Midnight at the Academy was usually a time of total silence. The great stone halls were empty, and the only light came from the blue glow of the mana-lamps on the walls. But for Cassian, the silence was different. It felt like the Academy was holding its breath.
He walked through the shadows of the basement. He didn't use a lamp. He didn't need one. His feet knew exactly where the loose stones were and which doors creaked. He reached the entrance to the Old Library—a place the teachers had closed years ago because the books were "too old" and the air was "too thick with dust."
He pushed the heavy wooden door open. Inside, thousands of books sat on tall shelves, smelling of dry paper and secrets.
"You are late," a voice said from the darkness.
Lyra Thorne stepped out from behind a pile of crates. She wasn't wearing her student uniform. She was wearing a dark merchant's cloak, and on the table next to her sat a large, soft pillow and a bottle of wine.
"I had to make sure my roommate was snoring," Cassian said, his voice a lazy drawl. He looked at the pillow. "Is that the goose-feather one?"
"The best the Thorne Guild could find," Lyra replied. She didn't smile. She sat down and pointed at a map spread out on the table. "Now, let us stop playing games. I did some research. My uncle, Master Thorne, has notes on the history of this school. The Academy isn't just a school, Cassian. It was built as a 'Lid'."
Cassian walked to the table and looked at the map. It was old—much older than the school itself. It showed the towers, the classrooms, and the basement. But beneath the basement, there were layers of tunnels that didn't appear on any student's guide.
"A lid for what?" Cassian asked.
"A Great Fracture," Lyra whispered. "The one in the woods yesterday was just a small leak. The 'First Fracture'—the mother of all rifts—is directly under us. The Academy was built here to keep it closed. The mana of the students, the spells of the teachers... it all acts as a weight to keep the door shut."
She looked at him, her eyes sharp. "But you didn't just close the rift in the woods. You 'pinched' it. My fork told me the frequency didn't go away; it just changed. You redirected the energy. Where did you send it, Cassian?"
Cassian looked at the map. He pointed to a spot deep in the sub-basement, a place marked with a skull symbol. "I didn't send it anywhere. I just used the pressure to open a door that has been stuck for a hundred years."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Void-Core he had taken from the rift. The marble was glowing now, a deep, pulsing purple.
"The Academy thinks they are keeping the world safe," Cassian said. "But they are actually sitting on a gold mine of pure, ancient energy. They are too afraid to touch it. But I'm not."
Lyra's merchant heart skipped a beat. If they could get into the sub-levels, they could find artifacts and materials that were worth more than anything on the surface. But it was dangerous. If they were caught, the punishment wouldn't be detention—it would be execution.
"What do you need from me?" Lyra asked.
"I need you to be my eyes," Cassian said. "The S-Ranks and the instructors are going to be watching me now because of that 'hero' nonsense. I need you to create distractions. I need you to buy supplies that don't leave a trail. And most importantly, I need you to find out why the Headmaster is so interested in my family's history."
Lyra nodded. "I can do that. The Thorne Guild has ways of moving gold without anyone noticing. But I want 35% of whatever we find down there."
"30%," Cassian countered. "And you have to find a way to get me out of the 'Hero's Ceremony' tomorrow. I can't stand the speeches."
"Deal," Lyra said, reaching out her hand.
Cassian shook it. Her hand was cold, but her grip was firm. They weren't friends, and they weren't enemies. They were partners in a very dangerous game.
As Cassian turned to pick up his new pillow, he stopped. He tilted his head, listening.
"What is it?" Lyra asked, her hand moving toward her tuning fork.
"The Academy," Cassian whispered. "It's breathing."
Deep within the stone walls, there was a sound. It wasn't a wind, and it wasn't the sound of students sleeping. It was a slow, heavy thump-thump. A heartbeat.
The Void-Core in Cassian's hand vibrated in time with the sound.
"The Fracture is waking up," Cassian said, his eyes narrowing. "The 'pinch' I did... it wasn't just to open a door. It was a wake-up call. We don't have as much time as I thought."
Suddenly, the library door creaked. Lyra jumped behind a shelf, and Cassian immediately slumped over a table, pretending to be a student who had fallen asleep while studying.
A small, floating magic-eye—the kind used by the campus security—flew into the room. It hovered over Cassian for a moment, its red light scanning his "sleeping" form. After a few seconds, it decided he was harmless and flew back out into the hallway.
Cassian stood up, his face serious. "The Headmaster is already looking for me. Go, Lyra. Don't come back here until I send the signal."
After Lyra left, Cassian didn't go back to his room. Instead, he walked to the very back of the library, to a wall covered in heavy vines. He pushed the vines aside to reveal a small, iron door with no keyhole.
He placed his hand on the door. He didn't use a key. He didn't use magic. He simply removed the "existence" of the lock.
The door opened silently.
Ahead of him was a spiral staircase that went down into a darkness so deep that even the light from the library couldn't enter it. Cassian stepped inside, the iron door closing behind him.
He started to walk down. One step. Two steps. Ten steps.
As he went deeper, the air became colder. The heartbeat sound became louder. And for the first time in a long time, Cassian Valerius didn't feel sleepy. He felt alive.
"Let's see," he whispered into the dark. "Let's see what the Academy is really hiding under its feet."