Doctor Elvan had just finished reviewing the final data on his digital pad. He stood beside Levan in front of the main command chamber, where Deputy Commander Kyle Torn sat silently, arms crossed, watching them both.
Elvan looked up and spoke with a calm but thoughtful tone, "No signs of active Inclination… but his vitals? Too stable. Almost unsettling." He paused, then glanced again at the screen. "To be honest… the way he moved - clean, deliberate- was sharper than some Level One Inclination users I've seen."
Kyle, still seated behind his desk, didn't flinch. His voice was steady, but there was a weight behind it now—something deeper. "The results don't matter anymore," he said, eyes fixed on nothing in particular. "The order came from above."
Kyle lifted his eyes to the ceiling, as if recalling a truth etched deep within him - a voice from two years ago, spoken by the Commander of the Sixth Order before he vanished without a trace: "I'll return back… the moment I hear his heartbeat."
He hadn't appeared since. But now - the data on the screen, the strange movements, the impossible survival - it all felt like an echo, and Kyle Torn felt the weight of that promise pressing down once more. Then Kyle added, "Our Commander doesn't give direct orders unless he's absolutely certain, and the request was clear… send the boy to the academy. No explanations. No interference from other Orders."
(Note: Although he disappeared two years ago, the Commander of the Sixth Order still sends occasional messages through an old communication device — and this order, like the others, had come directly from him.)
At that moment-
From behind the chair Kyle had been leaning against, Keno suddenly leaned forward, laughing, as if he had been hiding the entire time.
"Ah, sorry! I couldn't help it. I just had to see your face when you read the order."
Kyle looked at him sharply without moving his head and said in a flat tone,
"You never change…"
Keno laughed louder and waved the leather book he always carried in his left hand.
Keno chuckled and said, "I'm guessing Commander Darioval sent the request directly to our Commander. You never really know what those Commanders are thinking." He leaned back slightly and added with a wry smile, "Seriously… no one can read the minds of those Order leaders."
Then, with a lighter tone, he continued, "But hey, at least this saved us from drowning in paperwork and getting dragged into endless meetings."
Kyle and Doctor Elvan turned to look at him, both wearing the same expression - mild annoyance. His antics were never quite appropriate for the moment.
Kyle sighed and asked, "What now?"
But Keno, unfazed, walked over to Levan and stared at him with a wide smile. Then he turned his head slightly toward Kyle and said, "I'll accompany him myself. You know how it is—kids hate going to school alone. Especially when they're not sure if they passed or failed."
He gave a playful shrug, still smiling, while Kyle responded only with a slow, silent nod.
About an hour after the meeting, Levan stepped out of the Deputy Commander's office. His expression was calm on the surface, but something unsettled stirred beneath. His steps were even, composed - yet his thoughts spun quietly. The weight of the conversation still hadn't settled in. The full scale of it... was too much to process all at once.
Waiting just outside the hallway stood Keno, leaning casually against the wall, his leather-bound book resting in his left hand as always. He looked up the moment he saw Levan approach and grinned with his usual half-smirk.
Keno spoke first, his voice light, as if none of it were serious. "Ready for the trip?" he asked with a playful tone, as if this were some routine outing.
Levan answered with a quiet "Yes,"
Together, they walked down the corridor. By now, the late afternoon light was stretching long shadows across the inner walls of the Sixth Order. When they reached the eastern exit, a transport vehicle was already waiting for them -- a military-grade shuttle, quiet and efficient, built for long-distance transfers between the Orders.
Everything had been arranged. Quietly. Quickly. No delays. No farewells.
Levan climbed into the back without a word, while Keno settled in the front beside the driver. Within seconds, the vehicle hummed to life, slipped through the eastern gate, and vanished into the road ahead -- carrying one boy, one secret, and the first whisper of something no one was ready for.
Doctor Elvan remained standing at the end of the hallway. He watched the boy's back fade down the corridor in silence He didn't move. He didn't speak. But his face was different -- calm, yet with a quiet sadness in his eyes.
Deputy Commander Kyle Torn noticed. He stepped closer, his tone lower than usual as he asked,
"Elvan… what's wrong? I've never seen you look like this."
Elvan stayed silent for a moment, then finally spoke, his voice softer than before.
"It was just two days… but I saw something different. I don't know how to explain it, but… I'll miss him."
He lowered his head slightly, as if the weight of his thoughts pulled it down.
"I saw the future in him," he continued, "but also… I saw how dark the path ahead will be. That boy is going to face things no one's been prepared for."
Kyle didn't respond immediately. He stood still, then said with quiet conviction,
"I believe we'll see him again."
He turned his gaze toward the door that Levan had walked through minutes earlier.
"And we won't let them take him," Kyle whispered. "I promise you."
As he spoke, a sudden pressure rolled through the room. Kyle's aura had flared without warning. The air thickened. A nearby window trembled faintly from the force.
For a few seconds, he and Elvan stood in silence, their eyes meeting—no words needed anymore. Then Kyle turned away and left the place without another word.
That same afternoon, as the decision took motion, Levan had already left the Sixth Order behind. The vehicle hummed quietly beneath him, carrying him into toward a new phase he didn't fully understand.
During the journey, Keno broke the silence: "Don't worry. We're sending an official report to the academy. Our supervisor there is the same one who oversaw the Inclination test--- Nolvar Syn. He's from the Sixth Order. Trustworthy."
He smiled slightly and added, "But the academy has supervisors from nearly all the Orders… except the Tenth."
Levan asked in a quiet voice, "So… I'll be training with them?"
"Yes. We submitted a report stating that you passed the Sixth Order's test -- even though no Inclination appeared. They won't question it publicly. The law is clear. If a trainee is transferred from one Order to another through official channels, no one interferes. Anyone who does… breaks the chain of command."
Keno paused, took a breath, then said, "But I'm going to tell you something you won't like."
Levan looked at him.
Keno continued, "Your existence is dangerous."
"W-why?"
"Because you broke a rule that's supposed to be unbreakable—no one survives without Inclination."
"Since the Second Catastrophe, two hundred years ago, Inclination appeared suddenly. Out of nowhere, people began to feel strange forces inside them -- some described it as warmth, others as pressure in their chest. But not everyone could handle it. Many collapsed. Some even died. It was chaotic. Half the population inside the Wall didn't survive -- either they didn't have Inclination, or their bodies rejected it. But exactly one year later, something changed. From that point on, every newborn came into the world already carrying Inclination. Since then, it became the foundation of life.
Keno's voice slowed, "You're alive… without Inclination. If people knew that, it could destroy everything."
"People will start asking questions: Is Inclination a lie? Was it made up? Was society divided based on a false truth?"
"There could be rebellion… and there are other reasons I won't tell you yet."
He turned toward the window, "That's why… no one can know. At least, not now."
After a long drive, they arrived at one of the border stations linked to the Third Order -- where the official academy territory began.
The gate was massive, reinforced, and surrounded by towers. The academy itself wasn't visible, but it lay just beyond, near the famous Clock Plaza.
The vehicle stopped.
"This is as far as we go," Keno said quietly. He smiled and added,"From now on, you're just another academy student… Just stay quiet. The rest will watch from the shadows.