The rain had stopped by noon, but the yard still gleamed with puddles. Training had ended an hour ago. Most recruits had already gone inside, yet Kael and Jared stayed, circling each other like a problem neither could solve.Reyna’s voice echoed from the doorway. “You two done measuring pride?”Neither answered.Jared’s blade twitched at his side. “He’s been walking around like he owns the Corps,” he said, eyes fixed on Kael. “You all just follow him like he’s Darius reborn.”Kael exhaled. “This again?”“You’re hiding something.” Jared stepped forward. “Every time we get near the truth, you vanish with Reyna and Kyna like the rest of us don’t matter.”Kael kept his tone level. “It’s called strategy.”“Strategy?” Jared laughed. “You mean secrets.”“You wouldn’t understand them anyway.”The words landed harder than Kael meant them to. Jared’s expression shifted: mockery first, then something darker. He took another step.“Say that again.”Kael’s fingers brushed the hilt at his hip. “You

Night blanketed the northern range in a cool, silent hush. The moon hung low, its pale light washing over the forest that ringed the Academy’s perimeter.Kael adjusted his grip on the training spear as Reyna moved beside him, her voice low. “This exercise was supposed to be routine. So why does it feel like a trap?”“Because Archon planned it,” Kyna muttered from behind, eyes flicking through the dark. “And his ‘routine’ never means simple.”Jared snorted softly. “Maybe you’re all just jumpy. It’s a mock raid. Capture the beacon, bring it back, easy.”Reyna’s look could’ve cut stone. “You said the same thing last time and almost got us killed.”“I call that experience,” Jared replied, a faint smirk tugging at his mouth.Kael stopped at the treeline and signalled the group to fan out. “Keep eyes open. Our commanders, Drax and Ember, will be joining us and as such, they'll be covering the ridge. We take the west route. Kyna…shadows only.”She grinned. “Wouldn’t dream of anything else.”

The briefing room was dead quiet. Light pulsed across the surface in faint blue veins, outlining the narrow mountain route near the Stormhaven border. Darius stood beside it, his tone clipped, professional, yet Kael could hear the faint strain underneath.“You’ll be escorting the Stormhaven envoy from Ridgefall to the lower gates,” Darius said. “They’ve requested Shadow Corps presence due to increased rebel activity in the region.”Reyna crossed her arms. “Requested or demanded?”Darius’s mouth tightened. “Their royal emissary was specific. They wanted the best.”Jared let out a small laugh. “Then why send us?”Darius didn’t rise to the bait. “Because Archon approved it himself.”That silenced the room. Kael felt the shift in the air. Archon’s direct involvement in a minor escort was unusual, too precise to be coincidence.Kyna adjusted the clasp on her cloak. “That’s convenient timing,” she said. “First a Stormhaven envoy, then Archon’s signature on the orders. Almost like someone’s

Kael hadn’t slept properly in days. Each time his eyes closed, the hum of the Rift returned.Tonight was worse.He sat cross-legged in the quiet training hall, lights dimmed, every other recruit long gone. The air smelled faintly of steel oil and sweat. He focused on the rhythm of his breath, trying to silence the thrum beneath it.“Stay still,” he muttered to himself. “Don’t let it through.”But it didn’t listen.The floor beneath him shimmered. The world thinned.Kael’s breath caught. The hall blurred, and for a moment he wasn’t there anymore.He was standing in the courtyard outside the main citadel. Except it wasn’t night. And it wasn’t whole.Smoke filled the air. Buildings burned in the distance. Bells rang somewhere, muffled by the roar of fire.Kael turned in place. “No—this isn’t now.”His voice sounded small, out of sync with everything around him. The Rift had pulled him again. But t

The northern outpost looked abandoned: half-collapsed watchtowers, roofs eaten by moss, the smell of metal and damp rot clinging to the air. The squad moved in a staggered line, blades drawn, boots quiet against the stone.Reyna signalled halt. “Perimeter’s clear. Kael, take point with Kyna. Jared, cover the rear.”Jared grumbled. “Why do I always get rear duty?”“Because you talk too much to lead,” Ember said, climbing over a cracked wall.Drax chuckled. “She’s not wrong.”“Laugh it up,” Jared said, brushing past him. “When I find something, I’m keeping it.”Kyna crouched beside a rusted hatch near the ground. “Found an entry point.”Kael knelt beside her. “Storage bunker?”“Looks like it. Locked, though.”Reyna joined them. “Then we open it.”Kael pressed his hand against the seal. Faint blue light rippled under his skin as the Rift resonated, metal whining in response. The lock clicked open