Then I followed the others into the capital.
It didn't take long for Astrea to become overwhelming again.
From the Silver Leviathan, I'd been able to see the city.
At least, I'd thought I had.
I'd seen its towers, its floating structures, the rivers curving through open air, the endless neighborhoods spreading across an island large enough that calling it an island still felt wrong.
I'd seen the Celestial Crown turning above everything.
But seeing Astrea from above and walking through it were two completely different things.
The skyport alone could have been its own district.
The stone beneath my boots stretched outward into a massive plaza lined with terminals, warehouses, docking towers, shops, and structures whose purposes I couldn't guess.
Thousands of people moved through it.
Travelers carried luggage toward departing vessels.
Workers pushed carts loaded with crates between warehouses.
Uniformed officials stood beside glowing pillars while people passed through them one at a time.
A group of children ran past us.
One nearly collided with Theon.
He stepped aside.
The child didn't even look back.
Theon stared after him.
"Almost got taken out five minutes after arriving."
Kai nodded solemnly.
"Would've been embarrassing."
"I'd have survived."
"Physically."
I smiled and kept walking.
Our weapons earned more attention than we did.
Not much.
A few people looked toward my sword.
More noticed Varein's spear and Arion's axe.
Liraeth's mace and shield probably drew the most attention.
But nobody stopped us.
Nobody stared for long.
Foreigners weren't unusual here.
That made sense.
Ships were arriving constantly.
Some were enormous cargo vessels.
Others looked like private aircraft.
Several were designs I'd never seen at home.
A narrow ship passed above the plaza.
I instinctively looked up.
Nobody else around us did.
I was beginning to notice that.
People born in Hyperanos didn't look upward every time something flew over them.
Probably for the same reason I didn't stop walking every time a carriage passed on a road.
It was normal.
That still seemed ridiculous.
A man wearing a dark blue uniform waited near the end of the platform.
He had noticed us before we'd noticed him.
Or maybe he'd simply recognized ten teenagers carrying enough weapons to start a small argument with the city guard.
He stepped forward.
"Lionhearth Academy?"
Theon glanced at me.
I nodded.
"Class 2-S."
The man's eyes moved across us.
All ten.
His expression didn't change.
"Follow me."
Kai leaned toward me as the man turned.
"Friendly."
"He said three words."
"Exactly."
Seraphyne walked past us.
"Please don't start bothering the first Astrean official we meet."
"I'm not bothering anyone."
The man continued walking.
"You are."
Kai stopped.
I laughed.
Apparently, he'd heard him.
We followed.
The skyport opened into the city through a wide avenue descending between two rows of buildings.
Astrea changed almost immediately.
The enormous machinery of the docks gave way to ordinary streets.
Ordinary by Hyperanos standards.
Which wasn't particularly ordinary.
The road beneath us was ancient stone.
I could tell from the wear.
Thousands—maybe millions—of feet had polished sections smooth.
Thin lines of pale mana ran between some of the stones, forming patterns I couldn't understand.
They lit briefly whenever one of the floating carriages passed nearby.
Buildings crowded both sides of the street.
Most weren't enormous.
Three floors.
Four.
Some only two.
Shops occupied the lower levels.
Homes seemed to occupy the upper ones.
Balconies extended above us, covered in plants and laundry.
Signs hung over doors.
The writing was unfamiliar in places, though enough used the common language that I could understand what they sold.
Food.
Clothing.
Books.
Weapons.
Repairs.
Something called "Current Insurance."
I stared at that one.
I didn't want to know.
A smell drifted from a bakery.
Kai's head turned immediately.
"No."
He looked at me.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were going to."
"This is becoming unfair."
We kept walking.
The city was beautiful.
Not in the clean, impossible way Epoch had been.
Epoch felt deliberate.
Engineered.
Every road, platform, tower, and mana line seemed designed as part of one enormous system.
Astrea felt different.
Older.
Messier.
Alive.
A narrow stone building leaned slightly toward the street beside a polished tower of white glass.
An ancient arch crossed above an alley and had somehow become part of someone's home.
A weathered statue stood in the middle of a plaza while floating platforms moved around it.
There were places where the city seemed to have been rebuilt five times without anyone removing what came before.
I liked that.
I wasn't sure why.
Maybe because perfection made me suspicious.
Astrea had cracks.
And apparently nobody was embarrassed by them.
The avenue widened.
A market appeared ahead.
Noise reached us before we entered.
Merchants called from beneath long canopies.
People crowded around stalls.
Food I'd never seen filled baskets and wooden crates.
Bright blue fruit.
Long red vegetables twisted like horns.
Fish with silver scales large enough that I wondered what kind of water they'd come from.
Then I remembered we were surrounded by floating lakes.
Of course there were fish.
A woman stood behind one stall arguing loudly with a customer.
Two streets away, someone was playing an instrument.
Above all of it, vessels crossed the sky.
Controlled Mana Currents curved between distant districts like glowing rivers.
And far above—
The Celestial Crown continued turning.
I looked at it whenever the buildings gave me a clear view.
It was difficult not to.
Even from here, the rings were enormous.
Slow.
Silent.
Ancient.
People barely acknowledged them.
Imagine living beneath something nobody understood and eventually becoming so accustomed to it that you stopped looking.
Maybe that happened everywhere.
We crossed the market.
Then I saw the soldiers.
Three stood near an intersection.
