Eclipse: Crest Born

CHAPTER Two: The Noctra Academy

CHAPTER: The Noctra Academy

The transport rail glided across the reinforced skyway, its steel belly humming with energy as it cut through the morning haze. Ryan pressed his face close to the window, unable to tear his eyes away from the sight ahead: the radiant silhouette of Noctra Academy. It rose out of the plains like a miracle carved from stone and light.

Enisa, sitting beside him, hugged her knees and whispered, “It’s real. It’s actually real.”

Noctra Academy had been spoken of in their district the way people spoke of myths. A place untouched by the endless threats beyond the city walls. A place where the chosen learned how to defend humanity. A place where the future was made.

Students chattered excitedly across the rail car. Some were trembling with nerves, others were laughing too loudly, but they all shared the same glow in their eyes. Being chosen meant everything. Only the most gifted from each district were allowed beyond their boundaries, and the selection occurred only once every ten years.

Ryan and Enisa had been the first chosen from Vexhold in decades.

Yet even now, Ryan still remembered the real reason places like Noctra existed.

Crest Beasts.

Monsters born from the old world’s collapse, warped by radiation, mutation and something far stranger. Creatures with bone armor, gleaming crests, and unimaginable power. They prowled the wastelands, tearing through settlements until humanity had no choice but to scatter into fortified districts. Those who wandered outside the protection walls rarely returned.

Without the Academy training elite defenders, humanity would have already fallen.

The rail line dipped, and the Academy finally came into full view.

A sprawling citadel sat atop a plateau, encircled by shimmering energy barriers. Towers of polished obsidian metal reached into the clouds, engraved with glowing runes. Bridges arched between them. The entire structure pulsed gently, as if the Academy itself was alive.

Ryan swallowed. “No wonder they call it the jewel of the Directorate.”

When the rail docked, students spilled out onto a wide receiving platform. Air drones hovered overhead, their lenses scanning the crowd. Automated sentries lined the pathways, their armor lit with blue veins that pulsed like steady heartbeats.

A woman stood waiting for them at the center of the courtyard. She wore a flowing dark uniform and a silver crest badge shaped like a rising sun.

“New candidates,” she said with a warm but commanding voice. “Welcome to Noctra Academy. I am Instructor Valis. For the next two years, this place will be both your sanctuary and your trial ground.”

Excited murmurs rippled through the students.

Valis gestured toward the vast estate behind her. “Our Academy is divided into three divisions. Luminar Hall for theoretical sciences, Nullforge Grounds for combat training, and Celestia Tower for specialized studies. Each of you will be placed according to your aptitude.”

Ryan felt a jolt of pride at the word aptitude.

Valis continued, “You will learn how to analyze Crest Beast behavior, how to wield the energy-flow disciplines, and how to harness your unique talents to protect the districts. You are here because you showed potential,raw, powerful, and rare.”

Her gaze paused on Ryan and Enisa for a moment. Ryan straightened his posture instinctively.

“Do not waste what you have been given.”

Valis clapped her hands once, and the courtyard gates opened with a resonant hum. The students gasped as they stepped inside.

The Academy campus was even more breathtaking from within. Lush gardens glowed faintly with bio-luminescent plants. Transparent walkways stretched across deep training pits. Statues of legendary defenders stood as guardians over the grounds. A great bell tower rose high above the complex, its chimes rumored to ward off beasts within miles.

Enisa touched the railing of a bridge, staring down into one of the training arenas. “This is unreal,” she whispered.

Below them, advanced constructs shaped like Crest Beasts prowled silently, as if waiting for students to challenge them.

“It’s beautiful,” Ryan said. “But also terrifying.”

Valis’s voice echoed from ahead, “Your orientation begins now. You will be shown your dormitories, issued your uniforms, and scheduled for your first trials. Your journey will be difficult, but every difficulty you face here is nothing compared to what lies beyond the district walls.”

Ryan felt a stirring deep in his chest. This was the beginning of everything he had worked for from escaping confinement to mastering strength and protecting humanity.

Beside him, Enisa smiled with quiet resolve. “Let’s survive this,” she said.

Ryan nodded. “Let’s do more than survive. Let’s rise.”

Together, they stepped into Noctra Academy, unaware that the real dangers lurking both within and outside t

he Academy walls were far greater than any of them imagined.