Envy cracked open an eye, expecting a mental zap from Eydis. Or worse, her wit. Instead, she was calmly looking at her sigil.

Crisis averted? it dared to hope, crossing its nonexistent fingers, tail, and fork tongue. The relief soured almost instantly. No chaos? No improvised torment? Surely Her Majesty hadn't gone tame.

Then Eydis simply reached for her chalk and began to modify the sigil.

Ah, there it is. Envy thought, its optimism deflating rapidly. She's just getting started. And judging by that circle, I'm either about to become a tie-dye disaster or—

It shuddered. Wiggly worm. The shame. The indignity. Maybe if I slither out slowly…

"So," Eydis said without looking up, "your little tantrum made it online."

Envy froze. Oh no. She knows. She always knows.

Eydis smirked, eyes skimming between her sigil and the glyphs in her tome. "With this realm's addiction to 'likes,' filters, and oversharing, it was only a matter of time before your fifteen minutes arrived."

"Did you expect this?"

"When 'deconstructed' avocado toast and 'charcoal-infused' everything can trend, your dramatic screech was clickbait."

She flipped a page in her tome. "It's why I'm so fond of their 'social media', even if the algorithm seems to choke on itself these days."

"Athena said the school tried to keep it quiet. But some Gifted student leaked the footage despite signing an NDA."

"NDA? Mortals view contracts as suggestions, open to interpretation and reinterpretation." She shot a glare at Envy. "Unless, of course, the agreement comes with a side of soul-sucking."

You're technically human, Envy thought, then wisely changed topics. "What's an NDA?"

"Non-Disclosure Agreement. Everyone signed one. Even the starry-eyed teenage version of me." She grimaced. "Apparently, Gifted abilities are kept secret from the public until you're twenty-one."

Natalia had mentioned it was meant to protect underage Gifted from being targeted by underground groups.

"Leaking that footage was a serious breach. You mentioned a Council. And Adrian. Sounds like both are part of something bigger."

"Absolutely," Envy said. "But who leaked it?"

"Most would assume it was for attention or likes." Eydis twirled a strand of her dark brown hair. "But that alone isn't worth risking expulsion, or having the Council breathing down their neck. Whoever did it has something to gain. And if I had to guess? Thomas Blackwood. Who else?"

"But why?" Envy asked.

"Athena said it wasn't the Council who silenced the Blackwoods, it was just Adrian." Her lips curled. "That tells me Adrian's Gifted. Probably persuasive. So Thomas got creative. Released the footage, painted himself as a victim, and sat back while the internet speculated."

"He's using me for sympathy votes? The audacity!"

"Sympathy is cheap." Eydis chuckled. "But outrage is priceless. He is probably drafting a teary revenge arc as we speak: the noble parent, the cursed child, the monster under the bed. Instant mass hysteria, and polls boost."

She turned to Envy. "Congrats. You're the new spokes-serpent for nightmares. Monster under every bed."

"Preposterous! As if that oily politician could touch my pristine—" Envy paused. "Formerly pristine scales. I now glow like a lightsaber."

She winced as a recent internet search slammed into her mind with that imagery. She shook her head, clearing the image. "Just sit back and enjoy the show. This is going to be quite entertaining. Well done, serpent."

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Pride warmed Envy's golden eyes. "Naturally. Still, why am I your perpetual guinea pig while that bottomless roommate naps in luxury?"

"Trying to fit a fully rejuvenated, bottomless-pit-of-a-roommate into my head is like fitting a dragon into a teacup," Eydis replied. "My mental closet is already full of questionable decisions."

"I wouldn't call Astra bottomless," Envy muttered, then added slyly, "Though she is occupying half your—"

A psychic zap cut the sentence short.

"Eep!" Envy wheezed. "Okay, okay! But couldn't you just… channel your inner darkness instead?"

Eydis eyed her pentagram which was modified to allow for a slow and controlled expansion of the mana core. "That was Plan A. Plan B was a bit too unpredictable, even for my tastes."

"Unpredictable is putting it mildly," Envy sulked. "Didn't you say indoor cultivation was dangerous?"

Eydis grinned and snapped her fingers. Cerberus, in his Doberman form, materialised, his tail wagging excitedly. "You know your duty," she said.

"Woof woof!"

Envy snickered. "Really? Lost your vocabulary in the same bleach that stole my colour?"

