The mountains beyond Halberd were sheathed in violet mist, their peaks etched like distant memories against the bleeding horizon. A bitter wind danced through the hills, howling through the iron gates of Halberd Academy as though it knew what was coming. Inside the Circle Room, everything was still.
Lanterns glowed with silent flame, hovering above the sigil-etched floor like patient sentinels. The stones had been scrubbed clean, but old blood remembers. It remembers the last time six were called. It remembers how few returned.
Dean Halvorsen stood alone near the edge of the dais, his eyes fixed on the center rune that pulsed gently beneath the glass tiles. A pale arcane light curled upward like smoke. The room wasn't just prepared. It was waiting.
"They're arriving," Professor Albrecht said, stepping into the chamber with an ornate staff clutched in his hand.
"Good," the Dean replied. "Let the room greet them."
Jason Mercier was the first to arrive.
He walked with the grace of someone trained to kill, his long coat sweeping behind him, gun holstered beneath the fold. Lisa moved beside him in silence, eyes constantly scanning, her entire posture defensive yet smooth.
Jason looked around the chamber, eyes narrowing slightly. "It reeks of ghosts in here."
"That," Lisa said softly, "would be your ancestors."
Jason smirked without humor. "Then they better keep quiet."
They took their places on the far right, where the glyph of Steel pulsed softly beneath the marble.
Ryo Takemura came next.
Wind trailed after him, despite the still air. He looked no older than nineteen, but there was something impossibly ancient in his eyes. His coat was simple, his boots muddy, and the air bent ever so slightly around him.
He nodded to the others, then took his place at the Water glyph without a word. A faint scent of sea salt followed.
Seraphina Kade did not walk in. She was already seated, her eyes blindfolded, her breath even and steady. No one had seen her arrive. Her presence was like the aftertaste of a vivid dream uncanny, impossible to place.
Jason noticed her and frowned. "Great. A Seer."
"Don't underestimate her," Ryo murmured.
Lilienne Dumas arrived wrapped in silver, her eyes sharp as shattered glass. She said nothing to anyone, merely cast a lingering glance across the others before settling at the glyph of Mind.
Andrew Whitmore entered last.
His coat fluttered at his heels, his black eyes unreadable, and his presence filled the room without sound. Behind those eyes, Whitmore simmered, watchful.
He said nothing as he passed the others, only nodded faintly to Ryo, who offered the smallest incline of his head in return. Lisa watched him closely. Jason, though unreadable, tensed.
Andrew took his place at the Shadow glyph. As he did, the room dimmed briefly, then returned to balance.
Six now stood.
The Circle was complete.
Dean Halvorsen stepped forward. "You were chosen not because of what you are, but because of what you may become. What sleeps in you is not power. It is burden. One that, if misused, could wake the end of all things."
He raised a hand.
The room shifted. The walls pulled apart like the opening of a great eye. Behind them: maps of places that defied description, ancient symbols spinning like compasses without direction, fragments of prophecy etched in languages no longer spoken.
"We are not just facing darkness," the Dean continued. "We are facing intelligence. Malice. Patience."
Seraphina finally spoke, her voice soft and echoing. "It's watching already."
Lisa's hand moved toward her coat.
"Don't," Andrew said quietly. "It's not something a weapon can kill."
Silence.
Professor Albrecht handed each of them a scroll. Sealed with wax, marked with sigils personal to their families. Orders. Insights. Secrets.
"This is your initiation," the Dean said. "You leave at dawn. For now, rest. Tomorrow, we enter the unknown."
Jason looked to Andrew. Their eyes met.
Whatever had passed between them before was nothing compared to what now stirred between their fates.
Kate, Emma, and the normality of Halberd faded behind Andrew as he left the room, scroll in hand.
Ahead was only the edge of the world and whatever waited beyond it.