Silence settled in the lab, thick and heavy, broken only by the low hum of machinery and Reiss's shallow, pained breaths following Sophia's declaration. The resolve etched onto her features was as unyielding as stone, a quiet strength that, in that moment, seemed more formidable than Raven's abyssal energy or Professor Aldrich's legendary power.
Jake, despite the throbbing pain in his arm and the fog clouding his mind, felt a protest claw its way up his throat. "Sophia, what…? You can't go. Look at my arm… something happened when I touched that thing. Aria said it would tear you apart… you know how the prisms affected you before…"
"I'm going," Sophia repeated, her gaze fixed unwaveringly on Aria, as if Jake's words were a distant, harmless echo. There was no arrogance in her tone, only a cold determination forged in the crucible of the last few hours' horrors. She bent and retrieved the CEES prism from the floor. In her grasp, she felt the cool surface and the strange, contained vibration within. It felt different from the prisms or catalysts she'd used previously – those had felt like relentless siphons, draining her very essence, leaving her hollowed out and trembling on the verge of collapse. This time… this time felt different. This time, the risk was a conscious choice, a calculated gamble born of desperation. Miles away, unnoticed by Sophia but keenly felt by Jake, the mark on his arm seemed to pulse faintly, a silent connection alien to the artifact she now held.
Aria watched Sophia, her analytical eyes scanning her form. She saw the exhaustion, the strain of recent combat etched into every line of her body, but she also saw something else: an implacable focus, a will that rivaled the tenacity required to develop a technique like the Fulcrum Luminar itself. A will that couldn't be swayed by logical arguments or warnings of potential physical harm. She knew, then, that Sophia's conviction was both her strongest shield and her greatest peril.
"It's unstable, Sophia," Aria said, her voice softer now, laced with urgent gravity. "The Fulcrum Luminar is untested. Containing it was a challenge. Releasing it… could have unpredictable effects. And you…" Her gaze sharpened. "You know better than anyone how quickly your astral potential drains with these artifacts if you don't have absolute mastery. This is exponentially more potent, more dangerous than anything you've attempted. You could not only injure yourself but trigger a chain reaction that…"
"I know the risk, Aria," Sophia interrupted again, but this time with a respectful nod. "I know that before… using the prisms cost me dearly, left me nearly empty. But this is different. This isn't improvised. It contains a specific technique. I trust your work, Aria. If you say this holds the only possible counter to whatever Raven is using, then I have to try. Someone has to. And I won't stand by while… while others fight and fall."
She shot a quick glance at Reiss, whose panicked expression deepened as he listened. Then her eyes found Jake's, and for an instant, the hardness in her face softened, revealing a flicker of vulnerability. "Stay here with Reiss. Make sure he's safe. And you…" She gently, almost reverently, touched the pulsing mark on Jake's arm. "Find out what this is. I don't know why it appeared, but it feels… important. It could be the key to something we don't yet understand."
Jake felt a chill at her touch. "Sophia, please… Don't go alone. Not now. Raven… you saw what she did. What she is now. And this mark… I don't know what it means, but I feel like I shouldn't leave here right now."
"I saw what was done to Raven," Sophia corrected bitterly, her gaze turning back to steel. "This isn't Raven. It's something else. And if Professor Aldrich, with his ancient power of Disruption, is struggling… then the threat is greater than we imagined. That's precisely why I can't hesitate. The mark on your arm… we'll investigate it. But right now, stopping the source is what matters most."
Aria stepped forward. "If you insist… there's something you need to know. The Fulcrum Luminar isn't an energy blast. It's not a beam. Think of it as… the point of a cosmic needle. You need to channel the prism's energy through your own astral potential and direct it towards… towards whatever is inside Raven. Don't aim for the body. Aim for the disruption. The Disruption Reiss described—not the Professor's, but hers, the one Blackthorn inflicted. It's an attack on the core… the psyche… the will Blackthorn is manipulating. If you can sever that connection… you might… you might break his control. But the bond is deep. It will be like trying to douse a supernova with a dewdrop."
She held out her hand slightly. "The prism will react to your intent, Sophia. You'll need absolute focus. And… be careful. The backlash could be… severe. I'll give you the exact activation sequence as soon as…"
Sophia nodded, acknowledging the weight of the warnings, but cut Aria off with a gentle gesture. "There's no time for more instructions, Aria. The theory is yours; the practice must be mine. I trust the basics you've given me. The rest… I'll have to figure out on the fly."
She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment, the prism cold in her hand. When she opened them, any trace of fear had been replaced by an icy calm. "Understood."
Without another word of farewell, without allowing herself another second of doubt, Sophia turned and headed for the door. Aria moved to open it, her expression a complex mixture of grudging respect and profound apprehension. Reiss tried to speak, but only a choked gasp of worry escaped him. Jake pushed himself off the wall, the urge to stop her burning hotter than the mysterious mark on his arm.
"Sophia!" he called out, his voice raw with exhaustion and emotion. "Be careful!"
She paused in the doorway, glancing back over her shoulder. A small, sad smile touched her lips. "I'll be fine. Stay here. That's an order."
And with that, she stepped out into the darkened hallway. The heavy metal door hissed shut behind her with an ominous finality, sealing them back inside the lab.