"A permanent punishment for excessive drooling," Eydis replied. "Also, I needed silence from his opinions about my eating habits."

"Woof!" Cerberus's bark could be translated to, "Diet? You haven't eaten in centuries!"

Unfortunately, his wit was lost on Eydis.

Envy basked in the privilege of being the preferred confidant, sliding closer while Cerberus pouted. "Before training begins, may we address my current, ah, pallid complexion?"

"Vanity can wait." She settled into the heart of the sigil. "Now, where were we?"

Eydis shut out the world.

She severed the tangible realm of flesh and bone, of sight, sound, and temperature, until only the subtle undercurrents remained: pure energy, a lattice of shadow shaped by countless minds.

And of all those minds, the human psyche was the most delicious, convoluted, excessively emotional.

Each flavour orbited around that central star: the Ego, the source of their brilliance, their ambition, their downfall.

The Ego, that delicate, fragile sense of self-importance, the righteousness, the virtuous conviction that birthed Pride, the so-called root of all evils. From that root she had bound her primary Sins: Envy's bitter venom and Gluttony's honeyed indulgence. Their senses were her radar, leading her through the hush of the abyss.

She drew them in. With her limited core capacity, she had to be selective, seeking only the darkness that harmonised with her familiars' essence.

The sigil ignited in a deep plum glow, hungrily pulling in the surrounding shadows. Her current body resisted the intake, but that was irrelevant.

She pushed harder.

Cerberus sensed her intent and released a cloud of violet mist to devour the excess. Efficient, as always. Eager, as ever.

Unfortunately, his eagerness came with consequences. The flow skipped her internal regulators and flooded her core without warning.

She bit down on a cry, fingers curling reflexively against the pain. Gluttony indeed. The mutt had no concept of moderation.

"Enough!" she snapped aloud, slicing the connection with a sigil-anchored gesture. Too much, too soon. Her magical core needed time to adapt, to stretch its limits. "Pace yourself, you overgrown pup!"

Cerberus whimpered an apology.

Envy hissed, "Amateur."

"Grrrr, woof!" The dog bared spectral teeth.

Envy lunged, coiling its dentist-approved body around the dog's neck and squeezing.

Eydis didn't bother watching the scuffle. With a flick of will she hurled them to opposite walls.

"One more squabble and you're sharing a shoebox tonight."

Ignoring their whimpers and grumbles, Eydis refocused on her task. The ancient text's instructions were simple enough: silence the mind, embrace the light source (or, in her case, the shadows).

Expand, gently, patiently.

In her own realm, caution like this had been unnecessary. Magic had moved through her like blood, like breath. But here, it was less about channeling and more about damage control. Her narrow mana pathways and Cerberus's "more is more" approach didn't exactly help.

Narrow pathways…

Her thoughts flicked to the faucet she'd seen on her first day. Simple design. One handle. Controlled flow.

She could work with that.

She built the system in her mind: valves, release points, pressure regulators. Layer by layer she built the mechanism inside her core, then opened it a fraction. Cerberus's essence trickled through. Her core groaned, but held. The fractures began to seal as her own mana filled the gaps. Stabilising the flow, she eased it up a notch. Just enough to stretch, not snapping.

Slowly, ever so slightly, her mana core expanded.

Time warped and twisted, hours melting into minutes. Each cycle left her stronger. Her core adapted, grew steadily.

When she opened her eyes, the afternoon was gone. Her fingertips sparked with faint violet static. She stood, tested a small spell, and restored Envy's obsidian sheen with a simple twist of will.

Her palm ached. The earlier cut had reopened. She sealed most of it, leaving a faint scar. If Astra had seen it, erasing the wound entirely would create complications. Eydis had found humans far more suspicious of perfection than pain.

Now that she had a handle on training in this realm, perhaps she could branch out into more... creative sigils. (Envy, who had been gleefully admiring its restored obsidian lustre, felt a shiver slither down its now pristine scales at that prospect.)

But first, food.

Eydis could hear Cerberus's excited yapping in her mind at the mere thought of dinner. She rolled her eyes, but a smirk tugged at her lips. The hound was right; she would need her strength for what was to come.

The Blackwoods were next, and she would need every scrap of power. Cerberus might be a glutton, but compared with what awaited, he was merely the appetiser.

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