The car pulled through the gates of Ashford Manor just before noon. Cale sat in the back seat, his bag beside him. He was nervous and scared; he had tried to simulate what the conversation with his father would look like. He'd been ready since dawn.
Aldus had driven him to the edge of the city that morning, stopping at a bus station where a car from the manor was waiting. They hadn't said much. Aldus had just clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Don't forget what I have taught you."
Now the manor loomed ahead, grey stone and dark windows. It hadn't changed a bit from the day he'd left. The message from Valeriana still haunted him. What could his father possibly want from him? he pondered.
The car stopped at the main entrance. Cale got out, his boots crunching on the gravel, and walked inside.
The foyer was quiet. A servant appeared, took his bag, and murmured something about his father waiting in the study. Cale nodded and walked toward the east wing, his footsteps echoing on the marble floors.
He had been in this hallway a hundred times. As a child, summoned for lectures about his future. As a teenager, summoned for lectures about his failures. He always got scared whenever he had to go to his father's study. He knew the weight of the door, the smell of old paper and wood polish that attacked his nose the moment he swung it open. The place was just the same as it had always been.
His father was at the window when Cale entered, his back to the door, his hands clasped behind him. Edward Ashford was a tall man, broad-shouldered, his dark hair streaked with grey. He didn't turn. Almost as if he didn't care who had entered — or whoever it was wasn't important. Or at least that was what Cale thought.
"Close the door."
Cale closed the door gently.
"I heard you had awakened. Aldus told me," his father said. "He said you awakened just before you visited him."
"Yes."
"When was that again?"
"A month ago."
The silence stretched. His father turned, his eyes cold, his face unreadable.
"And you didn't think to inform anyone."
"I didn't think anyone would care."
Edward's jaw tightened. "You are the heir of House Ashford."
"That's just what you say now. You're not fooling anyone. I know that the moment Valeriana turns sixteen, you won't be saying that. Am I not the one you pushed away because he was worthless?" Cale kept his voice even, but his hands were fists at his sides. "You didn't care when I was nothing. You don't have to care now."
His father crossed the room in three strides, stopping inches away.
"Do you think this changes anything? One of the servants found blood stains in the training hall. The broken wall." His voice was low, controlled, and dangerous. "What powers did you awaken, Caelan?"
Cale met his eyes. "Water with Ice dominant as my Element. Some regeneration. A sense for death. Nothing impressive."
"Nothing impressive." Edward laughed, but there was no humor in it. "You awaken after seventeen years of nothing, and you're still nothing. A useless system with tricks a child could manage." He turned away, walking back to his desk.
"The academy sent a letter. The school year is starting, and they've extended you an invitation. Probably out of obligation to this house. They feel they have to offer something to the heir of Ashford, even one as useless as you."
He picked up the letter from his desk and held it out. Cale took it.
"I don't want to send you there," his father said.
"You'll tarnish our name. The Ashford heir, with powers as worthless as yours. They'll probably put you in the lowest faction. The other houses will laugh."
Cale stared at the letter in his hands. Then he looked up.
"I'll go independently. No family influence. I won't use your name. It's never helped me in any way. I'll stay low key. No one will even know I'm an Ashford."
His father's eyes narrowed. "You think that's possible? You think that they won't find out?"
"I'll make sure they don't. Nobody really knows me. That's a job well done on your part, so I think I'll be fine."
"You'll make a fool of yourself. You'll make a fool of this house."
"Then maybe this house shouldn't have spent seventeen years pretending I didn't exist." Cale's voice rose, cracking at the edges. "You wanted me gone. I left. Now you want me to stay because suddenly I'm an embarrassment? I was always an embarrassment. You just didn't care because no one was looking."
His father's face reddened. "You will not speak to me that way."
"I'll speak however I want. I'm going to the academy. With or without your permission. With or without the Ashford name." He folded the letter and slipped it into his pocket. "I'm done being the thing you hide."
He turned and walked to the door.
"Caelan."
He stopped, his hand on the handle.
His father's voice was quiet. "If you go there alone, you'll have nothing. No backing from the family, no resources, no protection. I'll completely cut you off. You won't last at the academy for more than a year."
Cale opened the door. "I've had nothing my whole life. I'm used to it. And that has given me a new dream: I'll become the strongest awakened person who has ever lived. So go ahead, cut me off. I don't care."
He walked out without looking back, almost regretting what he had said.
The car to the academy was smaller than the one that had picked him up. Cale sat in the back, his bag on the seat beside him, and watched the manor disappear through the rear window. He didn't know if he would ever come back. He didn't care.
His phone buzzed. Valeriana.
You came back. I heard. And you didn't care to tell your little sister goodbye. Rude.
He didn't reply.
