The gates of the Eternal Flame Academy opened in front of us, and the first thing I felt was the smell.
Not ash, not smoke, as one might expect from a place with such a name, but something sharp, metallic, as if thousands of invisible blades were hanging in the air.
Lyra stepped forward, not letting go of my hand.
"Keep up," she called over her shoulder. — Here, even the floor can eat a novice if he is not attentive enough.
I wanted to laugh—was this really a joke? — but then I noticed how the stone slabs under her feet were moving, shifting slightly, as if sniffing my footsteps.
"Welcome to the game, Sato.
" Her words echoed in my head.
We passed through the archway, and the courtyard of the Academy opened in front of me — a huge space filled with students.
But these were not ordinary students.
One guy was flying through the air, leaving a sparkling trail behind him, like a comet. A girl with silver hair was talking to a tree, and it was bending its branches as if in a bow. The black-robed group was carving something on the ground, and the symbols were glowing with a bloody light.
"All of them... The awakened ones? - I asked.
"In a way,— Lyra replied. "But you... special.
- why?
She stopped and turned to me. Her eyes, usually dark as bottomless wells, now reflected my face—but not the one I was used to seeing.
I was wrapped in shadows on her pupils, as if they lived under my skin.
"Because you're a Seer." You see things that are hidden even from us.
Suddenly, the crowd in front of us parted.
A man in a red robe was walking towards the courtyard.
He was tall, with a face covered with scars that glowed from within like red-hot threads.
"Director Ignis," Lyra whispered, and for the first time there was something like that in her voice... Fear?
He stopped in front of us.
— Lyra. You brought a new one.
—Yes,— she replied firmly. "This is Sato.
The director slowly turned his gaze to me.
"Seer...
I felt the shadows inside me move, as if afraid.
"I wonder,— he continued, —how long can you hold out?"
Before I could answer, there was an explosion somewhere in the depths of the Academy.
The glass of the windows shook, and sparks fell from the sky.
The director sighed.
"Those idiots from the Chaos Guild again.
He waved his hand, and his robes billowed like the wings of a phoenix.
— Lyra, show him the dorm. His first trial will begin tomorrow.
"What's that?" - I asked.
The director smiled.
— Survival.
And with that, he disappeared into thin air, leaving behind only the smell of burning.
Lyra grabbed my arm.
"Come on."
"Where to?"
"I'll show you where you'll live." And then...
She looked back at the smoke rising from behind the towers.
— Then I'll tell you who the enemies really are here.
I looked at my book.
The page has changed again.
Now there was only one word:
"Run."