Equifinality (Bare Bones)

First of Many

The next night at Eclipsia Academy was colder than usual, the kind of chill that crept into your bones and stayed there. Thick fog rolled over the grounds, blanketing the academy in an eerie mist. Even the full moon, normally a beacon of light, was obscured by dark clouds, casting long, faint shadows along the stone pathways. Everything felt wrong. The night was heavy with something unseen but deeply felt.

I sat at my desk, staring at the rune-covered texts scattered before me, but my mind wasn't on the intricate patterns. It was elsewhere—haunted by the events that had unfolded recently. Calliope and I had barely survived the lake attack, Imogen was dead, and the mystery of Malachar's looming threat weighed on me. My own magic—the dark, twisted power I had begun to manifest—terrified me more than anything else. I felt like I was walking a tightrope, one wrong step away from falling into something I could never come back from.

A soft knock on the door broke the silence. I turned to see Calliope enter, her normally radiant energy dimmed. She didn't smile. She didn't even try. The unease was evident on her face.

"You okay?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, probing.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck, feeling the tension in my muscles. "No. I don't know, Calliope. Something's wrong. I can feel it in the air tonight. Like there's something... coming."

She nodded, her eyes troubled. "I feel it too. It's like the whole academy is holding its breath, waiting for something to happen." She glanced out the window, her gaze following the mist that swirled across the grounds. "It doesn't feel safe anymore."

Before either of us could say anything else, a scream tore through the night.

It was high-pitched, raw with terror, and it shattered the stillness. I froze, my heart pounding. The scream was so loud, so full of fear, it could only mean one thing—someone was in real danger.

"Ethan," Calliope whispered, her face pale. "We need to go. Now."

I shot out of my chair, bolting toward the door. The corridors were already filled with students, all of them moving in a rush, some panicked, some frozen in fear. I pushed past them, my pulse hammering in my ears. Whatever was happening, it wasn't random. The same dark force I had felt in the lake attack was back, stronger this time.

We reached the dormitory hallway where the scream had come from. A crowd had gathered, but I pushed through them, my stomach tightening in dread.

Lying in the middle of the hallway was a first-year student, his lifeless body sprawled across the cold stone floor. His eyes were wide open, his face twisted in an expression of horror, but it was the energy around him that made the blood in my veins turn to ice.

A thick, swirling mass of darkness hung over the boy's body. It wasn't just shadow—it was alive, writhing like it had a mind of its own. The air around it was thick, almost suffocating. The students near it backed away, fear rippling through the crowd.

"Everyone, back!" A familiar voice rang out.

Professor Lysandra appeared, her usually calm demeanor shaken, though she hid it well. She moved quickly to the boy's side, her hands glowing faintly as she muttered incantations. She was trying to dispel the dark energy, but it resisted, clinging to the student's body like a parasite. The shadows pulsed, almost as if they were feeding off the lifeless form.

"Back to your rooms, now!" she commanded, her voice sharp, though her eyes betrayed a flicker of shock.

No one moved. Fear had paralyzed them all.

"I said move!" Lysandra sent a pulse of energy through the air, gently but firmly pushing the students back. The hallway cleared, but the dread still lingered, thick and suffocating.