Incubus Living In A World Of Superpower Users

Ardis stayed seated long after the door had closed, her eyes lingering on the empty space where Ethan had stood only moments before.

The room itself was calm, as if nothing important had happened here, but her thoughts were already moving ahead.

She retraced every moment of the lesson and weighed what each detail might mean in the days to come.

Every step she planned now had two purposes—building his skills and building the resilience that would allow him to hold on to those skills when it mattered most. She would not leave either to chance.

She leaned back slightly, letting out a slow, measured breath. This was only the beginning, but beginnings carried weight, and she had no intention of wasting this one.

With the same steady focus she brought to every task, she gathered her notes into a neat stack, her fingers smoothing each page before she set them aside.

Already, she was mapping the next steps for his training in her mind, making quiet adjustments that would guide him without his realizing how carefully he was being shaped.

Far across the academy, in a quieter wing where the light fell cooler through tall panes of glass, Celestara Veylan stepped out of her office.

Her pace was unhurried, but there was nothing aimless in her movements. Every step carried her toward one of the university's most secluded spaces—the private garden tower.

Few among the faculty could enter without her leave, and that was exactly the way she preferred it now.

As she moved deeper into the wing, the faint sounds of students talking and footsteps echoing along stone floors thinned until they were little more than a distant hum.

The air here felt subtly different—less ink, parchment, and warm stone and more the green scent of living things, the breath of the garden waiting ahead.

The arched doorway to the tower stood open, framed by a curtain of trailing vines whose glassy leaves caught the light in shifting shades of green and gold.

She stepped through, and the change was instant. The air inside was cooler and fresher, touched by the soft sound of leaves stirring against each other in the slow, high breeze that wound through the tower's open windows.

Thalynae Silversong was already there. She sat on a long, pale stone bench beside a narrow reflecting pool, her gown flowing in folds of soft silver that seemed to gather and spill like water.

Her deep violet eyes were closed at first, her hands resting lightly on her lap, her posture so still that for a moment she might have been carved from the same stone she sat upon. She didn't just occupy the garden—she belonged to it.

At the sound of approaching steps, Thalynae's eyes opened. There was no surprise in them, only a calm acknowledgment.

"Dean Veylan," she said, her voice carrying the smooth, unhurried weight of someone who had listened to far too many conversations that mattered.

"Thalynae," Celestara replied with a small incline of her head. Neither woman wasted time on pleasantries; the air between them already carried the shape of a conversation that was meant to be direct.

Celestara stopped beside the bench but didn't sit. Her gaze moved briefly over the garden to the taller life trees visible beyond the windows, their pale leaves swaying in slow arcs against the sky.

When her eyes came back to Thalynae, her voice was even and unadorned.

"The Crescent forces have begun moving," she said. "Quietly, but in ways that are becoming harder to ignore.

The cult tied to the sleeping god… they've shifted as well. The pattern is changing."

A faint crease formed between Thalynae's brows, but she said nothing yet.

"This university is already being drawn into the wider defense," Celestara went on, "whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.

That will mean changes—staff, security, and for the students under our care." She paused only long enough to meet Thalynae's gaze before adding, "That includes the three under you—Nyssara, and the twins.

They are not just promising. They will be noticed, if they haven't already been. And once they are, they become pieces in a game they did not choose."

Thalynae's gaze drifted to the surface of the reflecting pool, where the image of the sky above the tower wavered gently with the ripples.

When she spoke, her voice was still calm, though there was steel beneath it. "And you believe the cult's movement is tied to them?"

"I believe the cult's movement is tied to something much larger," Celestara said slowly.

"But if the sleeping god stirs—and we both know that is no longer impossible—then anyone bound to certain bloodlines or abilities will draw attention they are not ready to bear."

Something in Thalynae's expression sharpened, just for a heartbeat, and her voice lowered slightly. "Then the root runs deeper than even I thought."

Celestara inclined her head. "That's why I've come to you directly. I'm not asking you to hold them back.

I'm asking you to move them forward. Sooner, sharper. The time we thought we had may already be gone."

For a long moment, the only sound in the tower was the faint rustle of leaves. Then Thalynae nodded once, her words quiet but firm.

"If they are to be leaves in the storm that's coming, then I will see their stems do not break."

Celestara let out a breath that was almost a sigh. She turned toward the open windows, her eyes following the uneven lines of the city's rooftops stretching toward the horizon.

Beyond them, the tops of the life trees swayed in the higher winds, their massive leaves shifting in deliberate, unhurried arcs.

Thalynae rose, the soft whisper of her gown brushing over the stone floor as she joined her.

Together, they stood in silence, the wind carrying the scent of silverleaf blossoms from the outer gardens, wrapping around them with the faint coolness of the fading afternoon.

When Celestara spoke again, her voice was quieter, as if it belonged more to her own thoughts than the space between them.

"The first moves have already begun. I don't know how quickly the rest will follow, but I'd rather have them ready too soon than a moment too late."