Phantom Hunters | The Obsidian League

1 | Stuck in Reverie

I | STUCK IN REVERIE

Kael lay in bed, head resting on his arm, and knee bent up. He watched the repetitive wooden grains on the ceiling, unable to close his eyes without visualising her.

She's alive. It was her. Unmistakably her.

Small needles of pain began to march from his forearm to his elbow, straining from being locked under his head. With a sigh, he turned to his side and hugged his pillow, his fingers shaking from the pins and needles. Kael buried his face into the soft, cool surface and breathed in the faint smell of the soap he'd used to wash his hair.

Kala's alive.

Unable to lie still, Kael threw the pillow to the side and swung his legs over his bed. He ran his fingers through his hair for the umpteenth time. Cold air nipped at his bare skin, doing nothing to ease his troubled mind.

Kael snatched his shirt from the ground and slipped it on. Maybe taking a nightly walk would help him make sense of what he'd seen. Maybe it was only a coincidence and the girl had only resembled Kala. After all, Kael had witnessed first hand a blighter eating his sister whole.

With a heavy sigh, Kael drew back the curtains. A full moon shone down, illuminating the front yard of the Silver Wolf Den. It was a peaceful night, the trees swaying in their silent lullabies and the sky twinkling with stars.

Kael gazed around his room, and with the help of the soft glow from the moon, he could see what had become his home in the past month. The bed was right next to him, tucked into the corner with the door being across from the foot of it. His desk sat on the other side of him with books and papers scattering its smooth, mahogany surface. A chest holding his clothes came out of the wall near the desk. He suspected it was because most students didn't carry that much clothing with them and thus had no need for a full closet with empty space. With the chair, Kael technically had only four pieces of furniture, but he didn't mind.

Kael shuddered. The days were getting colder with autumn approaching. Only the days were scorching hot while nights became a frosty juxtaposition. He dug into his chest and snuggly slipped into a red jacket with ebony sleeves. After a rogue blighter had ruined his favourite jacket, Kael's brother had been nice enough to find a similar replacement from the city.

Kael thought back to the Weapons Choosing Test. The Weapons Choosing Test, or WCT was the latest exam in the Saphir Casters Academy that tested a student's ability to cast and kill a blighter; it was coming to an end with only two more days left. It wouldn't be long before Kael and his friends were put in new classes. Kael still couldn't believe he passed it. Granted, he hadn't technically passed, but it was still a feat he was proud of.

Kala once again invaded his mind. The girl who looked so much like his twin sister wielding twin swords was seared into his mind. Kael had no doubt in his mind that it was her. That must have been why she followed him, but what he didn't understand was why she had hidden her identity.

Huffing in frustration, Kael opened the window. A slight breeze hit his cheeks and sent his blood rushing from the cold. Shivering, Kael hopped out of the window, keeping it slightly ajar, before sweeping his eyes across his surroundings. For a moment, he stood there and let himself bask in the night.

Something was missing in the familiar time of day, and Kael realised that there were no crickets or frogs. Strange. He recalled the interminable nightly cries of the creatures in his Uncle Hont's farm, yet the night on the island was eerily silent with only the rustling leaves and occasional flapping wings of nocturnal fliers crashing in his ears.

Kael had no idea where he would go, so he moseyed towards the woods. Walking usually helped him clear his mind, but this time, it seemed to do nothing. His mind was still reeling from the fact that his twin could be alive. He had heard of twins who seemed to have such a deep connection that they practically knew what the other was feeling. Yet, if Kala was alive, Kael had felt nothing that would indicate that. Was their connection so insignificant that Kael never recognised that Kala was not dead?