By the time Lee’s training ended, the sun had climbed above the academy walls.
His arms felt heavier than they had after fighting the Thornreaver.
Captain Garrett had not used Aether, enhanced strength, or any ability Lee could detect.
He had simply beaten him through experience, timing, and brutal efficiency.
Lee had managed to touch him only three more times.
Garrett had disarmed him forty-two.
“Same time tomorrow,” Garrett said.
Lee stared at him.
“You’re serious?”
Garrett placed the wooden practice sword back on the rack.
“Five hundred hours.”
“I might still be in the infirmary.”
“Then crawl.”
Garrett walked toward the exit.
Lee watched him leave before glancing at Hermes.
“He likes me, doesn’t he?”
Hermes appeared beside the weapon rack, wearing an amused smile.
“Immensely.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
Lee dropped onto a bench and reached for his water.
His hands trembled as he unscrewed the cap.
For several moments, neither of them spoke.
Hermes studied him carefully.
“You learned something.”
Lee drank before answering.
“I learned that I’m not nearly as good as I thought.”
“That is a valuable lesson.”
“It doesn’t feel valuable.”
“The most useful ones rarely do.”
Lee leaned back against the wall.
Achilles had made him stronger by forcing him into impossible battles.
Milo and Ajax had pushed his body past what he believed it could endure.
Garrett was different.
He wasn’t trying to overwhelm him.
He was stripping away everything Lee didn’t need.
Every wasted movement.
Every unnecessary strike.
Every moment of hesitation.
Lee closed his eyes.
The objective matters more than the enemy.
Now another lesson joined it.
Waste nothing.
He had barely begun processing the thought when a distant crash echoed through the building.
Lee opened his eyes.
“That came from the east wing.”
Hermes tilted his head.
“Yes.”
Another crash followed.
Then someone shouted.
Lee stood.
“What’s happening?”
Hermes smiled.
“Captain Hailey has begun evaluating your friends.”
Lee picked up his coffee, realized it had gone cold, and set it back down.
“This I have to see.”
Captain Hailey had converted several academy training rooms into specialized evaluation chambers.
Each student had been separated and assigned an individual test.
The official explanation was simple.
Following the Thornreaver attack, the academy needed to reassess their combat readiness.
The truth was less comfortable.
Their abilities were changing faster than anyone expected.
Lee entered an observation corridor overlooking the first chamber.
Ella stood alone inside.
Her long brown hair fell in loose waves over her shoulders, though several strands had already escaped and clung to her face.
Her brown eyes moved across the room, studying the unusual arrangement.
Hundreds of white feathers hung from thin threads attached to the ceiling.
They formed several concentric circles around her.
Between them stood dozens of candles on narrow metal stands.
Captain Hailey observed from behind a reinforced glass panel.
“Put out the flames,” she instructed through the intercom.
Ella looked around.
“All of them?”
“All of them.”
Ella lifted one hand.
Wind gathered around her fingers.
Lee felt the change in pressure even from the observation corridor.
Ella swept her arm forward.
A powerful gust exploded across the room.
Every candle went dark.
The feathers tore loose from their threads and scattered in all directions.
Several struck the far wall hard enough to stick against it.
Ella smiled.
“That was easy.”
Captain Hailey pressed a button.
Small vents opened along the chamber walls.
Fresh candles emerged from recessed compartments while mechanical arms reattached the feathers to new threads.
Ella’s smile faded.
Hailey leaned toward the microphone.
“Again.”
Ella raised her hand.
“Captain, I already—”
“This time, do not move a single feather.”
Ella looked at the hanging circles surrounding her.
Then at the candles positioned between them.
“You want me to put out the flames without disturbing the air around them?”
“I want you to control the air.”
Ella frowned.
“That’s impossible.”
“No,” Hailey replied.
“What you did before was easy.”
The final candle ignited.
“Power is easy.
Precision requires discipline.”
Ella drew a slow breath.
She raised both hands.
A gentle breeze formed near the closest candle.
The flame flickered.
So did three feathers.
Hailey shook her head.
“Again.”
Ella tried a narrower current.
One feather swayed.
“Again.”
She tried using less power.
The flame bent but refused to go out.
“Again.”
Frustration spread across Ella’s face.
Her hair lifted as wind gathered around her.
Lee recognized the expression.
She was about to force it.
Hermes stood beside him, watching with interest.
“She possesses considerable power.”
“Yeah.”
“And very little patience.”
Lee glanced at him.
“She’s patient.”
“Not with herself.”
Inside the chamber, Ella clenched her fists and released the wind.
Nothing moved.
She stood quietly for several seconds.
Then she approached the nearest candle.
Instead of trying to control the entire room, she focused on the air surrounding the flame.
Her fingers moved slightly.
A thin current curved between two feathers.
The flame trembled.
Then disappeared.
The feathers remained still.
Ella stared at the smoking wick.
A small smile appeared.