Different uniforms from the official guiding us.
Silver armor covered portions of their bodies, but it was lighter than what most Okrith knights wore.
Their weapons were strange too.
One carried a spear with several small rings around the shaft.
Another had two curved swords.
The third carried something that looked halfway between a crossbow and a staff.
They watched the crowd.
Nothing unusual about guards.
Then I noticed another group farther ahead.
Then another.
A military aircraft passed overhead.
Unlike the civilian vessels, this one had armor covering its hull.
Several weapons were mounted beneath its wings.
Nobody in the market reacted.
I looked toward Varein.
He'd noticed too.
"Lot of soldiers."
"Yeah."
The official ahead of us didn't turn.
We kept walking.
The signs became harder to ignore.
A building near the next plaza had been converted into some kind of medical center.
People wearing uniforms moved in and out.
One man emerged with his arm bound against his chest.
Another walked beside him with bandages covering half his face.
Farther down, workers repaired the side of an aircraft.
The damage wasn't from age.
Three deep cuts ran through the metal.
One section had been burned completely black.
Theon slowed.
"What happened to that?"
The official finally looked back.
"Combat damage."
That was all he said.
Kai's expression lost some of its amusement.
I looked around again.
Astrea hadn't changed.
The market remained crowded behind us.
People laughed.
A pair of children argued over something near a fountain.
A woman watered flowers outside her home.
But now that I'd noticed it, I couldn't stop seeing the other side.
Soldiers.
Damaged aircraft.
Supply crates marked with military symbols.
Posters attached to walls.
One contained rows of names.
I couldn't read the heading from where we were.
I didn't need to.
The flowers beneath it explained enough.
Astrea was at war.
And somehow, the city kept moving.
Our guide led us away from the commercial districts.
The streets widened again.
Buildings became larger.
Government structures, probably.
Guards stood at entrances.
Flags hung from high balconies.
The symbol I'd seen at the skyport appeared more frequently now.
A circle surrounded by wing-like shapes.
Hyperanos.
We approached an enormous building constructed partly into a hillside.
Unlike many structures around it, this one wasn't particularly tall.
It didn't need to be.
It stretched horizontally across several blocks, its pale stone walls broken by huge arched windows.
Several floating platforms hovered above its roof.
Military aircraft occupied two.
The third was empty.
We climbed the stairs.
The official stopped before the entrance.
"Your weapons stay with you."
I blinked.
That wasn't what I'd expected.
He noticed.
"You're here as military support, not diplomats."
Then he entered.
Kai leaned toward me.
"Military support?"
I didn't answer.
Neither did anyone else.
Inside, the building was quieter.
The halls were wide.
Maps covered sections of the walls.
Not flat maps.
Some floated.
Dozens of glowing islands hung in miniature above one enormous table as officers moved pieces between them.
I slowed.
One island physically drifted several inches while I watched.
The map was moving.
Of course it was.
The actual islands moved.
A static map would become useless.
I wanted to stop.
Our guide didn't.
We passed several rooms filled with officers.
Then descended instead of climbing.
That surprised me.
The deeper we went, the older the building became.
Polished walls became weathered stone.
Mana lamps gave way to glowing lines carved directly into the ceiling.
The air grew cooler.
Finally, we reached two enormous doors.
Our guide opened them.
A war room waited beyond.
The central table was covered by another moving map of Hyperanos.
This one was much larger.
Hundreds of islands floated above it.
Blue lights marked some.
Red lights marked others.
There was a lot of red.
A woman stood on the opposite side of the table.
She looked somewhere in her forties, although guessing age had become increasingly unreliable since joining Lionhearth.
Dark hair reached just below her shoulders.
A pale scar crossed from the edge of her jaw toward her neck.
She wore no armor.
Only a dark military coat with silver markings along the shoulders.
A sword rested against the table beside her.
She looked at us.
Not our guide.
Us.
Her eyes moved across Class 2-S slowly.
I had the uncomfortable feeling she was counting weaknesses.
"These are the students?"
The official nodded.
"Class 2-S. Lionhearth Academy."
Her gaze stopped on me for half a second.
Then moved on.
"Leave us."
The official bowed slightly and disappeared through the doors.
They closed behind him.
The woman looked toward the map.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, she did.
"Before anything else, understand this."
Her finger touched one of the red lights.
"You were not brought to Hyperanos for an expedition."
The red marker moved.
Another followed.
Then another.
"You were brought here because we are at war."
Silence.
Kai didn't joke.
The woman looked up.
"My name is Commander Rebecca Anvi II. I oversee the eastern defense territories of Astrea."
She gestured toward the map.
"The enemy calls themselves the Sky Raiders."
I looked at the red markers again.
There were dozens.
"Pirates?" Liam asked.
"Once."
Commander Rebecca touched the table.
Several red markers expanded.
Images appeared above them.
Ships.
Large ones.
Armored.
Some looked comparable in size to military vessels we'd seen outside.
"The Sky Raiders were historically independent factions. Smugglers. Mercenaries. Exiles. Thieves. Pirate captains controlling isolated territories."
The images changed.
More ships appeared.
Then islands marked entirely in red.
"That ended approximately six years ago."
"What happened?" I asked.
Commander Rebecca looked at me.
"Someone united them."
"Who?"
"We don't know."
That wasn't the answer I'd expected.
She continued.
