The Director

Chapter 8 — The Director

The day started normally.

I was walking with Izuo and Latris through the academy halls, half-awake, half-thinking about nothing in particular.

Izuo was talking about food again, something about wanting more meat at lunch, while Latris kept correcting him, saying he would bankrupt the academy at that rate.

When we entered the magic classroom, everyone took their seats like usual. The room was full, quiet except for low conversations that slowly faded as the professor arrived.

She stood at the front and looked at us for a moment before speaking.

“Today will not be a standard lesson”

That alone was enough to make the room stir.

She continued, calm and direct.

“Today, all first-year classes will participate in a special joint lesson. The academy director herself will be involved.”

That got everyone’s attention immediately.

Even Izuo stopped fidgeting.

The director wasn’t someone students usually saw. She existed more as a name than a person.

“This lesson will focus on Sigils” the professor said.

“Specifically, on understanding how they grow through experience.”

Before anyone could ask questions, the professor raised her hand.

Magic activated instantly.

The classroom vanished.

There was a brief sensation of falling, like my body had been pulled forward too fast, then—

We were outside.

Open space stretched around us, stone ground beneath our feet and the sky above. When I looked

around, I realized we weren’t alone.

Far from it.

Students were everywhere.

Other classes. All first-years.

Everyone looked just as confused as we were.

At the center of the area stood a single figure.

The academy director.

She stood calmly, hands behind her back, as if waiting for everyone to settle down. Her presence alone made the area quieter.

Conversations faded on their own.

When I saw her eyes, I immediately understood why.

Red.

Not hostile. Not warm.

Just… sharp.

She began speaking without raising her voice.

“Sigils are shaped by use the more you rely on them, the more they change alongside you.”

Her words were clear. Simple.

“No Sigil reaches its true form without experience. And experience cannot be gained through theory alone.”

She paused, letting that sink in.

“I have lived long enough to witness many paths. Today, I will help you take your first proper step.”

I didn’t like the sound of that.

Before I could think further, a strange heaviness washed over me.

My head felt warm.

Slow.

Around me, students began blinking, swaying slightly.

Izuo muttered something beside me, his voice dragging.

Latris leaned closer, her steps unsteady.

“…Why am I suddenly tired?” someone said nearby.

I tried to focus.

Tried to stay awake.

But my body didn’t listen.

My vision blurred, the ground felt distant, and my legs gave out.

As I fell, I saw the director again.

She was looking straight at me.

Her red eyes met mine for just a moment.

Then everything went black.

Before everything went dark, there were voices.

From the professors.

I couldn’t see them clearly anymore, but I could still hear.

The magic instructor spoke first, her tone low but curious.

“I still don’t understand why the director decided to personally conduct a lesson like this,” she said. “It’s unusual, even for her.”

The physical training instructor answered after a short pause.

“I don’t know either,” he admitted.

After that, the voices faded completely.

Darkness.

That was the first thing I noticed.

No ground. No sky. No walls.

Just darkness.

I looked down and realized I could still see myself.

My body was there. Perfectly clear. Every breath. Every movement.

But nothing else existed.

“…Where am I?” I muttered.

My voice echoed strangely, as if the space itself was listening.

Then—

Something changed.

Two red lights appeared in front of me.

Eyes.

They weren’t hostile.

But they weren’t kind either.

“So this is you,” a calm voice said. “Interesting.”

My body stiffened.

“Interesting?” I asked.

The eyes shifted slightly, as if smiling.

“It has been many years,” the voice continued, ignoring my question, “since one of the fragments of the Crown chose a bearer.”

My heart skipped.

“…The Crown?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”

Silence.

Then—

“That does not matter right now, whether you understand it or not changes nothing.”

I frowned.

Before I could say anything else, I felt her attention move.

Not around me.

Through me.

It was like being examined from the inside.

“…You have barely used your Sigil”

“Why?”

I hesitated.

Then answered honestly.

“My body can’t handle it."

"Every time I push it, I get hurt.”

The eyes remained fixed on me.

“That is understandable"

She said

“It is not a power meant for mortals.”

That answer didn’t comfort me at all.

She continued.

“We are currently inside the magic of Hypnos Sleep. Nothing you do here will affect your real body.”

I tensed.

“The only thing holding you back,” she added, “is your tolerance to pain.”

My breath caught.

So that was it.

This place wasn’t safe.

It was just… disconnected.

I clenched my fists.

If that was true, then—

I couldn’t waste this.

“…How can I change?” I asked. “How can I control it? How can I use my Sigil without destroying myself?”

The eyes studied me again.

Longer this time.

“Your Sigil is extremely rare,” she said. “In all my years, I have never seen another like it.”

That surprised me.

“Then how do I train it?” I asked.

There was a pause.

Then—

“You test it,” she said simply.

“…That’s it?”

“That is all there is.”

No shortcuts.

No secret method.

Just experience.

