The weight of the academy was pressing down on me. It was a subtle, lingering feeling, like the low hum of a clock ticking in the background. I wasn't supposed to be here—inside this world that I had once created with my own hands. And yet, here I was, walking the halls of Veylin Academy, feeling more like an outsider with each passing day.
The students, the teachers—everything felt like it was slipping out of my control. I had written them once, given them all their motivations and goals, but now that I was here, I couldn't shake the feeling that they had their own paths to follow. They didn't need me anymore.
There were whispers in the halls, voices that seemed to speak just beyond the reach of my hearing. I caught fragments of conversations, most of them centered around the same subjects—the mysterious happenings in the academy, the ancient magic that seemed to stir beneath the surface, and the strange events that had begun to unfold ever since the arrival of the first-years.
I was not a part of these conversations, not really. I had no desire to be. I was just Kael—an extra in this world. The boy who had survived the massacre, only to find himself caught in a story that wasn't even his own.
But as I walked past a cluster of students in the hallway, I couldn't help but overhear bits of their conversation.
"Have you heard? There's something strange about Kael. I think he's hiding something."
"I don't know... Ilya said there's something off about him."
I paused mid-step, my chest tightening. The name Ilya Ferros lingered in my mind. She was one of the central characters, a calculating archer whose story was as intertwined with the fate of the academy as anyone else's. I had written her that way. But now, it seemed she had taken on a life of her own—one that I didn't control.
And yet, I couldn't help but feel a pull toward her, toward her knowledge of the world that seemed more real than anything I could've imagined.
I had no choice but to keep my distance. I had to remain a shadow. I couldn't afford to get tangled in the web of destinies that surrounded me.