"Their captains stopped fighting one another. Fleets began sharing resources. Hidden settlements became military ports. Raiders who had spent generations killing each other suddenly operated beneath one command."
A larger red symbol appeared over the outer territories.
"They became an army."
I studied the map.
"How strong?"
Commander Rebecca's expression shifted slightly.
"Compared to what?"
"Lionhearth."
The room went quiet.
That was what I wanted to know.
We all did.
Commander Rebecca studied me for several seconds.
"I don't know."
That surprised me.
She didn't seem like someone who enjoyed admitting ignorance.
"You don't know?"
"How many Astrean soldiers have you fought?"
"None."
"How many Sky Raiders?"
"None."
"Then you don't know either."
Fair.
She rested both hands against the table.
"Hyperanos developed separately from the civilizations below. We know Okrith produces exceptional knights. We know Lionhearth's reputation."
Her eyes moved across our weapons.
"But reputation is not measurement."
I liked that answer.
More than someone simply telling us who was stronger.
Commander Rebecca continued.
"Our fighters were raised in the Sovereign Skies. Many learn aerial combat before adulthood. Some can fight without stable ground. Others specialize in Mana Current warfare."
Kai frowned.
"Mana Current warfare?"
"You'll understand when you see it."
I remembered yesterday.
I wasn't particularly eager.
Seraphyne crossed her arms.
"If you're already fighting them, why ask Lionhearth for students?"
Commander Rebecca looked toward her.
"Because you're unfamiliar."
Seraphyne frowned.
"That's useful?"
"Very."
Commander Rebecca changed the map.
Blue routes appeared between islands.
"Raiders know our ships. Our formations. Our military techniques. Our communication systems. They've fought Astrean forces for years."
Her finger moved toward us.
"They haven't fought knights."
I understood.
Different weapons.
Different training.
Different instincts.
And.. The Fact We Used Aura.
We weren't stronger.
We were unpredictable.
"Why are they attacking Astrea?" Kazen asked.
Commander Rebecca didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she touched the center of the map.
Astrea appeared.
Above it—
Several golden rings formed.
The Celestial Crown.
"They want this."
I looked toward the image.
"The Crown?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"We don't know."
Again.
Commander Rebecca didn't seem happy about that one.
"The Celestial Crown predates most reliable historical records. Astrea has used portions of its systems for thousands of years."
The rings rotated.
"It regulates controlled Mana Currents throughout the central territory. It contributes to the stabilization of Astrea and several neighboring islands. It also interacts with systems beneath the capital that we still don't fully understand."
Raymond's words returned to me.
Astrea is what we're still trying to understand.
Commander Rebecca's expression hardened.
"The Raiders believe it can do something else."
"What?" Aelira asked.
Commander Rebecca looked toward her.
"We don't know."
Kai exhaled.
"There's a lot you don't know."
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
Commander Rebecca slowly turned toward him.
Kai immediately straightened.
"Not criticizing."
For the first time, I thought I saw the faintest hint of amusement in her expression.
It disappeared quickly.
"Captured Raiders have repeatedly used the same phrase."
The golden rings stopped moving.
"The Crown's Awakening."
The room became quiet.
I looked at the miniature Crown.
"What does that mean?"
"If I knew, I wouldn't have just spent several minutes explaining that we don't."
Kai looked toward me.
I refused to look back.
I wasn't giving him the satisfaction.
Commander Rebecca continued.
"Whatever they believe, they've killed thousands pursuing it."
Thousands.
The number settled heavily.
The beautiful streets outside suddenly felt different.
The memorial I'd passed.
The damaged aircraft.
The wounded soldiers.
This wasn't some border dispute.
"Your academy agreed to provide support under strict conditions," Commander Rebecca said.
The map changed again.
A chain of islands appeared east of Astrea.
Blue lines connected them.
"You're not being sent against Raider command."
Good.
"You are not to independently pursue Raider forces."
Kai looked disappointed.
I wasn't surprised.
"And you are not here to win our war."
That part should have been obvious.
Commander Rebecca enlarged one of the blue routes.
"Your first deployment is tomorrow morning."
Several cargo vessels appeared.
"Supply convoy. Civilian food, medical materials, mana crystals, and replacement components destined for settlements along the eastern territories."
Red markers appeared around the route.
"Raiders have attacked this corridor four times in the last two weeks."
Theon frowned.
"How many escorts?"
"Three Astrean military vessels."
"And us?"
"You'll be aboard the central escort."
I looked at the route.
Simple.
Protect the convoy.
Observe.
Fight if necessary.
Return.
Exactly the kind of mission Lionhearth would send students like us on.
Except we were two hundred kilometers above the ground fighting people whose strength we couldn't measure in a war over an ancient machine nobody understood.
So.
Mostly simple.
"Rules?" I asked.
Commander Rebecca looked toward me.
"Follow the Astrean captain assigned to you. Protect civilians first. Do not pursue retreating Raiders beyond the convoy perimeter."
Reasonable.
"If you fall off a ship," she added, "don't expect it to turn around immediately."
Kai blinked.
"What?"
Commander Rebecca looked completely serious.
I couldn't tell if she was joking.
That made it worse.
The map disappeared.
"You're dismissed until tomorrow."
Seraphyne frowned.
"That's it?"
"Did you want homework?"
"No."
"Then yes."
Commander Rebecca picked up the sword resting against the table.
"An officer will show you to your accommodations."
