For the first time since Ronan awakened his system, he felt something new — exposure.
Disrupting the sigils had been necessary, but the moment he used that power, the atmosphere shifted. It wasn't just the numbers in the system updating. It was a *presence*, a subtle hum crawling into the corners of his awareness. Like someone—or something—had turned its eyes on him.
And it wasn't going to blink.
He sat alone in the campus café the next morning, his hood pulled low, sipping a cup of lukewarm tea. Lyra hadn't asked for details, and he hadn't offered. But her presence beside him, quiet and unwavering, was somehow grounding.
"You think they'll retaliate?" she asked after a while.
"They won't rush," Ronan replied. "They'll probe first. Try to find out who I am. Who's interfering."
Lyra looked around. "So... they could be watching now?"
"Most likely."
She shivered slightly but didn't look away. "Then let them watch."
---
By late afternoon, Ronan's system pulsed again.
*[New Signal Detected – Unknown Energy Signature]*
*[Origin: Central Archive Room, Library Basement]*
It wasn't a Circle activity alert. It felt different. Less aggressive. More... dormant.
He grabbed his bag and made his way toward the library, Lyra following without being told. She had stopped asking questions that didn't need answers.
They took the long staircase that led down to the lower level, a section of the building most students didn't know existed. The basement smelled of old paper and forgotten memories.
The door to the archive room creaked open. Dust motes swirled in the dim light.
Ronan stepped inside.
The energy was thick here. Not hostile, but ancient. Unstable. His system pulsed again.
*[Traced System Fragment Detected – Inactive Core]*
*[Would you like to sync?]*
He hesitated.
"Sync," he whispered.
*[Sync Initiated...]*
His vision blurred for a moment as a rush of fragmented images shot through his mind — battles fought in shadows, names whispered across timelines, and a symbol older than The Circle burned into stone.
Then—calm.
*[System Fragment Assimilated: Resonant Core – Lv. 1 Unlocked]*
*[Ability Gained: Echo Sense – Detect traces of past energy activity in a location]*
*Echo Sense?*
It wasn't powerful in a traditional sense. But it meant knowledge. Insight. He could now trace back what had happened in any place affected by energy signatures.
Which meant… he could track The Circle's history.
"This place…" Lyra looked around. "It's not ordinary, is it?"
"No. And neither is what they're hiding."
---
The next few days passed in a fog of tension.
Ronan trained every night, unlocking the Resonant Core's potential, learning to see the faint imprints of where Circle rituals had taken place. Slowly, he pieced together a network of movement — symbols left behind, students who had entered certain areas and never returned, and specific nights where the energy spike was strongest.
He was building a timeline.
And he was getting close.
Then, just after midnight on the fifth night, a notification broke through the silence:
*[Direct Message Received]*
*[Sender: Unknown]*
*"You've taken something that doesn't belong to you."*
Ronan stared at the message. It wasn't sent through the system—it was sent *through the Circle's own network.*
They knew. Someone high up had noticed.
And they weren't just probing anymore.
They were warning him.
He considered deleting the message.
Then another came through.
*"We've been watching. You've been *seen.*"*
His fingers tightened around the edge of his desk. The shadows around him suddenly felt closer, colder.
And then—nothing.
No more messages.
Only the quiet hum of a war beginning to form beneath the surface.
---
Lyra met him outside the dorms early the next morning. Her face was pale.
"Three students are missing," she whispered. "No one's saying anything. I checked campus police logs — nothing. It's like they were erased."
He didn't need the system to confirm what he already knew.
This was retaliation.
"They've started cleaning up," he said. "Hiding evidence. Removing anyone they think might be a weak link."
"What do we do?"
Ronan looked up at the gray clouds rolling in. "We move first."
He reached into his bag and handed her a printed map — one he had been working on for days.
"These are their next three likely gathering spots. And this—" he pointed to a small marking near the southwest greenhouse "—this is where we'll find someone who can lead us to the top."
Lyra studied the map. "You're planning something big."
"I have to. If I wait any longer, they'll erase the trail."
"And what happens if you get caught?"
He looked at her calmly. "Then you disappear too. And act like you never knew me."
Lyra stared at him for a long moment. Then she folded the map and tucked it into her jacket.
"No," she said. "If you fall—I pick you back up."
Ronan didn't smile, but something inside him softened for the first time in days.
This wasn't just about his system anymore.
It was about the war that had already started. And the people caught in its silent fire.
---