High above the sand of the combat pavilion, behind the reinforced glass of the observation deck, the air was thick with the scent of ozone and bruised egos. General Kaine stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his expression as unreadable as a tombstone. Beside him stood General Varick, a man whose skin naturally hummed with the golden luster of a High Brass bloodline. Varick was a senior officer from Aethelgard Academy, the school ranked first among the four great institutions of the Kith species. He was also the man who had personally overseen Kaelen's development as a favor to the Carbonite family.
Varick slammed a metallic fist against the railing, the vibration echoing through the silent room. "Where did he come from?" Varick demanded, his voice trembling with a mixture of fury and disbelief. "Kaelen is a third year elite. He is the most prized possession of my recruitment program. To see him dismantled like a broken clock by a transfer student with no rank? It is an insult to the Carbonite name. My recruitment officers from the capital were supposed to see a triumph, not a funeral for a reputation."
Kaine didn't turn his head. He watched as the medical droids hovered over Kaelen's unconscious form in the pit below. "He is the sole survivor of the Omen Academy slaughter," Kaine said, his voice cold and steady. "The only one who walked out of the ash when the Bylaws were finished with their work. He didn't come here to play games with children like Kaelen."
Varick stiffened, his golden eyes widening. "How is that possible? Omen was erased from the maps. No one survives a Bylaw manifestation, especially not a cadet. It was a tiny, insignificant school, barely a footnote in the Great Ledger. You are telling me a child from the fringes did what a legion of Vanguards couldn't?"
"He is from a particular bloodline, Varick," Kaine replied, finally turning to face his rival with a look of quiet intensity. "One more powerful than possibly every bloodline there is. He ranks essentially above the top three bloodlines that run your precious Aethelgard, and he ranks above us as well. You are looking at a Monolith Grade. I suggest you tell your students to look the other way when he passes. If they try to test him again, there won't be enough of them left to bury."
Varick went silent, his gaze drifting back to the exit where Vane had disappeared. The power dynamic of the four schools was delicate. Aethelgard held the top spot because it currently housed the rank one and rank three of the top three bloodlines, along with the rank five bloodline. If what Kaine said was true, the addition of a Monolith Grade to Valis didn't just change the school rankings. It threatened the very structure of their species.
Below the observation deck, Access Granted
Vane and Nora walked through the shifting doors of the Great Library. The building was an architectural marvel, with shelves that reached so high they were lost in the mist of the ceiling.
"You have to tell me more about this place," Vane said, his voice a slow current in the quiet of the archives. "I need to understand the history of this world so I can get a better grasp on the reality I am forced to inhabit. I spent my life at Omen. I knew there were four great schools beyond our walls, but we were kept in the dark about the rest."
Nora led him toward a section dedicated to the Great Lineage. "Well, let's start with the hierarchy that dictates everything we do," she began, her fingers tracing the spines of ancient books. "There are four great schools, and each is defined by the bloodlines it houses. Aethelgard is ranked first for a reason. They currently house the heavy hitters: the High Brass at rank one and the Cobalt Kings at rank three, which are both part of the top three bloodlines. They also have the Chromium Sentinels at rank five. Zenith is the second ranked school, and they are run by the Tungsten Lords at rank two and the Iron Bound at rank six."
She pulled a heavy, leather bound ledger from a shelf and laid it on a stone table with a resonant thud. "Up until yesterday, we only had two bloodlines at this school. Now with you being here, it is three. Your bloodline is one everyone thought was extinct. We didn't know there was another Monolith around, and according to General Kaine, you are a ghost that is not supposed to exist. You are the highest ranked bloodline, Vane. You rank above the very elite."
Vane traced the symbols on the ledger with a pale finger, his touch lingering over the dark ink where his lineage should have been recorded. "And the fourth school?"
"The Iron Spire," Nora said. "They sit at the bottom, rank four. They house the last two bloodlines of the nine: the Nickel Guard at rank eight and the Bronze Shields at rank nine. It is more complex than just names, though. Each bloodline is like a nation unto itself. They usually consist of five to ten core families who share the same core genetic traits. There are three higher up families who hold the true power, the ones who decide the laws and the movements of the armies. Below them are about seven sub families who serve them, acting as the backbone of their operations. A single bloodline can consist of a hundred to a hundred and fifty Kith, all sharing the same fundamental traits but varying in strength and Spark density."
