Heat in the Dark

Chapter 6

Erix hit the floor hard. The air left his lungs in one sharp rush. Dust rose around him. His shoulder burned where Shota’s fist had landed.

“Get up,” Kael said from the side.

Erix pushed himself onto one knee. Sweat ran into his eyes. The old storage building felt smaller than usual. Late afternoon light cut through the high windows in thin lines. Everything smelled like wood and dirt.

Shota stood over him, breathing fast. “That’s four times. You’re done.”

“No.” Erix stood all the way up. His legs shook once, then held. “Again.”

Lira looked up from the crate she sat on. Her notebook was open on her knees. “You’re going to break something. Then we lose days.”

Erix raised his hands. “One more.”

Shota glanced at Kael. Kael only nodded. Shota came forward again.

They moved in a tight circle. Shota’s punches were no longer soft. The fifth one caught Erix on the ribs. Pain flashed white across his side. He staggered but stayed on his feet. The sixth punch came straight at his face.

Something inside Erix’s chest woke up.

It felt like heat racing under his skin, fast and sharp. His body moved before he told it to. He slipped under the punch and drove his open hand into Shota’s chest. The force was stronger than it should have been. Shota flew backward three steps and sat down hard on the floor.

Silence filled the building.

Shota stared up at him, eyes wide. “What was that?”

Erix looked at his own hands. They looked the same. But the heat was still there, low and steady, like a small fire that refused to die.

Kael pushed off the wall. “Do it again.”

“I don’t know how,” Erix said. His voice came out rough.

“Then learn,” Kael answered. “Right now.”

They started over. Erix tried to call the heat on purpose. Nothing happened the first four times. On the fifth try, when Shota’s fist was already coming, the heat answered again. Erix moved faster. He blocked clean and pushed Shota back without knocking him down.

Lira counted under her breath. “Seven seconds that time. Longer.”

Erix’s arms felt heavy. Sweat dripped from his chin onto the floor. “It only comes when I’m about to get hit.”

“Then we make you almost get hit until it listens,” Kael said.

They kept going. Every time the heat rose, Erix tried to hold it a second longer. Sometimes it stayed. Sometimes it vanished the moment the danger passed. His body ached. His lungs burned. Once he dropped to one knee and stayed there for half a minute before he could stand again.

Shota stopped and held up a hand. “Water. Now.”

Erix took the bottle and drank. The water was warm but it helped. He sat with his back against a wooden post. The heat in his chest had gone quiet again, but he could still feel the place where it had lived.

Lira closed her notebook. “The evaluation is in five days. If the instructors see this power only when you’re desperate, they’ll call it unstable. They can freeze your points. They can lock your jobs. They can even recommend you leave.”

Erix wiped his face with his shirt. “Then I make it steady before they test me.”

Kael cracked his knuckles. “We start before sunrise tomorrow. Heavy pads. Real pressure. No more easy hits.”

They left the building as the sky turned orange. The path back to the dorms was quiet. That was why the footsteps behind them sounded so clear.

Ren stepped out from the trees with two of his friends. He looked at the dirt on Erix’s clothes and the red mark on his shoulder.

“Training in the storage building again?” Ren said. His voice was soft and mean. “How sweet. The zeros have a secret club.”

Shota moved closer to Erix. “Walk away.”

Ren smiled. “Or what? You’ll tell the instructors? They’re already watching him.” He pointed at Erix. “People talk. Some say that little spark of yours showed up in class. Some say you’re dangerous. Some say you’re just broken and the academy should throw you out before you hurt someone.”

Erix kept his eyes on Ren. “What do you want?”

“I want you to stay where you belong.” Ren stepped closer. “At the bottom. This place is for people with real ranks. Not for someone who lights up like a broken lamp when he’s scared. Keep playing with your friends in the dirt. When the evaluation comes, everyone will see what you really are.”

One of Ren’s friends bumped Erix hard on the shoulder as they passed. Erix did not move.

When the three of them were gone, Shota let out a long breath. “He’s going to keep pushing until you lose control in front of everyone.”

“I know,” Erix said.

Lira spoke quietly. “If they freeze your points you won’t eat properly. You won’t buy new gear. Everything gets harder.”

Erix looked down the empty path. “Then we don’t give them a reason. We make the power listen before the test. No public sparks. No accidents.”

Kael nodded. “Tomorrow we push harder. I’ll make the danger real enough that the heat has to come, but controlled enough that it doesn’t explode.”

They walked the rest of the way without talking. In the dorm room Erix sat on his bed and stared at his hands. The heat was silent, but it felt closer than before. Like something waiting just under the surface.

He opened his tablet. Forty points still showed on the screen. Not much. If the academy decided he was a risk, those points could disappear overnight.

Shota dropped onto the bed across from him. “We’ll figure it out.”

Kael was already stretching on the floor. “Five days. That’s enough if we don’t waste any of them.”

Lira sat at the small desk and opened her notebook again. “I’ll read every rule about the evaluation tonight. There might be something we can use.”

Erix lay back and looked at the ceiling. Outside the window the academy lights came on one by one. Somewhere Instructor Voss was probably writing notes. Somewhere Ren was laughing with his friends. The ranking board still showed Erix at the very bottom.

None of that changed what he had to do.

He closed his eyes and made a quiet promise to himself.

He would not wait for the power to save him when he was already falling.  

He would call it first.

Tomorrow the real work began.