Morning came, but it didn't feel like morning.
The sky looked normal, the sun was up, students were walking around again, but something was off. Not obvious. Not loud. Just a quiet discomfort sitting in the background.
Like the world itself wasn't steady anymore.
Classes had technically resumed, but no one was really focused.
Groups of students whispered to each other, talking about what happened during the war, about Zareth, about the sky breaking, about things they didn't fully understand.
And now… something new.
"Did you feel it last night?" one student asked.
"Yeah… like the ground shook or something."
"No, not that. Something else."
They couldn't explain it.
That was the problem.
Kael walked through the hallway, hands in his pockets, clearly annoyed.
"I don't like this," he muttered.
Lyra walked beside him. "You didn't like anything from the start."
"Yeah, but this is different," Kael said. "At least before, we knew what we were fighting."
Lyra didn't respond right away.
Because he was right.
They found Zareth outside, near the edge of the training grounds. He was standing still, looking toward the far distance, like he was waiting for something.
Or sensing something.
"It started, didn't it?" Lyra asked quietly.
Zareth didn't look at her.
"Yes."
Kael frowned. "What exactly started?"
Zareth finally turned slightly. "The spread."
Before Kael could ask more, a loud noise interrupted them.
A scream.
All three of them reacted instantly.
The sound came from the lower courtyard.
They moved without hesitation.
When they arrived, a small crowd had already formed.
Students stood in a circle, but no one stepped too close.
Something was wrong.
"What happened?" Kael asked, pushing through.
One of the students looked shaken. "He was just standing there… and then…"
He couldn't finish the sentence.
Zareth stepped forward.
The moment he saw it, his expression didn't change.
But his eyes sharpened.
On the ground, there was no body.
No blood.
No sign of struggle.
Just… empty space.
A perfect circle on the ground where everything was gone.
Stone, grass, even the air inside it felt different.
Like that part of reality had been removed.
Lyra froze. "…This is the same thing."
Zareth nodded slightly. "Yes."
Kael looked around. "Wait, where's the guy?"
No one answered.
Because everyone already knew.
"He didn't disappear," Zareth said calmly.
A short pause.
"He was erased."
The word hit harder than anything else.
Panic started spreading through the crowd.
"W-what does that mean?!"
"Can that happen to anyone?!"
"Are we even safe here?!"
Zareth didn't raise his voice, but when he spoke, everyone went quiet.
"It's not random."
Lyra looked at him. "You know how it works?"
Zareth shook his head slightly. "Not fully."
Then he looked at the empty space again.
"But it's searching."
Kael crossed his arms. "Searching for what?"
Zareth's answer was simple.
"Something specific."
That didn't help.
A teacher rushed in, trying to calm the students, but even they looked shaken.
This wasn't something normal magic could explain.
Lyra stepped back, her mind racing. "So that energy from the gate… it's already outside."
"Yes," Zareth said.
Kael ran a hand through his hair. "Great. So now we've got invisible erasing things walking around."
Zareth turned slightly. "It's not invisible."
They both looked at him.
"It's just not fully here yet."
That made it worse.
Elsewhere in the academy, similar things began happening.
Small areas where objects vanished.
A chair gone from a classroom.
Part of a wall missing in a hallway.
No damage. No debris.
Just gone.
At first, people thought it was a mistake.
Then they started noticing patterns.
It was spreading.
Back in the courtyard, Zareth finally stepped away from the erased space.
"We need to go back to the chamber," he said.
Lyra nodded immediately. "To check the seal?"
"Yes."
Kael sighed but followed anyway. "I had a feeling this wasn't over."
When they reached the underground chamber again, the situation had gotten worse.
The cracks were deeper.
Wider.
And this time—
The gate wasn't silent.
It was pulsing constantly.
Like something inside was awake.
"…You see it now," the voice said.
Zareth stepped forward. "It's spreading faster."
"Yes."
Lyra looked at the gate, tension clear in her face. "Can you stop it?"
There was a pause.
Then the voice answered.
"No."
Silence filled the chamber.
Kael let out a quiet laugh, but there was no humor in it. "That's not what we wanted to hear."
Zareth didn't react.
"…Then tell me how it works."
Another pause.
Longer this time.
"…It is not attacking your world," the voice said.
Lyra frowned. "Then what is it doing?"
The answer came slowly.
"…It is correcting it."
None of them understood.
Kael blinked. "Correcting? By erasing people?!"
"…By removing what should not exist."
That made Zareth's eyes narrow.
"…And who decides that?" he asked.
Silence.
Then—
"…Not you."
The chamber trembled again.
Another crack formed.
Bigger than before.
For a brief second, something moved behind the gate.
Not clearly.
Not fully.
But enough to make all three of them feel it.
Presence.
Real presence.
Zareth stepped back this time.
"…It's closer than I thought."
Lyra's voice was low. "How long?"
Zareth didn't hesitate.
"…Not long."
Above them, somewhere in the academy
Another scream echoed.
This time
Far louder.
The spread had begun.
And it wasn't stopping.