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The sky above Astral Academy had never felt so still. After the Rite of Alignment, the cadets of Class Zero stood as changed souls—marked, tested, and reshaped by the whispers of the Pillars themselves. But in the days that followed, peace did not follow.
Aelros stood atop the Ivory Spire, arms folded behind his back, his white cloak flowing like a banner of silent authority. His gaze was distant, fixed on the boundary where cloud met sky—where known met unknown. Something in the world was trembling.
Behind him, a soft footfall echoed.
"You're up early," came the familiar voice of Headmaster Kyren.
"I never slept," Aelros replied, voice composed but hollow.
Kyren approached, his robes embroidered with the sigils of the first five Pillars. "The resonance from the Seventh has not faded since the Rite. We've felt it throughout the eastern wall. Some of the younger students can't even stand near the runes."
Aelros nodded. "The Pillars are shifting. And not just in the minds of cadets."
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📜 : Class Zero Regathers
Inside the Central Dome, Class Zero had reassembled for their first formal training since the Rite. Seven cadets, each now bearing a unique mark from the Pillars they'd resonated with, stood facing Aelros.
Elias Thorne fidgeted with his sleeve, glancing around anxiously. Beside him, Kael Stroud bounced slightly on his heels, eager for a challenge.
Lyra Caelthorn held a thick tome, annotated from her sleepless nights.
Sera Noxvale remained withdrawn, her eyes darker than usual.
Riven Maelros leaned on the wall with his arms crossed, eyes focused.
Nyra Veyl stood detached, distant as always, her presence quiet but heavy.
And Selune Vey… she was different.
There was a calm about her now, unnatural and eerie. Her connection to both the Sixth and Seventh Pillars had deepened—and something else had awakened.
Aelros entered.
"You've returned from the Rite," he said plainly. "But the trials are only beginning. From now forward, you are no longer 'learning' the Pillars—you are being watched by them. Understood?"
Each cadet nodded slowly.
"Today, you will face simulations derived from actual Rift events. These are reconstructions of real-world incursions—your opponents will be as merciless as the day they emerged."
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⚔️: Simulated Rifts — Trial Chamber
Within the sublevels of the academy, the Trial Chamber's environment transformed based on Pillar projections. The first scenario was loaded:
> "Simulation One: The Grieving Flame."
Kael stepped forward first.
He entered a burning village, its inhabitants already dead, replaced by flaming echoes. A corrupted Fire Wraith roared from the wreckage—half humanoid, half inferno.
Kael clenched his fists, Fire Pillar markings flaring.
His temper almost took over—but Aelros's voice echoed through the comm.
> "Control is strength. Not rage."
Kael exhaled. Then, for the first time, his flames condensed—not in a blast, but into a blade. A Flamebrand.
He cut through the wraith with precision, not anger.
Outside, Aelros nodded. "Next."
---
Each cadet stepped forward, facing different Rift-inspired nightmares:
Elias faced aberrant creatures from a Summoning fracture, binding them with seals rather than brute force.
Lyra deciphered ancient Light-bound glyphs mid-battle, weaving radiant shields from lines of forgotten script.
Riven was pitted against gravitational anomalies that crushed his footing—but he resisted panic and countered with grounded resolve.
Sera walked through a mirror realm twisted by the Sixth Pillar. There, she confronted her own reflection, which fought back with everything she denied.
Nyra floated through void-space. She fought without touching her opponents—obliterating illusions with whispers.
And finally, Selune entered her trial.
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🌘 : Selune and the Spiral Echo
Her simulation was blank.
No fire. No monsters. No land.
Just… an endless darkness laced with silver fractals—a memory of the Spiral she heard before.
Then something spoke:
> "You are not meant to be whole. You are meant to be the fracture."
Selune floated in silence.
From her palm, the mark of the Void and Darkness flickered—and a third rune shimmered faintly beneath her skin.
> "The Beginning watches you."
Suddenly, a vortex pulled her deeper—into what should have been death. But she stood tall, arms outstretched.
From nothingness, a weapon formed: a crescent-edged glaive shaped from sheer silence.
She awoke outside the chamber, gasping, eyes black and silver.
Aelros stood over her. He said nothing.
But he had seen that mark.
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🕯: Between Teachers
Later that night, Aelros met with another instructor—Inquisitor Rael Korven, a battle-scarred veteran assigned to monitor Rift responses.
"She's not ordinary," Rael said, speaking of Selune. "She doesn't just channel the Pillars. They echo through her."
"Keep her guarded," Aelros ordered. "And silent."
Rael frowned. "Are you afraid of her?"
"No," Aelros replied. "I'm afraid of what calls to her."
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☠️ Scene 5: Prelude to the Pale Circle
Far beyond the academy walls, beneath the ruins of a forgotten city, a voice whispered from inside a fractured glyphstone.
> "He's still alive, isn't he?"
The speaker was cloaked in crimson voidweave, a crooked crown of horns sitting atop his skull. His name was Serath Kaelren—and the earth trembled when he exhaled.
A subordinate approached, kneeling. "The Spiral activated inside the academy."
Serath grinned. "Ah… the Beginning stirs. Good. Let them hear the echo."
Behind him, four generals stood watching: Ignar, Grel, Thal, and Nyrren—each silently awaiting orders.
"The time will come," Serath said, placing his palm over a floating seal, black with cracks of light. "And this time, I will not lose to him again."
---
In his personal chamber, Aelros studied an ancient diagram—nine intersecting sigils, the Pillars of All.
His eyes rested on the faintest one—Origen.
> "You're no longer asleep," he muttered.
At the far corner, a sealed scroll lay dormant.
Not yet.
The world was still too fragile.
He turned instead to the window, watching his cadets below, sparring, laughing, existing in defiance of everything he'd seen in past cycles.
> "Let this be the one that holds," he whispered.
Then the sky cracked with thunder.
And far away, a Rift opened where it should not.
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