The agonizing boredom of the afternoon finally melted away as the sky outside the glass dome shifted from a brilliant azure to a deep, twilight purple. A few hours later, a gentle chime echoed through the halls, and a servant arrived to inform us that it was time for the festival ceremony. We were escorted out of the royal wing and guided down the winding, bioluminescent paths of the castle to a massive, open-air amphitheater made entirely of living, interwoven branches.
Thousands of elves had gathered, their silver armor and elegant clothes shimmering in the dimming light. At the very center of the amphitheater was a grand stage, and resting upon it was a colossal candle, easily as tall as I was, made from a strange, pearlescent wax and carved with intricate, ancient runes that seemed to hum with latent mana.
King Elfhonse stood before the crowd, delivering a booming speech about the prosperity of the forest, before gesturing for Elphyete and me to step forward. As the "Royal Couple," we were handed a single, long wooden taper tipped with a magical, glowing ember. Together, we reached up and touched the taper to the massive wick of the great candle. The moment the flame caught, a brilliant, warm golden light erupted, washing over the entire amphitheater. The crowd erupted into joyous cheers, the sound of wooden flutes and stringed instruments filling the crisp night air.
After the lighting, a grand feast was brought out. We ate plates piled high with roasted forest game, sweet berries, and breads infused with glowing nectar. It was a beautiful, overwhelming spectacle, but by the time the final plates were cleared, exhaustion had settled deep into my bones.
We made the long walk back to her bedroom in comfortable silence. Once the heavy double doors clicked shut behind us, locking the noise of the festival outside, the sheer scale of the room suddenly felt a lot more private. I let out a heavy sigh, unfastening the stiff, formal collar of the tunic they had made me wear, and tossed it onto a nearby golden chair.
"The ceremony part seemed simple and easy," I said, stretching my arms above my head to work out the kinks in my shoulders. "I thought there was going to be some complicated magical ritual or a speech I had to memorize, but we just lit a candle."
Elphyete, who was brushing out her long silver hair in front of an enchanted mirror, paused and looked over at me. "It might seem simple, but lighting the big candle at that specific time and date is incredibly important for us," she explained softly. "It comes from an old legend. They say that an elf once lit a candle at this exact time during a great darkness, and because of that single act, great luck and prosperity happened to him and his entire bloodline. But... it's just a legend, mostly. Now it's just our way of asking the forest for a good year."
"I see..." I murmured, nodding slowly. It made sense, in a strange, magical sort of way.
We prepared for bed, extinguishing the glowing enchanted lanterns scattered around the room until only the pale, silvery moonlight poured in through the glass dome above. The moment the lights went out, the temperature in the room seemed to plummet. The high-altitude winds of the elven kingdom howled softly against the glass, bringing a sharp, biting cold into the vast space.
I climbed into the massive bed, pulling the thick, fur-lined blankets up to my chin. For a few minutes, the room was perfectly silent, save for the wind. But then, I felt the mattress shift. It wasn't the hesitant, slow movement from the other night. This time, I felt a sudden, soft weight press directly against my back. Two slender arms slipped around my waist, pulling tight, and the freezing air was instantly replaced by an incredible, radiating warmth. Elphyete was hugging me from behind, burying her face between my shoulder blades.
I stiffened for a second, my heart skipping a beat, but then I chuckled slightly. The sheer contrast between the freezing room and her absolute body heat was ridiculous. "I guess... yeah, it's too cold right now," I whispered.
Slowly, carefully, I rolled over to face her, staying beneath the heavy blankets. When I turned, my breath hitched in my throat. The moonlight illuminated her face perfectly. She was red—not just a little flushed, but an impossibly deep, glowing crimson that spread all the way to the tips of her long, pointed ears. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her eyelashes trembling. I somehow felt incredibly relaxed by her presence, but at the same time, a massive wave of embarrassment washed over me. My own face started to heat up just looking at her.
Sensing that I was looking at her, she let out a tiny, panicked squeak. She lunged forward, hugging me even more tightly, and forcefully buried her face right into my chest to hide.
"Don't look," she pleaded, her voice entirely muffled against my shirt.
I looked up at the ceiling, my mind completely short-circuiting. I was extremely embarrassed, my heart hammering against my ribs so hard I was sure she could feel it. I didn't know what to do with my hands, so I just awkwardly rested one on her back. The moment was so quiet, so intense, and so incredibly private.
And then, the universe decided to break.
A deafening, tearing sound—like reality itself being ripped in half—echoed through the massive bedroom. A violent burst of dark violet and chaotic blue light exploded at the foot of our bed. The air pressure dropped instantly, sending the golden chairs and loose books clattering across the floor.
I bolted upright, instinctively pulling Elphyete behind me, expecting an assassin or a magical beast.
Instead, stepping out of the swirling vortex of raw spatial magic was Sir Vael. He looked battle-ready, his eyes glowing with dangerous intensity, his coat billowing around him like a dark storm.
"I AM HERE TO SAVE YOU—" Vael roared, his voice shaking the glass dome above. But then his eyes locked onto the bed. He saw me, hair messy, clutching the blankets, and he saw Elphyete, face completely buried in my chest, clutching me for dear life.
