Page 92 of Axis of Fire

And suddenly remembering that only minutes ago Louis, Moirz, and Aars had been walking nearby, I turned around.

No one was there.

No footsteps.

No voices.

Nothing.

As if they had always been nothing more than a figment of my imagination.

Chapter 8

We returned to the room when it was already fully dark outside, and the cafeteria—which I still hadn’t even seen yet, considering I’d spent all this time eating in Airis’s room instead—was already closed.

Airis mentioned that it operated until nine in the evening, then closed until two in the morning before reopening again at seven.

I didn’t get the chance to ask why the schedule was so strange because the moment he informed me he was going to find us dinner, he quickly slammed the door behind him.

And with that slam, three familiar figures materialized.

The very ones I’d been waiting for ever since we stood on the cliff.

“Where were you?” I immediately asked, first looking at Moirz standing near the bookshelf, then at Louis, who for some reason had started bouncing on Airis’s bed beneath the canopy, and finally at Aars, lounging on the desk with one paw crossed over the other.

“The seals stopped us,” Moirz shrugged.

“They stopped you,” Aars corrected lazily, examining his claws.

“I simply chose not to go any farther.”

“What seals?” I asked, walking deeper into the room before stopping in the center.

“After death, if a soul still has unfinished goals or attachments in the world where they lived, a seal is created,” Moirz explained.

“It binds them to the place of their death. In Louis’s and my case—the grounds of Istmond.”

“And Istmond only occupies a small part of the forest you walked through.”

“But during the Selection,” Louis added, “those seals weaken. For one month, trapped spirits are allowed to explore other territories—as long as they remain within the world where they died.”

I swallowed, trying to process that.

Trying to burn away the crushing feeling of pity that came with it.

Even back in Vuduarus, whenever I encountered spirits, they spoke about eternal existence as if it were some meaningless curse.

Just observers.

Nothing more.

“Alright, maybe you don’t need to know everything about spirits,” Aars interrupted, placing dramatic emphasis on the last word as excitement lit up his eyes.

“But the Twelve Energies? Those you absolutely need to know about.”

“Why?” I asked skeptically.

Honestly, it felt more like this little dragon-cat just wanted to show off how much he knew.