Just like she said before.

I took a breath.

Alright.

If this place wouldn’t break my body—

Then I’d push myself here.

I raised my hand.

The familiar pressure began to form.

I recognized it immediately.

Something responding.

Even before I acted, my body reacted first.

A quiet warning.

Pain was already waiting.

I inhaled slowly.

So this was how it would be.

I looked toward the red eyes in the darkness.

“…This is going to be difficult.”

The eyes didn’t answer.

They only watched.

Then—

I don’t know how much time passed.

It could have been minutes.

It could have been hours.

In that place, time didn’t feel real.

I lowered my hand, my breathing uneven, and turned my attention back to the red eyes watching me

from the darkness.

“…Director are the other students going through the same kind of training?”

“Yes,” she replied. “All of them are testing their Sigils to their limits.”

That answer made me pause.

So it wasn’t just me.

As that sank in, another thought followed right after it.

…A vampire this ancient.

Someone who had lived for who knows how many years.

She was maintaining a powerful spell over dozens—no, hundreds—of students at the same time.

Not only that.

She was interacting with all of us individually.

Guiding us.

Watching us.

The scale of it felt unreal.

Before I could dwell on it too much, her voice reached me again.

“What you lack, is imagination.”

I frowned.

“…Imagination?”

From what I understood, my problem was my body. Pain. Limits.

Not imagination.

She continued, as if reading my thoughts.

“From what I have seen, your Sigil allows you to control anything around you. Down to the smallest details.”

My heart tightened.

“Your problem is that you can do everything, but you do not imagine enough.”

I shook my head slightly.

“I don’t understand,” I said honestly. “What do you mean?”

The eyes dimmed for a moment, thoughtful.

Then she spoke again.

“Imagine a bird,” she said. “One that was raised from the moment it was an egg.”

An image formed in my mind without me trying.

“A bird kept in a safe place. Fed. Protected.”

I listened.

“One day, that bird is released into the wild,” she continued. “It knows it has wings. It feels them. It moves them.”

Her voice remained calm.

“But it has never flown.”

I swallowed.

“It does not know it can.”

“That,” she said, “is your situation.”

I felt something click.

“You have wings,” she continued. “But all you are doing is flapping them.”

The words hit harder than any pain I felt during training.

I stayed quiet, letting them sink in.

Before I could respond, she spoke again.

“I will give you homework,” she said. “Before our next lesson, learn how to use your Sigil without injuring yourself.”

My eyes widened slightly.

“If you can do that i will personally teach you some things myself.”

Personally.

That word alone made my chest tighten.

Before I could ask anything else—

Clap.

The sound echoed sharply.

The darkness shattered.

I felt the ground rush up beneath me.

My body lurched.

My eyes snapped open.

Light flooded my vision.

I was back.

I sucked in a sharp breath and looked around.

Students were waking up all around me. Some groaning. Some blinking in confusion. Others rubbing

their eyes as if they had just been shaken awake from a deep sleep.

Whispers filled the air.

“What just happened?”

“Was that a dream?”

“I feel exhausted…”

I pushed myself up slightly and looked to the side.

Everyone was waking up.

Just like me.

The dream was over.

But the lesson—

That stayed.

And so did the challenge she left me with.

Voices exploded the moment everyone fully woke up.

“What was that just now?”

“Was that really the director?”

“I swear I was dreaming.”

“No, that felt too real to be a dream.”

Students looked around in confusion, some excited, others uneasy. A few were already trying to explain what they had seen, comparing experiences like they had just woken up from the same strange night.

I stayed quiet.

My head still felt heavy, not from exhaustion, but from everything that had been said to me.

Before I could organize my thoughts, Izuo’s voice cut through the noise.

“Rikuo!”

I turned.

He was already pushing through the crowd toward me, Latris right behind him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Latris nodded. “You scared me for a second.”

“I’m fine,” I said. “Just… a weird experience.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Izuo muttered. “I thought I was about to start snoring in front of half the academy.”

Latris crossed her arms. “It felt like a dream, but I remember everything.”

So it wasn’t just me.

Around us, teachers began guiding the students, calming the noise, organizing everyone back into their

classes. The special lesson was over as suddenly as it had begun.

On the way back, the atmosphere slowly returned to normal.

Classes after that passed without anything unusual. Notes. Explanations. Exercises. Students whispering about the director when they thought the professors weren’t listening.

I paid attention.

At least, I tried to.

But my thoughts kept drifting.

You have wings.

But all you are doing is flapping them.

No matter how many times I replayed it, the words didn’t lose their weight.

By the time classes ended, the sun was already beginning to lower.

I found myself walking toward the training arena again.

Izuo walked beside me, stretching his arms lazily, while Elaira was already waiting near the field, her wooden sword resting against her shoulder.

“Good afternoon Rikuo, Izuo."

"Good afternoon Elaira Senior."

"Osu!"