Novels by SAGE

The academy felt different after our meeting with Drayke.Not louder or more crowded just watched. Security drones hovered at the edges of corridors now, and even the air seemed to hum with surveillance.I tried to pretend I was just another student again, but the system had other plans.Zero progress. The kind of reminder that never stopped blinking in the corner of my vision.Kira joined me in the library that morning, pretending to study a stack of tactical manuals. She spoke without looking up. “Any new signals?”“Nothing concrete,” I said, flipping a page I hadn’t read. “But there’s static in the ranking database profiles flickering in and out. It’s like the system can’t decide if certain students exist.”“That sounds like a good place to start.” She leaned closer. “Names?”I hesitated, lowering my voice. “Three, so far: Rylan Korr, Aria Vale, and Mira.”Kira frowned. “Your healer friend?”“She’s not my friend,” I said automatically. “Just… connected.”“You think the fragments ar

Morning light filtered through the dorm window, too calm for what was sitting under my skin. The hum from the fragment still pulsed faintly through my mark, a heartbeat that wasn’t mine.Kira hadn’t said much since we escaped the tunnels. She sat at my desk now, replaying the corrupted video over and over again. Every frame showed the same thing Halden, the flash, the empty pod.“We can’t go to Drayke,” she said finally. “He’ll twist it, erase it, or worse.”“I know.” I rubbed my temples. “But the system wants a report. If we ignore it, we’ll trigger a compliance flag.”“Eight hours.” I sighed. “Enough time to find proof before we hand him a version he can’t rewrite.”Kira raised an eyebrow. “You plan to out hack the Headmaster?”“Not hack,” I said. “Borrow.”We started in the data wing, where the academy stored all mission logs. The room was a maze of crystal servers and silent drones gliding along the ceiling. Access required triple clearance; luckily, my new Unranked Division sta

Sleep didn’t come easily that night.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the blue light of those containment pods and heard the hum of the fragments steady, patient, alive.By morning, the academy’s corridors felt too bright. Too quiet. Every student I passed seemed normal, but after what I’d seen underground, “normal” didn’t mean much.“Yeah, I’ll add that to my to do list,” I muttered.At the cafeteria, Leo waved me over. He’d already devoured half his breakfast. “You look like you wrestled a golem.”“Close,” I said, sitting. “Ever hear of the Unranked being sent into restricted zones?”He blinked. “Restricted zones? Those are off limits even for B class. Why?”“Just curious.”Leo frowned. “Curious gets people expelled or worse.”I didn’t answer. My wrist band pinged again.> “You’re not the only one who’s been below. Meet in the E 13 training room after curfew.”I looked up, scanning the room. No one was watching. The message vanished after three seconds.Curfew hit at twe

The morning after my meeting with Drayke, the academy’s bells sounded different.Slower. Heavier. Like the building itself was thinking.I woke to the faint hum of the wrist band and a new message blinking across the display.“Unranked?” I said aloud. “That’s not even on the course list.”Leo, half asleep on the other bed, groaned. “You get reassigned again? What did you do this time?”“Apparently I impressed the wrong people,” I muttered, already pulling on my jacket.Block E 13 sat on the edge of the campus half buried in the cliffside where maintenance tunnels and old laboratories connected. The air grew colder the farther I walked. When I finally reached the door, it didn’t even have the academy crest just a rusted plate that read Authorized Personnel Only.I swiped my ID. The lock clicked, the door slid open, and a blast of recycled air hit me.Inside were about a dozen students. No uniforms matched; ranks either didn’t display or flickered with broken signals. They all l

The following morning, I’d barely made it halfway through breakfast before my wrist band lit up.So the Headmaster wanted a chat. Never a good sign when the most powerful man in the academy calls you before class.Leo nearly choked on his food. “The Headmaster? What did you do this time?”“Apparently I existed,” I said, finishing my coffee. “Wish me luck or don’t.”He gave me a look halfway between awe and sympathy. “Just don’t make him angry. People who do usually disappear.”“Encouraging,” I muttered, grabbing my jacket.The elevator up the Central Spire was glass on all sides. The city stretched below like a model: training grounds, dorm blocks, defensive turrets disguised as statues. From up here, the academy looked peaceful like a lie carved out of steel.The doors opened into a wide corridor of black marble. Two sentries in ceremonial armor stood guard outside Drayke’s office. Their ranks flashed in the hundreds. Top tier.One of them scanned my ID band, then nodded. “Enter. T

The next morning the academy looked different.Maybe it was the way the sunlight caught the tower windows, or maybe it was me. People stepped aside when I walked through the courtyard. Some nodded with forced politeness; others stared like they’d seen a ghost.Word travelled faster than the drones.“Figures,” I muttered. “Barely one day and I’m already a conspiracy theory.”At breakfast, Leo waved me over to an empty table. He looked both impressed and terrified.“Half the school thinks you destroyed the evaluation drones by looking at them,” he whispered.“They’re exaggerating,” I said, stabbing a piece of toast. “I only looked at one.”He blinked. “You’re joking, right?”“Probably.”Across the hall, groups of students whispered. I caught fragments: ‘Linsey’s new weapon’ ‘he cursed the Council’ ‘that’s how he got promoted.’Let them talk. Fear was useful.A shadow fell across our table. I glanced up. Three upper division students stood there, badges gleaming gold. The one in front,