Chapter 152: A Spy Within Imperial Academy

Chapter 152: Chapter 152: A Spy Within Imperial Academy

Theon lowered his gaze to the object resting in his palm. The Amulet of Pronoia. Its strange surface caught the faint light around them, though he barely noticed its appearance anymore. His mind was still caught on everything Eleanor had told them about the relic, an amulet capable of perceiving possibilities, connected somehow to the future itself.

The thought should have fascinated him. Instead, it frightened him. If the Amulet of Pronoia could show a future that had yet to happen, then it could just as easily reveal something he desperately did not want to see.

Lyra.

His fingers tightened around the amulet. What if there was a future where she died? What if the amulet showed him that exact future, and there was nothing left for him to do to change it? The thought settled heavily in his chest, cold and unwelcome. He didn’t care what the future demanded of him, didn’t care what enemy stood in his way or how powerful that enemy became. He could not accept a future without Lyra standing somewhere inside it.

A small scoff came from beside him. Theon lifted his head and found Ifrith watching him, arms folded, an expression that carried the faintest trace of amusement.

"You’ve been staring at that thing for quite a while."

Theon said nothing. Ifrith’s gaze sharpened slightly, and it was clear enough that he understood exactly what was running through Theon’s mind. Theon looked away, and then another thought struck him, pulling his attention toward the dragon girl instead.

"There’s something you mentioned earlier."

The girl tilted her head. "What?"

"You said Pronioa looks different from ordinary people." He studied her a moment. "What exactly is different about her? Her skin. Her hair. Her eyes. All of it."

The dragon girl considered the question before answering. "Pronoia according to what I remember has a delicate celestial features. Her skin is luminous, almost like porcelain beneath moonlight. Her nose is elegant and refined, and her lips are soft and full." She continued without pause. "Her figure is naturally curvaceous, and her hair is long and iridescent, carrying the color of moon-silver, with strands that shift toward lavender, pearl, and icy blue depending on the light."

Theon waited.

"And then there are her eyes."

"What about them?"

"The divine Icolo eyes."

Theon remained silent. The dragon girl stared back at him, and for several seconds neither spoke. Finally, he frowned.

"I don’t understand a single word of what you just said."

She looked genuinely confused. "Which part?"

"All of it."

She sighed. "She’s beautiful."

Theon’s expression shifted instantly. "Oh."

The dragon girl raised an eyebrow. "That’s it?"

"You should have led with that."

Everyone else in the room couldn’t help but react to the exchange, and for a brief moment the tension that had filled the room loosened. The relief didn’t last.

Theon turned toward Ifrith, another matter surfacing in his mind before the lighter mood could fully settle.

"Asmodeus."

Ifrith’s expression grew serious. Theon recalled everything Asmodeus had previously explained about that he escape through reincarnation, and he looked directly at Ifrith now.

"What Asmodeus told us about how he escaped, was that actually true?"

Ifrith didn’t answer right away. He gave a small shrug instead. "Most of it."

Theon frowned. "Most?"

"Not everything."

The atmosphere shifted at once. Lyra turned her attention toward Ifrith. Silver did the same, and even those who had been occupied with other matters began listening. Only Seraphina remained fixed on Cryvathar’s spiritual form, seemingly undisturbed by the conversation unfolding around her.

Theon narrowed his gaze. "What does that mean?"

Ifrith exhaled slowly. "There’s something wrong with the story. If Asmodeus truly escaped the way he described, then someone must have helped him."

Theon stiffened. "Help from someone?"

Ifrith nodded. "You don’t understand the prison I created for him. The Eternal Cage wasn’t an ordinary prison. I built it specifically to hold Asmodeus, and no one could enter it without my permission. He was chained inside it. There was no path out. No weakness left for him to exploit."

His voice grew heavier as he continued. "Every day, five thousand lightning strikes descended on him."

Theon’s breath caught. "Five thousand?"

"Every day. The lightning destroyed his body and soul completely. Then he would return." Ifrith spoke as though describing something entirely ordinary. "He would die. Then return again."

Theon stared at him, the weight of it settling in slowly. Death wasn’t the end of Asmodeus’s suffering. It was part of it, a wheel that never stopped turning.

"He endured that cycle endlessly," Ifrith said. "Death. Return. Death. Return."

Theon swallowed hard, a chill working its way through him. For once, he had nothing clever left to say.

"That’s why Asmodeus could never have escaped alone," Ifrith went on.

"Then someone broke him out."

"That’s what I’m saying."

"Who?"

"I don’t know." The answer darkened Theon’s expression further. Ifrith glanced toward the others in the room. "Whoever did it would have needed to locate the Eternal Cage first." He raised a finger. "Then reach the sealed location." Another finger followed. "Break or bypass the seal. Enter the cage itself." His gaze sharpened. "And finally, free Asmodeus."

The room fell quiet. Theon’s thoughts raced, searching for anyone who could possibly hold enough knowledge and power to accomplish something like that. Ifrith seemed to read the question written plainly across his face.

"There’s one possibility. There could be another Voidborn."

Silence followed. Theon’s expression hardened. "Another one?"

"Somewhere in this world," Ifrith said, his gaze growing distant, "one that even I don’t know exists."

The statement cracked open an entirely new mystery. Theon frowned. "Are Voidborns extinct?"

"According to the primordial ancient texts from the Primordial Realm, they disappeared millions of years ago."

"Millions?"

"Yes. The last known Voidborn was eventually killed by a Hero."