Vael froze completely. His dangerous, heroic aura shattered into a million pieces. He slowly lowered his hands, blinking in the dim light. "...wait. Did we come at the wrong time...?"
Before I could even process the fact that my terrifying instructor was standing in our bedroom, another figure shoved past him through the portal.
It was Euphyne. And he was an absolute mess.
His usually perfect hair was a disaster, his dazzling clothes were rumpled, and he was openly, loudly crying. He was clutching Snowball the kitten to his chest like a lifeline. "YOU LEFT ME!" Euphyne wailed, stepping out of the portal and pointing a trembling finger at us. "Snowball woke me up yesterday and no one was home! I panicked! I waited a whole day in that giant, empty mansion, but you two didn't go home! So I called Sir Vael!"
Euphyne sniffled dramatically, wiping a tear from his eye. "Sir Vael called everyone, and we went into your room! He smelled you two—and he smelled the elves! He traced the teleportation magic and ripped a hole in space to find you!"
"He smelled us?!" I repeated, thoroughly horrified.
But the nightmare wasn't over. One by one, the rest of Class A1 began pouring out of the portal, crowding into the opulent elven bedroom.
I felt extremely confused, my brain struggling to catch up with the sheer absurdity of the situation. My embarrassment skyrocketed past any measurable limit. I looked down at Elphyete. The poor girl had taken one look at our entire combat class standing at the foot of her bed, let out a sound like a deflating balloon, and simply passed out completely, her head lolling against my shoulder.
"Hey, it's really dark in here," Lucian's voice echoed from the back of the group. There was a loud click as he found the magical switch on the wall, and suddenly the room was flooded with bright, unforgiving light.
Lucian took one look at the full picture—me, sitting in a giant bed with a passed-out Elven Princess clinging to me—and a massive, mischievous grin spread across his face. "Oops. Looks like we did come at the wrong time."
Behind him, Celdrich crossed his arms. He looked at the romantic setup, then at Vael's awkward posture. For a moment, he was silent, and then he said, "What a waste of time."
And then, something unprecedented happened. Celdrich actually chuckled. It was a low, brief sound, but the entire class snapped their heads toward him, looking more surprised by his laughter than by the fact that they were standing in an Elven castle.
Aria pushed her way to the front, her fists wrapped in her combat gauntlets, looking around the room with deep disappointment. "Aw, man... there's no fight?" she groaned, letting her arms drop. "I thought we were raiding a dungeon!"
Vela, standing near the edge of the portal, just let out a long, exhausted sigh. She looked incredibly annoyed by the entire situation, muttered something about needing sleep, and without a single word, turned around and walked right back into the portal.
The twins, who had been peering over Euphyne's shoulders, burst into identical fits of loud, echoing laughter. They pointed at my red face, high-fived each other, and casually strolled back into the portal behind Vela, their cackling fading into the spatial rift.
I was sitting there, frozen, holding an unconscious Elphyete, trying to figure out if this was an elaborate hallucination. But then Zane, who had been quietly standing near the grand double doors, suddenly pressed his ear against the heavy wood.
"There's people coming," Zane warned, his voice deadpan but urgent. "A lot of them. Fast."
Right on cue, the massive oak doors violently burst open. A dozen elite Elven guards flooded into the room, their glowing crystalline spears leveled directly at the intruders. Claude was at the front of the pack, his face twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated rage. King Elfhonse strode in right behind him, looking absolutely bewildered by the sight of a dozen heavily armed human teenagers in his daughter's private sanctuary.
"You trespassers need to know your place!" Claude screamed, aiming his spear directly at Sir Vael's chest. "You have breached the royal sanctum of the High King!"
Sir Vael didn't even flinch. He just casually shoved his hands into his pockets, looking at the glowing spear tip with mild boredom. "We are here to get Elphyete and Sogha," Vael stated, his voice calm but carrying an underlying threat that made the air in the room vibrate. "They have classes to attend In a few days."
King Elfhonse looked at Vael, then at the glowing, unstable portal tearing a hole in his carpet, and finally at me, sitting in the bed with his unconscious daughter. The King rubbed the bridge of his nose, suddenly looking very tired. He clearly realized that fighting an elite combat instructor and a squad of hyper-lethal students inside a bedroom was a terrible idea.
He let out a heavy sigh and looked directly at me. "Do you want to go, you two?"
I looked down at Elphyete, who was just starting to stir, blinking her eyes open and groaning softly as the horrific reality of the situation came rushing back to her. She looked up at me, her eyes pleading to be taken anywhere but here.
We both nodded vigorously in unison.
"Well. Fine by me, go," King Elfhonse said, waving his hand dismissively and turning his back on the chaos, much to Claude's absolute horror.
Without wasting another second, I scooped Elphyete up—blankets and all—and scrambled out of the bed. We practically sprinted past the dumbfounded guards, past a sobbing Euphyne who was still clutching Snowball, and followed Sir Vael and the rest of our classmates straight into the swirling violet rift.
The world twisted and stretched, the smell of ancient pine vanishing instantly. A split second later, my boots hit the familiar wooden floorboards of our bedroom in the capital mansion. The portal snapped shut behind Sir Vael with a sharp crack, cutting off Claude's distant, angry shouting. We were back, safe, exhausted, and surrounded by our incredibly nosy classmates, ready to finally get some actual sleep.