The word stayed in the air.
North.
No one spoke for a few seconds.
Renn finally pointed at Kai. "I would like to officially complain about the mysterious voice in your head giving us vague directions."
"It is not vague," Kai said quietly. "It is clear."
Lucan moved first. "Map."
Theo pulled up the city grid and expanded the northern districts. Industrial lines. Old transit rails. Abandoned warehouses. A few residential blocks that had never been rebuilt after the resource riots ten years ago.
Malric stepped closer to the screen. "If they are placing anchors near infrastructure, north gives them the power grid relay."
Jax whistled softly. "You knock that out during overlap and the whole city panics."
Mira crossed her arms. "So we stop it."
Renn looked at her. "Just like that?"
"Yes," she said simply.
Kai kept staring at the map. The pull inside him was faint but steady. Like a thread tied to his ribs.
"It is not active yet," he said. "But it is close."
Lucan turned to Malric. "Why come to us?"
Malric did not hesitate. "Because the Academy is divided."
That made everyone go still.
"The faculty council is arguing about containment," Malric continued. "Some want full lockdown. Others want to let the alignment progress to study it."
"Study it?" Renn snapped. "People almost froze in the middle of traffic."
Malric's jaw tightened. "I am aware."
Theo glanced at Kai. "And Vale?"
Malric looked away for a second. That was answer enough.
Lucan exhaled slowly. "All right. We move before anyone official does."
Scene shift.
Inside a quiet office on the top floor of the central tower, Director Vale stood by the window, hands behind his back.
The city lights shimmered below.
A man in a dark uniform spoke from behind him. "Anchor one activation successful. No public awareness."
Vale nodded slightly. "And the anomaly?"
"It reacted."
"Of course it did."
Vale turned slowly. His eyes were calm, unreadable.
"Prepare anchor two."
"Sir, the northern grid houses civilians."
Vale's gaze sharpened. "Everything houses civilians."
The officer lowered his head. "Understood."
Scene shift.
North sector.
The streets were darker here. Fewer patrol drones. Broken streetlights that had never been replaced.
Kai and the others moved along the rooftops.
Malric kept pace easily. He moved with controlled precision, no wasted steps.
Renn glanced sideways at him. "So, Senior Cadet, what is your specialty?"
"Harmonic stabilization."
Renn grinned. "That sounds boring."
"It is not."
They reached the edge of an old rail yard.
Theo crouched and scanned the area. "Energy fluctuations ahead. Low but consistent."
Kai felt it now.
Stronger.
He stepped down from the roof first.
Mira followed without hesitation.
Lucan gave quiet signals. Spread formation.
They moved between rusted train cars and broken cargo crates.
Then Jax froze.
"Motion," he whispered.
Three figures stepped out from behind a rail engine.
Cloaked. Masked.
One of them tilted his head. "You are early."
Renn groaned. "I hate when enemies say that."
Lucan stepped forward slightly. "Stand down."
The tallest figure laughed softly. "We were told you might interfere."
"By who?" Mira demanded.
No answer.
Instead, the ground beneath them lit up faintly.
Thin red lines forming a circular pattern.
Theo's eyes widened. "The anchor is already placed."
Kai felt the pull spike.
It was right under them.
"Get off the circle," he said sharply.
The masked figures attacked.
The first one lunged toward Malric with a blade humming with harmonic energy.
Malric blocked cleanly, sparks flashing.
Renn rushed another, fists glowing faintly as he amplified his own resonance.
"Finally," he muttered.
Kai did not join immediately.
He dropped to one knee and pressed his palm to the ground.
The anchor's core was deeper. Embedded under the rails.
It was not fully active.
But it was primed.
"Thirty seconds," Kai said.
"For what?" Jax asked while dodging a strike.
"For activation."
The red lines brightened.
Mira slashed at one attacker and shoved him back. "Can you stop it?"
"I do not know."
The masked leader broke away from Lucan and looked directly at Kai.
"So you are the anomaly."
Kai stood slowly.
The voice inside him stirred again.
Not fear.
Recognition.
"You are not with the Academy," Kai said.
The leader chuckled. "No. We are with the future."
Before anyone could react, the anchor beneath them flared.
The air distorted violently.
For a split second, the rail yard changed.
Ruined.
Burning.
Sky cracked with light.
Renn stumbled. "It is stronger than the first one!"
Malric shouted, "Disrupt the perimeter nodes!"
Theo scanned frantically. "Three emitters under the rail tracks!"
Lucan moved instantly, slicing open a panel with precise force.
Jax sprinted to another node, ignoring a cut along his arm.
Mira reached the third but one masked attacker grabbed her.
Kai saw it.
The overlap flickered again.
This time he felt something else.
Not just the other version of himself.
But another presence.
Watching.
From the ruined skyline.
The masked leader leaned closer. "Do you see it too?"
Kai's heart pounded.
"What are you trying to anchor?" he demanded.
The leader's eyes gleamed behind the mask.
"Not a place."
The anchor pulsed harder.
"Someone."
Kai's breath caught.
The ruined skyline version of himself stepped forward in his vision.
And behind that version. A shadow.
Taller.
Vast.
Smiling.
The rail yard snapped back for half a second.
Then flickered again.
Lucan destroyed his node.
Jax smashed his.
Mira kicked free and drove her blade into the final emitter.
The red lines shattered.
The overlap collapsed.
Silence fell heavily.
The masked figures retreated instantly, vanishing into the darkness between train cars.
Renn bent over, breathing hard. "They always run."
Malric stared at Kai. "What did you see?"
Kai did not answer immediately.
He was still staring at the spot where the distortion had been.
"It was not just alignment," he said quietly.
Theo swallowed. "Then what?"
Kai finally looked up.
"They are not merging worlds."
He felt the faint presence inside him tense.
"They are trying to bring something through."
Far above the city, in the central tower, a monitor flickered.
Anchor two failed.
Director Vale watched the data without expression.
Then another screen lit up.
An unknown harmonic signature detected during overlap.
Vale leaned forward slightly.
"So," he murmured.
"You finally looked back."