The Academy's halls felt different the next morning.
Not darker.
Just… watched.
The instructors smiled the same. The classes followed their usual rhythm. But something underneath it all had changed.
And Karl felt it.
Like heat behind the walls.
"You sense that?" Kael asked beside him in class.
Karl nodded.
"Something's coming."
By midday, their next course shifted unexpectedly.
A combined lecture — several core tracks grouped together in the High Runehall.
The change was last minute. No one knew why.
And that's when the new student walked in.
He moved with quiet precision. Not stiff, not arrogant. Just… deliberate.
Tall. Pale skin. Long white hair loosely tied, with streaks of dusk-blue running through it like veins of magic. No crest. No visible affinity mark. But his presence filled the hall.
Students turned. Whispered. Even some instructors paused.
He walked past Karl's row — and stopped.
Only for a breath.
Their eyes met.
And the stranger smiled.
Like he already knew him.
"Who the hell is that?" Nyra whispered.
"He looks like he owns the floor."
"He's not on any class roster," Kael muttered.
Karl didn't answer.
But his mark pulsed once.
And not in warning.
In recognition.
After class, Karl stepped into the hall to find the white-haired boy waiting near the fountain. Alone.
"You're the Veilwalker," the stranger said without turning.
Karl didn't deny it.
"Who are you?"
The boy finally turned, expression calm. Measured.
"I'm not here to fight you."
A pause.
"I'm here to see what happens when you wake up."
Then, without another word, he walked away.
And the mark on Karl's chest didn't quiet.
It throbbed.