Airious.
The realm of authenticity.
Its vast blue skies stretched over floating structures, crystalline pathways, and magnificent cities whose architecture seemed to defy the very concept of conventional construction. Golden streams of energy flowed through the landscape, connecting places that existed across different dimensions of the realm.
But today, the atmosphere wasn't entirely celebratory.
The aftermath of the ghoul invasion still lingered.
Across the academy grounds, students helped their fellow Airiens recover. Some were tending to physical injuries, others were sitting with those who had lost control of themselves during the possession. A few remained withdrawn, struggling to process the memories of what had happened.
The invasion had ended.
The consequences hadn't.
And so, the students continued doing what they could.
Some offered practical assistance.
Others simply stayed beside those who needed company.
Not every wound could be healed with an Avian technique.
Sometimes, all someone needed was another person willing to sit with them until the world stopped feeling so frightening.
It was in the middle of this scene that the Champions arrived.
And they weren't alone.
Walking among them was a light-blue-skinned Nicronian carrying enough books to suggest that he had either misunderstood the concept of luggage or intended to establish a private library.
Possibly both.
Oudre looked around.
His eyes widened.
Then widened further.
Then he stopped walking altogether.
"...Whoa."
Aminator glanced at him.
"Something wrong?"
Oudre slowly turned his head.
"Something wrong?"
He gestured at the academy.
"LOOK AT THIS PLACE!"
Several nearby students turned.
Oudre stared at the floating structures, the strange architecture, and the intricate formations of energy running through the grounds.
"How does that building stay up there?"
Victoria answered without breaking stride.
"Avia."
"Right, but mechanically, metaphysically, or conceptually?"
Victoria stopped.
"...What?"
"Or is it some combination of all three? Because if it's a combination, then I have approximately seventeen questions."
Jake rubbed his forehead.
"We've been here for thirty seconds."
"Thirty-two," Oudre corrected.
Jake stared at him.
"Oh, this kid is going to be a problem."
Kate grinned.
"Told you."
They continued toward the students.
The first person to notice the newcomers was Klexis.
He stood a short distance away, having just finished helping another student. His expression was characteristically composed, and his dual hammers rested against his back.
Then he spotted the unfamiliar Nicronian.
Oudre spotted him at almost exactly the same moment.
Their eyes met.
Oudre immediately waved.
"Hey!"
Klexis stared at him for a second.
Then he gave a small nod.
"Hey."
That was it.
A simple greeting between two people who had absolutely no idea how much trouble they might eventually cause for the people around them.
Klexis returned his attention to the recovering students.
Oudre, meanwhile, had already begun examining the academy's architecture again.
Then another voice rang out.
"WAIT!"
Noan turned around.
His gaze landed on Oudre.
He blinked.
Oudre blinked back.
Noan's face slowly transformed into a smile.
"Oh, I LIKE HIM ALREADY."
Miro glanced at his friend.
"You don't even know him."
"I don't need to!"
Noan marched over with the confidence of someone who had just discovered a new favorite person.
"So! You're the new student?"
Oudre nodded enthusiastically.
"Apparently!"
"Apparently?"
"Well, they offered me the opportunity to study Avia, and I accepted, so technically, yes. Though I suppose the formal classification depends on the academy's enrollment procedures."
Noan stared at him.
Oudre stared back.
Then Noan's grin widened.
"OH, WE'RE GOING TO GET ALONG."
Miro approached from the side and gave Oudre a light punch on the shoulder.
"Welcome to Airious, bookworm."
Oudre staggered half a step.
"Ow."
Miro laughed.
"That barely counted!"
"I wasn't prepared!"
"Then prepare next time."
Oudre rubbed his shoulder, then smiled.
"Noted."
Miro paused.
He had expected a complaint.
Perhaps a joke.
Instead, the boy had actually taken the advice seriously.
"...You really are a bookworm."
"Thank you!"
"That wasn't a compliment!"
"I know!"
Miro burst out laughing.
Nearby, Tarren watched the exchange with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.
He had seen enough unusual personalities to know that first impressions could be misleading.
Still, something about Oudre's enthusiasm made him nervous.
Not because the boy seemed dangerous.
Because he seemed like the sort of person who would ask a question, receive an answer, and immediately discover three more questions hidden inside it.
Tarren adjusted his posture.
"Uh... welcome."
Oudre turned toward him.
"Thanks!"
Tarren nodded.
"Yeah. No problem."
A pause.
"Do you... like books?"
Oudre looked at him.
Then looked at the books in his arms.
Then back at him.
Tarren immediately regretted the question.
Oudre beamed.
"I LOVE books."
"Right."
"I especially like books that contradict other books."
Tarren swallowed.
"Why?"
"Because then I have to figure out why!"
Tarren glanced toward Miro.
Miro was already laughing.
Noan, however, looked positively delighted.
"YES! EXACTLY!"
He seized Oudre by the shoulders.
"YOU UNDERSTAND!"
Oudre looked equally thrilled.
"YOU TOO?!"
"OF COURSE!"
"THAT'S AMAZING!"
The two of them stood there, grinning at each other as though they had just discovered a long-lost relative.
Miro watched them.
Then slowly turned toward Klexis.
"Should we be concerned?"
Klexis glanced at the pair.
"Probably."
"You're not even going to elaborate?"
"No."
Miro sighed.
"Figures."
