The night before the mission was restless.
Not because of fear.
But because the air itself felt… tight.
Kael Draven lay awake on his bunk, eyes open, staring at the faint glow of the academy lamps filtering through the window. The dorm was quiet—Taren's breathing slow and heavy, Mira turned toward the wall, Lyra unusually still on the bunk beside the window, her Aether calm but alert, like it was listening.
Kael placed a hand over his chest.
There was no pain.
No heat.
No surge of power.
And yet… something felt different.
Not awakening.
Not yet.
More like pressure.
The kind that came before something broke—or transformed.
---
An Unusual Assignment
Morning arrived with a summons.
Not a general notice.
Not a mission board posting.
A sealed directive.
Instructor Vale stood before Iron Resolve in the briefing chamber, arms behind his back, expression neutral.
"This mission is not ranked," he said. "No stars. No penalties."
That alone set alarms ringing.
"You are to escort a survey unit to the Ashfall Ravines," Vale continued. "Your job is observation and extraction. You do not engage unless necessary."
Rion Valeris' team was not listed.
Neither were any elite squads.
Lyra frowned. "Ashfall Ravines? That's near the old Aether fault lines."
Vale's eyes flicked to her briefly. "Correct."
Kael noticed something else.
Vale didn't say corrupted.
He said fault lines.
Meaning instability.
Unnatural fluctuations.
The kind that bent rules.
Vale's gaze settled on Kael last. "If anything goes wrong… you retreat. Immediately."
Kael nodded.
But something in his gut didn't agree.
---
Into the Ravines
The Ashfall Ravines were silent in a way Kael didn't like.
Jagged stone walls cut deep into the earth, streaked with dark veins where Aether once surged freely. The air shimmered faintly, distorting distance and sound.
Mira whispered, "This place messes with perception."
Taren rolled his shoulders. "And balance. Feels like the ground's breathing."
Lyra closed her eyes briefly, then opened them. "My Aether feels… pulled. Like something is tugging at it."
Kael felt none of that.
And that bothered him more.
They moved carefully, escorting the survey unit deeper—until the crystals they carried began to flicker.
Then crack.
Then go dark.
The guide froze. "That's not normal."
The ground trembled.
Not violently.
Deliberately.
From the shadows, figures emerged—not corrupted soldiers, not beasts—but something worse.
Hollow constructs.
Shaped like people.
Made of fractured stone and dark Aether seams.
Unstable.
Incomplete.
"Followers?" Taren asked.
Lyra shook her head slowly. "No… these aren't controlled."
They moved.
Fast.
---
When Rules Collapse
Iron Resolve reacted instantly.
Mira vanished into motion, drawing attention away from the survey unit. Taren took the front, stone reinforcing his frame as he braced against the first impact.
Lyra raised her hands—
And her Aether stuttered.
Not from panic.
From interference.
The ravine pulsed.
Her control slipped.
"Lyra!" Kael shouted.
She grit her teeth, forcing it back—but it was harder than ever.
The constructs adapted, movements jerky but relentless. Every time Aether struck them, they cracked—then reformed.
"They're feeding on instability!" Mira yelled.
Kael moved without thinking.
He stepped between Lyra and a lunging construct.
No Aether.
No barrier.
Just timing.
He grabbed its arm, twisted, and drove his heel into the fracture point Taren had exposed earlier.
The construct shattered.
The ground responded.
A deeper tremor.
Kael staggered.
Not from impact.
From pressure—internal, heavy, compressing inward like the world was leaning on him specifically.
His vision blurred for half a second.
Something inside him shifted.
Not releasing.
Rearranging.
"Kael!" Lyra reached for him.
He straightened.
"I'm fine," he said.
But his voice sounded… denser.
The ravine roared.
More constructs began forming.
The survey leader screamed, "We need extraction—now!"
Kael looked around.
Retreat meant leaving the ravine unstable.
Leaving the fault line active.
Leaving this to spread.
He clenched his fists.
Not in anger.
In decision.
"Formation Delta," he said calmly.
The team froze.
That wasn't a standard call.
But they trusted him.
Lyra nodded first.
Then Taren.
Then Mira.
They moved—not reacting, not panicking—but adapting around Kael's positioning, like gravity itself had shifted toward him.
The constructs hesitated.
Just for a moment.
As if sensing something they couldn't define.
---
The Aftermath
They escaped.
Barely.
The ravine collapsed behind them, sealing the fault line—temporarily.
Back at the academy, healers worked in silence.
Instructor Vale listened to the report without interruption.
When it ended, he looked at Kael longer than usual.
"You disobeyed retreat protocol," Vale said.
Kael met his gaze. "Yes."
"…And stabilized an Aether fault without using Aether."
Vale turned away.
"Get some rest," he said. "Tomorrow… things will change."
As Iron Resolve left, Lyra walked beside Kael.
"Back there," she said quietly. "When you stepped forward… it felt like the pressure eased."
Kael said nothing.
Because for the first time—
He felt it too.
Not power.
Not yet.
But the world… responding.
And somewhere beneath the academy, beneath the kingdom, beneath the rules everyone believed in—
Something ancient shifted its attention.
The storm was no longer approaching.
It was waiting.