---
šÆ The War Room ā Astral Academy (Pre-Dawn)
The Academy was still cloaked in shadows when seven cadets stood before the war table in Aelros Val'Taren's private quarters. The chamber, carved from obsidian and laced with glowing runes of containment and silence, hummed softly with arcane wards. A single, spiraling window overlooked the vast landscape of mountains and sky, untouched by morning light.
No crowd. No eyes. Just them.
Aelros, draped in his white cloak, stood at the head of the table. Behind him shimmered three hovering maps, each marked with faintly pulsing anomalies.
> Aelros (low, resolute):
"You've all seen fragments of what the Pillars have hidden from this world. Today, you will actānot as students, but as sentinels."
The cadets exchanged glances. It wasn't fear in their eyes. It was the gravity of purpose.
> Aelros (continuing):
"Rift signatures have resurfaced. Faint. But familiar. You'll deploy in pairs to scout them. No combat unless forced. Extract civilians. Contain the unknown."
He turned to the maps and with a flick of his hand, each mission zone pulsed.
Zone A: Riverside Market ā disrupted trade lines and reports of spatial distortion.
āā Lyra Caelthorn & Kael Stroud
Zone B: Arcane Armory Vaults ā unstable artifacts and compromised wards.
āā Sera Noxvale & Riven Maelros
Zone C: Botanical Dome ā spiritual quieting and summon dissonance.
āā Elias Thorne & Nyra Veyl
Selune Vey remained silent beside Aelros.
> Aelros (to Selune):
"You and I are heading beneath the Academy. The Vault of Origen has stirred."
A tense silence followed.
> Aelros (to all):
"You are Class Zeroāforgotten, underestimated. Let the world keep doubting. We answer only to the Spiral."
He lifted a hand and a circular sigil of unity bloomed in the air above them.
> "Return as one. Or not at all."
---
---Cadet Missions
Zone A: Riverside Market
Cadets: Lyra Caelthorn & Kael Stroud
A thin mist coiled through the riverside stalls, warping the scent of spice and salt into something metallic. Lyra scanned the surroundings with her runescope while Kael strode ahead, flames flickering casually along his arms.
> Lyra: "The distortion is folding light... reflections are false."
Suddenly, a child ran toward themāand flickered. Then two children. Then none.
Kael leapt forward, punching the ground. A flare of fire broke the illusion, revealing a rift creature mimicking forms.
> Kael: "You wanna play tricks? Burn this!"
With Lyra's radiant pulse collapsing the creature's shadow-cloak, Kael incinerated it. But behind it, the portal remainedābarely pulsing, almost sentient.
> Lyra: "It's watching us. But not from here."
Zone B: Arcane Armory Vaults
Cadets: Sera Noxvale & Riven Maelros
The vaults were vast and echoing, each weapon sealed in its own stasis. But some had begun hummingāreverberating like old voices disturbed in their slumber.
> Sera (quietly): "The blades are whispering."
Riven approached a relic hammerāits case cracked.
> Riven: "Looks dead to me."
He reached forward. The hammer leapt to life, spinning gravity around it in a crushing spiral. Sera barely managed to extend a veil of darkness to mute the distortion field.
The floor broke. Riven fellāthen floated.
> Riven (laughing): "Okay... maybe a little alive."
Sera rewrote the room's lighting patterns, forcing the artifacts back into slumber. But as they left, one case slowly creaked open on its own.
Zone C: Botanical Dome
Cadets: Elias Thorne & Nyra Veyl
Among the sprawling flora, the air was unnaturally stillābirds hovered motionless, leaves frozen mid-fall.
> Elias: "Something below is calling me."
He summoned Vaelir, but the spectral wyrm emerged pale and slow, its eyes dull.
> Nyra: "The forest isn't dead. It's being unmade."
She channeled Void, creating a silent void-field. A vine creature slithered outāfaceless, seeking memory. Elias hesitated, then inscribed a protective glyph. The creature paused, then dissolved, as if it had learned its lesson and retreated.
> Elias: "It didn't want to attack. It wanted to learn."
> Nyra: "That's what made it dangerous."
---
š Beneath the Academy ā The Vault of Origen
Aelros & Selune
They descended through twisting corridors, lit by Selune's Spiral Lance.
> Selune: "The Spiral calls... but it whispers your name."
Aelros said nothing, his second self stirring behind his calm gaze.
In the chamber's heart stood a cracked crystalline orb pulsing with layered scripts.
> Orb (echoing): "Not ready. But soon."
Selune touched it. The orb etched a new symbol on her wrist: Ę.
Aelros's eyes flickeredāa rare crack in his composed facade.
---
āļø Aftermath ā Cadet Reflections
That evening, each cadet was summoned alone to the Garden of Silence, where light and shadow weighed words.
1. Lyra Caelthorn (Light):
"One loop of forgotten time is too many. I will guard every moment."
2. Kael Stroud (Fire):
"My flame folded. I want to know how to burn without fear."
3. Sera Noxvale (Darkness):
"These artifacts speak in memories. I must learn which to heed."
4. Riven Maelros (Gravity):
"Strength must be guided by will, not anger."
5. Elias Thorne (Summoning):
"Silence can be taught, but I will teach my summon to listen."
6. Nyra Veyl (Void):
"Void remembers. I will not forget what others do."
7. Selune Vey (Hybrid):
"It saw me as who I will become. I will not let fear define that."
And somewhere, beneath their feet, the Ninth Pillar stirred once more.
---