Another explosion rocked the academy grounds, this one close enough that I felt the heat on my face. The crimson sky above had become a battlefield, filled with floating figures hurling devastation at each other.

"Who would attack the academy?" I asked Kiran, though I had a sneaking suspicion I already knew the answer. "Who even has that kind of power?"

"Only the Order of the First Light would attempt something this bold," Kiran replied, his face grim. "They've grown more aggressive lately, but this..." he shook his head in disbelief, "this is unprecedented."

The Order of the First Light - followers of the blue sun, sworn enemies of the academy and everything it represented. I'd stumbled into more than just a conflict between villages and raiders.

This was a war between two ancient powers, each claiming divine right through their respective celestial patrons.

"Follow me," Kiran said, already moving. "The academy has evacuation points for situations like this. There's one in the lowest levels that can shield us from..." He ducked as debris rained down from another explosion. "...from that."

I couldn't help but laugh, though there was no humor in it. "The irony," I muttered as we started running. "First I was fleeing from the Skybound, now I'm fleeing with them."

"What?" Kiran glanced at me in confusion.

"Nothing." I shrugged off the blue and gold-trimmed robe Elder Molric had lent me.

It had belonged to his previous student back when he was Rank 2, and while the disguise had served its purpose with Zoren, it would only draw unwanted attention now.

"What are you doing?" Kiran asked, pausing to look back at me.

"Higher-ranked robes will catch the eye of their elites," I explained, letting the expensive garment fall. "Better to look like an ordinary initiate."

Kiran nodded in understanding as we continued running.

Above us, the academy's defensive barrier shimmered with each impact - a vast dome of interlocked runic patterns that stretched from horizon to horizon. The attacks hitting it were visible now - massive spheres of blue energy that exploded against the shield in spectacular displays of light.

Kiran must have noticed my concerned stare. "Don't worry," he said, managing a tight smile. "That barrier has stood for millenniums. It would take something far more powerful than—" Kiran's face suddenly drained of what little color remained.

The barrier vanished.

Not gradually, not with any warning – one moment it was there, the next it simply ceased to exist.

The sudden absence was like a physical blow, leaving me dizzy as the protective energies I hadn't even realized I was sensing disappeared.

"That's impossible," Kiran whispered. "Unless..." His eyes widened in realization. "Someone betrayed us. They either disabled the barrier from inside or gave the Order information about the runic formations."

"Master!" Azure's warning cut through my thoughts. "Incoming attack, left side!"

I grabbed Kiran without hesitation, activating Blink Step.

We vanished in a blur of motion just as a sphere of blue fire screamed through the space we'd occupied. The fireball detonated against the ground with devastating force, turning the perfectly maintained grass into a smoking crater twenty feet wide. The heat was intense enough that I felt it even from our new position.

"That..." Kiran swallowed hard. "That was a Rank 3 attack."

We looked up to see two figures battling far above - one in the purple robes of a Rank 3 Skybound, the other in the white and gold vestments of what looked like a priest. They moved almost too fast to follow, their exchanges marked by explosions of blue and red energy. The fireball that had nearly killed us had been nothing more than a deflected attack.

"Are they actually priests?" I asked, noting their religious-looking attire.

Kiran shook his head with a hint of disgust. "Lightweavers. They like to act holy, dress up in those vestments and call themselves priests, but it's all theater. They're runic practitioners like us, just drawing power from the blue sun instead of the red. The religious act is just their way of justifying their actions and manipulating the mortals."

The false priest above us unleashed another barrage of azure flames, each blast carrying enough power to level a building. The Skybound countered with shields of crimson energy, but some of the attacks still broke through, leaving scorch marks on their robes.

"Seems like effective theater," I commented, watching another explosion light up the sky.

"The Order of the First Light knows how to put on a show," Kiran agreed with a frown. "But don't let the act fool you. They're just as ruthless as any Skybound. Maybe more so, since they've convinced themselves they're righteous."

"Master," Azure called me, "it appears everyone in this world is driven mad by the two suns. The methods and justifications differ, but the end result seems to be the same - violence and fanaticism."

I looked up at the twin celestial bodies hanging in the sky - one a comforting blue that seemed to promise stability and peace, the other a bloody crimson that stirred something primal in my core.

I frowned, realizing how naive I'd been. I'd assumed the followers of the blue sun would be the sane ones, the reasonable counterpoint to the red sun's obvious corruption. But if Kiran was right and not just spouting propaganda, then they were actually worse - their madness just wore a prettier mask.

Was the Two Suns world some sort of cursed realm?

"But right now, we need to get inside," Kiran continued, pulling me toward the academy's main structure. "The evacuation points are in the lowest levels."

As we made our way to the main building, the sky above us was chaos incarnate.

Everywhere I looked, battles raged between Skybound and Lightweavers. Runic formations lit up the air like constellations - circles of power that unleashed devastation in a dozen different forms.

A Rank 4 Skybound traced wind runes in the air, their fingers leaving trails of crimson energy. The runes pulsed once before unleashing a barrage of wind blades, each one sharp enough to slice through stone. The attack turned the very air into a lethal storm of invisible edges.

The Lightweaver countered with a barrier of pure azure light that shimmered like a soap bubble. The wind blades crashed against it in a cacophony of shrieking air and flashing energy, each impact sending ripples across the barrier's surface.

Not waiting for the assault to end, the Lightweaver spun their hands, manifesting a complex runic array that sent pillars of blue fire spiraling toward their opponent.

The Skybound responded by forming more wind runes, creating a swirling vortex that dispersed the flames and sent them scattering harmlessly into the sky.