---
A little further away, the Next Gen team had gathered.
Cayso stood with his staff resting against one shoulder, looking as though the entire invasion had merely interrupted a particularly interesting afternoon.
Hersa remained poised and composed, her presence as firm as the boundaries she created.
Nova and Obi stood nearby, their contrasting abilities making them an unmistakable pair.
Lia was speaking quietly with another student, while Sylra had somehow managed to turn a small patch of damaged ground into something aesthetically pleasing.
They looked cool.
Ridiculously cool.
And Oudre noticed.
His light-blue skin seemed almost to brighten as his eyes swept across the group.
"...OH."
He stopped walking again.
Aminator looked back.
"Not another question."
"No, no, no!"
Oudre pointed toward the Next Gen team.
"WHO ARE THEY?"
Cayso glanced over.
"Us?"
"YES, YOU!"
Cayso raised an eyebrow.
"Well, that's a straightforward question."
Oudre hurried toward them, nearly losing control of his books.
"Your abilities! Your techniques! The way you use Avia! I heard about some of the things that happened during the invasion, and somebody mentioned reality manipulation, and there was apparently a person who turned enemies into unicorns—"
Sylra raised a hand.
"That was me."
Oudre stopped dead.
He stared at her.
She stared back.
"...You turned them into unicorns?"
"Temporarily."
Oudre inhaled sharply.
"THAT'S INCREDIBLE."
Sylra smiled.
"I thought so."
"Was it a complete transformation? Did you alter their biological structure, their conceptual identity, or merely their appearance? And if you altered their conceptual identity, did the transformation affect their abilities? Because if it did, then—"
"One question at a time," Hersa interrupted.
Oudre immediately nodded.
"Right. Sorry."
A pause.
"Can I ask the first one again, but more specifically?"
Hersa closed her eyes.
Cayso chuckled.
"Oh, he's definitely a student."
Nova smiled.
Obi looked unimpressed.
"He's definitely noisy."
"You're noisy when you talk," Nova replied.
"I talk very efficiently."
"You said 'weakness' and made an entire group of ghouls disappear."
"And it worked."
Oudre's head snapped toward him.
"YOU CAN DO THAT?!"
Obi stared at him.
"...Unfortunately, yes."
Oudre looked as if he might actually explode from excitement.
Aminator watched the scene from a distance.
Then slowly turned toward the other Champions.
"Well."
Victoria folded her arms.
"Well."
Jake shook his head.
"We have made a terrible mistake."
Kate laughed.
"Absolutely."
---
Aminator stepped forward, gathering the students' attention.
"Everyone, this is Oudre. He's from Nicron, and he'll be joining the academy to study Avia."
A few students greeted him.
Oudre waved enthusiastically at all of them.
"Hello!"
Aminator continued.
"He has a strong interest in the underlying principles of Avia and has spent considerable time studying its philosophy independently."
Oudre nodded vigorously.
"And I have SO many questions."
The Champions looked at each other.
There it was.
That was the part they had been trying not to emphasize.
Aminator cleared his throat.
"He's also familiar with Androsha and the circumstances surrounding Nicron's transition toward Devia."
The atmosphere shifted slightly.
Klexis looked toward Oudre again.
Noan's smile softened.
The boy wasn't simply an enthusiastic reader. He had witnessed a major philosophical conflict from close range, and his perspective could prove valuable.
Aminator's expression became serious.
"Given the current circumstances, we must also remain aware that the ghouls may attempt to exploit the situation."
He looked at Oudre.
"We won't allow them to get their hands on him."
Oudre blinked.
"...Why would they want my hands?"
Jake slowly turned toward Aminator.
"Please tell me he didn't just ask that."
Kate covered her mouth.
Aminator paused.
"They might attempt to manipulate you."
"Oh!"
Oudre nodded.
"That makes more sense."
Then he considered it.
"Although, technically, they could still want my hands. I do have quite a lot of books to carry."
Jake stared into the distance.
"I'm going to retire."
Victoria sighed.
Aminator continued as though he hadn't heard anything.
"He's not merely interested in studying Avia. He's enthusiastic about it."
He looked toward the students.
"So... good luck."
And with that, the Champions began to leave.
Noan watched them go.
Then he turned toward Oudre.
"Hey."
Oudre looked up.
"Yeah?"
Noan smiled.
"You're going to fit right in."
Oudre's face lit up.
"Really?"
"Absolutely."
Noan extended his hand.
Oudre shook it enthusiastically.
Miro slapped Oudre lightly on the back.
Tarren gave a nervous little smile.
Klexis nodded once more.
And the Next Gen team, still looking effortlessly cool, watched as the newest addition to their academy immediately began asking Cayso about the theoretical foundations of Concept Bloom.
Cayso answered one question.
Oudre asked another.
Cayso answered that one too.
Oudre asked three more.
Cayso's smile began to falter.
From a distance, Noan watched with deep satisfaction.
He had found his people.
The Champions had left him in good hands.
Probably.
Noan folded his arms, grinning.
"Yep."
He nodded approvingly.
"He's one of us."
And somewhere behind him, Cayso quietly wondered whether there was a technique that could temporarily silence a student without technically violating his right to ask questions.
Airious had survived a ghoul invasion.
It had survived possession, dimensional disturbances, and the threat of a much larger war.
Now it had Oudre.
And somehow, that felt like an entirely different kind of challenge.