A week passed.
Not peacefully.
Not quietly.
And certainly not mercifully.
The hidden doors of the Obsidian Circle groaned open, allowing three thoroughly exhausted first-years to stumble back into the academy proper.
Kaelen emerged first.
His black academy coat hung open, his hair was damp with sweat, and his usual easy confidence had been reduced to the hollow stare of a man who had recently reconsidered every decision that had brought him to this point.
Lara followed beside him in only slightly better condition.
Her shoulders sagged.
Her legs moved stiffly.
Even the little Eldergloom Nymph sitting on her shoulder looked tired, leaning against the side of Lara's head with several tiny flowers drooping from her hair.
Anna came last.
She looked tired too.
But unlike the other two—
She was smiling.
Kaelen noticed.
He hated that immediately.
"Don't."
Anna blinked innocently.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I really wasn't."
"You were smiling."
"I'm allowed to smile."
"Not after what we just survived."
Lara groaned beside them.
"Please stop talking."
Kaelen looked toward her.
"Thank you."
"No," Lara muttered. "I mean literally stop talking. My entire body hurts, and somehow your voice is making it worse."
Kaelen stared at her.
"That feels unnecessarily personal."
"It is."
Anna covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
They continued down the eastern corridor.
Behind them, the ancient doors of the Obsidian Circle closed with a deep—
BOOM.
The wards sealed.
Kaelen stopped walking.
Slowly—
Very slowly—
He turned toward the doors.
His expression hardened.
"I hate that place."
Anna immediately laughed.
"No, you don't."
"I absolutely do."
"You've been a member for one week."
"And it has been the longest week of my life."
Lara dragged one hand across her face.
"He's not exaggerating."
That much was true.
The past seven days had been brutal.
What had begun as a single unexpected demonstration of the harmonic meditation regimen had somehow transformed into an entire week of instruction.
Because Kael Draven had made good on his decision.
Every active member of the Obsidian Circle was learning it.
Every.
Single.
One.
Senior cadets.
Junior cadets.
Combat specialists.
Warders.
Instructors.
Even several alumni had mysteriously appeared during the week after word quietly spread through whatever secret channels the Circle apparently possessed.
And somehow—
Anna, Lara, and Kaelen had become the instructors.
Three first-years teaching one of the most secretive collections of elite mages in Celestara Academy a cultivation technique derived from Grand Empress Aeloria Crestwood's own methods and recently introduced into the imperial military through Brom Ironhart.
Kaelen had objected.
Repeatedly.
Loudly.
It had accomplished nothing.
He dragged his feet down the corridor.
"I still don't understand how this happened."
Anna glanced sideways at him.
"What part?"
"All of it."
"That narrows it down."
Kaelen ignored her.
"One minute, I'm joining the Obsidian Circle."
He lifted one finger.
"The next minute, your dragon, Lara's forest spirit, and my golem decide to demonstrate an apparently classified military cultivation technique in front of everyone."
Second finger.
"Then Kael decides we should teach it."
Third finger.
"And somehow that becomes our responsibility for an entire week."
Lara raised a tired hand.
"Don't forget the questions."
Kaelen's face went blank.
"Oh gods."
Anna laughed softly.
"The questions weren't that bad."
Both of them stopped walking.
Anna made it another three steps before realizing she was alone.
She turned.
Kaelen and Lara were staring at her.
"What?"
Lara looked genuinely betrayed.
"Not that bad?"
Anna hesitated.
"…Some of them were complicated."
"Anna."
"Okay. Most of them."
"Anna."
"All of them?"
Kaelen threw his hands into the air.
"Thank you!"
His voice echoed down the corridor.
"Do you know what it's like having a sixth-year ask me about harmonic resonance compression while I'm standing there trying to remember whether I'm supposed to breathe in for four counts or six?"
Anna's lips twitched.
"Four."
"I KNOW THAT NOW."
Lara started laughing despite herself.
Kaelen pointed at her.
"You're not innocent either."
"I didn't say I was."
"You told an instructor his resonance was fighting him."
"It was."
"He's been teaching cultivation longer than we've been alive."
"And he was still fighting it."
Kaelen opened his mouth.
Stopped.
Considered that.
"…Fair."
They started walking again.
For several moments, only their footsteps filled the corridor.
Then Lara sighed.
"At least everyone understands the basics now."
Anna nodded.
"They're improving."
That part had surprised even her.
Once the members of the Circle stopped trying to overpower their own resonance—
The changes had come quickly.
Not breakthroughs.
Anna had been adamant about that.
No one was permitted to force advancement.
But stability had improved dramatically.
Mana circulation had become smoother.
Several members who had struggled with cultivation plateaus had begun identifying where their own resonance patterns were conflicting with themselves.
