The Court of Secrets was a tomb of silence, carved from obsidian so black it drank in every flicker of candlelight. The air was thick — heavy with old magic and older lies — pressing down like a suffocating shroud.

Liora’s steps felt hollow as she walked onto the glowing platform. It pulsed beneath her skin, a cruel heartbeat syncing with the mark burning like fire beneath her sleeve.

Around her, the Council watched — statuesque, merciless. Their eyes were cold shards, stripping her bare with a single glance.

The Headmistress’s voice cut through the silence like a sharpened blade.

“You bear the Binding Mark — a curse etched by the gods of the Otherworld to chain the souls they deem dangerous. Tell us, girl, what darkness have you unleashed?”

Liora’s throat tightened. “I don’t know what it means... only that it’s inside me, twisting, pulling.”

A chorus of whispered accusations rippled through the chamber, venom thick in the air.

One elder’s voice, icy as a grave, whispered from the shadows, “The Mark is a prison — a brand meant to bind you to a fate worse than death. Your blood is no longer your own.”

Kael’s figure loomed at the back, tense and silent, his eyes stormy with warnings unspoken.

“Why me?” Liora’s voice cracked, the weight of dread crushing her bones.

The Headmistress leaned forward, her smile a ghost of cruelty. “Because you are the fulcrum of chaos. You will either shatter the Otherworld... or be shattered by it.”

The chamber darkened, shadows licking at her skin like hungry wolves. The verdict was clear: she was condemned to a destiny written in pain.

Her heartbeat thundered like a war drum.

She was no longer a girl.

She was a curse.

And the game had only just begun.