Chapter One: The Silver Flame Returns
Part Six: Selka's Promise
Date: Junilis 3rd, Year 204 PCR (Midnight)
Location: Lyceum Backpool – Behind the Dormitories
There were places in the Lyceum untouched by Doctrine's laws.
Not forbidden.
Just… forgotten.
The backpool was one of them—tucked behind the dorms, shaped like a crescent of glass where memory could breathe. Moonlight filtered through the veilvine trees above, painting slow rivers of silver across the water's surface.
Selka sat at its edge, legs folded beneath her, arms wrapped tight around her knees. She hadn't moved in hours.
She didn't need to.
The hum out here was enough to hold her still.
Not the wind.
Not the trees.
The hum of him.
She heard his steps before he said anything.
Of course she did.
She always heard him before the world did.
When he finally sat beside her, she didn't look at him.
Didn't blink.
Just whispered, "You snuck out again."
Zephryn exhaled. "You always know."
"I felt it. Bubbalor woke."
Her voice was soft, but not gentle.
Not tonight.
He said nothing. The silence between them had changed since his return. It used to be warm, even in pain. Now it felt like something else. A silence that echoed.
"I thought you were dead," she said.
Her voice cracked. Only a little.
Zephryn lowered his head.
"I was," he replied.
"But I came back."
"No," she snapped, turning now. "You didn't come back. You ran. You hid. From all of us. From me."
A beat. The wind shifted.
"I saw the Lyceum in dreams," he murmured. "But… my memories—Solara—everything was shards. I didn't even know who I was until Bubbalor led me to her glyph again."
Selka's hands curled into fists.
"And that's why you stayed away? Because you were scared? Because of… shame?"
He didn't respond.
"You think running means you kept her safe," she said, voice trembling now. "But she gave her memory to bring you back."
She stood, turned toward the water. "And you gave her silence."
Zephryn stood too. Not angry. Just… small.
"I thought—if they knew about Bubbalor, they'd come for him."
"They still might."
"I didn't want to lose him too."
"And what about me?" Her voice broke. "You already left."
The glyph on his arm flared—just a flicker. Silver.
She saw it. Didn't flinch.
"You didn't even try to reach me," she whispered. "Six years. Not one attempt."
"I remembered your face before anything else," he said softly.
"But I didn't remember your name until last year."
That stopped her.
He stepped closer.
"I dreamed of a girl who stood in front of fire for me. And I thought if I ever remembered her name, I'd come back."
"And you did?" she asked.
"…No," he admitted. "You found me."
A hush fell again.
The pool shimmered.
Selka looked at him long and hard.
And something changed.
"I told Thaelen it was my call. That I chose to leave the gate. That you didn't force me."
She sat again, arms crossing her chest.
"What did he say?"
"He said: 'I can cover for you once. But the next time… you'll hum in a cell.'"
Zephryn sat beside her again.
"I'm sorry."
"No. You're not. Not yet."
Then softer. "But maybe you could be."
They sat in stillness.
For a while.
Only the wind moved.
"Did the Pulse Eye give you a name?" Selka asked after some time.
Zephryn nodded.
"Silver Crest," he said.
She tilted her head. "That's… strange. Glyphs don't usually have names unless—"
"Unless they're remembered," he finished.
A pause.
"I think I've always had it," he added. "Even before I could cast."
Selka leaned into her arms again.
"Maybe you're not broken," she said. "Maybe you're just… unfinished."
Far away, the Hollow Choir watched the replay of their conversation from fractured echo mirrors.
They paused on Selka's last words.
"Unfinished," said the stitched-fingered one. "Interesting."
"No," the Smiling Cantor replied. "Remembered."
And in another room, where no Choir member stood, a recording flickered.
It showed Bubbalor sleeping.
But in his breath—
A glyph glowed gold.
Not lightning. Not flame.
A pulse signature.
Solara's.
Back at the pool, Selka finally looked at Zephryn.
Her eyes weren't angry now. Just tired. Wary.
"If you disappear again," she said, "I won't come looking."
A beat.
"I'll burn this place instead."
He nodded slowly.
Then finally replied:
"If I disappear again… I hope it's for something that matters."