Chapter 10: The Ghost in the Mirror
Zenith Academy was a city of secrets.
The moment Samuel stepped through the diamond-paneled gateway into Sector 9, the air changed. Even gravity seemed heavier, like the walls themselves judged everyone who passed through.
The plaza thrummed with activity students weaving between arcane machines, gravity-lift stations buzzing as upperclassmen descended from their skywalk dormitories, and AI holograms flickering in and out of formation.
But it wasn't the technology that unnerved Samuel it was the atmosphere of hierarchy. There was an order to things here, precise and brutal. Power wasn't just respected.
It ruled.
And Samuel? He was an unknown.
> [System Analysis]
Factional Structure: Active
Three Major Powers Identified:
House Virellius – Legacy bloodlines, elite tradition, combat supremacy.
The Codeborn – Cybernetic intellects, technomancers, algorithmic strategy.
Null Union – Rebels, hybrids, rogue experimentals. Unpredictable. Dangerous.
Each group marked its members with glowing sigils woven into their uniforms living tattoos of allegiance. Samuel saw it in how students bowed or stepped aside depending on who passed. One boy glanced the wrong way at a Virellius heir and got launched into a wall by a kinetic repulse.
Samuel watched. He learned.
> "So that's how it is," he muttered.
And so, he became someone else.
Day 1 Persona: Samuel Gray, Rankless Transfer.
Shy. Insecure. Quiet.
He let his shoulders slump. Let his voice tremble slightly during roll call. When others sized him up, he let them think he was weak.
"Where'd they even dig this guy up?" one student scoffed, laughing with others during lunch.
Samuel sat in the corner of the mess hall, seemingly absorbed in his tray of protein paste. In reality, his system interface blinked silently before his eyes, feeding him facial scans, faction allegiances, power tier approximations, and potential threat levels.
> [Observation Protocol Active]
Targets Logged: 213
Risk Profiles: Stored
Factional Weaknesses: Mapping in Progress
No one suspected a thing.
Day 3.
Samuel had mapped the power hierarchy.
The strongest upperclassmen could manipulate space within their dorms. Some freshmen already wielded quantum-linked weaponry passed down through noble families. But the one name that silenced whispers and turned eyes with reverence was...
Aralyn Vael.
Her presence was felt more than seen. People didn't say her name aloud often they quoted it, like scripture. She hadn't spoken publicly in over two weeks, yet her absence hung like a shadow over the campus.
"Why doesn't she attend orientation matches?"
"Because no one's worthy."
Rumor painted her as untouchable, but Samuel's system painted something different: her data was heavily redacted.
> [Accessing Profile: Aralyn Vael]
Result: Blocked – Administrative Override Level: RED SIGIL
Note: This user has been manually excluded from standard metrics.
His interface never failed to scan someone before.
Except her.
> "So that's you..." he whispered to himself, not quite knowing why the name sent a ripple through his core.
Later That Week: Combat Assessment Day.
Each student was required to enter the arena. It wasn't lethal but it was brutal. Every movement was watched, ranked, dissected. Strength was currency here, and everyone paid in blood and reputation.
Samuel stepped forward when called, masking his system's true capabilities.
His opponent, a Null Union girl with chromatic eyes and a blade grown from bio-obsidian, sneered at him.
"Try not to cry, newbie."
> [Initiating Combat Protocol]
Subsystem: FAÇADE MODE – ENABLED
System Suppression: 92%
Combat Output: Reduced to Rank E
He let her win.
Barely.
Fell just right. Bruised himself subtly in the fall. The crowd laughed.
He stood up with a weak smile.
Inside, his system logged every one of her moves, patterns, weaknesses, and factional comms frequency.
> "Thank you," he said, bowing.
> [Enemy Logged – Weakness: Unstable left knee joint, neural pulse overreliant on high-frequency stimuli. Countermeasures stored.]
Nightfall. Dormitory 17.
He sat by his window, overlooking Sector 9. Distant towers glowed like spires from another world.
> [System Notice]
Aralyn Vael sighted entering Sector Core Tower
Masked entities present – origin: unknown
Message intercepted: "The Forgotten Protocol has arrived. Let us begin watching."
A chill crept up his spine.
He knew they were watching him. Not just students. Not just staff. Something else. Something deeper.
Elsewhere, in a quiet chamber lit by nothing but rotating fractal code, Aralyn stood before an old screen.
She watched footage of Samuel's assessment. Not the fight his eyes. The way he let himself lose. The angle of his fall. The subtle twitch of precision.
Ayla's voice broke the silence.
> "He's hiding his power, or his he really weak "
Aralyn nodded. "am not sure if he is hiding them or doesn't have it at all ."
She turned away from the screen, cloak fluttering.
> "Let them underestimate him. It's how legends are born."