The city passed outside the window. Veridian was alive with afternoon traffic, people moving between buildings, living their lives. He watched them and felt nothing. Just the cold knot in his chest, steady and quiet.
"That was brave," Iris said. "Standing up to your father."
"It was stupid," he said silently. "He's going to make sure I fail."
"Is he?"
Cale didn't answer. He pulled up his system screen.
User: Cale Ashford
Status: Awakened
Rank: E
Sign: Scorpio
Stage: Awakened
Aspect: — (pending)
Element: Water/Ice
Affinities: 1 (Scorpio)
Special Powers: Frostbite, Regenesis, Death Sense, Scorpion's Grip
Mauri: 84/100
Experience: 100/200
Memory: Ogreian Dagger
Echo: —
Flaw: —
Seals: 12 (1 active)
PA: Active (Upgrade: 12/200)
A hundred experience points. Halfway to two hundred. Halfway to the next seal. He didn't know what was waiting there, but he could feel it, pressing at the edges of his awareness.
He dismissed the screen and watched the academy towers rise ahead.
The main auditorium was a cavern of dark wood and high windows. The seats were arranged in tiers around a central stage. Students filled the rows, their uniforms different — some in navy and gold, others in grey, and some still in whatever they had brought from home.
Cale found a seat near the back, in the Anómalos section. He had been assigned to the Anómalos faction, just like his father had said. He sat down and kept his head down, his hands in his pockets.
The seats around him began to fill slowly. He let his eyes move across the room, cataloging faces, reading the room the way Aldus had taught him.
There was a boy with glasses two rows ahead, his hands trembling, his uniform too large. A girl with burn scars on her arms sat alone, her eyes fixed on the floor. A tall boy with a fighter's build laughed with someone beside him, his voice too loud for the quiet room.
And there, at the edge of the Anómalos section, a girl with dark hair pulled back, a worn jacket over a shirt that had seen better days. She sat with her back straight, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes scanning the room the same way his were. For some reason he couldn't explain, he was drawn to her. As if she would change his life forever.
Her gaze met his for a moment — sharp, quick, and assessing — before moving on.
Cale looked away.
After some time, he looked back. She was watching the stage now, her expression unreadable.
The lights dimmed. A woman in a dark robe walked to the center of the stage, her heels clicking on the polished floor. Her aura was imposing. As she walked in, the chatter in the auditorium died.
"Welcome," she said, her voice carrying power without effort, "to Zōdiakos Academia. My name is Nora and I am the vice chancellor of this esteemed institution."
She spoke for twenty minutes about the history of the academy, the three factions (which explained to Cale why some people wore different uniforms), and the expectations of students. Cale listened with half his attention, the other half on the room around him.
The boy with glasses was still trembling. The girl with burns had relaxed slightly, her shoulders dropping. The tall boy was whispering to his friend, ignoring the speech entirely.
And the girl in the worn jacket hadn't moved. She sat like a statue, her eyes glued to the stage, her hands still folded in her lap.
He was drawn back to reality when a loud applause erupted as Vice Chancellor Nora concluded her speech.
When the speech ended, the students rose, filing out into the corridors. Cale stood, pulling his bag higher on his shoulder, and followed the flow toward the doors.
Cale was assigned to the Anómalos faction. Nora had explained that they were divided so they could grow without holding others back. Of course, that was the official explanation to cover the fact that they wanted to separate the powerful nobles from the peasants.
Anómalos Hall was at the edge of the campus, a low building that had probably once been a storehouse. The rooms were small compared to what he was used to. The windows were narrow, but it was clean. Cale found his room — 204, as the keycard said — and let himself in.
There was a bed, a desk, and a closet. His room appeared to be for him alone.
He dropped his bag on the bed by the window and sat on the edge, looking out at the courtyard below. Students were walking between buildings, some in groups, some alone. The Aethel students moved with confidence, their uniforms crisp and their posture pompous. He would have been like them if he had awakened a powerful system. But somehow, he was grateful he hadn't.
He pulled up his system screen.
```
Experience: 100/200
```
He clicked on it and read the description:
```
The next EXP threshold is 200.
Reach the next threshold to rank up.
``|
He was halfway to something. Halfway to the next seal. And possibly halfway to ranking up.
He dismissed it and lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow, classes would start. They might test him, rank him, and put him in training sessions with people who had years of instruction. He would be behind, as always.
But for the first time, he didn't care. Probably because he was prepared for the worst.
He had a dagger that could turn invisible. A voice in his head that no one else could hear. And something locked inside him, waiting to break free. That was enough conviction that things would get better for him.
He closed his eyes and let the sounds of the academy wash over him.
Tomorrow, they would all begin.
For now, Cale let himself rest.