Classes began the next morning.
Not with swords. Not with spells.
With questions.
"What is power?"
Instructor Calen's voice echoed through the crystalline dome of the lecture hall.
"What is strength? Magic? Control? Are they the same?"
The class was quiet.
Karl sat near the middle this time. Not hiding, not front row — just… present.
He jotted the question down on his notebook with an enchanted quill that had been trying to correct his spelling all morning.
Kael sat beside him, completely focused.
Nyra, two seats away, was doodling a phoenix eating a textbook.
"Power," one student finally said, "is the ability to protect yourself."
"Incorrect," Calen replied without hesitation.
"That's instinct. A beast has that."
Another hand rose.
"It's dominance."
"Also wrong. That's fear. It ends the moment you fall."
She turned to the room.
"Power, true power, is the ability to choose when not to use it."
Karl's fingers paused mid-scribble.
The mark beneath his shirt didn't flare… but it listened.
After the lecture, the students filtered into the training courtyard where affinity testing began.
Each student placed their hand on a crystal slab and triggered their mana signature. Most glowed with basic elemental color: green for wind, orange for flame, blue for water, brown for earth.
Karl touched it.
The crystal hesitated. Then pulsed twice:
Blue.
Then Violet.
The instructor narrowed his eyes but said nothing.
Kael placed his hand next.
Orange — deep, steady, flaring strong.
"Combat core," the instructor muttered, impressed.
"That obvious?" Kael said with a shrug.
Later, as they headed to mess hall, Kael nudged Karl.
"You ever trained with anyone before?"
"Not really. Not seriously."
"We should spar sometime."
Karl raised an eyebrow.
"To show me how bad I am?"
"Nah."
Kael smirked.
"To see what happens when someone who's pretending to be weak finally stops pretending."
Karl didn't reply.
But he smiled.
Just a little.
And above them, the sky burned orange again.
Like flame… watching over something more than just a student's path.