The Choosing

They say the Choosing is an honor.
Eighteen-year-olds stand in lines. The city celebrates. The bells ring.

But in Veyl, honor has always come with a cost.

When Ilya Voss is marked by the ancient Wyrmglass, the sigil beneath her skin burns gold-wrong, unfamiliar, impossible to explain. Overnight, she is sent beyond the city walls to Aetherfall Spire Academy, where cadets are trained for a purpose no one fully understands and where failure is quietly erased.

The Spire watches.
The stone listens.
And something about Ilya does not fit the system built to contain her.

As tensions rise and rivalries sharpen, she finds herself drawn to a second-year cadet with silver-threaded scars and secrets carved deeper than the mountain itself. Caelan Vireth knows more than he should. He sees more than he admits. And every time their paths cross, it feels less like coincidence and more like a warning.

Because the Choosing was never meant to create heroes.

It was meant to control something far older.

And whatever just recognized Ilya,
It wasn't finished with her.
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Because some lies aren't meant to last-and some truths don't stay buried forever.
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A forbidden secret. A deadly academy. A power meant to be erased. Found family, slow-burn tension, and a rebellion waiting to ignite.