Location: Obsidian Academy
Date/Time: 10 Emberrise, 9939
AZI Realm: Lower Realm
The portal spat them out like something it didn't want to swallow.
Students stumbled through the shimmering barrier in waves — exhausted, bloodied, triumphant, broken. Some walked upright. Some were carried. One boy crawled through on hands and knees, clutching a single jade slip to his chest like it was keeping his heart beating. The barrier rippled behind each body, admitting the next with the indifference of a machine processing inventory.
Jayde stepped through cleanly. No stumble, no dramatic entrance. Just a girl in torn robes with a white kitten on her shoulder and a pack that clinked faintly with beast cores.
Eden walked beside her. Dark brown hair half-pulled from its tie, blue eyes sharp despite the bruises still healing along her jaw. Her left arm moved freely — the fracture she'd set herself eight days ago already knit, which was, frankly, impossible for someone at Mid Flamewrought.
