It was the engine.
---
Sixth bell. The team assembled.
Nine people on a floating platform under violet stars. The usual arrangement — semicircle facing Veylan, Ren at the back with his notebook, Kira on Elara's shoulder, Nyx visible because she'd decided visibility was more efficient for group training.
And me. With a new sword.
The reactions were immediate and varied.
Liora saw the blade first. Her amber eyes locked onto the black metal and the invisible edge and the darkness trailing its length, and her forge-fire signature blazed with the particular frequency I'd catalogued as "something I want to fight."
"New weapon," she said. Not a question.
"New weapon," I confirmed.
Draven's cold signature compressed further — his standard response to detecting something that didn't fit his existing threat models. His eyes tracked the blade with military precision, cataloguing dimensions, weight, balance, and the energy it radiated.