Sophia moved quickly through the deserted academy corridors. The signs of destruction became more apparent the further she got from the lab's imposed order, yet the silence was nearly absolute. The reverberations of the main battle had shifted entirely to the other side of the campus. She reached the main plaza, once bustling, now desolate. Flagstones were torn up, remnants of the Tournament scattered about, but there was no sign of recent combat. Raven and Professor Aldrich were where Reiss had indicated – the Colosseum, the massive structure looming at the far end, visible even in the dim evening light. The plaza, the academy's visible heart, stood empty, a brief, eerie pause in the chaos.
Back in the lab, the echo of the closing door still hung in the air as Jake fully turned from the wall, his hand still outstretched towards where Sophia had been. His face, pale and strained, marked by both tension and the burning mystery on his arm, was a raw mixture of worry, helplessness, and the unfulfilled impulse to follow her.
He stood like that for a moment, suspended, his final shout lingering.
Then, becoming aware of a strange stillness, he slowly lowered his hand and looked around.
Aria, standing by the main console, and Reiss, propped up on the med-cot with wide, feverish eyes, were both staring at him. Just… staring.
There was no judgment in their expressions, no mockery. It was… just a sustained look. Reiss, despite his injuries and trauma, managed a slight, quizzical raise of an eyebrow. Aria, with her usual impassive features, simply tilted her head very, very slightly.
Jake felt heat creep up his neck, flooding his face. The dramatic farewell moment he'd just had, the intense emotion that had driven him to call out Sophia's name, now felt… exposed. Ridiculous, even, under the silent scrutiny of the stoic scientist and his injured comrade.
The tension from the battle, the fear for Sophia, the pain in his arm… it all coalesced into an overwhelming sense of pure, awkward embarrassment. What was he supposed to say? 'Yeah, that was a bit much, I know'? He cleared his throat, looking away and rubbing his unmarked arm.
The silence stretched another beat, then another. The only sounds were the lab's hum and Reiss's breathing, which now seemed… perhaps a little steadier, or maybe just holding back a silent chuckle?
"Well," Aria finally said, her voice flat, breaking the tension with the subtlety of a dropped wrench. "Now that Miss Drama has departed to confront a cosmic spawn with an unstable prototype… I suppose we, the ones left behind, should endeavor not to self-destruct. Or die of boredom."
Jake blinked at her. The abrupt shift in tone was jarring, but welcome.
Reiss, managing a grimace that might have been intended as a smile, added hoarsely, "Or… or secondhand embarrassment…"
Jake felt himself flush deeper. "Were you… were you watching the whole time?"
"From the moment you called her name with such… particular emphasis," Aria replied, unfazed. "Hard to miss."
She turned back to one of the larger consoles, her fingers already flying across the interface. "Anyway. Melodrama postponed. We have work. Reiss, keep up with the stabilizer injections and stay put. Jake…" She paused and turned back, her gaze locking onto Jake's marked arm. All trace of the odd levity was gone; her expression was pure scientific focus. "I need to see that arm. Now. We have an unexplained phenomenon manifesting on you, concurrent with contact with a prism designed to contain an astral reconfiguration technique. Coincidence doesn't exist in energy physics."
Jake nodded, the awkwardness receding in the face of the situation's gravity and Aria's authoritative tone. He knew she was right. Ridiculous farewell aside, the mark on his skin was what mattered now. It could be a clue, or a sign something was terribly wrong.
He walked over to the empty med-cot next to Reiss and sat down, extending his right arm. The mark seemed to throb beneath the skin, the heat lessened but still present, the intricate patterns glowing faintly in the lab's cool light.
Aria approached with a small handheld scanner, her eyes fixed on the readings appearing on its screen. She frowned. "Curious… The energy signature doesn't match anything in our databanks. It's not pure stellar energy, nor abyssal… it's… a resonance. Like a trapped echo."
Reiss, straining to sit up a little more, peered at the mark with a mixture of fascination and apprehension. "That mark… I've read about things like it. In very old texts. Seals. Bonds. Sometimes… manifestations of latent potential. Or of… of an imposed connection."
Jake looked down at his arm, then at Aria, then at Reiss. Latent potential… or an imposed connection. The words hung in the air, heavy with implication. The mystery of the mark, separate from the Fulcrum Luminar prism, remained, but he now felt it was intrinsically linked to everything happening. To Blackthorn, to Raven, to Professor Aldrich's power… and to Sophia, who had gone alone to face it.
"I need to run diagnostics," Aria stated, her mind already deep in the problem. "Scans, resonance analysis… Whatever this is, it's interacting with your own astral potential. There's risk, of course. It could destabilize you further."
"Do it," Jake replied without hesitation. The embarrassment was gone. Urgency had returned, sharper than before. If this mark meant something, if it could help understand the enemy, if it could even be a factor… he had to know. He had to find some way to be useful, here, now that Sophia wasn't.
Aria gave a curt nod, satisfied with his resolve. "Good. Reiss, monitor his vitals. Jake, try to relax as much as possible. This could be… interesting."
As Aria began the scans, a soft, steady light emanating from the device, Jake leaned back on the cot. He watched the mark on his arm, the intricate design seeming to dance beneath his skin. It felt like a seal, but what was it sealing? Or unsealing? The lab filled once more with the hum of equipment, a sound comforting in its familiarity, yet unable to dispel the growing sense that the danger wasn't just outside with Sophia and the Professor, but had found a way inside too, etched directly onto his own flesh. They had to figure this out. They had to be ready. For Sophia. For the academy. For themselves.