The dust had settled. The acrid scent of burnt ozone, a lingering ghost from the Ritual of Reckoning, still clung to the air within the Grand Hall, but the atmosphere was different. It was lighter, charged with a cautious optimism that hadn't been present in the Scholomantic Academy for centuries. The Keepers of the Ancient Flame, their power structures crumbling, retreated into the shadows, their influence diminished, their voices no longer holding the sway they once commanded.