I turned toward the doors.
"One more thing."
We stopped.
Commander Rebecca's voice had changed.
Only slightly.
"Do not underestimate the Sky Raiders because they're called pirates."
I looked back.
She was staring at the red territories.
"They stopped being pirates a long time ago."
The doors opened.
We left.
The walk back through the building was quieter.
Nobody needed to say why.
By the time we emerged into sunlight again, Astrea looked exactly as it had before.
The Celestial Crown turned above the city.
Ships moved through glowing currents.
People crowded the streets.
A bell rang somewhere in the distance.
I looked toward the sky.
A formation of military aircraft crossed overhead.
Far beyond them, near the edge of what I could see, smoke rose from somewhere between the islands.
The war was out there.
Tomorrow, we'd be entering it.
"Well."
Kai stretched his arms.
"Could be worse."
Aelira looked at him.
"How?"
He thought for several seconds.
"I probably should've thought of that before saying it."
Arion laughed.
I shook my head.
Then noticed Aelira had stopped walking.
I took another step before turning.
She stood beside an old stone arch at the edge of the plaza.
One hand rested against it.
Her expression was blank.
"Aelira?"
Nothing.
Arion turned.
"Aelira?"
Her fingers tightened against the stone.
Frost spread beneath them.
My hand moved toward my sword.
Then Aelira inhaled sharply.
She stumbled backward.
Seraphyne caught her.
"Aelira!"
Her eyes focused.
For several seconds, she simply stared ahead.
I stepped closer.
"What happened?"
She looked at the arch.
Then at us.
"I…"
Her breathing slowed.
"I don't know."
Frost remained across the ancient stone.
Aelira stared at it.
And somewhere behind me—
Arion went completely still.
I turned.
Arion wasn't looking at Aelira.
He was looking at the arch.
Whatever amusement had been on his face a few seconds ago was gone.
His eyes were fixed on the old stone as though he'd seen it somewhere before.
"Arion?"
Nothing.
Theon stepped closer.
"What's wrong?"
Arion raised a hand toward the arch.
"Don't touch it."
Aelira looked at him.
"What?"
His hand remained suspended between them.
"Don't touch it again."
Aelira slowly pulled farther away from the stone.
Seraphyne stayed beside her, one hand still holding her arm.
I looked between them.
Aelira had gone pale.
Arion wasn't much better.
"What happened?" I asked.
Neither answered.
People continued passing through the plaza around us.
Nobody paid much attention to the ten foreigners standing beside an old arch.
A floating carriage moved overhead.
Somewhere farther down the street, a bell rang.
Astrea continued around us like nothing had happened.
Finally, Arion looked at Aelira.
"What did you see?"
Her eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean?"
"What did you see?"
Aelira stared at him.
Then something in her expression changed.
"You saw something too."
Arion didn't answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
"When?" I asked.
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Earlier."
"Earlier when?"
"Before the briefing."
I frowned.
"And you didn't say anything?"
"I thought I imagined it."
Kai looked between them.
"You both imagined the same thing?"
"We don't know that yet," Liam said.
Aelira stepped away from Seraphyne.
"What did you see?"
Arion hesitated.
"An island."
Aelira froze.
Nobody said anything.
Arion noticed.
"So did you."
She nodded slowly.
Theon's expression hardened.
"What kind of island?"
Arion looked toward the sky as though trying to reconstruct something that wasn't there anymore.
"Ruined."
"That's vague."
"I know."
"Buildings?"
"Yeah."
"People?"
"No."
"Anything alive?"
Arion paused.
"I don't think so."
Aelira's eyes stayed fixed on him.
"Was there a tower?"
"Several."
"No."
She shook her head.
"One."
Arion frowned.
Aelira lifted her hand.
"Near the center. Broken at the top."
His expression changed.
"Half of it missing?"
Aelira went still.
"Yes."
A tiny flower bloomed beside Arion's boot.
Then another.
His Aura.
He looked down.
The flowers disappeared almost immediately.
Kai didn't make a joke this time.
I looked toward the arch.
Old stone.
Weathered carvings.
Nothing about it seemed different from the hundreds of ancient structures we'd passed since entering Astrea.
"What exactly happened to you?" I asked Arion.
He exhaled.
"I was near the market."
"Doing what?"
"Looking around."
Kai raised an eyebrow.
Arion noticed.
"Yes, just looking around."
"Didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
I understood that problem.
Arion continued.
"There was an old pillar near one of the fountains. I touched it."
"Why?" Varein asked.
Arion stared at him.
"It was there."
Kai nodded.
"Finally, someone understands."
"Please stop helping me."
I rubbed my forehead.
"The vision."
"Right."
Arion's expression became serious again.
"Everything disappeared."
"Astrea?"
"All of it."
He looked around the plaza.
"One second I was standing beside the fountain. The next..."
He hesitated.
"Clouds."
"What about them?" Kazen asked.
"Dark. Moving fast."
Arion lowered his gaze.
"And there was an island below me."
"You were flying?" Theon asked.
"I don't know."
"Standing on something?"
"I don't know."
"Could you move?"
"I don't know."
Kai opened his mouth.
Arion pointed at him.
"Don't."
Kai closed it.
"What made the island different?" I asked.
Arion thought.
"It wasn't moving."
I frowned.
"How could you tell?"
"The clouds."
He pointed toward the open sky beyond the plaza.
