Morgana’s presence pressed against the edges of rlin’s awareness like a cold fingertip drawing a line down his spine—not painful, not hostile, but unmistakably intentional. She wasn’t observing the class anymore. She was observing him. Only him.
But she wasn’t approaching.
She was waiting.
For what, rlin wasn’t sure, but the timing made his pulse tighten.
Rowan dismissed the lecture eventually, closing his notes with a decisive snap and muttering sothing about "practical demonstrations tomorrow." Students packed up, voices rising again as the spell of focus broke. Chairs scraped against stone. The room buzzed with that chaotic rush of people trying to leave first.
rlin stayed seated just a heartbeat longer than the rest.
Not by choice.
Morgana’s mana signature remained in the room even as students hurried out, faint as a breath against glass, but he could feel her attention settling, focusing, narrowing.
He stood slowly, gathering his things.
Elara stood with him imdiately, close enough that their arms brushed. She didn’t speak, but her eyes were already scanning the room with the sa vigilance as Dorian.
Nathan planted himself on rlin’s other side, expression full of suspicion. "You’re sensing sothing. Spill."
Ethan stopped in the aisle. "If it’s a murderous spirit haunting the classroom, I’m dropping out."
Adrian clapped rlin’s shoulder. "If it’s murderous, we’ll kill it. If it’s haunting, Ethan can punch it."
"That’s not how ghosts work," Liliana whispered anxiously.
Dorian appeared beside them like he’d materialized from the floor. "Let rlin speak before you all jump to idiotic conclusions."
rlin exhaled slowly. "She’s here."
The group froze.
Elara’s fingers tightened on her books. "Morgana."
rlin nodded once. "She’s masking her presence, but not hiding it from . She wants to know she’s watching."
Nathan frowned. "So she’s playing so kind of... what, power ga?"
"No," rlin said quietly. "If she wanted a confrontation now, she’d appear. This is different."
Dorian’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Intentional observation without engagent. She’s evaluating your current strength."
Adrian muttered, "Great. Headmistress Demon-Sorceress is doing performance reviews."
Ethan groaned. "Why can’t villains just send letters like normal people?"
rlin didn’t answer.
Because Morgana was not a villain—not yet.
In the original story, she beca the central antagonist only after her mask cracked and her centuries-old obsessions resurfaced. But right now... she played the role of Headmistress flawlessly. Too flawlessly.
And she rembered him.
Not just rlin Everhart.
rlin.
The real one.
The one whose past was folded into myths and fractured histories.
Her knowing smile during the entrance ceremony.
Her comnts about destiny.
Her eyes following him like she was looking at a ghost.
She knew him.
And she wanted him to know she knew.
As the group reached the lecture hall doors, the faint pressure of her mana finally faded—sliding away like a drawn curtain being quietly let fall.
The tension drained from rlin’s shoulders just enough for him to breathe again.
Elara didn’t wait.
She caught his wrist lightly, stopping him in the doorway while their friends walked ahead a few steps. Her voice was low, gentle, but firm.
"rlin... talk to ."
He hesitated.
Just long enough for her to add, quieter:
"I’m not asking for everything. Just don’t shut out."
Her sincerity was soft and fierce in the sa breath. A shield made of warmth, not stone. rlin swallowed, shifting a little closer so their conversation stayed private.
"She’s watching because she’s interested in my growth," he said carefully. "Not in a normal way. In a... historical way."
Elara blinked. "Historical?"
"She’s old. Older than the academy. Older than almost everything recorded." He paused. "And she knows sothing about . Sothing no one else should."
Elara processed that slowly. No panic. No fear. Just deeper focus. "Is she a threat?"
"Not directly," rlin said. "But she’s unpredictable."
"Then I’m staying close," she said simply. "As close as I need to be."
He didn’t argue.
He couldn’t.
Nathan reappeared, arms crossed. "If the Headmistress is sniffing around rlin like a suspicious cat, we’re doubling training after dinner."
Adrian grinned. "Tripling."
Ethan groaned, "Please no."
Liliana nodded. "We have to counter strong enemies with strong teamwork! That’s what Professor Elwin said!"
Dorian walked past them toward the stairwell. "Stop shouting your strategy in the hall like children."
But he still slowed down, waiting for them to follow.
Because they were a group.
Because they didn’t run when things got dangerous.
Because rlin wasn’t facing this alone.
rlin took one final glance back at the empty lecture hall.
Morgana’s presence was gone.
But the air still felt cold.
She’d reveal her intentions soon.
She always did.
But whatever ga she was starting...
rlin wasn’t the sa powerless pawn she once saw.
He turned back toward his friends.
"Let’s go," he said. "We should plan for what’s coming."
Elara fell into step beside him.
Nathan matched his pace.
Dorian trailed like a shadow.
The others closed in, forming an unspoken protective ring.
rlin felt it in his chest.
