"Please, come in."
The soft, formal words hung in the air as Riley Hell stepped into the room.
The gentle glow of fairy lights cast a warm yet surreal ambiance across the pristine, white walls, making the room feel more like a dream than a place of inquiry.
At the center of the vast space stood a massive circular table, around which the academy's most influential figures sat, their eyes trained on the young man who had just entered.
Riley, with his golden hair and piercing blue eyes, seemed unfazed as he scanned the room.
His gaze moved smoothly from one face to another, his expression calm, but there was a weight to his presence that couldn't be ignored.
This wasn't the first time the academic heads called in the students involved for questioning about the recent incident—the Veil of Darkness that had unfolded in the square—but this was different.
This time, all the academy heads themselves had convened.