Chapter 42: Hall of resonance

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Hall of resonance

Theon ignores the feeling for now and moved towards the Hall or resonance

The Hall of Resonance stood at the heart of the Imperial Academy like an ancient frozen cathedral.

Its silver doors were covered in glowing blue runes.

Every step leading up to it pulsed faintly with mana, as though the building itself were breathing.

Hundreds of first year students had gathered outside, their voices filling the cold morning air.

The moment Theon appeared with Lyra, Lazeria, and Ifrith perched on his shoulder, the crowd began whispering again.

"Is that him?"

"That actually him the seventh prince in person."

"And he’s so cute."

Theon sighed quietly to himself.

He had hoped the academy would feel a little quieter than the palace.

It did not.

If anything, the whispers here felt sharper, hungrier, like everyone was trying to decide whether he was worth fearing or worth using.

Instructor Selene pushed the great doors open.

"Follow me."

The hall beyond was enormous.

Rows of white pillars stretched toward a ceiling so high it disappeared into mist.

At the center stood a raised platform, and upon it rested a crystal globe larger than a human head.

Ancient runes circled the platform like stars orbiting a moon.

Several instructors were already waiting there.

One of them, an elderly man with silver glasses and sharp, tired eyes, looked up from a stack of documents.

"Imperial candidates have arrived?"

Selene nodded once.

The old man’s gaze moved from Theon, to Lyra, and finally settled on Lazeria.

"And this girl?"

Selene answered calmly. "She is registered as Prince Theon’s personal maid and attendant."

A few nearby students looked surprised. Lazeria lowered her head, clearly uncomfortable under so many curious eyes.

The old man simply nodded. "Very well. She may remain in the hall, but only registered students may take the resonance test."

Lyra puffed out her cheeks. "Am I counted as a real student?"

The old man adjusted his glasses. "Special imperial permission. Try not to destroy anything."

Lyra grinned brightly.

Within the crowds people started to whisper

"I had to make my father sell his mansion so I could enroll here and she just got it on a plater of Gold" though it wasn’t loud but theon heard it and it made him furious but he didn’t react to it. He also had a very bad feeling about that sentence the instructor made and something in his gut told him he was right to worry.

One by one, students were called to the platform. Each placed a hand on the globe. The crystal glowed with different intensities, and the instructors recorded every result carefully. Some produced faint silver light. Others created bright blue flashes that earned impressed murmurs from the watching crowd.

The process continued smoothly for a while.

Then the supervisor called out, "Princess Lyra Nivaris."

The hall went quiet.

A little girl stepped forward, and several students blinked in confusion.

"She’s enrolling already?"

"Isn’t she too young for this?"

Lyra climbed onto the platform with surprising confidence, her small chin lifted high. She looked back toward Theon.

"Watch this, brother!"

Theon rubbed his forehead, already bracing himself. "That’s exactly what I’m worried about."

Ifrith let out a low, amused snort.

Lazeria clasped her hands together nervously, holding her breath without realizing it.

Lyra reached out and touched the globe.

For a single heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then the hall exploded with crimson gold light.

Students cried out and covered their eyes. The pillars shook beneath the force of it. The ceiling runes blazed to life all at once, like stars igniting in the span of a breath.

Then the globe cracked.

A second later, it shattered into dozens of glowing fragments.

Silence followed. Absolute, suffocating silence.

Lyra slowly looked around the hall. "Did I pass the test?"

No one answered her.

The assistant instructor stared at the broken globe with his mouth hanging open. The supervisor rushed forward, hands trembling, and pressed a mana sheet against the remaining fragments.

The result appeared instantly.

His eyes widened so far that his glasses slid down his nose.

"Supervisor?" the assistant whispered. "Should I announce it?"

The old man snapped his head toward him. "No."

The answer came so fast it left no room for argument.

The entire hall froze in place. Without another word, the supervisor grabbed the mana sheet and hurried toward a side door, his robes snapping behind him.

Whispers erupted through the crowd.

"He didn’t even announce it."

"What was her result?"

"That little girl broke the globe."

"Is that even possible?"

Lyra looked completely lost. Theon stepped closer to her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"What exactly did you do?"

"I just touched it," she said, her voice small.

Ifrith stared at her for a long moment, then looked away with a quiet shake of his head. "Of course you did."

Lazeria swallowed hard. "That was not normal."

Instructors quickly wheeled in a replacement globe. This time they did not bring an ordinary crystal. Two instructors carried in a much larger one, reinforced with silver metal rings and dozens of stabilizing runes carved deep into its surface.

The atmosphere in the hall shifted immediately. Theon noticed it before anyone said a word.

They had prepared this one specifically for him.

The assistant instructor cleared his throat. "Prince Theon Nivaris."

Every eye in the hall turned to him at once.

Theon walked toward the platform, his footsteps echoing off the vast stone walls. Lazeria held her breath. Lyra watched with wide, bright eyes. Ifrith sat calmly on the edge of a pillar, looking almost pleased with himself.

Theon placed one foot on the platform.

The reinforced globe began glowing before he had even reached it.

The hall fell utterly silent.

He had not touched it yet, and still the light kept growing brighter.

Students stared in disbelief.

"Wait, he hasn’t touched it."

Theon kept walking. The globe shone so intensely that the silver rings encasing it began to hum, a low sound that vibrated through the floor itself.

He stopped in front of it. His hand hovered a few centimeters above the crystal.

The light turned blinding. The instructors stumbled backward.

Theon frowned. "This is strange."

The globe exploded.

Not the way Lyra’s had.

This explosion was violent, sudden, almost angry. Crystal fragments shot across the hall like loosed arrows. Protective barriers flared to life around the students just in time. The shockwave rolled through the chamber and rattled the very pillars holding up the ceiling.

