Chapter 53 Revelation

Chapter 53 Revelation
"Silence!"

The sharp, dominating voice of an elder sheared through the clearing like a descending blade. The oppressive atmospheric pressure that followed it was instantaneous, dropping over the cracked stone path and instantly smothering the volatile residue of light and dark magic.

Examiner Vane’s gray eyes flared with a cold, absolute authority as he stepped forward, his heavy, midnight-blue robes sweeping over the dirt. He positioned his body deliberately, cutting off the sightline between Ravelyn and the two powerful elites behind her.

"How preposterous," Vane said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble that vibrated with absolute finality. "I expected a high-ranking sector assessment from the academy's elite, not a localized circus of personal grievances. The eastern perimeter is actively under siege. Commander Lucius, escort Seraphine to the secondary medical pavilion immediately. Prince Kieran, return to your sector command post. Now."

Lucius’s jaw tightened, his golden stare lingering on Ravelyn for a fractured second. The undeniable pull in his chest was practically tearing him apart, warred against by the absolute self-hatred of wanting to protect a girl he was supposed to find repulsive.

But with Seraphine whimpering at his side and an elder of the council issuing a direct mandate, his duty left him no choice. He gave a single, rigid nod, grabbed Seraphine by her uninjured arm, and vanished into a blinding flash of holy light.

Kieran didn't move immediately. He lingered in the shadows, his icy eyes locked onto Ravelyn with a dark, calculating intensity. He didn't like being managed, and he liked Vane's sudden interference even less. He stepped closer to Ravelyn, his presence a heavy, comforting chill, but before his hand could find her waist again, Ravelyn stepped away.

"Go, Kieran," Ravelyn muttered, her voice raw and clipped. She didn't look at him. "I'm fine. Just get out of here."

Kieran’s lips thinned into a sharp line, a brief flash of irritation crossing his handsome features before he chuckled darkly. "Don't keep me waiting too long in the inner ring, little spark." With a final, warning glance at Vane, he dissolved into a cloud of jet-black smoke, leaving the clearing completely dead.

—-

As soon as Lucius, Seraphine, and Kieran left, Vane lifted his left hand. In that exact moment, a shimmering barrier of soundproof magic rippled through the air, expanding outward until it locked into place, completely cutting them off from the chaotic echoing of the academy horns.

Vane ran a hand through his silver hair, letting out a sharp exhale as his rigid posture slumped by a fraction. "I can't believe I am actually doing this," he muttered to himself.

Ravelyn frowned, her snarky defense mechanism instantly kicking in. "Doing what? Look, Professor, if you didn't actually want to talk to me, you could have just left me alone so I could go back to killing those monsters. My counter is waiting."

Elder Vane smiled grimly, his gray eyes locking onto hers. "Oh, you will kill them. But for now, we need to talk, and you are going to need to sit down."

Ravelyn’s frown deepened. She looked around the ruined, soot-covered clearing, folded her arms tightly over her chest, and raised an eyebrow. "Well, Professor, I don't exactly see a chair—"

Before she could even complete her sentence, Vane snapped his fingers.

With a sharp crack of localized displacement magic, two high-backed wooden chairs and a dark timber table materialized directly out of thin air between them. Ravelyn choked on her words, her jaw tightening as she stared at the sudden furniture sitting in the middle of a battlefield.

Without saying a word, she stubbornly marched over and sat down, refusing to let him see how much the display had startled her.

Vane sat down across from her, placing his hands flat on the newly manifested table. His clinical, robotic demeanor was gone, replaced by a heavy, looming seriousness. "I have something to tell you, Ravelyn."

"I figured you had something to say," she snapped back, leaning forward with her elbows on the wood. "So hurry up. The assessment is still active."

Vane didn't beat around the bush. He leaned in, his voice dropping into a low, terrifyingly precise register. "I know you and Kieran broke into the vault. I know you took the angel’s forbidden text, and I know you drank from the vial."

Hearing that, Ravelyn instantly became nervous. A cold jolt of adrenaline shot straight down her spine. Her breathing hitched, and she stopped moving entirely, her eyes wide as she simply stared at him, trying to keep her face a blank mask while her mind raced for an excuse.

Vane didn't wait for her to deny it. He continued smoothly, "Actually, I knew it was going to happen. It was part of the prophecy. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. And now—"

"Wait, what prophecy?" Ravelyn interrupted, her hand slamming onto the table.

"I am coming to that—"

"So there's a prophecy written about me now?" she cut him off again, her nineteen-year-old rage and frustration finally boiling over. A bitter, mocking laugh escaped her lips. "Is this some kind of sick game the academy is playing now? You drag me here against my will, treat me like a low-tier piece of trash, and now you want to tell me I’m part of some cosmic script?"

Vane’s eyes flashed with a sudden, commanding heat. "No. And you should just shut up and listen!"

Ravelyn flinched back, her scowl deepening into pure venom.

Deep within her mind, the violent presence of Malphas felt the elder's shout as a direct threat. The shadow beast roared within her soul, its dark, predatory instinct preparing to pounce forward and tear Vane’s throat out. The air around Ravelyn’s shoulders began to thicken with an aggressive, oily black mist.

“No. Back down,” Ravelyn commanded internally, forcing her mental walls up. She dragged Malphas back into the deep recesses of her sea of consciousness, suppressing the beast before it could expose her entirely.

Once the shadows settled, Vane exhaled, his expression turning grimly serious as he started to explain. "When you first arrived, during the evaluation, the orb produces a completely different light depending on what enters it. I am the only one in this entire institution who has been trained time and time again to identify the true dragon-born bloodline. The text speaks of the Last Primal, the final spark that would unlock their abilities in a random, chaotic moment, like ripping a veil away from a hidden world."

Ravelyn stared at him, her chest heaving. "Dragon-born? What the hell is that? You stamped my file as a low-tier shadow Wraith!"

"Because I assigned that class to you intentionally," Vane stated flatly, his gray eyes unblinking. "I did it for your own good, Ravelyn. If you had been identified in public as a dragon-born, the races who are still entirely adamant on getting rid of any remaining dragons would have hunted you across every sector. Every other creature in the high orders would have hunted you for your blood. I did what I had to do to keep you alive, allowing the others of your kind to live in the shadows of history."

Ravelyn stared at the table, her mind spinning so fast she felt physically sick. The man had just walked out here, dumped a massive, life-altering confession about her bloodline onto her like he was throwing confetti at a party, and now he was just sitting there acting like it was an everyday occurrence.

"Are you serious right now?" Ravelyn whispered, her voice shaking with raw, undisguised fury as she stood up so fast her chair scraped violently against the stone. "You expect me to just take this? You dump this information on me and expect me to just go figure it out? I don't have the ability to just navigate a dead dragon bloodline, Vane! I need to get stronger just to keep myself from unraveling, and if this is all you came out here to say, then I am leaving!"

"You can't leave the academy," Vane said coldly, remaining seated. "Not yet."