CHAPTER 317: SUMMON

The hallway outside the testing hall was quieter than usual, even though dozens of second-years were still milling about, comparing scores or arguing over how unfair the exam had been. Normally, Merlin would’ve blended into that noise, just another student in the crowd.

Not today.

People stared.

Whispered.

Stepped aside.

Sometimes respectfully. Sometimes fearfully. Sometimes resentfully.

That happened every time Merlin performed too well, but after the simulation escalation, and after the projection broadcast the #1 ranking, those reactions sharpened into something heavier. Like everyone could feel that something about C-12’s exam wasn’t normal.

Elara walked beside Merlin, steps quiet but presence steady. Nathan dragged along behind them with Adrian, Liliana, Ethan, Seraphina, and Dorian keeping loosely in their orbit, like the group had magnetized after the battle and couldn’t separate just yet.

Once they reached the courtyard, the midday light spilled over them. The stone fountain, the trimmed hedges, the gently swaying banners with the academy crest... all beautifully normal.

But Merlin couldn’t shake the wrongness crawling in his mind.

Elara noticed instantly. "You’re thinking too much."

"It’s not ’too much.’ It’s exactly enough," Merlin said quietly. "That anomaly wasn’t random."

Nathan shoved his hands into his pockets. "We all know that part. The real question is who would even benefit from something like that? And why target us specifically?"

"Yeah," Ethan muttered. "We’re cool, but we’re not THAT cool. I mean, Merlin is. But the rest of us are mid-tier at best."

Adrian threw an arm around Ethan’s neck. "We’re elite, brother. Don’t disrespect the squad."

Seraphina pinched the bridge of her nose. "The point is: there are over thirty restricted simulation types. Why insert that one?"

Dorian’s red eyes flicked toward the main building. "Because it adapts. It studies. It evolves. Whoever triggered it wanted to see how fast we could be pushed."

Liliana hugged herself. "That sounds awful..."

"It is awful," Dorian replied bluntly.

Merlin didn’t disagree.

He knew that simulation type. He remembered it from the novel. Not because it was used in the academy—because it was used by a minor villain organization early on, one that usually never intersected with the academy until much later.

Which meant...

They were moving early.

Again.

He hated that pattern more than anything.

While the others debated possibilities, Merlin drifted to the edge of the courtyard, where the ivy climbing the stone walls cast long shadows across the path. He leaned against the railing, looking out over the training fields in the distance.

Elara joined him without hesitation.

"You already know something," she said softly, her tone not accusatory, just certain.

Merlin kept his voice low. "Just pieces. But the biggest piece is that the academy is being probed. Someone wants to see if the second-year elites can survive under pressure."

"And they used your group as the test subject."

"Not just my group," Merlin said. "Our group. And the only ones with multi-affinity are me and Nathan. That makes us the ideal targets."

Elara looked away, jaw tightening. "I don’t like that someone is treating you like an experiment."

Merlin blinked at her.

She sounded... angry.

Actually angry.

He wasn’t used to Elara showing emotion so clearly. It tightened his chest in an unfamiliar way, but he forced himself to stay focused.

"I’ll be fine," Merlin assured her. "This isn’t the first time someone in power has tried to manipulate things."

"I know," she murmured, "but it doesn’t make it acceptable."

The wind rustled through the courtyard, tugging lightly at Elara’s silver-blonde hair. She glanced up at him, and her violet eyes were sharper than before, worried, but sharp.

"Tomorrow," she said quietly, "I’m going with you to Morgana’s office."

"Even if she says no?" Merlin asked.

"I’ll wait outside."

A small smile tugged at his lips. "You don’t have to protect me, you know."

"I’m not protecting you," Elara said, voice soft but firm. "I’m staying with you."

Before Merlin could answer, Nathan called out from behind them:

"HEY! Lovebirds!"

Ethan slapped the back of his head. "Dude—no."

Adrian nodded sagely. "Brother, that was bold."

Liliana turned red. "D-don’t tease them!"

Seraphina exhaled sharply. "Can we NOT do this right now?"

Dorian simply stared at Nathan like he wanted to throw him off the balcony.

Merlin closed his eyes. "I’m going to murder him."

Elara sighed. "I’ll help."

Nathan yelped and ran.

The others chased him, partially joking, partially serious, and the tension around them finally began to loosen.

Merlin watched his friends—the cast he knew so well from the book but who were slowly becoming more real, more human, less predictable. The more the timeline diverged, the more their personalities shifted. And somehow, that made Merlin want to protect them even more.

Even Nathan. Annoying little bastard.

But beneath the laughter, the fear, the chaos—he still felt it.

That creeping wrongness.

That shift in the story.

Today wasn’t just an anomaly.

It was a warning.

And tomorrow morning, when Morgana summoned him alone...

He would find out exactly how deep this new path went.

The summons arrived earlier than expected.

Merlin hadn’t even made it back to his dorm before a courier bird—a sleek obsidian-feathered raven marked with Morgana’s sigil—landed on the railing beside him. Its violet eyes glowed faintly before it opened its beak, releasing a folded letter sealed with black wax.

Every student who passed the hall froze.

Messages from any instructor were rare.

Messages directly from Morgana, the Headmistress?

Practically mythic.

Merlin reached out and took the parchment. The raven dissolved into shadows, returning to wherever it had come from.

He broke the seal.

The ink shimmered like stardust.

Merlin Everhart,

Report to my office at dawn.

—Morgana

No explanation.

No hint of emotion.

Just an order.

He folded the letter away. Elara, who’d slowed when she saw the bird land, approached him.

"She already called you?"

"Looks like it."

"What time?"

"Dawn."

Elara’s brows knit slightly—her version of worry, subtle but unmistakable.

"So early," she murmured. "She must know more than she said during the announcement."

"She definitely does," Merlin replied.

The rest of the group caught up to them then—Nathan still rubbing the back of his head from where Seraphina whacked him, Adrian nursing a bruise Ethan definitely gave him on purpose, Liliana fussing over both, Dorian looking like he regretted his entire social circle.

Nathan peered at Merlin’s expression.

"Bad news?"

"Summons," Merlin said. "Headmistress."