The next morning, the sky over the campus was a dim gray, and the air felt unusually still — like everything was holding its breath. Ronan didn't need the system to know something had changed.
The message from the Diver echoed in his mind:
*"When the Circle begins the calling, even those with systems may fall."*
He sat at the edge of his bed, staring at the notification still displayed in the corner of his system interface. There were no further updates. No follow-ups. Just silence — and tension that refused to loosen its grip.
*[System Status: Alert – External Convergence Detected]*
*[Warning: Anchor Network Expansion Imminent]*
He tapped the message.
*[Details Unlocked – 'The Calling' is a mass-scale ritual designed to forcibly awaken or overwrite latent system seeds in individuals. Side effects: memory loss, system corruption, or death.]*
His breath caught.
The Circle wasn't just selecting people anymore. They were about to *take* them — whether they were ready or not.
And if they succeeded, hundreds of students could become controlled shells.
Or corpses.
---
Lyra entered the room quietly, holding two cups of instant coffee. She didn't say anything at first — just handed him one and sat on the floor near his desk, glancing up.
"You saw it too?" he asked.
"Yeah. My sketchpad practically burned in my hands."
Ronan nodded. "They're accelerating. The Calling… it's not just a warning. It's a signal."
Lyra tapped her fingers on the cup. "Then we stop it."
"It's not that simple," Ronan said. "This isn't one sigil or one ritual. It's *networked*. A connected chain of activations. We'd have to destroy at least three anchor points at the same time to destabilize it."
"And where are they?"
Ronan swiped through his system. "That's what I'm trying to find out."
Then, another notification came in:
*[New Map Unlocked – Anchor Grid: Phase One]*
*[Anchor Points: Greenhouse (Neutralized), Observatory Tower, East Library Sublevel, Campus Clock Room]*
"Three spots," he said. "Each reinforced. And if they go live together..."
"They *won't,*" Lyra interrupted.
Ronan looked at her. "We'll need help."
She hesitated. "There's someone who might."
---
They met in a maintenance tunnel that stretched beneath the south side of campus. Rusted pipes ran along the ceiling, and the lights flickered just enough to feel haunted.
The person Lyra brought was tall, older than them — maybe twenty-three. He wore an old lab coat over a hoodie and thick gloves stained with ink.
"This is Kael," Lyra said. "He's… off the grid. Has his own system. Not from the Circle."
Kael looked Ronan up and down. "You're the disruptor?"
"Yeah."
Kael shrugged. "Cool. I'm the guy who's going to help you not die."
Ronan raised an eyebrow. "You've dealt with anchor rituals before?"
Kael pulled a glowing cube from his bag. Inside, lines of blue energy pulsed. "I collect data on them. Analyze their rhythms. They're built like music — rhythmic, layered. Disrupt the pattern, you destroy the result."
"Can you break three at once?"
"Alone? No. But if you and your system can sync to my frequency, we can destabilize them together."
Ronan's system pulsed.
*[New Sync Potential Detected: Kael – System Type: Harmonic Coder]*
*[Temporary Co-Link Available – Duration: 30 minutes]*
"Let's do it," Ronan said.
Kael grinned. "Now we're in business."
---
They split up.
Kael moved toward the East Library. Lyra took the Observatory — her sketchpad now doubling as a temporary channeling device. Ronan headed for the final anchor: the Campus Clock Room.
It was an old maintenance area beneath the main tower, rarely visited, filled with gears, rust, and the ticking of forgotten time.
He slipped through the back entrance and descended the narrow stairs. Every step echoed like a countdown.
The system pulsed faster now.
*[Anchor Activation in 15 minutes]*
He reached the base of the clock tower. The chamber was cold and massive, a circular room of turning gears and a glowing red sigil etched into the center of the floor.
Three robed figures stood in a triangle around it, humming in sync, eyes shut. Their voices blended with the ticking, forming a rhythm that made the air vibrate.
Ronan stepped forward.
*[Engage Disruption? Y/N]*
*Y.*
Energy pulsed from his palm, slamming into the sigil — but the figures didn't flinch. The red light dimmed for a second, then flared brighter.
"Too early," he muttered.
He needed Kael and Lyra to strike at the same time.
His system connected.
*[Linked: Kael – Ready]*
*[Linked: Lyra – Ready]*
*[Signal: On Your Mark]*
Ronan focused, centering himself. His Disruption module was charged. He eyed the center of the sigil and whispered:
"Now."
Three pulses erupted across campus simultaneously.
The Circle's song shattered.
The gears stopped ticking.
The sigil beneath Ronan's feet cracked, exploded outward, and the robed figures were flung across the room, groaning, disoriented.
*[Anchor Ritual Failed]*
*[The Calling: Prevented]*
Ronan dropped to one knee, his vision swimming, energy drained. But it was done.
They'd won this round.
---
They regrouped near the east courtyard at sunrise.
Kael leaned against a bench, tossing a metal cube in the air. "Nice work, kids."
"You too," Ronan said. "How long until they try again?"
Kael shrugged. "If they're smart? Weeks. If they're desperate? Hours."
Lyra sat on the steps, her sketchpad in her lap. "What if they already have another plan?"
"They always do," Kael said. "But so do we."
Ronan looked out at the rising sun.
His system pulsed once more.
*[New Title Earned: Anchor Breaker]*
*[Progress Toward Next Stage: 72%]*
"We're not just fighting back anymore," he said. "We're changing the rules."
---