Solaris hung above the ruined museum with fire wrapped around her body and smoke turning beneath her like a dark tide.
Her eyes moved across the Academy grounds.
Stone towers. Glass walkways. Hundreds of younglings in dramatic uniforms gathered behind older people in another version of dramatic uniforms.
There were guards with weapons, those she at least recognized. There were banners dancing in the air, hanging from buildings too large to belong to any city she remembered.
Her feather-crown brightened. "What is this place?"
Her voice crossed the courtyard without effort. It carried the heat of the Phoenix with it, low and full enough to silence the whispers beneath her.
Dean Ordenance stepped beyond the line of professors and raised one empty hand. "Lady Solaris Ashen!" he called.
Solaris looked down at him.
"Listen to me! You are inside Awakener Supreme. The prestigious Academy for the awakened youth of our world."