Then something even stranger happened.

The ancient runes carved into the walls began lighting up. One, then another, then dozens, until blue light spread across the entire Hall of Resonance like a constellation waking from a long sleep.

The supervisor forgot to breathe for a moment. The mana sheet in his hand ignited on its own.

And far above the academy, where no student could yet see, the tallest building in the entire Imperial Academy began to pulse with a faint, ancient light.

Blue light kept racing across the walls of the hall. The ancient runes glowed one after another, spreading like a slow, deliberate wave. Students stepped back in fear. Even the instructors looked shaken, their composure cracking at the edges.

Theon lowered his hand slowly. He had not touched the globe, yet it had exploded more violently than Lyra’s ever had.

The shattered fragments floated briefly in the air before dissolving into particles of blue mana, drifting away like dust caught in sunlight.

A heavy, unnatural silence followed.

The supervisor stared at the platform as though he had forgotten how to breathe properly. One of the assistant instructors whispered, "That has never happened before."

Another quickly activated a recording artifact with shaking hands.

Theon frowned. "What exactly is happening?"

No one answered him. The runes continued glowing for several more seconds before slowly dimming, leaving only a faint blue light around the platform.

The supervisor finally stepped forward, his hands trembling badly now. He pressed a fresh mana sheet against the remains of the globe. The sheet lit up, and a stream of information appeared across its surface.

The moment he read it, his pupils contracted sharply. The color drained entirely from his face.

"Supervisor?" an assistant asked nervously.

The old man did not answer. His eyes stayed fixed on the sheet, unmoving.

Then, without warning, the sheet vanished from his hand in a flash of light.

The assistants gasped. "It transferred itself?"

The supervisor slowly looked up toward the ceiling. "Direct transmission." He paused, his voice barely above a whisper. "To the headmaster."

The hall erupted into noise.

"What?"

"The headmaster himself?"

"What exactly is this prince?"

"Why wasn’t the result announced?"

Theon stepped down from the platform. "What was my result?"

The supervisor adjusted his glasses with unsteady fingers, avoiding his eyes. "There is no need for you to know."

Theon narrowed his eyes. "I think there is."

The old man finally met his gaze, and for once Theon saw something like fear behind those tired eyes. "The result is no longer in this hall, Your Highness."

Theon could tell he was not lying. Whatever had appeared on that sheet had already been carried straight to the headmaster, out of reach.

Lazeria hurried to his side. "Are you alright?"

"I’m fine," Theon replied, though he was no longer entirely sure that was true.

Lyra looked between him and the still glowing walls. "Brother, did you break the whole hall?"

"Hopefully not," he said, managing a tired smile for her sake.

Ifrith jumped down from the pillar and landed lightly on Theon’s shoulder, his dark-crimson eyes calm and unreadable. Then he communicated to Theon through telepathy

*You were actually holding back weren’t you?*

*Yes Ifrith I held back ninenty percent of my mana and still yet the ten percent is still this powerful*

*Don’t worry about it master* their eyes met each other as they continued watching other students.

Lazeria stared at Ifrith. "You’re not surprised at all?"

Ifrith smirked. "That’s my master."

Theon shook his head. "You’re enjoying this far too much."

"Absolutely," Ifrith said, without a hint of shame.

The instructors spent several minutes calming the students. Protective barriers were repaired. Broken crystal fragments were carefully gathered. The hall slowly returned to some semblance of order, though the atmosphere never fully recovered.

Everyone kept glancing at Theon and Lyra. Not with ordinary curiosity anymore.

With caution.

Then three more students were called out for theirs too after a new glob was brought in One of them was the calm swordsman and when all of them did their test the Globe Glowed extremely bright.

Then the supervisor cleared his throat loudly. "The resonance examination has come to an end."

Murmurs spread quickly through the hall as several students began arguing quietly among themselves about what they had just witnessed.

Theon ignored them. Something else was pulling at his attention.

A faint pulse. Cold. Ancient.

He turned his head toward the distant skyline visible through the tall windows. Far beyond the floating bridges and crystal towers stood the tallest building of the entire academy. Not a tower, but a massive silver structure built directly into the mountain itself.

Faint streams of blue mana leaked from its upper levels into the pale sky above.

No one else seemed to notice it at all.

Theon’s hand moved instinctively toward his storage ring. The Eternal Frostblade trembled hard beneath his palm, and his breath caught in his throat.

The sword was trying to come out.

Cold mana leaked through the ring and spread across his fingers like frost creeping over glass.

Ifrith’s expression changed instantly. He felt it too.

"Master."

Theon clenched his fist and poured mana into the ring, forcing the trembling to weaken. Then it grew stronger again, resisting him with a will of its own. Inside his mind, he could almost feel a heartbeat that was not his.

Cold. Patient. Hungry.

He pushed harder, refusing to let go. The ring flashed once, and the vibration finally began to subside.

For a moment, everything went still.

Then a faint voice echoed from within the sealed space. Soft. Almost affectionate, in a way that made his skin crawl.

*Very soon.*

Theon froze in place.

The voice continued, quieter this time. *I am coming for you.*

A chill ran through his entire body. It was not fear exactly. It was something deeper, something closer to recognition, as though some part of him had always known this moment would come.

The sword fell silent. The cold slowly faded from his fingers.

Ifrith watched him carefully. "What did it say?"

Theon looked toward the distant silver building, where the faint blue mana still leaked steadily into the sky.

Outside the Hall of Resonance, the bells of the Imperial Academy began to ring.

And somewhere high above the academy, hidden within the tallest building of all, Stood the headmaster watching Theon from above and he said in a low voice

"If he’s really this powerful then we would need his strength for the coming calamity that about to before this great empire. *Pause* Grow stronger my prince"