The week between the tournament and the Celestial Springs trip was supposed to be a break.
It wasn't.
Classes continued. Lectures droned on. Professors assigned reading and essays and problem sets that Lucian completed in his sleep, thanks to the system humming quietly in the background. His normal friends—Leo, Jenna, Tara—treated him the same as always, which meant Leo made bad jokes, Jenna filmed everything, and Tara asked questions he couldn't answer.
But something had changed.
Not in him. In his vision.
Ever since the tournament, ever since he'd stopped holding back—just a little, just enough—his perception had sharpened. The world looked the same, but the people in it looked different. Like someone had turned a dial and added a layer he'd never noticed before.
He noticed it first on Tuesday.