Theon caught on the unfamiliar word. "A Hero?"

Ifrith nodded. "Every five million years, a Hero appears in the world. The world has always regarded the Hero as its savior. And around that same period, a Voidborn appears as well. The two eventually come into conflict."

"And the Hero wins?"

"Historically, yes. The Hero has always defeated the Voidborn."

The pattern repeated itself again and again in Theon’s mind. Five million years. A Hero. A Voidborn. A confrontation. Victory. And eventually, the disappearance of the Voidborns entirely.

But there was an obvious problem. If the Voidborns were truly extinct, Asmodeus should not exist at all. Yet he did, and someone had apparently gone to extraordinary lengths to free him. The ancient cycle might have begun again, or something else entirely might be unfolding beneath the surface of everything they thought they understood.

Theon turned the information over for a long moment. There were too many questions still hanging in the air. The Hero. The Voidborn. Asmodeus. The Eternal Cage. The person who had freed him. But none of it mattered more to him than Lyra did.

His gaze shifted toward her, and the possibility of losing her rose again in his mind. The Amulet of Pronoia sat heavy against his palm, and he closed his fingers tighter around it. Whatever future waited ahead, he would not allow her to die. He would protect her, no matter what enemy appeared, no matter what power stood against them, no matter what the amulet eventually showed him. He would find a way. The resolve settled quietly into place inside his chest.

Then another problem surfaced, and his eyes moved toward the dragon girl. They had spent so long discussing everything she knew that they had overlooked an obvious question entirely.

"What are we supposed to do with her?"

The dragon girl looked at him. Before he could continue, Celestial spoke up.

"Let her stay with us."

Theon’s head turned sharply toward her. "What?"

"She should remain with the group," Celestial said calmly.

"She’s practically a walking calamity."

"I know. But keeping her close has advantages." Celestial glanced toward the dragon girl. "She possesses information none of us had before. Everything she’s explained about the Amulet of Pronoia and everything surrounding it is unfamiliar to me. Even the ancient texts from my own realm contain nothing about what she’s told us."

That caught his attention.

Theon looked around at the group gathered before him. Lyra. Silver. The others. Then back at the dragon girl. After a moment, he sighed.

"Fine. You can stay with us."

The dragon girl’s expression eased slightly, a small measure of relief crossing her face. Theon studied her a moment longer, another thought occurring to him.

"We’ve been calling you Dragon Girl this whole time. What’s your name?"

She straightened. "Eleanor."

"Eleanor." He considered it, and a faint smile crossed his face. "That’s a sweet name."

Eleanor didn’t smile back. Her expression changed instead, and his smile faded with it.

"What?"

"You’re not paying attention to the major issue."

Theon frowned. "Major issue?"

"Yes."

"We’ve already covered Asmodeus, the Voidborns, the Hero, the amulet, and the Eternal Cage. What else is there?"

Her expression remained serious. "Noel. How did Noel and Asmodeus enter Imperial Academy?"

The question struck him immediately. Imperial Academy was protected by an extremely powerful barrier. An enemy shouldn’t have been able to simply walk through it, and yet they had. Theon glanced around the room slowly, the question suddenly impossible to ignore. If the barrier was functioning correctly, then none of it made sense. Perhaps it had been compromised. Perhaps someone had bypassed it, or opened a path from within. Or perhaps someone already inside had helped them.

The thought chilled the room further. No one had an immediate answer.

Then Seraphina raised her hand, and everyone turned toward her. She met their eyes calmly.

"There’s something I haven’t told you all yet." Her expression grew solemn. "When I was sealed, someone used to visit me."

Silence filled the room.

"Someone?" Cryvathar said.

She nodded. "Approximately once every month."

"Who?" Theon asked.

"I don’t know. I never clearly saw his face." The mystery deepened with every word. "He would come to me repeatedly, trying to persuade me to submit to him. He offered me a deal. If I surrendered and gave him all my power, he would set me free."

"And you refused."

Seraphina nodded. "That’s not the important part, though. The important part is that he knew where I was."

Theon stared at her. Someone had known about her imprisonment. Someone had been able to reach her, entering the place where she’d been sealed again and again, confident enough to offer her freedom in exchange for her power.

"Did you learn anything about him?"

"Through our conversations, yes." Her attention sharpened. "He’s connected to The Imperial Academy."

The room went completely still.

"Connected how?"

Seraphina’s answer came quietly. "He’s a staff member of the academy."

The words seemed to echo through the room. Theon’s mind connected the pieces at once: the mysterious visitor, Seraphina’s imprisonment, Asmodeus, Noel, the academy’s barrier, the impossible intrusion, and the person who had somehow known exactly where Seraphina had been sealed away. All of it pointed toward the same unsettling truth, that Asmodeus could not have escaped the Eternal Cage without outside help.

Ifrith looked toward Theon, his expression grim. "There may be a spy inside the Imperial Academy."

Theon’s gaze moved slowly across the room. Imperial Academy was supposed to be one of the safest places in their world. Yet Asmodeus had entered it. Noel had entered alongside him. Someone had known where Seraphina was imprisoned and had visited her again and again, and that person was tied directly to the academy itself. Worse still, someone had possessed the means to help Asmodeus escape a prison that should have been impossible to breach.

Theon looked at the people standing around him. Lyra. Silver. Seraphina. Celestial. Ifrith. Eleanor.

The academy suddenly felt different. The danger they had been searching for might not be waiting beyond its walls at all. It might already be standing amongst them.