SHATTERED REALM: FORGOTTEN ECHOES

It had been a little over a month since they were accepted into the academy, and on this particular morning, a young boy chased after a girl.

Through the classroom corridors, they run, giggling and laughing hard as she taunted him.

"You're slow," the short girl said to the boy as she rounded a corner.

"I gave you a head start, don't push your luck!" He feigned annoyance, but his heart beat with the joys of a young boy in love.

She said she'd accept him only if he caught up to her. That was all.

And she was laughing about it too, which meant only one thing.

My charms work on her. Oh, they're all gonna be jealous!

He could only imagine the faces of all the other guys who only dreamt of her looking at them walking hand in hand.

He suddenly received a burst of energy and sped up.

The class was quiet at first, but then they started chattering senselessly. Mozrael couldn't concentrate fully on the books she was reading, so she packed them and got up, deciding to go to the library.

She'd already wanted to go there earlier, so this was a perfect reason to.

Aramith was there, but she didn't want to appear too dependent on his company. This was how she'd been doing things.

She cast a glance at Sylvia, who just sat there this time with her arms crossed and her legs on a table. She seemed lost in thought.

Mozrael came to realize Sylvia wasn't a girl who just looked down on others. She rather behaved like a delinquent.

The girl always dressed properly and aristocratically, but then she'd do things like that. And if someone appeared annoying, she'd hit them. She was marked among the strongest, so no one defied her when she struck them.'

Mozrael stepped out, but as she rounded a corner, someone hugged her.

It was none other than Elira. The short girl looked pitiful as she looked up at Mozrael. Tears threatened to escape her eyes.

Mozrael's expression softened immediately.

"What now?" She asked.

Elira pointed back. "Someone's chasing me, big sister Mozrael. I rejected him, but he won't stop chasing me." She looked like she was about to cry.

Mozrael let her stand behind her, a small frown on her face as she waited for whoever it was that decided to chase after her roommate.

"Where are you, girl?" the boy asked loudly the moment he turned a corner.

He rushed forward so fast that he didn't notice Mozrael.

He whizzed past them without noticing a thing.

Elira sighed. "Thank y—"

"Aha! There you are!" The boy shouted

He turned around, coming to catch her, but Mozrael pushed her aside and grabbed the boy's hand.

"Wait, why are— gulp." He broke into a cold sweat, now finding himself standing before Mozrael.

Looking around, he couldn't help but shiver.

No wonder no other guys were near here.

He tried to pull his hand out of her grip, but that was impossible. She held on with an iron grip.

"I—it was a a-a mistake. I wasn't t— trying to do anything, I—I swear." He swallowed hard, forcing a smile as he tried to sound confident, but shaking and stammering did little to make him look confident.

Exactly two weeks ago, some boys tried to sneak into the girls' dormitories. Their goals were unknown, but they were unlucky to meet Mozrael that night. She'd just returned from talking with Aramith, and when she saw them all dressed in black, she didn't think twice before burning them.

That night, blue flames burned bright on the school grounds, and all the girls came out to find seven charred bodies. A few had already seen them but were afraid to act.

But after mozrael had weakened them with fire, they could only weep as the other girls beat them up.

The rest of the boys could only imagine what pain they were going through to have them screaming so loudly, flinching when they came out to see the pile of unrecognizable bodies at their doors.

Ever since then, all boys had steered clear of the cold-hearted 'untouchable fire queen'.

But there were a few who hoped to try their luck on her one day. They could only burn their hatred toward Aramith and Aris—the only males she freely interacted with.

The rest, however, feared her more than they feared the Fathers.

This poor boy was in deep trouble. He turned to Elira for help, but she just stuck her tongue out and turned away.

I've been set up!

He wanted to cry.

Mozrael looked straight into his eyes with cold, threatening eyes. A soft glow blinked in her eyes, and he knew he was dead.

Before he could uflinch, blue flames erupted from his hand and covered his entire body.

"AAAH! I'm burning! I'm dying!" He screamed. A few students came out of their classrooms to see, but ignored them when they saw the blue flames. The girls adored Mozrael.

"He deserves it," one girl said.

"A pervert, I'm sure."

"Boys disgust me."

"We're so lucky she's here."

But the boys who saw this wanted to protest the injustice.

"Someone should get rid of her."

"She's such a pain."

