They left the Seer's Enclave before dawn, the leyline scroll pulsing with slow, rhythmic heat in Surya's satchel. The trail it pointed to wove through mundane and unnatural terrain—fields twisted by residual energy, stones carved by storms that never fell.
Kaelen moved with purpose, but quieter than usual. His thoughts, Surya could tell, were elsewhere.
"Kaelen," Surya said as they made camp under a sunless sky. "You've mentioned the Academy before. What is it?"
Kaelen poked at the fire, his expression unreadable. "It's not just a school, if that's what you imagine. It's a crucible. A forge for elemental prodigies, yes—but also a cage for secrets too dangerous to leave untended."
"Why haven't we gone there already?"
"Because the Academy doesn't take everyone. It summons. Only those it deems… significant."
"And I'm one of them?"
Kaelen looked up, his gaze sharp. "You're something else. The Academy may not be ready for you. Not yet."
Surya let the silence sit.
"What was it like, when you were there?" he asked.
Kaelen didn't answer immediately. The fire crackled between them.
"Dangerous," he said finally. "And beautiful. And full of people who thought they could rewrite the rules of the elements. Some did. Most died trying."
They said nothing more that night.
Three days into their journey, the scroll flared—a burst of amber light against the dawn.
They stood at the edge of a canyon, where fractured stones formed a spiraling descent into fog. Along the edge were remnants of old campfires, long cold.
"Someone was here," Kaelen said, crouching beside a buried sigil. "Recently. This isn't just a ruin—it was a sanctuary."
Surya's Flame Shard pulsed in rhythm with the leyline.
He stepped forward. The wind whispered. A voice not his own pressed against his mind.
"He walked this path before you."
"Kaelen," Surya said slowly, "this was a Flamewalker's path, wasn't it?"
Kaelen nodded. "If your map is right, we're following the trail of one who survived a convergence. A walker who returned from the edge of the Origin."
Surya looked down into the canyon, heart racing. "And if he's still alive?"
Kaelen's jaw tightened. "Then he's either hiding from the Academy… or from something even worse."
Thunder rumbled faintly in the distance—though no storm cloud stirred.
The path was calling.
And this time, Surya would walk it not as a student… but as a Flame the world could no longer ignore.