Alarich Zauberwal sat in the vast, copperlined reading hall of the Aethernos Academy, lost in the soft yellow glow of the setting sun as it spilled through tall, arched windows of stained glass.
In front of him, a thick tome lay open
“The True History of Aethernos, Founder of the Age of Flame” its ancient ink curling across parchment like dancing fire.
His eyes, the color of tempered steel, stared at the same page for nearly ten minutes.
But his mind wasn’t reading.
Not anymore.
“Born in the Askir Highlands. Hero of the Looped Wars. Founder of the Flame Epoch.”
Alarich’s fingers gently brushed over a sketch of Aethernoshis fierce eyes, his cloak billowing like smoke, the dragon insignia burned into his chest.
There was something oddly familiar about it all.
Something in the eyes.
The calm rage.
The focus.
A distant part of him whispered, “You’ve seen this before.”
“ALAAARICH!!”
A shrill voice snapped him out of his daze.
He blinked and turned just as his younger sister, Hilda, stormed across the library aisle, her blonde braid bouncing behind her like a rope on fire.
Her cheeks were flushed pink, not from running, but from annoyance.
“Honestly, you’re always daydreaming about dead people,” she huffed, hands on her hips.
“You’ve been reading that same paragraph for the last ten minutes!”
Alarich gave a sheepish smile and leaned back in his seat, glancing out the window where steam from the academy’s lower forges billowed into the dusky air like clouds drifting across a forgotten sky.
The brass bell atop the main lecture tower tolled four slow chimes, its deep, echoing tone resonating through the campus like a dragon’s breath.
Students in tailored vests and clockwork accessories scurried across the cobbled courtyard toward the openair amphitheater at the heart of the Academy.
Alarich and Hilda arrived at the edge of the crowd, joining rows of students already seated beneath the glow of runelamps and humming steam conduits.
Hilda (grinning):
“You better not zone out again, Al.
This isn’t just any lectureit’s the show.
They say Professor