The hallway hummed with idle chatter and the low drone of the vending machines. Students drifted between classrooms in clusters, laughing, yawning, checking their comm bands. A few floated toward the glass-railed balcony at the far end, where the city's skyline pressed up against a milky sky, all spires and clouds and invisible surveillance.
Ruben walked beside Corbin, hands stuffed in his pockets of his coat, his footsteps quiet against the marble. The weight of the school year, if you could even call it that, hung loosely over his shoulders.
He barely noticed the students brushing past him.
His eyes drifted along the walls, scanning the names carved into plaques beside old classroom doors, names of Paladin, some he'd learned about and others that were more recent. People who'd done things that mattered. Left something behind.
He didn't know what it felt like to matter.
Ruben's fingers curled around the fabric of his sleeve. He thought about how young he'd been when he died, thirteen, barely starting to understand who he was. He was just angry all the time. He never really got to ask himself what he wanted from that life.
The only thing he had been moderately good at was drawing. So he had something, but not a purpose. And now he doesn't even draw much. The crow on his left shoulder was the last thing he took the time to draw out, and what did that even stand for again…?
The thought made something twist in his chest.
He glanced at Corbin beside him, tall and sharp-edged even with a slouched gait. Corbin carried himself like he was already someone. Maybe it was because he came from a better home, but from what he had told him, their home life wasn't all that different.
The two of them were on track to becoming Paladin. It was what came with the power, almost natural. But it wasn't some big choice he made, just the next step on a path he joined.
He swallowed, the words catching for a second in his throat before he pushed them out.
"Do you ever think about why you're doing all this?
Corbin tilted his head slightly. "All what?"
"Becoming a Paladin." Ruben nodded faintly at the corridor ahead of them. "All that training. Just… is that what you're going to spend this whole new life doing?"
Corbin slowed, a flicker of thought passing over his face. The noise of the hall faded behind them as they veered near one of the long windows. Beyond the glass, Skye drones floated like tiny silver gnats in the distance, scanning rooftops, weaving between towers.
"I dunno," Corbin muttered, voice rougher than usual. "Well, not at first."
He leaned on the windowsill with both hands, knuckles pale. "But for some time, and especially after the last weekend watching Dario tear through that Phantasm. Something really clicked. The way he moved and the way people looked at him after, the threads of praise and adoration."
Ruben watched him carefully.
"I wanna be that," Corbin said. "Not just strong. I want to eclipse him in strength and go so far that I'm remembered long after I'm gone. I wanna get so strong that no one can ever tell me what I can't do again." He looked over. "I wanna be the next Warlord. I have such a strong feeling, like I was brought to this new world for that."
Ruben blinked. He hadn't expected something so clear. So sharp. There was no performance in Corbin's tone, just quiet certainty.
"That's… big." Ruben said, and meant it.
Corbin shrugged like it wasn't. "Doesn't mean it's not possible."
"No," Ruben said. "I think it is. For you, I mean." He smiled a little. "I think you'll get there eventually."
Corbin didn't reply at first. But his expression softened, less guarded, like he wasn't used to being told things like that and didn't know what to do with it.
Ruben turned his gaze back toward the hall. The crowd was thinning. Some students leaned against lockers, some headed down toward the spare rooms.
He exhaled. "I still don't know what I want," he admitted. "Not really. I thought coming here might change that. It didn't."
Corbin didn't respond right away. Just nodded once, slowly. "You'll figure that out. You have all the time in the world."
Ruben wasn't sure if that was meant to be reassurance or dismissal. Either way, he didn't mind. The words hung between them for a moment, quiet, unforced.
***
The sun sat hazy in white sky, its heat pressed flat by the breeze sweeping across the open field. The sounds of whistles, sneakers on turf, and half-hearted shouts echoed across the training grounds of St.Leontis, where students were moving through their drills like clockwork. Right now, fencing.
Ruben sat on the edge of the shaded concrete bench, his arms draped over his knees, the PE uniform clinging to his skin with a light sheen of sweat. Pale red shirt, navy blue bottoms. The school crest stitched just over the heart, slightly faded from wash and wear.
He was put on a brief time out, it wasn't any trouble or anything, it was more so something for others to catch up as he was progressing too fast and barely breaking a sweat. Some pointed out that it was most likely his Ego, he welcomed the chance to sit part of the session out.
He wasn't the only one. Beside him, Freya Van Daalen sat, swinging her legs slightly above the grass. She was in the same uniform, her sleeves rolled up, hair tied in a high tail that bobbed with every subtle movement. She had grass stains on one knee and a tiny scrape on the other, but she didn't seem to care.
