The decision had already been made.
Arav learned this not from words, but from preparation.
The Ashvathar estate was active before dawn—formation engineers reinforcing a long-range teleport array, guards rotating in silence, spatial seals cycling through authorization layers reserved only for family-level departures.
This was not a visit.
This was relocation.
Arav stood at the edge of the array, travel attire already equipped. No insignia. No clan markings. Only layered defensive weaves and a compact storage ring.
Meghala waited beside him.
The Silver Tempest wore her formal combat mantle—light armor, wind-aspected sigils faintly rotating at her shoulders. She was here as escort, witness, and warning.
"Central Continent clearance is confirmed," she said. "Once you step through, you won't return casually."
"I wasn't expecting to," Arav replied.
Meghala studied him for a moment longer than necessary.
"You're calm."
"I've been preparing for two years."
She nodded once. "Good. Astraforge doesn't forgive hesitation."
The array activated.
Spatial pressure folded inward, sharp and absolute. The Ashvathar estate blurred, stretched, then vanished.
—
They emerged onto stone.
Not ground—stone refined by world laws.
The Central Continent.
Arav felt it immediately.
The density of energy was different here. Heavier. More demanding. The land did not accommodate existence—it evaluated it.
A subtle pulse passed through him.
Unseen.
Unannounced.
The system responded.
Sign-in condition detected: Central Continent.
Qualification confirmed.
Reward deferred.
No description.
No reward.
Just acknowledgment.
Arav absorbed it without reaction.
Meghala noticed anyway.
"You felt it," she said.
"Yes."
"Good," Meghala replied. "That means the continent noticed you back."
In the distance, the horizon fractured into floating landmasses chained by ancient formations. At the center of them all rose a structure that did not dominate by height—but by presence.
Astraforge Sovereign Academy.
Even from here, Arav could sense suppression fields layered so densely they distorted perception itself.
Meghala followed his gaze.
"Once you enter," she said, "you stop being a clan heir."
"What do I become?" Arav asked.
Meghala smiled thinly.
"A variable."
The air shifted.
Multiple teleport signatures ignited across the arrival platform—human heirs, mythic races, suppressed monsters wearing human forms. Some arrived loudly. Some quietly.
None arrived unnoticed.
Arav stepped forward with the flow.
The Academy had begun its intake.
And the world had started paying attention again.