"They were moving around it. Everything was moving."
His voice became quieter.
"The island wasn't."
I didn't know enough about Hyperanos to understand whether that mattered.
But judging by the way he said it, he thought it did.
"And the ruins?"
"Everywhere."
Arion closed his eyes briefly.
"Buildings. Streets. Towers. Most were covered in plants."
Aelira frowned.
"Mine weren't."
We looked at her.
She touched her temple.
"I wasn't above the island."
"Where were you?" Seraphyne asked.
"Inside."
"Inside what?"
"The ruins."
Aelira looked toward the arch.
"There was a staircase."
"Going where?"
"Down."
Her voice slowed.
"I couldn't see the bottom."
Frost appeared along her fingertips.
She noticed and closed her hand.
"There were statues along the walls."
"What kind?" Liam asked.
"People."
"Human?"
Aelira hesitated.
"I think."
That wasn't the most reassuring answer.
"Some were broken. Others were covered in ice."
"Your ice?" I asked.
"No."
The answer came immediately.
Then she frowned.
"At least... I don't think so."
"What else?"
"Symbols."
Aelira opened her hand again.
The frost had disappeared.
"They were carved everywhere."
"Could you read them?"
"No."
"Remember any?"
"A few."
She paused.
"And there was something above the ruins."
Arion looked at her.
"What?"
"A ring."
My eyes moved upward without thinking.
The Celestial Crown was visible between the buildings.
Its enormous ancient rings turned slowly above Astrea.
Aelira followed my gaze.
Seraphyne noticed too.
"Like the Crown?"
Aelira took a moment before answering.
"No."
I relaxed slightly.
"Not exactly."
There it went.
"But it looked similar."
Kai looked toward the Crown.
"That's probably fine."
Nobody responded.
"That was sarcasm."
"We know," Kazen said.
I looked at Arion.
Then Aelira.
Two separate places.
Two separate times.
Two visions.
Same island.
Same broken tower.
Different sections of the ruins.
And something resembling the Celestial Crown.
That was enough to investigate.
Not enough to do something stupid.
Yet.
"We need a map."
The others looked at me.
Kai smiled.
"I saw somewhere earlier."
I frowned.
"Somewhere?"
"A cartography building."
Theon stared at him.
"You noticed that?"
"I notice things."
"You spent half the walk looking at food."
"I notice multiple things."
That was apparently true.
I looked toward the officer waiting for us farther down the plaza.
He had been polite enough not to interrupt.
"We check the maps first."
Arion nodded.
Aelira looked back toward the arch.
The frost she'd left behind was already melting.
"Then what?"
"Then we decide whether there's actually something worth telling Commander Rebecca."
That seemed reasonable.
Which meant it probably wouldn't remain reasonable for long.
Our accommodations were on the western side of the district.
Astrea maintained residences for foreign military guests, and ours was surprisingly normal.
Large.
Comfortable.
But normal.
Two floors.
A sitting room.
Kitchen.
Several bedrooms.
Wide windows overlooking part of the city.
After everything I'd seen since entering Hyperanos, I appreciated walls that didn't float.
The officer explained where we would meet tomorrow morning for the convoy deployment, gave us access seals, then left.
The moment the door shut, Kai pulled out a chair.
"So."
He sat.
"The disappearing haunted island."
Aelira frowned.
"It didn't disappear."
"We can't find it."
"We haven't looked."
"And it's not haunted."
"You saw an abandoned city in a vision."
"That doesn't make it haunted."
"That's almost exactly what makes something haunted."
Theon sat beside him.
"We don't know whether it exists."
Kai pointed toward him.
"Thank you."
"That wasn't agreement."
"Oh."
I ignored them and placed paper on the table.
"Aelira."
She looked at me.
"Draw the symbols."
She sat.
It took several attempts.
Her first drawing didn't look right.
Neither did the second.
Eventually she settled on four shapes.
The first resembled an eye divided down the middle.
Another looked like several circles overlapping one another.
The third was a long vertical line surrounded by smaller markings.
The last—
I stared at it.
A circle.
Curved markings extended from either side.
Small shapes surrounded the outer edge.
Seraphyne leaned over the table.
"That looks familiar."
I looked through the window.
A Hyperanos flag hung from a nearby building.
The nation's crest showed a circle surrounded by wing-like forms.
Not identical.
But close enough that I understood what Seraphyne meant.
Liam noticed too.
"Similar."
"Could be coincidence," Varein said.
"Could be," I agreed.
Arion leaned over the drawings.
"I didn't see those."
"You were above the city," Aelira said. "I was inside it."
"Assuming it was the same city."
Aelira looked at him.
"The tower."
"Right."
We went over their visions again.
Slower.
This time everyone asked questions.
Could they hear anything?
Could they smell anything?
Was there wind?
Could they feel temperature?
How long did it last?
Did they see through their own eyes?
Arion remembered wind.
Aelira remembered cold.
Arion remembered vegetation covering entire buildings.
Aelira remembered stone corridors untouched by plants.
Neither remembered seeing another person.
Neither remembered seeing an animal.
No birds.
No insects.
Nothing.
That bothered me.
Even abandoned places had life.
Usually.
"What did it feel like?" Seraphyne asked.
Arion frowned.
"What?"
"The island."
He didn't answer.
Aelira did.
"Old."
Kai leaned back.
"Helpful."
Aelira glared at him.
