BACK TO PRESENT TIME, WITH RYN AND KAEL
"So," Ryn said slowly, "Professor Orin picked a fight with another professor, most likely angered one of the Great Houses, made a mysterious bet in the process, and turned you into one of his gambling pieces."
"I... guess that's one way to interpret it."
"It's the only way to interpret it."
"I think that's a bit dramatic—"
"It's accurate."
'Can't deny that.
Ryn casually walked to his bed, sat down forcefully, and then immediately winced and clutched to his side.
I couldn't help but notice that last part and narrowed my eyes.
"Hey, are you injured?"
"Nothing too serious, I sparred a little before coming back to the dorms."
"Who with?"
"A girl named Ilya. You know her?"
"Hm... no, doesn't ring a bell, sorry."
"Nah, it's fine. If you ever meet and spar with her, know she's got a terrifying giant purple— no, magenta spectral hand that tries to squish you, as a combat technique."
I paused, trying to understand what Ryn was saying fully.
"I'll keep that in mind— wait, what? What was that about a giant hand?"
"Don't worry about it, it isn't important right now."
"It sounds incredibly important."
"It is, but we'll talk about it later." He pointed at me again. "Island exam first."
I let him have that.
For now.
"Well, it's not a big deal, they're going to announce it soon," I said. "Probably by next week at most."
Ryn leaned forward, forearms resting on his knees.
"Okay. Explain."
"Apparently, the midterm exams will take place on a remote island. All first-year students will be transported there, and the exam will last twenty-four hours."
"Twenty-four hours," he repeated, but in a softer voice than earlier.
"Yeah, looks like there'll be three different ways to pass. One way is to survive until the timer ends. Second, locate the island's safe zone, where the professors will be stationed, and the third... accumulate enough points."
"What do you mean by accumulate?"
"You eliminate beasts. Maybe clear specific objectives. The final way is by... eliminating other students on the island."
Ryn went still.
The air between us changed.
Not dramatically.
But it was enough to notice.
He looked down at the floorboards, his eyebrows drawing together.
The late-night light came through the dorm window and cast long bands of pale gold across the room. Outside, Aetherion Academy continued to glow above Valoria, its towers and bridges luminous against the deepening sky. Somewhere far below us, the city carried on as if a sudden shock of news had not just rearranged our lives.
Twenty-four hours.
An island.
Beasts.
Students.
Points.
A safe zone.
Top ten.
The shape of the next few weeks, my concerns, my worries, my decisions... had already begun to form before I had the chance to make them.
Ryn finally spoke.
"Wait."
I looked at him.
"If you have to get top ten," he said slowly, "then doesn't that mean you have to place higher than at least ONE heir?"
I said nothing for a moment.
Then nodded.
"Yeah. I most likely will have to."
Ryn stared at me.
Then laughed once. Then twice. Then three times.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was absurd.
"No."
"Ryn—"
"No, Kael. It's impossible."
"It might be difficult."
"It is impossible."
"I don't think those are the same thing."
"No, Kael. It's IMPOSSIBLE. There's a reason they're called the TEN GREAT HOUSES. They have obtained and maintained prestige for as long as our generation and our generation's ancestors could remember, and with that prestige comes an obscene amount of resources. Look, Kael. I acknowledge it. I know you're strong, more than you're letting on, you're probably the strongest commoner in the first year, and maybe on the fringes of top twenty— or even top fifteen in our year, but the great houses... You can't beat decades of dominance with only a once-in-a-generation mindset."
I sat quietly.
He stood again, restless now, the soreness in his body apparently losing to outrage.
"Why am I not surprised! Of course they'd do this," he said. "Of course. Typical nobles. Ask commoners to conquer a planet, then treat us like stardust when we struggle to reach them."
His words hit harder than he probably intended.
Not because they were new.
But because they were not.
Ryn had said versions of this before and joked around with it. Spat at it. Buried it under profanity and sarcasm. But here, with the evening light across his face and the Academy shining outside like a promise made to someone else, the anger felt older.
More personal.
I didn't interrupt.
He deserved the space to speak about how he felt.
"They hand you a condition like that and act like it's an opportunity," he continued. "Like you should be grateful. Like if you fail, that proves you were never worth the offer in the first place."
His jaw tightened.
"And if you somehow succeed? Then what? Half the nobles will hate you, one Great House heir loses a spot, and that will definitely incite some consequences, Professor Anlor will want you dead... academically, and every student who thought you were just weird starts wondering what else you can do, and trust me, that ain't gonna be a great experience for you."
He looked at me.
"Tell me I'm wrong. I dare you."
I couldn't.
So I didn't.
Silence had begun to consume the space between us.
I looked down at my hands.
They were steady.
Which was strange, in a way.
I should have been more afraid.
Maybe I was.
Maybe fear had become background noise since waking up in this world. A constant low tune beneath everything else.
Cyril's devastating sun.
Alaric's demolition of that city.
Elya Veyrannis' eyes, which seemed like they could see right through me.
And Professor Orin's pressure, causing the Codex to cut me off from Aether, to keep me from breaking under someone else's will.
A line had been forming beneath all of it.
I had been moving toward something long before Professor Orin had given it direction.
Finally, I said, "Ryn. In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd."
Ryn went quiet.
For one entire second, he looked at me.
Then his face twisted.
"Where the hell did you hear that nonsense from?"
"I heard it from someone else."
"Who?"
"Someone good with words."
"That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
'If only he knew that this was from a famous poet in my old world.'
I almost smiled.
Almost.
Ryn noticed anyway.
"Don't smirk at me while quoting cringe phrases from overly dramatic weirdos."
"I wasn't smirking."
"You were. I can tell."
"I don't think that's a real accusation—"
"It is when it's you."
'Haha, I guess that's fair at this point.'
He began pacing again.
"No, but seriously, Kael. You shouldn't do this."
"I know."
"No, you don't. You say you know, but it's definitely in that annoying Kael way, where you understand the words that are being said to you, but not the part where normal people can differentiate that aspect that causes them to walk into danger."
"I understand the danger, Ryn."
"Do you? Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Then say it."
I looked at him.
He crossed his arms.
"Say what will happen if things go badly."
I exhaled slowly.
"If it goes badly, I fail to enter the Prestige Electives. Professor Orin loses his bet and will probably dislike me. Darius Renora takes the slot and will look at me negatively because I caused him some minor inconvenience in his eyes. I'll most likely draw attention anyway because my failure would become public. If I place high but not high enough, I still provoke interest without gaining the benefit. If I place top ten, I displace or outrank at least one heir, likely angering House Renora or another House, depending on final rankings."
Ryn's expression sharpened.
"And?"
I paused.
"If I fight students directly, I risk making enemies. If I avoid conflict, I may not earn enough points. If I focus only on survival, I likely won't reach the top ten. If I push too hard, I may expose abilities I can't explain."
"And?"
I hesitated.
Ryn's voice lowered.
"And if nobles decide they don't like a commoner making them look weak?"
I did not answer.
Because that was not a strategic risk to take seriously.
In my eyes, that was social reality, one that I couldn't afford to get hung up on in this world.
Ryn nodded once, bitterly.
"... Exactly."