The vibration in the stone hadn't even stopped shaking Seth's spilled canteen before Aldric was on his feet with his blade already drawn."Up! Everyone, get up now!" Aldric’s voice cracked through the cavern like a whip. "Pack your gear. We're moving!"The students scrambled in the dim orange light, pulling on packs, buckling belts with trembling hands, and kicking dirt over the remains of their camp. Seth shoved the rest of his dry rations into his pouch, while Ren helped Sol pull her mother up onto her feet. The woman groaned, her face pale, but the herbs Nyra had given her kept her legs from completely giving out.Aldric slapped his palm against his wrist comm, forcing the frequency open as another roar shook dust from the cave ceiling."Base, this is Field Unit Four!" Aldric barked into the speaker. "The extraction point is compromised. We've got high-tier beasts territorial fighting right outside our mouth!"The static hissed, then the female instructor's voice came through over

The silence stretched out until the faint crackle of burning shale sounded like dry bone snapping underfoot.Eryx sat with his back pressed flat against the rock face, his palms resting flat in the blood-soaked dirt. His throat was so dry it felt like swallowing glass, he looked up at the circle of faces staring down at him—Xavier’s wide, suspicious eyes; Seth’s pale, slack jaw; Ren’s hand still white-knuckled around his hilt.“Say something,” Eryx told himself, his chest heaving as the heat in his core slowly settled into a thrumming hum. “Say literally anything before they start asking why there’s no meat left on the bones.”His eyes flicked sideways. Standing a few paces back, half-shadowed by the overhang, Nyra wasn't looking at the stripped ribcages. Her eyes were locked directly on the air right above Eryx’s left shoulder.She saw it, not the whole body—the phantom dragon had already dissolved—but the thin, oily trails of black smoke still curling off Eryx's skin like heat waves

"No! Aldric, NO!"The scream tore out of Sol's mother's throat, a ragged, helpless sound that cracked right down the middle.She shoved herself off the dirt, throwing her entire weight forward to rush back toward the blinding purple light of the array. Her boots skidded over the loose gravel, her hands outstretched as if she could physically drag him out of the detonation circle."Let me go! Let me go!" she shrieked, flailing wildly as two pairs of arms clamped around her shoulders and waist, dragging her backward toward the shimmering blue portal.Eryx dug his boots into the stone, his muscles straining as he held her left arm. Xavier had her right, his face stark white, his teeth gritted as he pulled with everything he had."You can't go back there!" Xavier yelled, his voice cracking with panic. "The whole ridge is about to blow!""Release me, you fools!" she sobbed, thrashing against them, her blood-soaked hair whipping across her face as tears cut wide, pale tracks through the red

Eryx stared at the backs of his classmates. Half of him had expected them to jump in with the rest of the mob, to point fingers and throw him to the dogs just to clear their own names.Instead, Nyra stepped ahead of Seth’s shield, her face cold and unimpressed."Fuck off," she said, her voice cutting through the noise like a slap. "All of you."The crowd blinked, thrown off by her tone. The senior holding the leash on the brown dragon scoffed. "You're defending him? He got Instructor Aldric killed!""He kept us alive," Nyra snapped, taking a step toward him. "You lot weren't down there in the fault line. You didn't fight those fire wolves, and you didn't see what actually happened at the gate. So shut your mouths and stop spreading garbage you know nothing about."Xavier stepped up, resting his hands on his hips and glaring at the senior students. "Yeah, where were you high-and-mighty seniors when the stampede hit? Hiding in the main courtyard? Eryx pulled his weight. You don't get to

The new dorm room was ten times larger than the damp, rotted wood shed they’d shoved him into when he first arrived at the Academy. It had stone walls that didn't leak, actual glass in the windows, and four oak desks lined up against the back wall.It smelled of fresh lavender, not the iron tang of rain on dirt.Eryx set his worn leather bag on the empty bottom bunk by the door. His three roommates stood near the window, ignoring him completely as they strapped on their training gear.The tall one with the slicked-back hair—Kael—didn't even try to hide his sneer. He dropped a steel greave onto the floor, "Unbelievable," Kael muttered, pulling his leather strap tight."First they drag the field rankings down, now they dump unranked trash right into our block.""Just ignore him," the stockier boy beside him whispered, though he didn't lower his voice by much. "He won't last past the month anyway. You saw how he walked back from the rift—probably used up whatever fluke luck he had left."