Chapter 1: The Null and the Queen

Chapter 1: The Null and the Queen

The vaulted ceilings of Aethelgard Academy’s Grand Hall were designed to inspire awe, or more accurately, to remind every student of their insignificance in the face of legacy and power. Sunlight, filtered through stained-glass windows depicting legendary Auric feats, painted the marble floors in strokes of crimson and gold. To the students who walked these halls, power was not a concept; it was the air they breathed. It was Aura, the luminous energy that separated the gifted from the worthless.

And in this world, Kaelen Thorne was less than worthless. He was a Null.

He kept his steps measured, his gaze fixed on the archway at the far end of the hall that led to the relative sanctuary of the library. His scholarship uniform, a standard black blazer, was just a little too worn at the cuffs, a constant, silent announcement of his status. He was a ghost here, a charity case, his existence an affront to the pureblood ethos of Aethelgard. Invisibility was his only shield.

But today, his shield was about to shatter.

A ripple of silence spread through the chattering crowd, a wave that parted students like a predator moving through a school of fish. At its epicenter stood Seraphina Vaduva.

She was everything Kaelen was not. Her silver hair fell like a waterfall of polished moonlight over the shoulders of her impeccably tailored uniform, the silver Vaduva crest embroidered over her heart shimmering with latent power. Her beauty was a weapon, sharp and cold, second only to the S-tier Aura that coiled around her like a living thing. She was the queen of this vicious kingdom, and her court of sycophants flanked her, their own powerful Auras a dim reflection of her brilliance.

Her violet eyes, the colour of a coming storm, scanned the hall and landed on Kaelen. A slow, cruel smirk graced her lips. It was the expression she wore just before she destroyed someone.

“Well, well,” she purred, her voice carrying effortlessly across the suddenly silent hall. “Look what we have here. A stray.”

Kaelen stopped. His desire to reach the library, to simply disappear, evaporated. The obstacle was before him, beautiful and terrible. He felt hundreds of pairs of eyes on him—some scornful, some pitying, most just glad it wasn't them. He didn’t drop his gaze. He didn’t hunch his shoulders. He simply met her stare, his own grey eyes the colour of stone. A faint, old scar along his jawline tightened.

Her smirk faltered for a fraction of a second, annoyed by his lack of a flinch. She expected fear. She demanded it.

“Still trying to pretend you belong here, Null?” one of her lackeys, a burly boy named Gaius with a fiery, crackling Aura, sneered. “You’re a stain on the academy’s reputation.”

“He pollutes the very air with his emptiness,” another added, a girl whose laughter sounded like breaking glass.

Seraphina raised a single, elegant hand, silencing them. Her focus was entirely on Kaelen. She began to walk toward him, her movements fluid and predatory. With each step, the shadows in the grand hall seemed to deepen, stretching from the corners and pillars to writhe at her feet. This was her power: Umbrakinesis. The mastery of darkness itself.

“I’m in a foul mood today,” she said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper as she closed the distance. “And you are the perfect outlet. I want you to beg. Apologize for breathing the same air as your betters.”

Kaelen remained silent. His heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic drumbeat of survival. But on the outside, he was a statue. He’d learned long ago that any reaction—fear, anger, defiance—was just fuel for their fire. His powerlessness had forged an iron will. He would not give her the satisfaction. He simply watched her, his expression unreadable.

Her eyes narrowed. The air grew cold. “No? You have a defiant look in your eyes. Do you think you have the right to defiance?”

Tendrils of pure shadow, cold and cloying, slithered from her hands. They crept across the marble floor, silent as assassins, and began to coil around Kaelen’s ankles. The crowd gasped. This was more than simple intimidation; this was a direct Auric assault. Using one’s Aura on a Null was forbidden by the academy’s code, but Seraphina Vaduva was the code.

The shadows tightened, imbued with a fraction of her power. They were meant to crush, to instill a terror so profound it would break his mind before his bones. She watched his face, hungry for the first flicker of pain, the first tear, the first crack in his stoic facade.

The shadows constricted. Kaelen’s jaw clenched, the only outward sign of the pressure. But his eyes… his eyes never left hers. They held no fear. They held no hatred. They held a calm, unblinking challenge that seemed to see right through her power, her title, her very soul.

And then, something impossible happened.

As her power enveloped him, Seraphina felt a jolt. It wasn't an attack, but a… backlash. A sharp, dissonant thrum echoed back through her own Aura, a feedback that felt like a plucked violin string snapping. It was instantaneous, almost imperceptible, and gone as quickly as it came. The shadow tendrils around Kaelen’s legs flickered, losing their cohesion for a barest moment.

No one else saw it. But she felt it.

The sensation was so alien it stunned her. Her power had never done that before. It was an extension of her will, absolute and perfect. It did not… talk back.

Confusion warred with fury on her perfect face. The pleasure she’d anticipated soured into a baffling irritation. He was a Null. An empty vessel. He shouldn’t have been able to affect her power in any way. It was like punching water and feeling the water punch back.

Her concentration broken, she let the shadows dissipate into mist. A heavy silence hung in the hall. Kaelen didn’t move, his legs surely aching from the pressure, but his defiant gaze was unwavering. He hadn't broken. He hadn't even bent.

Seraphina felt a strange, unwelcome feeling coiling in her gut. It was not the triumph of dominance, but the unsettling prickle of intrigue. This pathetic, powerless boy was an anomaly, a puzzle that defied the fundamental laws of her world.

She couldn't stand it.

With a noise of disgust that was part frustration, part something else she couldn’t name, she turned her back on him.

“Get out of my sight,” she snapped, not just to him, but to everyone. “You bore me.”

The spell was broken. The crowd scurried away, whispering excitedly. Kaelen took a steadying breath, the adrenaline finally hitting him. Without another glance, he turned and continued his walk toward the library, his posture just as straight, his pace just as measured as before.

Seraphina watched him go, her violet eyes narrowed to slits. The smirk was gone, replaced by a calculating, obsessive focus. She subtly flexed the fingers of her right hand, the one that had directed the shadows. She could still feel the faint, phantom echo of that impossible backlash.

He wasn't just a Null. He was something else. And Seraphina Vaduva always, always dissected the things she didn’t understand.