A quiet, steady certainty.
Whatever Morgana wanted—
whatever the Cabal was planning—
whatever the shifting tiline intended—
He had people.
The hallway outside the lecture hall gradually filled with the usual noise of students switching classes, but the group moved as a single, cohesive unit—tight formation, unspoken alertness, every one of them watching their surroundings without needing to be told.
rlin didn’t miss it.
They weren’t doing this just because Morgana had watched him.
They were doing it because they had decided—quietly, unanimously—that anything ssing with one of them had to go through all seven.
Nathan fell into step at rlin’s right, hands shoved into his pockets, shoulders tense in a way that didn’t match his casual posture. Elara stayed at rlin’s left, fingers grazing his sleeve from ti to ti as if double-checking he was still physically there. Dorian had already slipped into his habitual "shadow guard" pacing, walking slightly behind but angled so he had line of sight on everything around them.
Adrian and Ethan took point at the front without even discussing it, one looking like he expected a fight and the other like he expected to be annoyed by it. Liliana hurried in the middle, eyes darting, water orbs ready to form at the slightest hint of danger.
Their formation wasn’t deliberate.
It was instinct.
They’d grown into it.
rlin felt a tight warmth coil in his chest—equal parts gratitude and guilt. He hadn’t wanted to drag anyone into the shifting tiline, into threats that weren’t supposed to appear yet, into watching eyes far older and far hungrier than the academy realized.
But they ca anyway.
They always would, because in this world—this rewritten version of the novel—they weren’t background characters destined to follow Nathan.
They were rlin’s people now, too.
They reached the central stairwell, and students naturally parted around them—not because of intimidation, but because the eight of them moved like a unit that didn’t break for anyone.
Nathan glanced at rlin as they started up the stairs. "So, are we pretending everything is normal for the rest of the day, or are we doing the smart thing and actually making a plan?"
Ethan muttered, "Define smart."
"Not dying," Nathan said.
"Great," Ethan said flatly. "So we’re doing the bare minimum."
Adrian snorted. "Shut up and keep moving."
Elara spoke quietly, her voice much softer than theirs but twice as grounding. "We should go sowhere private. Not the dorms—too many ears."
"There’s an unused training courtyard behind the west hall," Liliana offered. "Hardly anyone goes there unless they get lost."
Dorian nodded once. "Acceptable."
They turned down a side corridor, away from the crowd. The noise of the academy dimd behind them, replaced by the softer hum of distant mana arrays and the muffled echo of footsteps.
Only when they reached the courtyard—an open stone space bordered by ivy-covered walls—did rlin finally let himself pause.
The mont he did, the others ford a semicircle in front of him, each waiting with varying levels of patience.
Nathan crossed his arms. "Alright. Out with it. Morgana doesn’t watch random students. You don’t get tense for no reason. What’s the connection?"
rlin leaned against the old stone bench, breathing out slowly. "I told Elara part of it. She’s interested in —not as a student, but as sothing older. Sothing she rembers."
Liliana blinked. "Rembers? But you’re—well—you’re you."
Ethan squinted. "Please don’t tell you’re a reincarnated demigod or sothing. I don’t have the emotional bandwidth for that plot twist today."
Adrian elbowed him. "Let him speak."
rlin chose his words carefully. "I’m not a demigod. But Morgana... she’s lived long enough to know things most people only see in ancient archives. I think she recognizes sothing about —my mana pattern, my affinity structure, sothing that shouldn’t exist anymore."
Dorian’s gaze sharpened. "She thinks you’re a relic."
rlin nodded.
"Or worse," he said, "she thinks I’m connected to sothing she’s been searching for."
Elara stepped closer, her expression tightening with concern and determination. "Then we protect you. That’s all there is to it."
Nathan pointed at rlin. "And you don’t deal with her alone. Not this ti."
Adrian cracked his knuckles. "If she tries sothing, we’ll handle it."
Ethan sighed dramatically. "We’re going to get expelled fighting the Headmistress. Calling it now."
Liliana shook her head fiercely. "No one is fighting anyone. We’re supporting rlin, that’s all."
Dorian’s voice was cool as shadow. "Support includes eliminating threats before they escalate."
rlin stared at them all, one by one, stunned by how unwavering they were.
They didn’t hesitate.
They didn’t falter.
They didn’t treat him like soone fragile or soone suspicious.
They just accepted the danger and shifted formations around him without complaint.
He let out a slow breath.
"...Thank you," he said quietly.
Elara stepped close enough that their shoulders touched, her mana brushing his like a warm breeze. "You’re not alone, rlin. Not anymore."
Nathan grinned. "Now. Next question. How long do you think before Morgana sends soone to ’casually check on your progress’?"
rlin gave a humorless laugh. "Probably soon."
Dorian tilted his head. "Soone is approaching."
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