Then we'd find more than light.
We'd forge a fire the world couldn't extinguish.