"No. I mean..."
She struggled for the words.
"Old."
She looked toward the Celestial Crown beyond the window.
"Like that."
Nobody spoke for a moment.
I stood.
"Let's find the map."
The cartography archive wasn't far from our accommodations.
By the time we reached it, the sun had begun lowering over Astrea.
Long shadows stretched between buildings.
The Mana Currents above the city became more visible as the daylight faded.
The archive itself wasn't particularly impressive from outside.
Three floors.
Old stone.
Several large windows.
Inside was another matter.
Maps filled everything.
Paper maps.
Floating maps.
Stone maps.
Entire miniature groups of islands rotated above tables.
Some moved while I watched.
Tiny lights represented aircraft traveling between them.
Glowing lines marked controlled Mana Currents.
I stopped beside one.
An island slowly shifted several inches west.
The map was updating itself.
Of course.
A static map in Hyperanos would eventually become wrong.
A worker behind the main desk looked toward us.
"Can I help you?"
I approached.
"We're looking for an island."
The worker glanced at the hundreds of maps surrounding us.
"I assumed."
I almost smiled.
Arion stepped forward.
"I remember the shape."
"Name?"
"We don't know."
"Region?"
"We don't know."
"Settlement?"
Arion hesitated.
"Ruins?"
The worker stared at him.
Kai whispered behind me.
"Going well."
Theon elbowed him.
Arion described what he remembered.
The uneven shape.
Three elevated formations.
A deep fracture near one edge.
The worker entered the information into one of the floating displays.
Several islands appeared.
Arion rejected all of them.
Aelira added what she remembered.
The position of nearby formations.
Cloud patterns.
A distant island visible through a broken wall.
More results disappeared.
Eventually—
Nothing remained.
The worker frowned.
"Could be an unregistered minor island."
"It's not minor," Arion said.
"How large?"
"Large."
"That's not a measurement."
"City-sized."
"Also not a measurement."
I looked away before I laughed.
Aelira placed her drawings on the desk.
"What about these?"
The worker's expression changed.
Not dramatically.
But the amusement disappeared.
"Where did you see them?"
"In ruins."
"Which ruins?"
"That's what we're trying to find."
The worker picked up the paper.
Studied it.
Then looked toward Aelira.
"You copied these from something?"
"Memory."
"Today?"
"Yes."
A pause.
"These aren't modern."
"How old?" I asked.
"I can't tell from copies."
The worker pointed toward one symbol.
"But the structure resembles writing found in some of the oldest preserved sites around Astrea."
"How old?"
"Several thousand years."
Kai leaned closer.
"Several thousand?"
"Possibly older."
Aelira looked toward me.
I didn't like that.
Not because it frightened me.
Because it made this more interesting.
And interesting things had a terrible habit of becoming dangerous.
"Can you find ruins with matching symbols?" Liam asked.
The worker began another search.
Several sites appeared.
None matched Arion's island.
Another search.
Nothing.
Then older maps.
Actual paper this time.
We spent more than an hour looking.
The worker eventually brought out maps so old they had to remain beneath protective glass.
Still nothing.
Arion rejected every island.
Aelira rejected every ruin.
Finally, the worker returned to the floating map.
"Show me where you think it was."
Arion stared.
His finger moved across the display.
Stopped.
Aelira watched.
"No."
Arion looked at her.
"What?"
"Farther north."
He moved.
"No."
She stepped closer.
"There."
Her finger touched empty space.
Arion stared at it.
Then slowly nodded.
"Yeah."
The worker frowned.
"There is no island there."
I looked toward them.
"You're sure?"
"That region has been mapped repeatedly."
The worker expanded the area.
Empty sky appeared between several smaller islands.
"Nothing."
"Could something have moved there?" Varein asked.
"Possible."
"Something large?"
"Less likely."
"Something with an ancient city?"
The worker looked toward him.
"Extremely unlikely."
"But possible?"
The worker sighed.
"Possible and likely are not the same thing."
Fair enough.
I looked at the empty space again.
Arion and Aelira were both staring at it.
That was enough for me.
We thanked the worker and left.
Night had settled over Astrea.
If the city had been beautiful during the day, it was something else entirely after sunset.
Mana lines glowed beneath the streets.
Thousands of windows filled the capital with warm light.
Controlled Currents became brilliant rivers winding between islands.
Aircraft moved through them like distant stars.
And above everything—
The Celestial Crown burned gold.
Its enormous rings rotated against the darkness.
I found myself looking at it more than I wanted.
The Raiders were fighting a war for that thing.
Arion and Aelira had both seen something resembling it on an island that apparently didn't exist.
I didn't know if those facts were connected.
I wasn't going to pretend they were.
Not without evidence.
We returned to the house.
Kai waited until the door closed.
"We should go."
"No."
He stared at me.
"No?"
"No."
"Rain—"
"We have deployment tomorrow."
"We also have a mystery island."
"We have two visions and an empty map."
Arion crossed his arms.
"I saw it."
"I believe you."
"Then—"
"That doesn't mean we're flying into unknown territory at night."
Liam nodded.
"Finally."
Kai looked at him.
"You agree?"
"Obviously."
"We report it to Commander Rebecca."
Theon leaned against the wall.
"And say what?"
"The truth."
"Two foreign students arrived this morning, touched random ancient objects, saw the same lost island, and one of them saw something resembling the Celestial Crown."
