Chapter 44 | The Road Back | Kael
The trip to Obsidian Moon Academy takes seven days.
We travel at night, staying away from the main roads and sticking to the wild paths that only I know. Leah's situation makes things harder—the pregnancy is getting further along, and her body needs rest and food that our escape doesn't always give us. But she never complains. She walks when she can, rides on my back when she can't, and keeps practicing her shield exercises even while we're moving.
"You need to rest," I tell her on the fourth night when she trips over a tree root.
"I need to be strong." She stands up straight, her jaw tight. "The baby needs a mother who can protect it. Not someone who falls apart at the first sign of trouble."
"The baby needs a mother who stays alive. Being too tired can kill you just as easily as a sword."
She looks at me, her honey-brown eyes flashing. "Then teach me how to walk without getting tired. How to use my power to keep my body going. There must be a way."
There is. It's advanced, dangerous, and rarely taught because of the risks. But Leah isn't like most students.
"Energy cycling," I explain. "Using your bloodline power to boost your body's natural energy. It's like—like adding fuel to a fire. But if you use too much, you'll burn yourself out."
"Teach me."
I do. She learns in hours what should take weeks. Within a day, she's walking with new energy, her silver veins glowing faintly as they move power through her body. The technique helps her last longer, sharpens her senses, and keeps her going when her body would normally give out.
"You're amazing," I tell her on the sixth night as we camp by a river.
"I'm stubborn," she corrects me, but she's smiling.
"That too."
We reach the edge of the academy on the seventh night. Obsidian Moon Academy rises up against the starry sky, its towers and spires dark and imposing. Memories flood back—centuries of service, politics, and loneliness. This place was as much my prison as my home.
"How do we get in?" Leah asks.
"The secret ways." I lead her to a hidden entrance in the academy's eastern wall—a tunnel the Noct family has used for centuries that the Council doesn't know about. The entrance is hidden behind a waterfall, and the sound of the water covers our approach.
We wade through the tunnel and come out in the academy's basement—a maze of storage rooms and forgotten hallways beneath the main buildings. From here, we can reach the Forgotten Walk without being seen.
"The entrance to the Obsidian Throne is in the Walk?" Leah asks.
"Deep inside it. Past the safe areas. Right in the middle of the death-curse."
She swallows. "The death-curse. Can we survive it?"
"With your bloodline—yes. The curse was made to keep intruders out. The Progenitor's heir is immune."
"And you?"
"Your blood is in me now. The ritual's protection covers both of us."
She nods, accepting this. "Then let's go."
We move through the basement, silent as shadows. The academy is quiet above us—students sleeping, teachers on patrol, the endless machine of education grinding on. We pass beneath the dining hall, the library, the dorms. Familiar places that now feel strange to us.
Then we reach the door. Ancient stone, carved with the Progenitor's symbol, leading to the Forgotten Walk.
Leah puts her hand on the door. The silver veins light up, and the stone door rumbles open.
"Welcome home," I whisper.
She looks at me, her eyes bright with silver light. "Not home. The beginning."
We step through, into the darkness beyond.