Episode 4: Shield and Shadows

Everything moved in slow motion.

Tyler's eyes gleamed gold-fully shifted, half-lost to the beast. His breath came in ragged growls, body trembling with untamed rage. His fangs extended and claws shimmered mid-transition. Leon snarled back, blood dripping from his lip, but there was hesitation in his stance now. Even he sensed Tyler wasn't in control.

Just moments before, Leon had smirked and muttered under his breath, "Still letting your brother clean up your messes, Tyler?"

That did it.

Students screamed and scattered, pressing against the walls. Some tried to record the scene with spell-glasses before a staff ward silenced all devices.

Ellona stood frozen. This wasn't a scuffle. It was a breaking point.

The tension in the air prickled against her skin like needles of static.

Leon moved, but Tyler moved faster-driven by something deeper than anger. Primal fury. Hunger. Desperation.

"Tyler, stop!" Timothy's voice boomed down the corridor.

Tyler turned-not toward Timothy.

Toward Ellona.

And charged.

She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move.

Something inside her pulsed. A voice. A scream without sound.

Then-light.

A dome-like barrier exploded from her body, silver and blue and vibrating with energy. Tyler slammed into it with a brutal thud, rebounding hard against the floor.

Her chest burned. It wasn't pain-but like something uncoiled inside her, too large for her skin. The moment it exploded outward, she felt... emptied.

Gasps echoed.

The light faded slowly, leaving a stunned silence. Cyrus appeared at the end of the corridor, arm raised, but too late.

Everyone had seen it.

The shield had come from her.

---

Tatiana rushed to Ellona's side, grabbing her shoulders. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Tatiana pressed, eyes darting to Tyler being helped up by staff members.

Ellona's face remained stoic, but Tatiana caught the tightness in her jaw, the slight tremor in her fingers.

She wasn't fine.

"Your magic... what was that?"

"I didn't cast anything," Ellona said, voice low. "It just... happened."

Tatiana looked over to where the shield had shimmered. "That wasn't just regular defense magic. It felt ancient. Like something I've only read about."

Ellona remained silent. Inside her, something stirred. A memory not hers. A presence she didn't understand.

Tyler stood nearby, bruised and shaking. "I-I didn't mean it. I saw something in her. It wasn't her-it was something else."

Cyrus stepped in, commanding. "Disciplinary measures will be taken. Now. Move."

He caught Ellona's eye for a split second. It wasn't judgment. It was curiosity-and fear.

---

Far from the chaos, Rodrigo stood in the private chamber of the Council of Elders.

"She's awakening," he said calmly, arms behind his back.

The Elders exchanged glances.

"You said we had until the Equinox."

"I said we hoped we did," Rodrigo corrected. "The bloodline is stronger than we recorded. Her mother's gifts... weren't entirely dormant."

"And what of the father?"

Rodrigo didn't speak.

The Elder with golden runes on his robes leaned forward. "If she unlocks everything-?"

"She'll either save Axelis... or tear it apart."

---

That night, back in the dorm, Tatiana sat cross-legged on her bed, hair wrapped in starlight braids. "You're trending in the whisper network, y'know."

Ellona said nothing. She was sitting on the windowsill, eyes fixed on the stars.

"You really don't care?"

"I do. I just don't want them to know that."

Tatiana smiled. "You act all cold, but you're not heartless."

Ellona didn't respond. Her fingers clutched the edge of the acceptance letter.

"I didn't want this," she said suddenly.

Tatiana looked up. "What?"

"To be different. I just wanted a normal school. A normal life."

"Well... welcome to Astrea," Tatiana said with a wink. "We're all messed up here."

---

Beneath the west wing, Cyrus walked into the sealed archive chamber.

With a flick of his hand, a golden seal opened the file drawer labeled: Rare Blood Cases.