Liam frowned.
"Yes."
Theon raised an eyebrow.
"The same Celestial Crown the Sky Raiders are currently killing people to reach?"
Silence.
Seraphyne crossed her arms.
"He has a point."
Liam looked around.
"So we're hiding it?"
"For tonight," I said.
Kai smiled.
"We go tomorrow?"
"No."
His smile disappeared.
"You're difficult."
"Good."
I walked toward the window.
The sensible decision was obvious.
Sleep.
Wake up.
Meet Commander Rebecca's people.
Protect the convoy.
Do the mission we'd been sent here to do.
Then figure out the visions afterward.
That was the plan.
For almost thirty seconds.
A chair crashed behind me.
I turned.
Flowers erupted across the floor.
Hundreds.
Arion gripped the edge of the table.
His Aura poured from him without control.
"Arion!"
I reached him.
His eyes were open.
But he wasn't seeing me.
Then ice cracked across the room.
Aelira had frozen beside the wall.
Frost spread from beneath her boots.
Up the stone.
Across the nearest window.
Seraphyne grabbed her.
"Aelira!"
Nothing.
Arion's lips moved.
"Find us."
I froze.
Across the room—
Aelira spoke.
At exactly the same time.
"Find us."
The same voice.
No.
Not the same voice.
The same words.
The same rhythm.
The same moment.
Flowers stopped growing.
Ice stopped spreading.
Arion collapsed.
I caught him before he hit the floor.
Seraphyne did the same with Aelira.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Arion inhaled sharply.
His eyes focused.
"What..."
"What did you see?"
He looked at me.
Fear sat behind his eyes.
"The island."
Aelira opened hers.
"The island."
Liam stepped closer.
"What happened?"
Neither answered.
Then both turned.
East.
Not toward a window.
Toward the wall.
Arion raised his hand.
"There."
Aelira pointed in exactly the same direction.
"There."
I felt my stomach sink.
"Can you feel it?"
Arion nodded.
Aelira did too.
"Like what?" Varein asked.
"A pull," Aelira whispered.
"Strong?"
She frowned.
"Getting weaker."
Arion looked at her.
"Yeah."
That changed things.
I hated that it changed things.
Liam didn't.
"We tell Commander Rebecca. Now."
Theon looked toward him.
"And if Astrea decides Arion and Aelira are security risks?"
"They won't."
"You don't know that."
"Neither do you."
"No."
Theon looked toward the frost covering the wall.
"But I know we're foreigners who arrived during a war over ancient technology, and two of us are suddenly receiving visions from ancient ruins nobody here can locate."
Kazen had been silent until now.
He looked toward Arion.
"What happens if the Raiders find it first?"
Nobody answered.
"We don't know they're connected," I said.
"No."
Kazen nodded.
"But we don't know they're not."
That was the problem.
Too many things we didn't know.
I looked at Arion.
"How long do you think you can follow it?"
"I don't know."
Aelira closed her eyes.
"It's weaker."
I swore quietly.
Everyone looked toward me.
I already knew what they wanted.
More importantly, I knew what I wanted.
That annoyed me more.
"One look."
Kai immediately smiled.
I pointed at him.
"Don't."
His smile disappeared.
Mostly.
"We confirm whether the island exists."
I looked around the room.
"We don't enter the ruins."
Kai opened his mouth.
"No."
He closed it.
"We don't split up. We don't touch anything. If we see anything dangerous, we turn around immediately."
Seraphyne studied me.
"Immediately?"
"Immediately."
She nodded.
Varein sighed.
"This is a terrible idea."
"Yes."
Theon smiled.
"Good. We're all aware."
Liam stared at us.
"You've all lost your minds."
Kai looked toward him.
"Are you coming?"
Liam was silent for several seconds.
"Obviously I'm coming."
"Then welcome."
"I still hate this plan."
"So do I."
That left transportation.
The room went quiet again.
We'd arrived aboard the Silver Leviathan.
That wasn't exactly something we could casually take.
Kai slowly looked toward Liam.
Liam noticed.
"No."
Theon looked at him too.
"No."
Varein joined them.
"Stop."
I looked at him.
Liam stared at me.
"Rain."
"You spent the entire trip talking to Raymond."
"About engines."
"And controls."
"That does not mean I can fly an aircraft."
"Better than any of us."
"That's not reassuring."
Kai leaned forward.
"We don't need you to be good."
"That's somehow less reassuring."
Half an hour later, we were stealing an aircraft.
Borrowing.
Temporarily.
The distinction felt increasingly weak.
A smaller skyport sat several districts away.
Astrea remained awake even this late, but traffic had thinned enough that ten students moving together attracted less attention than I'd expected.
We avoided the main roads.
Not because we were doing anything wrong yet.
Mostly.
The Celestial Crown appeared whenever the buildings opened around us.
Gold against the stars.
I tried not to think about it.
The smaller skyport held dozens of aircraft.
Nothing remotely close to the Silver Leviathan.
Good.
We needed something simple.
Liam pointed toward a narrow vessel near the far end.
"That one."
It was perhaps thirty feet long.
Two curved wings.
Enclosed front cabin.
Passenger space behind.
"How many?" I asked.
"Maybe twelve."
Kai nodded.
"Perfect."
Liam glared at him.
"Nothing about this is perfect."
We approached.
No crew.
No passengers.
Locked.
Of course.
