The cafeteria buzzed with idle chatter and the clatter of utensils, but Elira Vael wasn't listening.
Her food sat untouched as she watched Aether Caelum from across the hall. He was alone again—quiet, detached, eyes half-closed as if the world around him didn't concern him in the slightest.
And maybe it didn't.
Not after what she saw.
The shimmer in the air. The frozen moment. The beast sliced mid-lunge with surgical precision, as if time itself had skipped a beat.
She leaned back, folding her arms.
That wasn't a reflex. That was control.
Beside her, Kato Varrin—her squadmate and second-year Void Combat cadet—nudged her with an elbow. "You're staring again."
"I'm analyzing," she muttered.
Kato grinned. "Sure. Analyzing the kid with no aura signature, no elemental imprint, and no official awakening tier? Must be fascinating."
Elira didn't answer. Because it was.
She had seen prodigies before—dozens, maybe hundreds. Her father made sure of that. But this… Aether was something different. Something dangerous.
And he was hiding it.
That night, the Academy dorms buzzed with whispers. The Rift Satellite, one of six orbiting Terros to monitor extra-dimensional incursion points, had gone offline. Admin channels remained tight-lipped, but rumors spread fast in Duskwind.
Some said it was a glitch.
Others knew better.
Aether sat on the edge of his bed, fingers brushing the talisman on his wrist. The seal pulsed faintly—calm, but alert. Something had shifted in the web of causality. Threads of time essence were stirring in his dreams now, calling, reaching.
He felt it in his bones.
Something was coming.
The following day, the Academy hosted a combat ranking trial—an exhibition where elite students showcased their abilities before Federation scouts and city wardens.
Elira stood at the center of the arena, facing her opponent: Darin Vosk, a Gold-ranked elementalist with a penchant for lightning arcs and crowd-pleasing theatrics.
"Try not to cry when I outshine you, Vael," he smirked.
Elira rolled her shoulders. "You're not that bright."
The fight began. Lightning cracked. The crowd roared.
Aether didn't watch.
He was out by the ruins again, alone—following a trail of distorted time threads only he could see. They led to something hidden beneath the training yard—something old. Ancient tech, perhaps. Or worse… a dormant rift node.
He crouched beside a rusted drain hatch. It was sealed with arcane glyphs, half-worn and flickering.
Why is no one monitoring this?
His hand hovered over the seal. Time energy rippled gently outward—someone had tampered with it recently.
"Aether Caelum."
The voice behind him was calm. Controlled.
He turned.
Elira stood five paces away, arms crossed, a soft glow in her emerald eyes.
"I saw what you did yesterday," she said. "To the Rift Beast."
Aether didn't respond.
"You compressed time. Froze it. That's not aura manipulation. That's… something else."
Still silence.
She took a step forward. "I don't know why you're hiding it. But you shouldn't be alone with power like that. Someone will find out. Someone worse than me."
He met her gaze then, and for a flicker of a moment, the air grew heavy—like time had slowed just between them.
"I'm not hiding it for me," he said quietly. "I'm hiding it for everyone else."
Her breath caught.
Before she could speak, the drain glyphs flared—then shattered.
The ground beneath them trembled.
From the darkness below, a guttural howl echoed—a sound not heard in Duskwind since the Fall of Sector Nine.
A rift had opened. Inside Academy grounds.
Aether's expression didn't change. He drew his blade, eyes silver once more.
"Get the others," he said. "I'll hold it here."
"But—"
"Go."
She hesitated.
Then ran.
As the shadows spilled upward and time began to ripple unnaturally across the air, Aether stepped into the breach.
And for the first time in years, he released the limiter on his Chrono Vein.