The next day in class, Professor Marden announces a restricted-library catalog project and assigns Ara with Kael as punishment for yesterday's disruption.

Ara and Kael enter the restricted magical library, a high gothic chamber of locked stacks, ward chains, and dim blue lamps.

They work in the cramped restricted stacks. Kael keeps violating distance without breaking any explicit rule.

At the end of the aisle, a lone spellbook rests on a low iron table. Its mouth-shaped clasp seems almost asleep.

Ara reaches for the catalog tag before Kael can stop her. The tome activates with sudden violence.

The library folds inward. Shelves, lamps, and table vanish as the sensory-deprivation ward traps Ara and Kael in a tight black space.

Inside the ward, there is no visible environment. The panel is mostly black with faint breath vapor and tiny sound ripples showing how close they are.

The ward erases sight and magic. Ara tries to joke, but fear breaks through the last word.

Ara's breathing becomes unsteady. Without sight, her performance of calm begins to fail, and Kael hears it immediately.

Kael's cold tone disappears. In the black, he asks a question that sounds too old for the boy standing beside her.

The ward begins to fracture. Violet cracks reveal how close Ara and Kael have been standing the whole time.

The restricted library snaps back into existence. Ara looks up and sees Kael's face in full light: not malicious, but breaking.

The intimacy becomes unbearable. Ara almost reaches for him, then stops. Kael recovers his mask, but not quickly enough.