Fella sat before the weird arch, the rumbling water outside soothing her mind. Rocks were pushing against her butt and thighs; she struggled to find a comfortable position to read Professor Waynar’s Mysteries of the Twelve: A Guide to the Sunken Tongue.

She had been fighting to get through the book for a couple of days. It mainly consisted of words and phrases with their translation, with a bunch of explanation of the cultural and societal aspects of the world and its kingdoms hundreds of years ago. Those parts Fella quickly flipped through, but the guide to the grammar and translation she studied in detail until she could finally come up with a translation for the text above the arch.

Ym särja Amryth Thlífen, Hjölmanen Syfjala.

Here lies Amryth the Pure, Bride of the Benignant.

And even though the revelation came with a smug sense of success, it still did not make sense to her.

Thus, Fella buried herself deep into the headmistress’ work. Had she resided in the Academy, Fella would ask her about the subject without shame, but alas, Professor Waynar was attending to some business in Andoriel.

Thinking about the headmistress deterred Fella’s thoughts to … whatever happened three days ago. The Academy’s life and future hang in the balance as students were not allowed to leave its grounds. The gates had closed and a detachment of Crownguard stood by the walls day and night. They had not entered the gardens yet, but their numbers were swelling by each morning. Professor Vikaru, assistant principle in Professor Waynar’s absence kept discipline up among the walls of the Academy, but lessons had been cancelled for those days.

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Fella wondered when the comedy would end. She had not seen her brother in days; and yet gossip told he was regarded high, someone who had finally defied Bethlorn’s false claim to the throne.

The entrance of the basement was left unguarded, at least.

A low hum of unearthly origin broke her from her thoughts. Fella glanced up at the arch; the writing glowed in a hue of azure. She turned her head, afraid that someone reached the cavern, but saw no one. She stood, put the book down, and stepped to the recess beneath the arch.

The view of the ocean slowly became blurred. Some sort of veil was descending around the recess, as though reality collapsed on its own, the threads of existence melting. Fella took a step back, watching the scene in horror—she calmed only after the image stilled and the glow of the arch extended from the writing and crawled down to the ground, creating a visible frame for the recess.

Fella blinked, brow furrowed. She still heard the rumble of the ocean outside, the waves breaking at the rocks beneath—and yet, she saw a weakly lit cave instead of the tiny rocky platform, as if a door opened to … somewhere. It must not have been the same cave for the rocks seemed much darker, brown, even, with no visible crystals in the vicinity.

Leaning down for the book, she cautiously looked around once more. If that indeed was a door to somewhere, it must have been connected to the faelin, though she knew nothing about how it could be done. No gemstones were able to bridge distances, and she had not heard about similar Reborn powers either. She had not heard of Reborn powers much at all, in fact.

She touched the kyanite in her neck. Its presence soothed her mind. She had already written to Medh about the cave, but the girl did not respond. She thought it wise not to meddle with the power she had witnessed, not on her own, at least.

Fella clutched the stone in her palm. She had no idea how or why the gemstone wake when she was searching for the cave, but she hoped she would be able to use it again. She stepped closer to the phenomenon. Feeling helpless as to what she should do, she just tried to focus her thoughts on the gemstone and the door in front of her, mumbling her wishes, hoping it would have an effect.

And perhaps it was her strong will, perhaps it was not—likely she simply entered the proximity of the spell, and the gemstone sensed it immediately—but the next moment a white, wreathing mist covered the door, then vanished. The rocky balcony with the view of the ocean came back, and the menacing glow pulled back to the text and faded; though not entirely.

Fella sighed. She picked up her bag and turned to leave, thinking of a way how she could reach Medh with no opportunities to leave the Academy.