"Can you believe this will be our last class before trials?" she asked, her voice light and slightly breathless, like she'd been holding it in the whole morning.
Ruben blinked. "We still will have a few online classes." But as he knew people conveniently had bad internet connection during those times, also since he and other students taking the paladin trials would be exempt from showing up, this really would be their last time. "But yeah, I didn't realize it came so quickly."
Freya gave a small laugh, full of something that wasn't quite joy but close enough, maybe anticipation. "I've been counting down for weeks now. It feels… surreal, I guess? We're right on the edge of it now, after exams everything changes."
Ruben watched the way her fingers tugged at the elastic band around her wrist, twisting it in slow loops. He remembers her from their first year, she was much more shy and struggling to come out of her shell. But now, she never sat still for long, her energy always buzzing beneath the surface, like her body hadn't caught up with the pace of her mind.
There was something impossible about imagining her in a fight, a real fight. Not because she lacked the skill, he'd seen it and had even sparred against it, there was precision behind the softness. It was more so because she just didn't seem like the type that was built to hurt people.
"You really want to be a Paladin?" Ruben asked, though he already knew the answer. He was collecting reasons now. Corbin's drive to take over Dario's position was one. His own absence was slowly bogging him down. He wanted to understand what made everybody else move.
Freya looked down at her shoes, then out across the field.
"Yeah," she said. "More than anything."
Ruben nodded slowly, giving her room to keep going.
"When I was twelve, my older sister was already a Paladin," she said, her voice was gentler now. "She'd just turned twenty, and at the time she had been an active Paladin for two years. She got sent on the last expedition to Adarion."
The name hit with weight, even though her tone didn't shift.
Adarion.
Ruben had read of the place like everybody else. He had taken a big interest when they had learned about it toward the tail end of the last term.
A nation once known for its light, art, innovation, philosophy. A place where people built for the sake of beauty. Its capital Serithiel, had stood untouched by conflict for generations. Until nine years ago, the entire nation's population had vanished overnight.
Gone. No blood, no bodies. Just… nothing. And in the heart of the city, where the central plaza once stood, a black spire now towered, coiled with unreadable symbols. Still growing.
Global authorities shut the place down immediately. The Global Order forbade all unauthorized entry. Even for Paladin. They had sent in three expedition teams over the nine years, the highest number of Paladin that went were 100. Then they added another ten people, being scientists and doctors as they wanted to research the spire which they believed was alive. Again, they didn't come back. And the last time they had only sent a mere ten Paladin, and like the last two times, no one came back.
Freya's eyes never left the field as she spoke. "I don't even know if she volunteered, I just know that around the time she seemed really stressed and then she was just gone. And… "
"You haven't seen her since." Ruben finished off the sentence for her quietly.
Freya shook her head. "Nope. No one has. And that was the last time anyone has been sent to Adarion."
A beat passed.
"Freya," Ruben said, "that place is locked off. Even Paladin aren't allowed in anymore."
"I know," she said quickly. Her fingers tightened around the elastic on her wrist. "I know. But if another expedition ever happens, if there's any chance they plan on another expedition then I want to find my way on the list to go on.Then I can find her, or at least what happened to her."
There was no delusion in her tone. No fantasy. Just a quiet clarity that surprised him.
Ruben turned toward the field again, letting the wind pass between them.
"That's… admirable," he said, finally.
Freya smiled at him. It wasn't a big smile. Just a small, warm curve at the corners of her mouth.
"Thanks." She responded.
A moment passed. The two of them were watching their classmates dodge around each other.
Then Freya tilted her head and squinted at him. "Oh wait. I meant to ask earlier. That day… when you fainted in school? What happened?"
Ruben stiffened slightly.
She didn't press. Her voice was light, but not careless. "I was worried. You just dropped and weren't there, you know, and no one would tell us anything."
He hesitated. He hadn't thought about that day much, he certainly didn't think of anyone that would be affected other than Corbin and Dario.
He remembers the feeling, the moment his knees locked and gave out, the flood of memory, the pressure. He looked down at his hands.
"Just a lack of sleep," he said after a moment. "It's all under control now."
Freya nodded, she believed him. And if she didn't she wasn't going to push. "Good. cause we need everyone at full power for these trials." She bumped her shoulder lightly into his. "Can't have you passing out mid-test. That'd be super embarrassing."
Ruben gave a dry laugh. "Noted."
"Good." She said again, cheerfully. "I mean, you've got it in you, Ruben. You're… I dunno. Cool. I think you'll make a great Paladin."
He didn't know what to say to that. But it settled into him gently, like warmth through cloth.
Before he could find an answer, their instructor's whistle cut through the air. "Alright! Benched students, back in! We're rotating!"