Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 11 - Chapitre 20

The light did not fade; it swallowed. Virelle did not feel the floor beneath her feet when the surge peaked. She did not feel Theron’s grip or Kaeldryn’s hands, though she knew they were there. For a single suspended moment, everything that made the academy real—stone, breath, sound—fractured and dissolved into blinding silver, then the world went silent. Virelle stood alone.The ground beneath her was not ground. It looked like stone, black and smooth, but it reflected nothing. When she stepped, there was no echo. No resistance. Just the suggestion of movement, like walking through a memory of a place rather than the place itself. The air was cold, but not empty. It carried something heavy and ancient, something that pressed against her senses without touching her skin.She turned slowly; there was no academy, no chamber, no walls. Only darkness stretching

The academy did not recover from Nyxara’s appearance. By the time Virelle left the medical chamber, escorted rather than dismissed, the corridors had shifted into something quieter, tighter, and far more watchful. Conversations stopped when she passed. Doors that had stood open earlier now closed with careful precision. Even the silver torches seemed to burn lower, their light drawn inward as though the academy itself had decided not to be seen too clearly. Soreya met her at the threshold between the central wing and the lower halls, arms folded, expression unreadable. “You have had an impressive morning,” she said. “That’s one word for it,” Virelle replied. Soreya glanced once over her shoulder toward the chamber they had just left. “You brought something into that room.” 

Virelle did not sleep; she lay awake in the darkness of her room inside Hollow Residence, staring at the ceiling, the events of the past few days replayed endlessly in her mind: Nyxara’s warning, the forbidden door, the silver eyes behind the seal, the strange pulse in her blood, as if none of it made any sense, yet every part of her knew it was real. Outside her window, the academy grounds rested beneath a pale moon.The towers of Noctis Academy stretched toward the night sky like silent guardians, their silver-veined stone glowing faintly beneath the stars. Most students were asleep; Virelle wished she were one of them. Instead, the mark beneath her collarbone burned; it wasn’t painful on purpose, and the sensation pulled her attention downwards, towards what hid beneath the academy, toward something waiting.Virelle sat upright immediately; the second heartbeat inside her chest had begun again, slow and heavy as the pulse echoed through her body…BOOM, another followed; this time t

The first rule of Noctis Academy was simple: never enter the Hollow Grounds after sunset. The second rule was even simpler: if the Hollow Grounds called your name, pretend you never heard it. Virelle learned both rules before breakfast. She stood in Ancient History while Professor Maelis carved glowing silver runes across the black slate wall. The elderly scholar rarely raised his voice, yet every student in the lecture hall watched him with unwavering attention.“The academy,” he began, “was not built where it is by chance. Every stone beneath your feet was placed to guard something far older than these walls.” His silver eyes swept across the room before settling, just for a heartbeat, on Virelle “The Hollow Grounds are forbidden because they remember.” A murmur rippled through the students. One boy near the front laughed nervously. “Ground can’t remember, Professor.”Professor Maelis smiled faintly “No?” With a flick of his fingers, one of the runes ignited, the classroom vanished

Morning arrived beneath a sky the colour of polished steel. For the first time since Virelle had arrived at Noctis Academy, the academy bells rang without the usual rush of students filling the corridors. Conversations were quieter. Laughter was rare. Every glance lingered a little too long. Word of the Hollow Sentinels kneeling before her had spread far beyond the academy walls. The stories had already begun changing. Some claimed she had commanded the Sentinels with a single word; others believed she had awakened an army buried beneath the Hollow Grounds. One particularly imaginative rumour insisted she was older than the academy itself. Virelle wished even one of them were true. At least then she’d have answers. Instead, she walked alone toward Combat Strategy with a satchel over one shoulder and questions that refused to leave her mind.