"Why's she always with Aramith if she hates boys this much? Is she saying he's better than us?"

"I know, right? He doesn't even have a place to sleep."

"I'm burning!!!!"

The boy's scream cracked into high pitch, his body writhing under the flames. To him, it was death itself. To the onlookers, it was justice.

Ignoring the ruckus, Mozrael left for the library. This was the fourth person she'd had to protect Elira from. Her overly friendly behavior gave some guys the wrong idea that she 'liked' them, which led to this.

The girl was fast, but not strong, so Mozrael took it upon herself to protect her 'little sister'

For the duration they'd been in the academy, no teachers had ever come to class. The only thing they did that was close to studying was sparring matches on the training grounds.

Frequently, the Four Pillars would go around observing them.

They never intervened in whatever they did. Apart from chasing them randomly in the mornings and evenings, they left them to do as they pleased.

Some studied, others played around, and others trained on their own.

The very serious ones found it uncomfortable that they weren't doing any real studies, but they had no choice. Ilthane hinted at lessons changing in the future, so they were hopeful.

In the large library, only a total of twelve students were present.

Mozrael quickly found Aramith sitting with Aris at a table in one corner— their usual corner.

Elira followed her to sit with them, but the girl was quiet now. She was always like this when Aramitha nd Aris were present. mozrael found it hard to believe the same chirpy girl could be so quiet.

Aramith read a book he'd randomly picked.

A complicated drawing was on a sheet that was spread across the table. It was a new item Aris was crafting.

Several metal pieces were strewn across the table as the boy clanked, screwed, and twisted pieces together. He was always creating something, but they rarely worked the way he'd planned.

Most of them were, in fact, dangerous. His latest creation, a gun that fired sharged Youm, lay beside him.

It looked nice, complex, and expensive. Except...it shot backwards. Aramith had to quickly dive in to pull the boy aside.

And now, he was making another item.

"What is this for?" Mozrael nudged Aramith. At times like this, the 'untouchable fire queen' looked rather soft and approachable.

He blinked at what was on the table and shrugged. "He said it should be able to make a shield to protect the user." He pointed his nose at the dome-shaped net drawn on the corner of the sheet. "Though...knowing Aris, it could very well kill the user."

Mozrael had come to accept him, but he was still an odd one.

She took her book and proceeded to read.

The morning went by. Aramith and Mozrael reading, Aris tinkering, and Elira just looking at faces.

She kept shifting in her seat, getting up to walk around a bit, then coming back to sit with them.

Mozrael told her to leave a few times, but she decided to stay.

At noon, the screech alerted them that it was time for lunch.

Mozrael and Elira went to the dining room, while Aris and Aramith remained in the library.

After a while, they left for one of the grass patches outside. Shortly after, Mozrael came to join them. Using the bracelet, Aramith produced lunch for them.

Public gatherings were compulsory, so Mozrael had to make an appearance there before leaving to join them for lunch.

"Mozrael! Mozrael!"

She knew that voice before she even turned. Elira's usually light tone was cracked, ragged—off. When Mozrael lifted her gaze, she saw her friend rushing toward them, waving with both hands as if warding off some unseen disaster.

Elira skidded to a halt, bent double and panting so hard it seemed the air might tear from her lungs. Her face was pale, her eyes wide. For once, not a trace of her playful spark shone there.

"Training grounds—now. Everyone. They called us."

Mozrael blinked. Her chest tightened, though she didn't know why. Something about Elira's panic pressed on her, like the moment before a storm breaks.

Aramith leaned back, eyebrows arched. "Seems pretty urgent for the announcement to be made during lunch."

"If they wanted us to be there, they wouldn't say it here, right?" he asked, voice calm, almost teasing.

Mozrael's lips parted, but she didn't answer. She could only glance between Aramith's easy composure and Elira's frantic grip on her sleeve. The contrast made her uneasy.

"You should go," Aramith said, already turning back to his plate. "I'll wait. Just tell me later."

Her fingers curled against her skirt. It was moments like these that she felt Aramith's separation from everyone else.

He'd come to accept it easily, but she did not. Every part of her resisted leaving him there, but Elira's hand was warm, insistent, trembling. Mozrael swallowed hard, then nodded once.

"Alright…" Her voice was thin, uncertain. She stood, reluctantly following as Elira tugged her toward the training grounds.