Even the instructors had admitted the technique was unlike anything traditionally taught at Celestara.
Which should have made Anna feel proud.
Instead—
It mostly made her nervous.
Because every person they taught was another person carrying a piece of her grandmother's legacy.
Kaelen apparently noticed the change in her expression.
His voice softened.
"You alright?"
Anna blinked.
Then nodded.
"Yeah."
She glanced back toward the sealed doors.
"It's just strange."
Lara looked at her.
"What is?"
Anna hesitated.
"Teaching it."
Her fingers brushed unconsciously over the academy badge at her chest.
"My grandmother wrote those techniques for herself. Then I taught Brom. Now Brom's method is spreading through the military…"
She looked toward the Obsidian Circle.
"And now everyone in there knows it too."
Kaelen was quiet for a moment.
Then shrugged.
"Could be worse."
Anna raised an eyebrow.
"How?"
"They could've made us teach it after fitness training."
Silence.
Lara's expression collapsed.
"Oh gods."
Kaelen groaned.
Because that was the other problem.
Teaching the Circle had not replaced their normal training.
Apparently—
Kael Draven considered those two entirely separate responsibilities.
Lara stopped in the middle of the hallway.
"I still cannot believe that."
Anna tried very hard not to smile again.
Lara turned toward her.
"We spent three hours teaching harmonic meditation."
"Yes."
"Three hours."
"Yes."
"To nearly the entire Circle."
"Yes."
"And then Kael looked at us afterward and said—"
Her posture straightened.
Her expression went completely blank.
She lowered her voice into a painfully accurate imitation of Kael Draven.
"Excellent. Now that you've finished warming up, report to the lower training field."
Kaelen physically recoiled.
"Don't do the voice."
Anna broke.
She laughed.
Lara continued mercilessly.
"Then we got there and there were weighted packs waiting."
"Lara."
"And the climbing wall."
"Please."
"And the combat course."
"Stop."
"And the stairs."
Kaelen stopped.
His face changed.
The humor disappeared.
"No."
Lara looked at him solemnly.
"The stairs."
Kaelen stared into the distance.
"There were so many stairs."
Anna was laughing hard enough now that she had to brace one hand against the wall.
Kaelen turned toward her in disbelief.
"I don't understand why you're laughing. You were there."
"I know."
"You ran them too!"
"I know!"
"You suffered with us!"
Anna tried to catch her breath.
"But your face when Kael told us to do another lap—"
"He lied!"
Kaelen's voice echoed through the hallway.
"He said five!"
Lara nodded gravely.
"He did say five."
"Then after five he said five more!"
Anna wiped at the corner of her eye.
"He said the first five were assessment laps."
"THAT IS STILL LYING."
Lara started laughing again.
Kaelen stared at both of them.
Then slowly shook his head.
"This organization is evil."
Anna finally managed to straighten.
"You're being dramatic."
"Am I?"
"Yes."
Kaelen pointed back toward the hidden entrance.
"Yesterday that man made me carry my mythril golem through an obstacle course."
Anna blinked.
"He said it was bond conditioning."
"My bond weighs eighty pounds!"
From the pouch at Kaelen's belt—
A faint blue light pulsed.
Once.
Kaelen looked down.
His eyes narrowed.
"Don't you start."
The blue light pulsed again.
Lara smiled.
"I think he enjoyed it."
"Of course he enjoyed it. He wasn't carrying me."
Another pulse.
Brighter.
Kaelen stared at the pouch.
"…Was that sarcasm?"
Anna tilted her head.
"I think he's getting more expressive."
"That is not comforting."
The nymph on Lara's shoulder suddenly perked up.
Her tired flowers lifted.
Then she looked toward Kaelen.
A tiny vine extended from Lara's shoulder.
It curled upward.
And formed something suspiciously resembling a thumbs-up.
Anna froze.
Lara stared.
Kaelen looked between the nymph and the golem pouch.
"No."
The nymph smiled.
"No alliance."
The golem's core pulsed.
"No."
Another pulse.
Kaelen pointed accusingly between them.
"You two are not forming some kind of bond conspiracy against me."
The nymph giggled.
Anna completely lost control again.
Lara leaned against the wall, laughing beside her.
And for the first time since leaving the Obsidian Circle—
Kaelen finally smiled too.
Barely.
Reluctantly.
But it was there.
He shook his head.
"One week."
Anna looked at him.
"What?"
Kaelen glanced between them.
"We've been members for one week."
He looked back toward the hidden doors.
Then down at the golem pouch.
Then toward Lara's laughing nymph.
Finally toward Anna.