Another battle nearby ended in an instant when a Lightweaver's light blade severed his opponent's head, sending the body tumbling from the sky. But before he could celebrate, a blast of crimson energy from above reduced him to ash.

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Watching the sheer power being thrown around made me feel small and insignificant. Even with all my enhancements, I was nothing compared to these titans. The energy radiating from their clashes alone made my skin crawl and my bones ache.

"Don't focus on them," Kiran advised. "Right now, only the higher ranks are fighting. The Order's Rank 1 disciples won't enter the battle until the skies are cleared. That's when we'd be expected to fight." He tugged my arm. "Until then, our job is to get to safety."

I nodded, trying to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Then something caught my eye – a familiar figure floating high above the academy's western courtyard.

Vayara.

She faced off against a Lightweaver wielding a staff made of condensed light, their battle illuminating the clouds above. Her ice runes activated in complex patterns across her skin as she wove between the false priest's attacks, retaliating with precisely aimed spears of crimson-tinted ice.

"You dare challenge the beloved's chosen?" The priest shouted. "Your corruption ends today!"

"Spare me your zealotry," Vayara snapped back, frost crystallizing in the air around her. "I've heard enough sermons from the elders for one lifetime."

She gestured sharply, and dozens of ice needles materialized around her. Each one caught the red sunlight differently, creating a deadly rainbow as they shot toward her opponent.

The priest's light rune flared as he spun his staff, creating a dome of pure radiance that shattered the ice projectiles before they could reach him. "Your parlor tricks cannot stand against true faith!"

"Faith?" Vayara laughed, the sound as cold as her powers. "Let me show you something worth believing in."

The temperature plummeted as she activated her trump card – a rune hidden beneath her hair. Frost spread across her skin in intricate patterns as she gathered power, the air becoming itself becoming solid around her.

The priest must have sensed the danger. His barrier expanded, layers of light stacking on top of each other as he poured everything he had into defense.

It wasn't enough.

Vayara's attack struck with the force of an avalanche, flash-freezing everything in its path. The priest's barriers shattered one after another, each layer buying only a fraction of a second before succumbing to the cold.

When the ice cleared, the priest lay broken on the ground, his robes covered in frost. For a moment, I thought it was over.

Then light began gathering around his body.

The Lightweaver stood, his injuries closing before my eyes as sacred energy knit flesh and bone back together. His expression was serene as he faced Vayara again, now floating at ground level.

"The beloved's light cleanses all wounds," he said simply, raising his staff. "Your ice cannot triumph over divine grace."

Vayara's eyes widened as she realized the truth – she'd exhausted herself landing a killing blow, only to watch her opponent literally rise from the dead. She turned to flee, but her movements were sluggish from fatigue.

"There is no escape from judgment." The priest's light rune blazed as he gestured with his staff. Spears of pure radiance materialized around him, each one aimed at Vayara's heart.

She managed to raise a hasty ice shield, but she was too exhausted to make it thick enough. The light spears pierced through her defense like it wasn't there.

The first spear caught her in the shoulder, spinning her around. The second punched through her chest. The third and fourth struck her legs.

She fell like a broken doll, her connection to the red sun failing as she plummeted toward the ground. Her body struck the academy's courtyard with a sickening sound, bouncing once before coming to rest in a crumpled heap.

I watched it happen with mixed emotions.

This was the same woman who had massacred an entire village without remorse, who had seen mortal lives as insignificant. Yet seeing her cut down so easily was... unsettling.

It was a harsh reminder that in this world, power was relative. Today's unstoppable force could become tomorrow's victim in an instant.

"We need to get inside," Kiran said, as we arrived at the academy's main building. "Now."

We weren't the only ones fleeing inside. Other initiates rushed past us, their faces showing varying degrees of panic and determination. Some clutched weapons or treasured possessions, while others ran with nothing but the robes on their backs.

Their conversations carried to us in fragments as we joined the flow of students.

"Did you see Elder Lune fall?"

"The barrier - how did they disable it so quickly?"

"My brother's in the outer dormitory - has anyone seen-"

"Just keep running! The evacuation point-"

We descended deeper into the academy, passing through corridors I'd never seen before. The architecture grew older the further down we went, changing from precise geometric patterns to more organic shapes carved directly into the living rock.

"These tunnels pre-date the academy itself," Kiran explained for some reason as we ran. "Some say they were built before the twin suns appeared."

I didn’t have the luxury to reply as more explosions rocked the building, sending dust raining down from the ceiling. I could hear fighting getting closer - the battle was spreading from the sky to the ground.

Finally, we reached our destination – a massive chamber deep beneath the academy.

The room itself was a marvel of ancient engineering. Runic arrays covered every surface, their patterns more complex than anything I'd seen in the modern academy. At the center stood a raised platform covered in activation circles, clearly meant to trigger whatever defenses the chamber possessed.

"We need to seal the room!" someone shouted over the noise. "Before they reach us!"

"My sister's still out there!"

"We can't wait forever!"

"Better we survive than no one!"

One of the older initiates – I recognized the aura rolling off him as a peak Rank 1 Skybound – strode toward the central platform. "We don't have time to debate this," he announced. "I'm activating the seal now."

His hand reached for the activation circle—

—and stopped.

A white-haired middle-aged man in silver robes stood beside him, one hand gently but firmly restraining the initiate's wrist. I hadn't seen him enter. By the shocked expressions around me, no one had.

"I knew you would gather here," he said softly. "I volunteered to handle this task myself. After all..." His smile was gentle, almost fatherly as he surveyed the room full of terrified students. "Someone needs to purify the red sun's spawn. Don't be afraid, children. You'll soon join the ranks of the beloved... in the next life."