The air that morning was different. Sharper. As if the sky itself had been honed overnight and now waited, edge drawn, to see who would bleed first.
The courtyard had been stripped down to bare stone. No banners. No observers. Just the silence of the overcast dawn and the soft grind of boots gathering in a loose half-circle around the newly posted directive.
Today, training changed.
"Groupings of three," barked one of the commanding officers. "No substitutions. You move, you think, you survive—together."
There was no ceremony, no fancy board, just names scrawled in charcoal across the stone wall: Kael, Ren, Liane.
Others murmured at the randomness, but Kael's eyes narrowed the moment he saw it. Coincidence? Or design?
The three of them stepped away from the crowd instinctively, Ren dragging a finger through his tousled hair as he laughed to himself. "Guess we're stuck with each other, huh?"
Neither Kael nor Liane responded, and that didn't seem to bother Ren in the slightest. He motioned them to a bench tucked under the stone canopy where the rain had just started to whisper down. They followed, wordless.
"So," Ren began, flopping onto the bench and stretching his arms behind his head, "if we're gonna be watching each other's backs during all this glorious torment, might be smart to actually talk. Get a feel for the people who might be pulling you out of a death pit, you know?"
Still silence. Kael leaned against a post, arms folded. Liane sat, hands neatly folded in her lap, expression unreadable.
Ren grinned. "Fine. I'll start. I'm not noble, but close. Family's got a long tradition of 'supporting' nobility from the shadows. Contracts, logistics, counsel. We keep things running so the shiny ones don't trip over their own egos. I was supposed to follow that path too, but I wanted something different. So… here I am. In the mud."
He looked up at them with an open expression, waiting.
Liane blinked once. Kael shifted slightly but said nothing.
Ren sighed. "Wow. Tough crowd. Alright, alright. No deep dives today. I get it."
He kicked a pebble and let the silence hang for a few beats before glancing over at them again.
"You've heard the talk, right? About Captain Drachmour?" His tone dropped just slightly, not conspiratorial—just curious.
Kael's gaze lifted at the name.
Ren leaned forward. "They say his control over fire isn't like normal elemental magic. It's too controlled. Too refined. Supposedly, he can incinerate something and leave the space around it untouched. No smoke. No ash. Just… gone. I heard one of the instructors whisper that he once ended a skirmish with a single word, burned through four attackers without raising a hand," Ren said, voice lowering like he was letting them in on a secret.
"They say it changes. Burns, heals, fortifies... Someone said his flames stitched wounds shut without touching the skin. Another said he made a barrier vanish just by walking past it.
Liane tilted her head slightly. "Rumors exaggerate."
Ren shrugged. "Maybe. But if half of it's true, that's the kind of thing I want on our side when things get ugly.
Kael was silent for a few minutes. His expression didn't shift. But then,quietly he spoke.
"Fire magic isn't supposed to work that way."
Ren blinked. "Whoa. You—wait, you're actually talking?"
Kael didn't respond to the surprise. He just kept walking, eyes still forward
"Casting a flame that doesn't burn is one thing. But using it to repair? That takes refinement. Deep control."
Ren stared at him, half-laughing. "I've known you a whole month and this is the most you've said in one go."
Liane glanced at Kael from the corner of her eye, but said nothing. If she was surprised, she didn't show it.
Kael's thoughts turned inward again.
"If the rumors are even half-true… then maybe this Captain knows what I don't.
Maybe he understands what kind of magic can break its own shape."
For a moment, only their steps could be heard.
Kael suddenly spoke—clear, direct, and loud enough to break the mood.
"I want to meet him."
Both heads turned toward him.
You... want to meet the Red Captain?" Ren asked, turning toward Kael, genuine curiosity in his tone.
Kael didn't respond immediately. Instead, he glanced down at the cup in his hands, his expression unreadable. Then, slowly, a faint smile curved his lips—a quiet gesture, soft and deliberate, as if answering without words.
Ren tilted his head slightly. "Seriously?" he muttered under his breath, more to himself than anyone else.
Before Kael could speak, Liane's voice broke in.
"That's impossible," she said firmly, her gaze focused straight ahead. "Unless you're someone important—or become someone important—they won't let you near him."
Ren turned to her, brow raised. "You sound sure."
"I am," she replied calmly. "He's a Division Captain. They don't just walk around chatting with initiates."
Her voice wasn't cold, but it was distant—controlled. She didn't look at either of them as she spoke, as though she were trying to keep her own thoughts buried behind the words.
Ren exhaled and leaned back, folding his arms. "Still, a weird choice for someone like Kael. Didn't peg you as the curious type."
Kael didn't answer.
"Do not worry, we will work together from now on and help you into meeting the Captain " Ren said giving a genuine smile looking at Kael.
Kael said nothing and instead gave a smile too.
Liane didn't smile.
She hadn't smiled since the new postings. Her thoughts drifted, deep and quiet like black water under a frozen lake.
I just hope they don't slow me down.
She didn't say it out loud, not even to herself. But it was there, buried beneath the calm posture and the composed voice she wore like armor.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Ren's voice.
"Hey, Liane. Been wondering something…" He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Why would a noble like you join the least-ranked Division? You come from a powerful house, right?"
Liane didn't flinch, but her mood shifted in an instant—so quick, it barely cracked her surface.
Kael noticed.
He didn't say her name, didn't look directly at her, but he felt the flicker of something sharp behind her silence. Not sadness. Not hesitation.
Anger.
He spoke, voice low and certain.
"Everyone has something of their own. To protect, or to prove." He paused. "Mine is to protect."
He didn't say who. He didn't have to.
Ren raised an eyebrow at the unexpected weight of Kael's tone, then let out a breath and nodded.
"Yeah," he said, his grin softening. "Same here. I want to protect too."
All three went quiet again for a breath.
Then, slowly, their eyes turned—toward Liane.
She didn't speak.
She stood.
Smoothly, without a word, she stepped away from the bench, boots clicking lightly against the stone as she walked into the misting rain. Her back remained straight, her pace calm—but something in the air shifted with her leaving, like a blade had been drawn and sheathed again in the same breath.
Ren watched her go, brows furrowed. "Did I say something wrong?"
Kael didn't answer immediately. His eyes stayed on the space Liane had just left, thoughtful, unreadable.
Then he stood too, slowly.
Ren leaned back on the bench, blowing out a sigh and watching the low clouds roll over the training yard.
"Man," he muttered. "This group's gonna be interesting."