"And somehow we've already taught the Circle a secret cultivation technique, offended a dragon, created a magical meditation club for our bonds, and nearly died doing Kael Draven's fitness training."
Anna smiled.
"When you say it like that…"
Kaelen narrowed his eyes.
"Don't."
"…it's been a pretty good week."
Lara laughed.
Kaelen groaned.
And the three of them continued down the corridor together—
Exhausted.
Sore.
Complaining.
And completely unaware that their quiet little week inside the Obsidian Circle had already begun changing far more than any of them realized.
They made it another few steps before Anna spoke again.
"At least there's a silver lining to today."
Kaelen gave her a sideways look.
The look of a man who had been betrayed by optimism one too many times.
"Oh?"
His voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Please, enlighten me."
Anna glanced at him.
"What?"
"No, really."
Kaelen spread his arms as they walked.
"What could possibly be so wonderful about today?"
He began counting on his fingers.
"My legs no longer function."
"One shoulder is definitely lower than the other."
"I'm pretty sure Kael Draven has personally declared war on my spine."
Lara nodded solemnly.
"Your posture does look worse."
Kaelen glared at her.
"Thank you, Lara."
"You're welcome."
Anna bit back another laugh.
Kaelen continued.
"And tomorrow, assuming I survive the night, I get to wake up and—"
Anna stopped walking.
Kaelen and Lara took another step before noticing.
Anna simply stood there.
Smiling.
Kaelen slowly turned.
"…What?"
Anna's smile widened.
"Nothing tomorrow."
Kaelen stared at her.
"What do you mean, nothing tomorrow?"
Anna clasped her hands behind her back.
"Think about it."
Lara frowned.
Then—
Her eyes widened.
Anna saw recognition hit.
And her grin became positively radiant.
"Today," Anna said, "is the last day."
Kaelen blinked.
"The last day of what?"
Lara suddenly gasped.
"Oh."
Kaelen looked between them.
"What?"
Anna laughed.
"Spring recess."
Silence.
Kaelen stared at her.
Anna waited.
His expression remained blank for another second.
Then—
His eyes widened.
"…Spring recess."
Anna nodded enthusiastically.
"Spring recess."
Lara's exhaustion seemed to disappear almost instantly.
"Oh my gods."
She straightened.
"We're done."
Anna laughed.
"We're done."
"For four weeks."
"Four whole weeks."
Kaelen still hadn't moved.
He appeared to be processing a concept his exhausted mind had somehow completely forgotten existed.
"No lectures?"
Anna shook her head.
"No lectures."
"No Professor Mire assigning us three chapters and pretending that isn't homework?"
"Nope."
"No Professor Virella threatening to fail someone because they breathed too close to an unstable mixture?"
Lara raised a finger.
"She'll probably still do that when we come back."
"That isn't the point."
Anna laughed.
"No classes."
Kaelen's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"No morning drills?"
"Not academy drills."
"No assignments?"
Anna hesitated.
"…Technically, we have reading."
Kaelen's expression darkened.
Anna immediately waved a hand.
"But nothing due until we return!"
He considered this.
"…Acceptable."
Lara was smiling now too.
A real smile.
Not the exhausted, barely conscious expression she'd worn leaving the Circle.
Four weeks.
Four weeks without bells dictating where they needed to be.
Without rushing between lectures.
Without examinations.
Without instructors.
Without—
Lara's smile abruptly faltered.
She looked toward the hidden Obsidian Circle entrance behind them.
"Wait."
Anna followed her gaze.
Kaelen did too.
Lara slowly pointed toward the doors.
"Does Kael know it's spring recess?"
Kaelen stared at her.
Then at the doors.
Then back at Lara.
"…Why would you say that?"
"I'm just asking."
"Don't."
"What if the Circle still trains during recess?"
Kaelen's face drained of what little happiness had returned to it.
Anna pressed her lips together.
Lara continued, apparently unable to stop herself now.
"I mean, technically the Obsidian Circle isn't part of our normal academy schedule."
"Lara."
"And Kael did say membership carries responsibilities beyond regular classes."
"Lara."
"And senior members probably don't just stop training because—"
"LARA."
She stopped.
Kaelen pointed firmly down the corridor.
"We are leaving."
"But—"
"No."
He started walking.
Faster now.
"We are going back to our dorms."
Anna hurried after him, laughing.
Lara followed.
"We have to pack anyway."
"Exactly."
Kaelen's pace increased.
"We pack."
"We leave."
"And if Kael Draven realizes he forgot to tell us about some secret spring recess training program—"
He glanced over his shoulder toward the hidden doors.
"—then he can discover that mistake after I am safely several hundred miles away."
Anna laughed.
"I don't think that's how membership works."
"It is now."
Lara grinned.