The candidates were separated immediately.
Stone platforms rose from the ground, dividing the accepted students into distinct groups. Runes flared beneath their feet, glowing in different colors.
Blue for Combat.Green for Support.Silver for Tactical.
Rafe's platform didn't light up.
It stayed dark.
Instructor Kael noticed.
So did everyone else.
"Unassigned," Kael said calmly. "Step forward."
Rafe obeyed.
The ground beneath him shifted, pulling him away from the other platforms and toward a narrow path of floating stone slabs that extended outward from the main plaza.
Isolated.
Mara took an instinctive step after him.
Kael's gaze snapped to her.
"Not you."
Mara's jaw tightened, but Selene's earlier warning echoed in Rafe's mind.
From this point on, I can't interfere.
He turned back just long enough to meet Mara's eyes.
"I'll be fine."
She didn't look convinced.
Neither did Lyn.
The Seer watched silently, her expression unreadable.
Rafe stepped onto the first floating slab.
It dipped slightly under his weight, then stabilized.
The second slab trembled.
The third didn't move at all.
Each step felt… evaluated.
Not judged.Measured.
Behind him, the Combat platform erupted into noise.
Eiden Valcrest stood at its center, surrounded by instructors. His aura flared clean and powerful as he demonstrated a sequence of strikes that cracked the air.
Gasps followed.
"Elite Combat indeed…"
"That output—he's already at upper-initiate level."
Eiden finished his demonstration and glanced sideways.
Straight at Rafe.
Their eyes met across the distance.
Eiden smirked.
Rafe didn't react.
He stepped onto the fourth slab.
The path curved upward, leading to a circular dais suspended above the plaza. Unlike the others, this platform was surrounded by thin rings of rotating symbols—old, precise, and quiet.
Kael followed him alone.
"No observers," Kael said. "No interference."
The air sealed.
Sound faded.
Rafe found himself standing in silence with the instructor.
Kael studied him openly now, without pretense.
"You passed the gate without resistance," Kael said. "That alone is unusual."
Rafe waited.
"Most candidates are either rejected or categorized instantly," Kael continued. "You were neither."
Rafe met his gaze.
"What does that mean?"
Kael's eyes sharpened.
"It means the Academy couldn't predict what you would become."
Rafe felt the anchor tighten faintly.
Kael raised one hand.
"This test is simple."
The runes around the platform accelerated.
"Walk to the center," Kael said. "Do nothing else."
Rafe stepped forward.
The moment his foot touched the center circle—
The world shifted.
Pressure slammed down from above, below, inside.
Not force.
Expectation.
Rafe's Light stirred reflexively.
He forced it down.
Shadow followed.
He suppressed it too.
The third layer remained sealed.
The pressure increased.
His knees trembled.
The runes brightened, reacting to something they couldn't identify.
Kael's brows drew together.
"Still nothing," Kael murmured. "You're refusing to respond."
Rafe's teeth clenched.
"I was told control mattered."
Kael looked genuinely surprised.
"…Correct."
The pressure spiked again.
This time, it targeted his emotions.
Fear.Anger.Urgency.
Images flashed in his mind—Lyn crying, Mara falling, Selene bleeding.
Rafe's breath hitched.
The anchor tugged hard.
Pain lanced through his chest.
He staggered—
Then steadied himself.
"No," he whispered.
The pressure faltered.
Kael's eyes widened.
"You resisted an emotional trigger."
Rafe exhaled slowly.
"I chose to."
Silence fell.
The runes slowed.
Then one of the rotating symbols cracked.
Not shattered.
Cracked.
Kael stepped back instinctively.
"That shouldn't—"
The platform shuddered once, then settled.
The runes dimmed.
Kael stared at Rafe with undisguised intensity.
"…Unassigned confirmed," he said quietly.
Rafe looked up.
"What happens now?"
Kael studied him for a long moment.
"Now," he said, "you will be monitored separately."
Rafe nodded.
"I expected that."
Kael almost smiled.
Far below, Eiden finished another demonstration. Applause followed.
Eiden looked up again—just in time to see Kael place a hand on Rafe's shoulder.
Something cold flickered in Eiden's eyes.
Back on the main plaza, the instructors began assigning dorms.
But one name was held back.
One record marked differently.
Deep within the Academy's inner systems, ancient mechanisms shifted.
A sealed protocol flickered to life.
VARIABLE PATH: OPENED.
And somewhere beyond sight, beyond wards and rules—
The Director felt it.