Chapter 4 - Confrontation in the Shadows

Elian did not hesitate for long. His hand remained on the doorknob, his heart pounding violently against his ribs, yet his mind was strangely calm, as if it had detached from his body to observe the situation from a distance. He heard the key turn in the lock from the outside, followed by the door being shoved open with force.Three guards entered, clad in black leather armor embroidered with the Academy's emblem—an open eye surrounded by intertwined grammatical runes. They were led by the head guard, the hulking man who had confronted him in the library, his eyes narrowing instantly upon seeing Elian standing calmly in the center of the room."Close the window," the guard commanded in a hoarse voice, while two of his companions pointed their wooden staves—charged with faint magical energy—at Elian. "But first, put your hands where we can see them."Elian offered a faint smile, then slowly raised his hands. There was no fear in his eyes this time, but something else… focus. He looked at the wall behind the guards and imagined it was not a wall, but a closed door. He imagined the air was thick as water, and sound heavy as lead. He focused all his attention on the words he had seen in the tattoo: "I am the Gate."He whispered them, not aloud, but only within his mind.Something strange happened.The air around Elian rippled, and the walls began to visually crack, as if reality itself was collapsing for a moment. The guards stumbled, their eyes widening in shock and terror. They did not understand what was happening, but they felt it—a sensation that the ground beneath their feet was no longer stable, and that the laws of nature had bent slightly in favor of this poor young man they had considered merely a janitor.Elian seized the moment.He dashed toward the old cabinet in the corner of the room and pressed a hidden wooden panel on its back—the same panel he had used to access the lower library before. The panel snapped open with a dry crack, revealing a narrow passage leading to the building's old ventilation system. He jumped inside before the guards could regain their balance and slammed the panel shut behind him.He heard their shouts echoing behind him, their heavy footsteps approaching, but he had already vanished into the darkness.He crawled through the narrow tunnel, his hands and knees aching from the friction against the rough stone, but he did not stop. He knew this system well—he had cleaned it occasionally when tasked with removing accumulated dust from forgotten corners. The tunnels led him to the roof of the Academy's Eastern Tower, where the air was cold and the wind howled between the tall stone spires.He emerged from a small hatch in the ceiling and breathed a sigh of relief for the first time in hours. He looked around. The sky was clear, and the moon illuminated the roofs of the ancient buildings with a pale silver glow. But he had no time to admire the view. He heard voices coming from the staircase leading to the roof—the guards were following him.He looked at his hand. The tattoo was glowing with a light blue hue, the lines spreading slowly toward his wrist like black roots embedding themselves in his skin. He felt a burning pain, but he ignored it. Instead, he focused on the new phrase that had appeared in the tattoo after his return from the Memory Dungeon: "I am the Gate."What did it mean? Could he open a real gate? Or was it just a metaphor?He had no time for philosophy. The footsteps grew closer. He stepped out from the shadow of the tower and ran toward the edge. The height was terrifying—tens of meters separated him from the solid ground below. But there was no other choice. He closed his eyes and whispered the word again: "I am the Gate."He spread his arms and jumped.He did not fall.Instead, he hovered in the air for a moment, as if standing on invisible glass. Then, with a slight bend in space, a circular hole appeared before him—a small gateway made of blue light and shadows. He jumped through it.He felt severe dizziness, as if his body were being pulled through a narrow tube. Then, suddenly, he found himself standing on the roof of another tower—the Western Tower, where Professor Vera was waiting for him.She stood there, her dark cloak fluttering in the wind, her gray eyes piercing him with a sharp gaze. She did not seem surprised to see him; rather, she seemed… relieved."I knew you would succeed," she said in a calm voice, though it carried a hidden tone of admiration. "But you would not have succeeded had you not been willing to take the risk."Elian looked at her, his breath ragged from exertion and fear. "What is happening to me? Why can I do these things?"Vera approached him with slow steps. "Because you are no longer just a human, Elian. You have become a conduit. And gates are not opened by force… but by understanding. You understood that reality is flexible, and that words are the tools that shape it. And that is what makes you dangerous."She looked at his hand, where the tattoo was now clearly spreading toward his upper arm. For the first time, a look of worry crossed her face."The tattoo… it is spreading faster than I expected," she whispered, reaching out to touch the skin surrounding the black ink. "This is not normal. Even for an Active Bearer."Elian asked with a trembling voice, "What does that mean?"She replied with a serious tone, "It means you are no longer just a gate… you have become the target. Semantic Chaos does not just want to pass through you… it wants to consume you. And the more you use your power, the stronger your connection to it becomes. If we do not act quickly, you will lose control completely."Before Elian could respond, he heard a sound from afar—the sound of the Academy bells ringing urgently and continuously. A signal of danger.Vera looked around and said urgently, "We must leave now. Lord Selix has declared a state of emergency. The guards will not stop at the roof. They will search every corner, every shadow, and every memory."She reached her hand out to Elian and said, "Do you trust me enough to follow me to a safe place? Or would you prefer to stay here and face them alone?"Elian looked at his hand, then at Vera, then at the lights beginning to appear in the Academy windows—the guards were closing in.He chose trust.He took Vera's hand, and she said to him in a low voice, "Then, follow me. And do not look back."She led him down a narrow spiral staircase leading to the bottom of the tower, then through abandoned underground passages where the smell was foul and the air heavy. She did not speak much along the way, but Elian noticed that her staff was glowing with a faint light, as if drawing an invisible map in the air before her.After what seemed like hours, they arrived at a small room hidden behind a false wall in the Academy's basement. The room was filled with old books, broken magical tools, and the smell of mold was overpowering.Vera sat on a wooden chair and gestured for Elian to sit opposite her."We will begin training tomorrow," she said firmly. "But tonight, you need rest. The tattoo is consuming your energy, and if you do not recover your strength, you will collapse before the real battle even begins."Elian looked at his hand again. The black lines had now reached his shoulder, moving slowly, as if searching for a path to his heart.He felt fear, yes. But also something else… excitement.For the first time in his life, he was not just an observer. He was a player.And games of power never end once they begin.