جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 20

"I told you once that the ghosts in this place have a memory, but you didn't believe me, did you?" I say, my voice echoing off the damp, mossy walls as I walk deeper into the cold, oppressive darkness of the catacombs.Rafael is following me, his footsteps silent, his presence a heavy weight in the air behind me. I don't turn around. I keep my focus entirely on the space ahead, where the energy in the room feels thick, almost liquid, vibrating against my skin. I am here because the map led me here, and because the burning, residual anger of my past life demands a sanctuary. I reach the center of the chamber, a circular room where the floor is inlaid with a faded, intricate symbol of a howling wolf beneath a broken moon. It is the Lunar Shrine. It is smaller than the stories suggested, a hollowed out space that feels less like a temple and more like an open wound in the foundation of the academy."I believe you now, Evelyn, but I am still not convinced you know exactly what you are inv

l"You look like someone who just stared into the void and realized it was staring back, which is exactly why I figured I would find you here."I watch her from the threshold of the subterranean archive, my weight shifted against the cold stone doorframe. Evelyn is sitting on the floor, her skin pale against the dim, flickering emergency lights, her hands still trembling from the residual energy of the shrine. I have spent years buried in this academy, playing the part of the quiet, royal scholar, hiding the fact that I have been scouring the foundations for a way to dismantle this entire institution. I never expected to find a catalyst. I never expected the catalyst to be an Omega who smells like scorched ozone and defiance."I didn't think anyone was capable of finding this place, let alone someone who spends their life hiding behind a pile of dusty books," she replies, her voice sharp and devoid of the timid flutter that characterized her before.She is different. The air around her

"You really think you can hide behind that pathetic, stuttering mask forever, Evelyn, but we both know that something in your eyes is burning bright enough to set this whole campus on fire."I stop walking, my heels clicking on the cold floor of the hallway, and I don't turn around to face the source of the voice. I know it is just a random student, one of the many who thinks they have me figured out. I keep my posture slumped, my head bowed just enough to suggest the submissive Omega they expect. I am a master of the facade now. I have learned to regulate the tension in my muscles, to flatten my presence until I am little more than a ghost in the periphery of their vision. I walk toward the cafeteria, my mind a cold, calculating map of the academy."I have no idea what you are talking about, so please, just leave me alone," I mutter, keeping my voice small, thin, and harmless.I am not actually thinking about the student behind me. I am thinking about the third year dorms, specifical

"Do you really think that I haven't noticed how you keep checking the biometric scanners every time I walk past your desk, Professor?"I stop in the middle of the crowded hall, looking up at Professor Halloway, who has made it a habit to intercept me during my morning commute. He is one of the Council’s most dedicated hounds, a man whose entire purpose in this academy is to monitor the physiological responses of the student body. He keeps his hand tucked into his blazer, fingers hovering near the small, specialized pulse-reader he uses to identify anyone whose biology might be shifting toward a higher, potentially revolutionary state of power."I am simply ensuring the well-being of my students, Miss Roda, as the Council mandates that stress levels be kept at an optimal, controllable range," he retorts, his eyes narrowing as he shifts his weight.I hold his gaze, my own face carefully arranged into a mask of polite, slightly nervous compliance. Beneath the surface, however, I am vibra

"Do not even think about moving from that spot, because the scaffolding above this sector of the training arena is structurally compromised and about to collapse onto the primary pathway." I scream the warning across the crowded, sweltering training floor, my voice cracking with a mix of genuine urgency and the practiced fragility of an Omega who is supposedly just panicked by the sudden shift in the environment. The student who was supposed to be in the path of the massive steel beam—the one whose death in my first life signaled the start of the council’s total lockdown—stops dead in his tracks. A fraction of a moment later, the overhead structure groans and shears away from the wall, slamming into the concrete with a sound like a thunderclap that shakes the entire building to its foundation. The arena erupts into chaos. Students are scrambling, screaming, and running for the exits, but I stay rooted to my place, my eyes fixed on the twisted wreckage that missed its mark. "Evelyn,