The next day, the academy was still shining under the sun. The drapes moved in the wind, and the heirs walked around as if every stone belonged to them… but me, I kept changing.
People didn't just glance at me anymore, their eyes stuck to me like leeches. Some, like the Veyrel and the Reinar families, were eager to fight me. Others avoided me. But no one was indifferent.
In this world, light always attracts darkness.
The sun had barely risen when Elias asked me to meet him in the training hall. When I arrived, he looked like he had been there for hours. His training clothes were covered in sweat and ash. The cold floor stuck to my feet when Elias said:
— Today we train, Iron. I need to evaluate your abilities for our next missions. Your power saved us many times in extreme moments, but you also need to feel more comfortable using it. However, it has only been a few months since you awakened your fracture, so considering all of that, the conclusion is that you have monstrous potential… but it will not fully appear in one day.
He was right…
Once inside the room, he activated four quartz pillars around me. They pulsed like artificial hearts.
— I need at least 15 minutes. Stay levitating as long as possible, with your blades in orbit. I noticed that you often end up in difficult situations because you cannot control your abilities at the same time.
If you fail to maintain your position, gravity will crush you with six times the normal density.
I was hoping for a fight, but instead I was facing extreme challenges.
— Are you training me or making fun of me, Elias?
He shrugged.
— That depends on you.
I wasn't happy, but Elias was intelligent, so I trusted his judgment. The blades came out of my fractures, sharper than before: Ignis, Ventus, and Fulmen rumbling with energy.
My body slowly rose into the air, just enough so that my feet were about two meters above the ground. Honestly… I loved that feeling of lightness.
After five minutes, a drop of sweat slid into my eye. Ventus almost lost control. Elias spoke with a firmer voice.
— Focus, unless you want to be crushed!
I corrected my position, jaw tight.
Ten minutes later…
I landed again, shaking, but I had succeeded.
Elias looked satisfied.
— Not bad, but still clumsy. I want to see an "Eidolon" like in the ancient legends.
"The Eidolons" was the name given to those beings from the past. They could fly and perform miracles as they wished. There were said to be twelve of them, gods who walked on Kalion according to the verses of the "Book of Chaac".
— I would like to see you try it… I muttered quietly.
— Stop complaining, we still have 4 hours. I prepared a special program just for you, my friend. You're going to love it!
— Elias…
Hours later…
Once I was finally free from him, the afternoon was much less intense. This time there was no training, no Elias. Just cold classrooms and teachers stricter than dictators.
Célestine Verlan was an old woman with a thin silhouette, her face marked with wrinkles. She displayed a holographic map of Kalion, entire regions belonging to Guidence. Underwater routes connected the ports, and they also controlled banks and communication towers.
— This is Guidence, she said. Our dynasty, a perfectly woven web. Transport, information, credit. These are the tools that allow us to control the world of primitive humans. Break one of these three pillars, and their world collapses without a single war.
One heir dared to raise a hand.
— But… that is not really governing. It is more like domination.
She gave a horrible smile.
— Of course it is domination. We are superior to them in every way. These ignorant monkeys are satisfied by their vanity and their god they worship… "money". They think their weapons and armies are dangerous, but they are not.
I took notes without lifting my head, trying to look focused. Not because I cared about what she was saying, but because I hated hearing them talk as if the world belonged to them. Still, I wanted to understand the cage I had lived in my entire life.
Days passed, but the rumors spread faster than us.
Every hallway had its whispers.
Isolde Kareth, cold as ice, made a remark as she passed me:
— People say many things about you, but seeing you like this… it is probably just noise to pass the time. Not bad for a cockroach.
I answered without stopping:
— I am surprised that a woman with such high status would speak to a cockroach like me. Are you sure you deserve your name?
Her smile tightened. One point for me.
Marcus Veyrel simply gave me a small nod. I did not know what his intentions were. In my world… that almost felt like a pact.
And Kael?
Invisible.
Until one morning, on my bedside table, I found an iron ring connected to advanced technology. Holographic projection, analysis of my body and heart data… a piece of incredible technology placed on dark glass burned by heat.
No word. No signature.
Just a silent message: the beast had recognized another beast.
One evening, Elias pulled me out of bed before sunrise.
— Get dressed. We need to talk…
It seemed his training program had started again…
— Listen, Iron. I analyzed your progress since your arrival with the Vongold family. The speed at which you evolve is frightening, that is a fact. But talent is not everything. You must pay attention to your limits, and step by step overcome your weaknesses. That way you will greatly increase your power.
The next mission worries me. It is the last one, but also the most absurd. Identifying a member of Xilon is not easy, even for us. Their powers, like yours, are unknown in our records. These monsters are unpredictable and extremely dangerous. They would not be working with Izac otherwise. We must be ready.
Inside the Dome, he made eight basalt discs appear. They rotated around me like something from a nightmare.
The first disc rushed toward my throat. My wind blade barely intercepted it, but the impact caused a sharp pain in my neck.
— Bad timing, said Elias. The angle, Iron. Always check your angles.
Then the second disc, the third, the fourth… it became a rhythm.
Elias watched me for a long moment. Then he placed two fingers on my sternum, where the fracture vibrated.
— I saw you laugh in the desert. You were enjoying the fight… it was almost frightening.
I looked down.
— That wasn't…
— Don't lie. It's nothing. Laughing does not make you a psychopath. If you think about it, your patriarch expresses himself in a similar way. Remember that we can all die at any moment. Me, Asha, Lyra, Dorian… even you.
His words stayed heavier in my mind than the painful training.
Here, we learned everything. How to get inside the mind of our enemies. Where to place our gaze during a conversation. How to give a smile that hides all our inhumanity. Aurora taught war… and control.
Once night came, we sometimes met in the common room. Elias searched through Aurora's files to improve his torture programs that he proudly shared with me. Asha, with a fiery smile that was rare for her, told the story of her scars to Lyra, who strangely admired them.
Dorian, surprisingly, did not laugh as much anymore. When he found his beloved game console, it felt like a completely different person appeared among us.
We never said that we cared about each other. We simply said that we would meet again once we left this hell. That was the deal we made.
Three weeks passed. Three weeks of sweat, laughter, and struggles. Three weeks learning that power is never something you truly own, but an independent force that must be tamed.
The next mission was in three days.
Arcadia City.
Xilon.
Finally, my eyes could rest as I lay in my room, exhausted. I kept thinking that when everything was finally over, I should invite them to come with me to Work Town, so they could see where I grew up, what my life was like before… things like that.
I never expected to make friends, or to be part of a group. For me, that idea never belonged in my reality… and yet, somehow, I had it now.
But the problem was… now I had even more to lose.