The infirmary was too quiet. Too white. Too cold. Oliver Beckett sat at Iris’s bedside, elbows on his knees, hands clasped so tightly the knuckles had turned pale. He stared at her still form, willing her to breathe easier. She lay wrapped in thin sheets.Her skin shimmering faintly with geometric patterns, sharp lines, angles, and symbols that crawled under her skin like living glass.Patterns she didn’t have before Zone 07. Patterns that terrified him.Billy stood near the doorway, shifting nervously. “She’ll wake up, man,” he said. “She always does.”Oliver didn’t move. “I know.”But he didn’t sound sure. He hadn’t slept since the collapse. His mind replayed the moment Iris fell.The way her mana burst into wild crystalline shapes, collapsing her barrier and slamming her into the ground. The sound of her heartbeat fading. The Zone had nearly killed her. And not because she was weak, but because something inside the Zone recognized her.Now, her breathing was shallow. Too shallow.

The portal opened like a tear cut through darkness. Oliver Beckett stepped forward, Iris’s hand still warm against his palm until the light swallowed him whole. The world twisted, folded, then snapped into a silent landscape made entirely of black glass.Zone 08: Obsidian Garden.It looked like a cathedral that had been carved, shard by shard, from frozen midnight. Towers of reflective stone rose overhead. Blossoms of razor-sharp crystal bloomed on the ground. The air felt cold, so still it barely existed.And everywhere Oliver looked…His reflection stared back. Not one reflection. Dozens. Hundreds. All slightly wrong.One version of him had a scar running down his jaw. Another wore heavier armor. One looked older. One younger. One smiled too calmly. Another scowled with a silent rage. Oliver’s breath faded into fog. “This place is wrong.”The System responded instantly, its voice sharp:[Evolution Zone 08 Loaded: The Obsidian Garden][Warning: Pattern-Mimic Entities Active][Objec

The sky began changing long before anyone understood why. It started with a soft shimmer, thin ribbons of pale green drifting above the academy like dancing mist. Students pointed at the sky during lunch, whispering that it looked pretty, almost magical, but Oliver Beckett felt something else in that light.Something cold. Something dangerous. By sunset, the aurora grew brighter, too bright, and the air buzzed faintly the way the Zones did. Iris noticed it too. She stood with Oliver at the observatory balcony, her hands wrapped around the metal railing. “This isn’t normal,” she murmured.Oliver gave a slow nod. “The System’s leaking into the sky.”The light pulsed once, sharp enough to sting their eyes, and a strange vibration rolled through the air like a low hum. Iris shivered. “It feels like… like the world is breathing wrong.”Oliver didn’t respond. He felt the difference in his bones. The Zones had always been separate, sealed away inside their own spaces. But now the boundary

The academy grounds felt wrong. Not dangerous. Not chaotic. Just different.Oliver Beckett sensed it the moment he stepped outside the artifact bunker. The air felt heavier, as if someone had quietly turned the world’s volume down. Students walked in groups, laughing and talking like usual, but something in their movements felt… rehearsed. Too smooth. Too perfect. Like actors repeating lines.Oliver walked beside Iris and Billy, eyes sweeping the halls. A pair of first-year students crossed their path, whispering to each other. They glanced at Oliver, then immediately looked away, faces stiff and polite. Billy frowned. “Man, people are acting weird.”Iris whispered, “They’re not acting weird. They’re acting watched.”Oliver’s stomach tightened. “By who?”She didn’t answer. Because they all knew the answer already. Their dorm lounge was quiet when they arrived. A few upperclassmen studied at a table, heads down. Iris locked the door behind them and walked straight to her desk. “Oka

The academy felt different now. Not louder, not quieter, just watchful. Every wall, every light panel, every hallway seemed to hold a pair of invisible eyes. Oliver Beckett felt them every time he walked between classes, every time he trained, every time he opened his System interface.Someone was always watching, and that someone was Andre Hayes.Oliver tried to push the thought away as he walked toward Headmistress Kael’s office. The air was tense, and his steps echoed sharply down the long corridor.Iris walked beside him, arms crossed, her jaw tight with frustration. “You don’t have to go to her,” Iris whispered. “She already knows Hayes is dangerous.”“Yes,” Oliver said softly, “but she needs to hear what the System told me.”Iris looked at him with fear that she tried to hide behind her steady voice. “Oliver, the system rewriting your history, that’s not normal. That’s not just an update. That’s control.”“I know,” Oliver murmured. “And that’s exactly why I have to tell her.”T