Eclipse: Crest Born

Chapter Five: First strike in the Nullforge

CHAPTER: First Strike in the Nullforge

The Nullforge Grounds hummed with energy, the floating platforms shifting beneath their feet. Ryan gripped his pulse staff tightly, feeling its weight uneven in his hands. Beside him, Enisa twirled her dual-weighted baton, testing its momentum.

The constructs—the mechanical forms of Crest Beasts—were stationed at the far end of the arena, motionless. Between them and the targets, a swarm of hovering drones began to materialize, each one the size of a sparrow, bristling with sensors and mini-projectiles.

Instructor Valis’s voice echoed from above:

“Your first task is simple. Destroy the stationary targets and disable the drones. Accuracy and speed are key. Power alone will not save you.Also the drones will attack you on a minimal scale. This is just a test.”

Ryan exhaled sharply. Simple. That word was a lie. Their abilities had yet to fully awaken, and they had no control over the energy-flow disciplines the academy expected them to wield.

He glanced at Enisa. Her eyes were bright with focus. “Ready?” he asked.

“Try not to embarrass yourself,” she said, smirking. But her baton pulsed faintly in her hands, betraying her own nervous energy.

The first set of targets were metal plates embedded in the arena wall. Each plate had a glowing sigil in the center. When Ryan struck the first plate with his staff, the sigil flickered but didn’t break. The second strike sent a tiny shock through his arms. His pulse staff hummed erratically, responding to his energy flow in a way he hadn’t learned to control.

Enisa twirled forward, her baton spinning in perfect arcs. She hit the second target with a clean strike, but her follow-up hit the next plate and it barely registered. Her expression tightened—precision was harder than it looked when her own energy field lagged behind her movements.

“This is… harder than I imagined,” she muttered.

Ryan gritted his teeth. “We just need to focus. Flow with it, not force it.”

A sudden whirring caught their attention. The hovering drones had arrived, weaving between the platforms with surprising agility. They were small but fast, and their sensors glowed like unblinking eyes.

The drones attacked in coordinated patterns. Ryan swung his pulse staff toward the first one, but the strike barely grazed its hull. Energy arcs flickered and fizzled. Enisa lunged at another drone, trying to intercept it mid-flight. The baton moved with speed, but she had no true control over the energy channeling—the drone zipped past, unscathed.

Ryan hissed, “We need strategy, not power.”

Enisa nodded. “Let’s divide and conquer. I’ll take the left, you take the right.”

They moved in tandem, still clumsy but gradually finding a rhythm. Ryan’s staff emitted small pulses of energy with each strike. Enisa’s baton left faint trails that disrupted drone sensors. Slowly, one drone, then another, fell. By the time they reached the final platform, half the drones were disabled, and three stationary targets had shattered.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was progress.

As they caught their breath on the far platform, a group of other first-year students arrived at the same trial section. Among them were two figures who seemed particularly skilled:

Lira Vael, a wiry girl with sharp eyes and an electric whip-like staff. She moved like a predator, her first drone disabled before Ryan and Enisa even noticed her approach.

Kaen Ryl, a broad-shouldered boy with heavy gauntlets that emitted short bursts of energy. He had a relaxed confidence, though his movements carried a subtle precision that marked him as dangerous.

Lira glanced at Ryan and Enisa, a small smirk forming. “Not bad for beginners,” she said. “You’re Vexhold, right? I’ve heard of you two.”

Enisa straightened. “And you are?”

“Lira,” she said, flipping her whip staff casually over her shoulder. “And that's Kaen… We both came from Ironreach.”

Kaen stepped forward, shaking Ryan’s hand. “You two held your own. Could’ve gone worse. I like that.”

Ryan nodded cautiously. “Thanks.”

The exchange broke some of the tension from the trial. Even as they struggled with controlling their powers, they realized they weren’t alone. Allies existed here, even among strangers.

The floating platforms descended slowly to a landing formation, signaling the trial’s end. Instructor Valis appeared on the central platform, her silver hair gleaming in the arena lights.

“Well done for your first attempt,” she said. “This is only the beginning. Your powers are raw, unstable, and incomplete. You will fail. You will be challenged. But you survived your first Nullforge trial, and that is all that matters today.”

Ryan wiped sweat from his brow and turned to Enisa. “We’ll get better.”

She nodded, eyes scanning the arena, now littered with scattered targets and fallen drones. “We have to. And not just better… we need to grow. Together.”

Lira and Kaen approached them again. “You’re not bad company,” Lira said, tossing her whip casually. “Stick with us, you might make it through the next trial without frying yourselves.”

Ryan and Enisa shared a glance. Allies. Friends. Perhaps even a team. For the first time in the Academy, they felt the faint spark of hope.

And above them, th

e Nullforge Grounds pulsed, alive with energy, waiting for the next wave.