Captain Hailey marked something on her tablet.
“One.”
Ella looked at the remaining candles.
There were forty-nine.
Her smile vanished.
The next chamber opened onto an outdoor platform behind the eastern training hall.
Michelle stood beneath a clear morning sky.
Her blonde hair had been tied behind her head, though the wind repeatedly pulled loose strands across her face.
Her blue eyes narrowed as she looked up.
She rolled her shoulders and looked up.
Captain Hailey stood near the observation barrier.
“Call lightning.”
Michelle raised an eyebrow.
“There aren’t any clouds.”
“Then make some.”
Michelle closed her eyes. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Aether gathered around her.
The temperature dropped.
Lee felt static crawl across his arms.
Dark clouds began forming overhead, spreading outward from a point directly above Michelle.
Thunder rolled across the campus.
Several nearby soldiers stopped what they were doing and looked up.
Michelle opened her eyes.
Lightning flashed.
A bolt struck the grounded metal rod in front of her with a deafening crack.
The platform shook.
Michelle turned toward Hailey.
“Done.”
“Again.”
Michelle looked confused.
“The target’s already destroyed.”
“Create lightning without thunder.”
Michelle stared at her.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“That’s not how lightning works.”
Hailey folded her arms.
“Then explain how it works.”
Michelle opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Hailey continued.
“What creates the charge?”
“Clouds.”
“How?”
Michelle hesitated.
“Particles collide.”
“Which particles?”
“Ice.
Water.
Something like that.”
“What determines where the bolt travels?”
“The charge difference.”
“Between what?”
Michelle’s expression tightened.
Hailey stepped closer.
“You can summon storms.”
She pointed toward the fading clouds.
“But you do not understand them.”
Michelle glanced upward.
The thunder echoed again, weaker this time.
Hailey’s voice softened slightly.
“Right now, you are asking the atmosphere to obey you.”
She tapped the side of her head.
“One day, you may be able to command it.”
Michelle looked back at the metal rod.
“What’s the difference?”
“Understanding.”
Hailey reset the target.
“Again.”
Michelle closed her eyes.
This time, she did not immediately reach for the lightning.
She felt the air.
Humidity.
Pressure.
Temperature.
Static charge.
The cloud above her shifted.
No lightning came.
But for the first time, Michelle smiled.
William’s evaluation took place in the academy strength laboratory.
He had expected medical testing.
Instead, he found a series of reinforced platforms and stacked stone blocks.
William stood in the center of the room with his blond wavy hair falling across his forehead.
His blue eyes moved between the equipment and Captain Hailey.
“You sure I’m in the right room?”
“Lift the first block.”
William looked down.
The stone cube reached his knees.
“How much does it weigh?”
“Enough.”
He crouched and wrapped both arms around it.
With a grunt, he lifted it from the floor.
Hailey checked the readings.
“Set it down.”
William obeyed.
A larger block rose through the floor.
He stared at it.
“You could have just told me this was a punishment.”
“Lift.”
William managed the second.
Then the third.
The fourth forced him to brace the weight against his chest.
The fifth barely moved.
William clenched his jaw.
Muscles tightened across his arms and shoulders.
A faint pulse of Aether spread through his body.
The block rose.
Cracks formed along its surface.
William’s eyes widened.
The stone split down the middle.
Two broken halves slammed against the platform.
William looked down at himself.
“I didn’t do that on purpose.”
Hailey examined the readings.
“No.”
She typed a note into her tablet.
William leaned sideways, trying to see.
“What did you write?”
She turned the screen away.
He stepped in the opposite direction.
“Was it bad?”
Hailey finally looked at him.
“It says Titan.”
William blinked.
“Is that a medical condition?”
From the observation corridor, Lee laughed.
Emerson’s chamber appeared almost empty.
A thousand steel marbles covered the floor.
Emerson stood among them, blond hair neatly combed despite the early hour, his blue eyes already narrowing in concentration.
Hailey entered behind him.
“Sort them.”
“By size?”
“No.”
“Weight?”
“No.”
“Color?”
“They’re all steel.”
Emerson looked down again.
“Then what am I sorting?”
Hailey handed him a tablet containing ten numbered containers.
“Composition.”
Emerson stared at her.
“They’re identical.”
“They look identical.”
He picked up one marble and examined it.
“You mixed different alloys.”
“Yes.”
“And you expect me to determine the composition without laboratory equipment?”
Hailey stepped back.
“You are the equipment.”
Emerson looked at the marbles.
Then at the containers.
His expression changed.
The confusion disappeared.
Interest replaced it.
Several marbles lifted from the floor.
They rotated slowly in front of him.
Emerson closed his eyes.
The marbles vibrated.
One moved toward the first container.
Then another joined it.
A third floated toward a different box.
Lee watched through the glass.
“What is he doing?”
Hermes leaned closer.
“Feeling them.”
“With telekinesis?”
