Pressure didn't arrive loudly.
It crept in.
Kael Draven felt it during morning drills—when weights felt heavier than usual, when his muscles burned faster than they should have. He felt it in the way instructors corrected Iron Resolve more sharply, in how formations were scrutinized twice as long.
Pressure lived in expectation.
Iron Resolve trained anyway.
Sweat soaked into the dirt of Training Ground Seven as Kael drove his body through repetition after repetition. Punch. Step. Pivot. Strike. No wasted movement. No hesitation.
No Aether.
Just resolve.
Taren braced behind him, stone-hard defenses forming and reforming as Mira tested angles, speed, timing. Joren circled wide, watching everything with sharp eyes, calling out changes before Kael even finished issuing commands.
Lyra stood a short distance away, eyes closed.
Her Aether moved slowly.
Carefully.
It wrapped around her like breath, not fire.
Kael noticed immediately.
"Good," he said. "Don't force it."
Lyra opened one eye. "You're watching again."
"I always am."
She huffed—but she listened.
That mattered.
---
The Assignment
They were summoned before noon.
Not to the board. Not to the hall.
But to the restricted briefing chamber.
Instructor Vale stood with another figure this time—an unfamiliar officer wearing the insignia of external operations.
"This mission is not routine," Vale said. "Which is why Iron Resolve was chosen."
Mira stiffened. "Chosen… or tested?"
The officer smiled thinly. "Both."
A crystal projection flared to life.
A ruined outpost. Collapsed walls. Heavy Aether residue—dark, layered, deliberate.
"Malrik Noctis' followers have been probing academy supply routes," the officer continued. "This outpost was hit two nights ago. Survivors reported coordination. Strategy."
Kael's jaw tightened.
Not monsters.
Soldiers.
"You will investigate," Vale said. "Retrieve data cores if intact. Eliminate hostile forces if necessary."
A pause.
"And understand this—failure will not be marked with black stars."
Silence.
"Failure," Vale finished, "will be remembered."
---
Rion's Path
As Iron Resolve prepared, Kael caught sight of Team Valeris across the courtyard.
They were also mobilizing.
Different route. Different objective.
Same war.
Rion Valeris stood at the center of his team, issuing commands effortlessly, Aether flowing like a living mantle around him.
He looked confident.
Untouchable.
And yet—
When his eyes flicked toward Kael, there was no dismissal there.
Only awareness.
Two paths.
Running parallel.
For now.
---
The Outpost
The air near the ruins felt wrong.
Not heavy.
Hollow.
Kael raised his fist, halting the team instantly.
They froze.
Aether signatures flickered in broken patterns—concealed, disciplined.
"Not beasts," Joren whispered.
"People," Kael agreed. "And trained ones."
Lyra's fingers trembled.
Kael noticed.
He placed a hand on her shoulder—not to steady her body, but her mind.
"Stay with us," he said. "You don't have to be perfect."
She nodded once.
That was enough.
---
The First Clash
It started with a bolt of dark Aether tearing through the rubble.
Taren intercepted it, stone plates forming just in time—but the impact sent him skidding back.
"Move!" Kael shouted.
Iron Resolve reacted instantly.
Mira vanished into the debris, striking from blind angles. Joren disrupted formations, calling enemy movements with sharp precision.
Kael charged.
Not recklessly.
Purposefully.
He slipped beneath a blade of corrupted energy, twisted his body, and drove his elbow into an enemy's throat.
Bone cracked.
The man fell.
More followed.
This wasn't chaos.
This was war.
Lyra's Aether surged—but this time it didn't spiral. It obeyed. Chains of light pinned enemies in place, buying precious seconds.
"Now!" she cried.
Kael took them.
Every opening.
Every chance.
Not with power—
With timing.
---
The Cost
They won.
Barely.
The outpost burned behind them as Iron Resolve regrouped, battered and bleeding.
Joren was limping. Taren's defenses were cracked. Mira's breathing was uneven. Lyra's hands shook violently.
Kael stood in the middle of them.
Still standing.
Still leading.
Vale's warning echoed in his mind.
Pressure reveals cracks.
Kael looked at his team.
And realized something unsettling.
They weren't cracking.
They were hardening.
---
Elsewhere
Malrik Noctis received the report without emotion.
A team. No Aether leader. Survived.
His fingers tapped the crystal once.
"Send stronger ones next time," he said calmly.
The crystal dimmed.
Kael Draven had stepped into the current.
And the current had noticed.
---
Iron Resolve returned to the academy under a blood-red sunset.
No cheers.
No stars updated yet.
But something deeper had changed.
This was no longer training.
This was the beginning of a war.
And Kael Draven was already walking toward its center.