Vane looked at the charts in the ledger. "So Kaelen is just a single leaf on a very large tree. He is loud because he fears being forgotten among the branches of the fourth ranked bloodline."
"Exactly," Nora said, leaning against the table. "And as for me, I am part of the Valerick sub family. We serve the Aegis line. It is one of the official nine, but we are not in that untouchable top three. My bloodline is respected for its speed and agility, but we don't sit on the high thrones. We are the messengers, the scouts, and the ones who do the work while the top three bask in the glory of the sunlight. We are important, but we are replaceable in the eyes of the High Kings."
Vane looked at her, his eyes dark and reflective like a stagnant pool. "So you are a sharp blade in a garden of heavy crowns. You are kept close so you can be used, but not so close that you can lead."
"In a way," Nora replied with a small, self deprecating shrug. "But even a sharp blade can feel the air grow cold before a storm. Most Kith go their whole lives without ever seeing a Bylaw. We are taught to be soldiers from the moment our Spark ignites, but we are mostly just fighting each other for rank and prestige. We are so busy measuring our shine and polishing our metals that we forget what it is like to be in the dark. We have turned war into a social ladder."
Vane closed the ledger, the sound echoing like a gavel through the hollow halls. "The dark is coming for all of you, Nora. It doesn't care about your sub families or your golden skin. It doesn't care about your rank or your polished crowns. It only cares about the silence that remains when the screaming stops."
"Is that why you wanted the maps?" she asked softly, her voice trembling just a fraction.
Vane nodded, his gaze turning toward the restricted section. "I need to see where the Bylaw territories bleed into our world. If Valis is the third ranked school, it means it is a target. I didn't come here to be a student. I don't really care for ranks, bloodlines, or things of that nature. I am here for one thing and that is to utilize everything in my possession to extinguish a problem in our world. I came here to be the wall that doesn't break when the storm arrives."
Nora watched him, feeling the strange weight of his presence. He was a Kith, yet he felt like something older, something that had existed before the schools and the bloodlines. "You were definitely a poet in your past life," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Or could it be that you are just someone who stopped believing in the stars?"
"I am the only one who has already seen the stars go out," Vane replied. "Poetry is just what we use to describe the things we are too afraid to name. I don't believe in the stars because I have felt them go cold in my hands."
He turned his back on the history of the nine bloodlines and began to walk toward the restricted archives. The shadows seemed to lengthen around him, stretching out like fingers. He didn't need to know about the families of the past or the sub families that filled the ranks of the elite. He only needed to know the coordinates of his future enemies. Behind him, Nora followed, caught in the wake of a boy who was no longer playing the part of a regular student. She realized then that Vane wasn't just a survivor. He was a harbinger, and the world he described was already knocking on the door.
As they reached the heavy iron grate of the restricted section, Vane stopped. He could feel the pulse of the earth beneath his feet, a low vibration that whispered of things buried deep. "Tell me one more thing, Nora," he said without turning around. "If the schools are the shield, why are they ranked? If the goal is survival, why is there a competition for first place?"
Nora paused, her hand hovering near the keycard reader. "It is not a competition, Vane. It is tradition. We follow the structure of the ranks and the four schools because those are the laws that were set in stone long ago. It is a tradition that your own bloodline, the Monoliths, created for the Kith species. We are simply following the path your ancestors paved."
Vane went quiet for a moment, the tension in his shoulders dropping just an inch. "Oh. Sorry. I didn't know that. I shouldn't have spoke on it," he admitted, his voice losing some of its sharp, icy edge.
Nora gave him a soft, understanding look. "It's ok. I didn't expect you to know, considering Omen Academy kept you in the dark and didn't tell you anything. You have been through a lot in the past 24 hours, and you don't have to memorize the ancient laws on your first day." She stepped closer, her expression softening even more. "Also, I know I probably shouldn't say this, but you should lighten up a little. You don't have to carry the weight of the entire world on your back every second. Don't worry. Me and General Kaine are going to help you with everything, including your path to eradicate all Bylaws. You are not standing against the storm by yourself anymore."
Vane looked at her, and for the first time, the reflection in his eyes seemed a little less like a stagnant pool and more like a mirror. He didn't smile, but the air between them felt less like a battlefield.
The grate slid open with a groan of protesting metal, revealing a chamber filled with maps that glowed with a faint, ghostly blue light. This was the heart of the school's tactical knowledge, and for Vane, it was the first step toward the war he had never truly left, but this time, he wasn't walking into the blue glow alone.