Academia: The House of Lionheart

Prologue

"Bring the seraph," said a grandmaster of the Academian Coalition. The hooded overseers beneath the grandmasters fetched the infant in the darkness of the great labyrinth. The grandmasters were cloaked in their legions' respective trench coats, bearing witness to the sacrificial binding of a godsent prince. Ritualistic magic circles were the only things illuminating the chamber. When the overseers returned with the boy, they gave him a new name and placed him in the heart of the runes.

"Begin," said his caregiver. Each overseer stepped up to a circle connected to the runes. They began chanting the most potent elven binding hex developed then. The gentle blue circle beneath the child started to spin and resonate, swelling as it darkened to a red, like wine.

Spiritual particles of all elemental tinctures materialized with the spiraling wheels of the ritual. Twelve scorching red seals branded the seraph's vessel with the overseers' existence. It woke the boy with tears and ear-splitting cries, but if even one caster broke the ritual, they risked losing all their lives for nothing. It was do or die.

With their muscles trembling and their minds slipping, the air became heavy. They gasped every moment they could between chants, all while the spiral continued to swell. It engulfed and roasted the chamber with its radiance until finally, the runes, the circles, and the overseers imploded into the seraph with an ear-shattering boom. Their ears were left bleeding, ringing with a shockwave that nearly sent the grandmasters flying to the walls as the room fell into darkness — they lit their torches, and there, in the heart of the chamber, they found the infant boy with the marks of the overseers fading out of sight.

"It is done," said one of the grandmasters, "This stays between us — not even the successors to our legions should learn of this."

"Yes," said the caregiver, picking the boy up from the floor, "That's correct," the boy fell unconscious as soon as the ritual was completed, but he was fine.

"We should still keep the seer at arm's length," said another grandmaster, "We've taken the precaution she suggested, so the prophesied catastrophe should not concern us."

"No, our lives are not guaranteed. Extinction of two of the three races should be out of the question now, but we must fight to survive until the end. Those who were fated to die cannot cheat death, after all."

"Who's to say the boy will succeed? We should not rely on one measly pawn."

"He's not just one pawn—"

"He's a queen on a chessboard," interrupted the grandmaster carrying him, "At least, he will be — this seraph born into the world in the body of a guilty deity will be the ace of aces."

"This boy is the coalition's only true son — raise him in the military, show him to succeed in his mission," the grandmasters agreed, but the one taking him into her care was not planning to raise the boy how the others wanted. She trusted the seer with her life, so whether they liked it or not, she was going to do everything the book of the eye had written for her.

"Time's running — someone, fetch the next boy, then we'll find the girl ourselves."