Kai stared at the door.
"Problem."
Kazen stepped forward.
"Move."
Mist slipped from his fingers.
It entered the narrow seams around the lock.
I watched him manipulate something inside.
Click.
The door opened.
We all stared.
Kazen looked at us.
"What?"
Theon frowned.
"Have you done that before?"
"No."
"That wasn't convincing."
Kazen entered.
One by one, we followed.
The cabin was cramped with ten people and weapons.
Liam sat at the controls.
I took the seat beside him.
He stared at the console.
Then stared longer.
"Well?" Kai asked from behind us.
Liam didn't turn.
"If you speak again, I'm leaving you here."
Kai leaned back.
I looked over the controls.
Several crystals sat beneath transparent panels.
Symbols surrounded two central handles.
One looked familiar from the Silver Leviathan.
"That?"
Liam looked.
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"I told you I can't fly this."
"You said it was similar."
"It is."
"That's good."
"No. It means I recognize how complicated it is."
He touched one control.
Nothing.
Another.
A low hum began.
Everyone went silent.
Liam stared.
"I think that's power."
Kai leaned forward.
"Excellent."
"Sit back."
"I am back."
"Farther."
The aircraft came alive.
Mana lines illuminated the cabin.
The wings outside shifted.
Something beneath us vibrated.
Then the door sealed.
I looked through the front glass.
Astrea stretched beyond the platform.
Lights.
Towers.
Mana Currents.
The Celestial Crown.
Beautiful.
And we were about to steal from it less than a day after arriving.
That had to be some kind of record.
"Dock release," Liam muttered.
He searched.
Aelira pointed.
"Red symbol."
"Why?"
"It looks important."
"That's Rain's logic."
I looked at her.
"Worked earlier."
"No, it didn't."
Liam pressed it.
The aircraft dropped.
My stomach stayed behind.
Everyone shouted.
The engines caught.
Then we shot forward.
Too fast.
Liam pulled the controls.
The nose rose.
Astrea disappeared.
Stars filled the window.
"DOWN!"
"I KNOW!"
The aircraft rolled.
Seraphyne slammed into the side of my seat.
Something heavy crashed behind us.
Kai screamed.
Loudly.
Liam fought the controls.
The aircraft finally leveled.
Silence.
Then—
Kai cleared his throat.
"Good."
Aelira stared at him.
"You screamed."
"No."
"You absolutely screamed."
"That was tactical communication."
Theon groaned.
"You used that excuse yesterday."
"Because it remains accurate."
Despite everything, I laughed.
Only once.
Then I looked ahead.
Astrea was already behind us.
Liam gripped the controls hard enough that his knuckles had gone pale.
"If I land this thing, I'm never flying again."
"You haven't technically flown yet," Varein said.
Liam looked toward him.
"Do you want to come up here?"
"No."
"Then shut up."
Arion moved behind us.
He pointed.
"East."
Liam adjusted.
The aircraft turned.
Aelira stepped beside Arion.
"More north."
"How much?"
She frowned.
"I don't know."
Liam breathed through his nose.
"Naturally."
We left the main aerial routes.
Controlled Mana Currents became distant lines behind us.
The inhabited islands thinned.
Then disappeared.
Astrea remained visible for a long time.
It was too large not to.
Eventually even the capital became little more than gold against the darkness.
Ahead—
Nothing.
Stars.
Clouds far below.
Open sky.
Minutes passed.
Arion's expression tightened.
"Slower."
Liam reduced power.
Aelira stepped closer to the front.
"It's close."
I looked ahead.
Nothing.
"Where?"
"There."
She pointed into empty sky.
Kai squinted.
"I don't see anything."
Neither did I.
We continued.
Slowly.
Then one of the stars disappeared.
Only one.
Then returned.
I leaned forward.
Another vanished.
Something flickered between us and the sky.
Tall.
Thin.
Gone.
"What was that?"
Arion's hand tightened against my seat.
"There."
The shape appeared again.
A tower.
Broken near the top.
It existed for less than a second.
Then vanished.
Aelira stopped breathing.
"That's it."
Liam reduced our speed further.
Nothing remained ahead.
Then the stars began disappearing.
Not all at once.
One.
Another.
Five.
Twenty.
Darkness gathered where empty sky had been.
A cliff emerged.
Then trees.
Then stone.
The island appeared piece by piece.
Not from behind clouds.
Not because we'd approached close enough to see it.
It simply became visible.
An enormous landmass suspended in the darkness.
Ruins covered its surface.
Buildings swallowed by vegetation.
Broken walls.
Collapsed towers.
Roads leading nowhere.
And at the center—
The tower.
Half of its upper section was gone.
Exactly as they'd described.
Nobody spoke.
Every map we'd searched said the same thing.
There was nothing here.
The aircraft drifted closer.
Then something moved beneath the ruins.
Not physically.
I felt it.
A pulse.
It passed through the air.
Through the aircraft.
Through me.
The controls flickered.
The engines coughed.
White Thunder exploded across my hand.
I stared at the pale lightning crawling between my fingers.
Once again.
The Mana Current.
The Ancient Ruler.
The Sky Gate.
Astrea.
And now this place.
I slowly raised my eyes.
The ruins waited ahead.
Silent.
Ancient.
Impossible.
Maybe stealing the aircraft hadn't been the worst decision we'd ever made.
We still had plenty of time to change that.