A Shift in the Wind
A month passed, and the quiet routine Ruyi had fought so hard to build began to show subtle, troubling cracks.
It started with a change in City CC’s public infrastructure. High-grade mana sensors—sleek, metallic posts equipped with glowing blue crystal lenses—were being installed at every major transit hub and district border. The Guild called it the "Public Safety Reinforcement Initiative," designed to detect stray gate fractures before they fully opened.
To Ruyi, it looked like a cage closing in.
Every time she walked past one of those new posts on her way to the grocery store, she felt a subtle, annoying vibration beneath her skin—her void instinct reacting defensively to the active scanning frequency. She had to actively compress her internal energy, wrapping a thick layer of mental silence around her core to avoid triggering a system warning.
Then came the message from Kael.
Her older cousin met her at a quiet tea shop near the edge of District AAA. He looked exhausted—deep dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his messy dark hair was even more unkempt than usual.
"The Guild is tightening the net," Kael whispered, leaning over his ceramic cup, his voice barely louder than the hum of the tea shop's ventilation. "I have a contact working in the municipal records department. They're running a secondary audit on all civilian survivors from the last three months."
Ruyi took a slow sip of her green tea. "Why?"
She looked entirely unbothered, her posture relaxed despite the dark news her cousin brought.
"Because the number of unregistered awakenings is spiking," Kael explained, his jaw setting tight. "The Guild calls them 'Wild Awakeners.' People who broke their limits during breaches but fled the scene without reporting it to avoid getting drafted. The Guild doesn't like unaccounted variables running around with combat-grade abilities. And if I had to guess... the Guild's front lines are bleeding. They need power, and they needed it yesterday."
"Needing manpower, huh." Ruyi set her cup down without making a sound. "Let them audit. My file is sealed as a Non-Awakened / Civilian Survivor. Vance stamped it himself."
"Vance is the one pushing the audit, Ruyi," Kael dropped the bomb softly.
Ruyi’s amethyst eyes narrowed slightly.
"He didn't buy the 'broken machine' story," Kael continued, leaning closer across the small wooden table. "He thinks your zero-mana reading was an active interference signal. He’s been cross-referencing all casualties and survivor reports from your district. It’s only a matter of time before he notices a pattern."
Kael let out a low groan of irritation, running a hand through his unkempt hair. "This entire situation... I'm worried that I'm going to get pulled into this net eventually."
Ruyi remained silent, calculating her options. Vance was persistent, methodical, and possessed the full administrative authority of the Guild behind him. If he pushed for a mandatory re-test under a higher-grade Class-A Evaluator Core, she wouldn't be able to just break the machine without raising immediate alarms.
"What are you going to do?" Kael asked, watching her face carefully.
"Nothing," Ruyi replied calmly. "Panicking makes noise. Noise attracts attention. As long as I don't use my ability in public, Vance has nothing but theories."
"And if another gate opens?" Kael pressed softly. "If Rion is in danger again?"
Ruyi met his gaze with a cold, absolute certainty that made Kael’s breath hitch.
"Then I'll erase the evidence before Vance can get there."
The quiet weight of her words settled between them. Ruyi studied Kael for a long moment, noticing the slight, unstable flicker of spatial energy clinging to his fingertips—the telltale sign of an ability being suppressed too hard without proper refinement.
"What about you, Kael?" Ruyi asked, tilting her head slightly. "Have you been practicing with your Spatial Tether?"
Kael blinked, surprised by the sudden shift in topic. "Practicing? Ruyi, I'm trying not to draw attention to myself. The less I use it, the safer I am."
"That’s a mistake," Ruyi said smoothly, resting her chin on her hand. "If you only hide your energy, you're treating your ability like a foreign object. That’s why you're worried about getting caught. There is room for progress in your Spatial Tether—much more than you realize."
Kael frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Your Tether connects two points in space, right?" Ruyi analyzed, her tone composed and instructional. "Instead of thinking of it as pulling two distant objects together, think of it as folding the distance between them. If you learn to compress the energy trail your Tether leaves behind, you won't just move faster—you'll erase your spatial signature entirely before the Guild's new sensors can even register the drop."
Kael stared at her, stunned. "You... you can tell how my energy flows just by looking at me?"
"I notice things," Ruyi said simply. "Work on your control, Kael. If you refine the density of your Tether, even if Vance's sensors sweep past you, you won't register as a 'Wild Awakener.' You'll just look like background noise."
Kael let out a long, incredulous breath, but a faint smile touched his lips. "You really are something else, Ruyi."
"Just looking out for family," Ruyi replied smoothly, taking another sip of her tea. "Now finish your drink. We both have a lot of work to do."