“Telekinesis is merely force applied without physical contact.”
Hermes watched the marbles separate into groups.
“The question is whether he can learn to feel what his force touches.”
One of the marbles suddenly crushed inward.
Emerson opened his eyes.
“Too much.”
Hailey made another note. This story is hosted at g.com.
“Continue.”
Declan’s evaluation room looked more like a veterinary laboratory than a combat chamber.
He stood beside Buster with his arms folded.
His red hair was still disheveled from the night before, and his blue eyes repeatedly moved toward the samples laid across a nearby table.
Wolf fur.
An eagle feather.
A strip of bear hide.
Horsehair.
A discarded snake skin.
Buster sniffed the air and sneezed.
Declan rubbed the dog’s head.
“Yeah, I don’t like it either.”
Captain Hailey entered.
“You will make contact with each sample.”
Declan looked toward the bear hide.
“And if I start growing claws again?”
“You stop.”
“That worked really well last time.”
Hailey’s expression softened.
“Buster will remain with you.”
Declan looked down at the dog.
Buster stared back.
The tension in Declan’s shoulders eased.
He approached the table and touched the eagle feather first.
Aether moved beneath his skin.
His pupils contracted.
The room sharpened.
Every scratch in the metal walls became visible.
He could see dust floating near the ceiling.
Declan stepped back.
“I can see everything.”
“Any physical changes?”
“No.”
Hailey checked his eyes.
“Release it.”
Declan breathed out.
His vision returned to normal.
He touched the horsehair next.
His legs tightened.
Balance shifted through his hips and spine.
He felt an overwhelming urge to move.
To run.
He released the connection before his body changed further.
The snake skin sharpened his sensitivity to vibration.
The wolf fur heightened his hearing and sense of smell.
Then he touched the bear hide.
His shoulders widened.
Muscle pressed against his uniform.
Fingernails thickened.
Buster barked.
Declan immediately withdrew his hand.
The changes stopped.
Hailey studied him.
“You selected individual traits.”
“I didn’t know I could.”
“You couldn’t before.”
Declan looked at the samples.
“So what changed?”
Hailey glanced toward Buster.
“You did.”
Declan crouched beside him.
Buster licked his face.
Hermes watched from the corridor.
“His connection to the animal stabilizes him.”
Lee nodded.
“Buster keeps him human.”
“For now.”
Lee looked at Hermes.
“What does that mean?”
Hermes did not answer.
Lilith’s evaluation chamber contained no weapons.
No targets.
No physical obstacles.
Only a table and two chairs.
A chessboard sat between them.
Lilith entered with her long blonde hair falling in waves down her back.
Her blue eyes moved from the board to Captain Hailey.
“You want to play chess?”
“I want to test your precognition.”
Lilith sat.
Hailey took the opposite chair.
“You’re black.”
Lilith looked down.
“White has the first move.”
“I know.”
Hailey moved a pawn.
Lilith responded almost immediately.
The game lasted seven minutes.
Hailey lost.
They reset the board.
The second game lasted four.
The third ended in less than two.
Hailey leaned back.
“You’ve played before.”
“A few times.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
Hailey stared at her.
Lilith gave a small shrug.
“I remember things.”
They reset the board again.
This time, Hailey moved a knight like a bishop.
Lilith looked up.
“That’s illegal.”
“Not anymore.”
Hailey moved a pawn backward.
Lilith’s eyebrows lifted.
“You’re changing the rules.”
“Yes.”
“What are the new rules?”
“I’ll tell you when they matter.”
The game began.
Hailey altered the movement of pieces without warning.
Pawns moved sideways.
Bishops jumped over other pieces.
A rook vanished from the board and reappeared on the opposite side.
Lilith lost the first game.
She sat silently afterward.
“Again,” she said.
They reset.
Lilith lost the second game.
During the third, she stopped looking at the board.
Instead, she watched Hailey.
Her eyes followed every shift in the captain’s posture.
Every change in breathing.
Every hesitation before a move.
Hailey reached for a knight.
Lilith moved her queen.
“Checkmate.”
Hailey’s hand stopped.
She examined the board.
Lilith had won.
“You didn’t predict the move,” Hailey said.
Lilith shook her head.
“I predicted why you would make it.”
Hailey leaned back slowly.
Lilith continued.
“You change the rules whenever you think I’ve adapted.”
Her gaze dropped to the captain’s fingers.
“You tap the table before changing how a piece moves.
You hold your breath when you’re about to remove one.
And whenever you think you’ve trapped me, you look at my king.”
Silence settled over the room.
Hailey studied her for several seconds.
“Again.”
Lilith reset the pieces.
This time, there was a faint smile on her face.
From the corridor, Lee watched her opening move.
Hermes stood unusually still beside him.
“What?” Lee asked.
“She isn’t simply seeing the future.”
“Then what is she doing?”
Hermes’ eyes remained fixed on Lilith.
“She is learning how to build it.”