Silence had a new sound.
It lingered after the screams had faded. After the bodies had dropped. After the waters had swallowed the weak and the traitors had gone quiet.
Avni stirred beneath the pale light slanting through the infirmary’s rusted ceiling panels. Her head ached like it had been split in two, and her arms were streaked with dried blood that wasn’t all hers.
Then it began.
She stood barefoot on frost. A circle of wolves surrounded her, their breath misting in the icy air, eyes fixed on the center.
There — someone lay face-down in the snow, blood pooling like spilled ink.
“No,” she whispered, her voice small. “Don’t—please don’t die—”
She tried to move. Her feet were rooted, frozen, as if the earth itself held her hostage.
The wolves didn’t attack. They only watched.
A final breath left the dying body in the snow, and in that moment, she recognized the shape of a friend.
Avni screamed—
—and jolted awake, heart hammering, breath ragged. Her vision blurred, adjusting to the dim infirmary light. The air was cold, sterile, yet tainted with the metallic scent of dried blood and something worse—something dead.
Raiden lay beside her, pale, a stained bandage wrapped around his ribs. His breathing was shallow, strained. She reached out with trembling fingers, touching his shoulder.
He didn’t wake.
Across the room, Luce knelt, rummaging through a half-broken medical cabinet. Every movement was sharp, desperate. In his hands, a vial of painkillers.
“Hand that over,” came a voice—rough, arrogant.
Mason Hale, the smug Londoner with a split lip and bloodied knuckles, loomed in front of Luce.
Luce didn’t even glance at him. “Back off.”
Mason snatched at the vial.
Luce struck first.
The sound of the punch echoed through the room. Mason stumbled but retaliated fast. Fists collided, bodies slammed against cold walls, until finally, Luce drove his knee into Mason’s gut and threw him off.
Breathing hard, Luce knelt beside Raiden again. “He needs it more than your pride,” he muttered.
Mason wiped blood from his nose, seething. “Next time, I’ll break your pretty face.”
“Try me,” Luce said without looking up.
The infirmary descended into noise—metal crashing, bodies colliding. Outside, chaos had erupted. Overturned tables, ration packs torn open. One student stabbed another over a water bottle. Screams. Blood on the food.
Luce stood, his jaw tight.
“Avni. Grab what you can. We’re leaving. Now.”
She didn’t argue. She didn’t ask where. She simply followed.
Far away, beneath the cold towers of Umbra, the Council gathered. Twelve seats. Twelve shadows.
A man with silver eyes studied the report. “One thousand, seven hundred fifty-three dead.”
Another, with rings on every finger, chuckled. “Only ninety-six were innocent.”
“A poor harvest,” a woman said, her voice dry.
Silence fell.
Then: “Seventy more deaths. Food riots.”
The Apex Chair said nothing. Only stared at the blinking lights on the war map.
Somewhere in those blinking dots were her grandchildren.
Back on the ground, a screen blinked to life in the sky above the survivors. A mechanical voice crackled to life.
“Seventy-eight hours. That’s all you get.
Reach Valgrave… or be eliminated.
Of the dead, only ninety-six were civilians. The rest? Spies. Killers.
This isn’t school.
This is survival.”
Panic spread like fire.
Someone started crying. Someone else threw up. Two boys started fighting again, but no one tried to stop them this time.
Luce’s communicator buzzed once.
He checked it.
“One of the Ten is a traitor. Find them before Valgrave.”
For the first time, the smirk slipped from his lips.
He didn’t speak. Just looked over at Avni, then at Raiden.
Then up ahead—Lev Dragunov.
And beside Lev… Sayaka.
Later that hour, two groups collided in the ruins of a collapsed bridge. Luce’s team met Lev’s. The air was thick with suspicion.
“We’re merging,” Luce declared, tone brooking no argument. “Rai needs help. And some of you need a leader.”
Lev didn’t react. “You’re not mine.”
“You’re adorable when you act cold,” Luce replied. “But I don’t remember asking.”
Avni looked between them, exhausted. “Enough.”
Erik walked up beside her, brushing dust from his jacket. “At least tell me we get better rations with this merger.”
Ishaan grinned behind him. “Or a better sense of humor.”
Saira, quiet and bloodstained, murmured, “Let’s just not die before breakfast.”
Raiden was slipping deeper into unconsciousness.
Together now, the Ten moved. No more factions. No more island lines.
Just survival.
As night fell, they reached the gates of Valgrave.
It loomed in front of them — silent, ancient, cruel. The university was lit by towers that pulsed faintly like a sleeping beast. A place of learning, they were told.
But it reeked of secrets and steel.
Raiden was rushed inside. Avni stayed by his side, teeth clenched.
The rest waited, restless.
Luce stood near the shadows, his arms folded.
His eyes found Sayaka, who stood a little apart from the others. Not injured. Not shaken. Just… watching.
Her gaze met his for a split second.
And in that second, Luce felt it.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNBCRhcEd2
Not fear.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChBbKtW0x5
Not guilt.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1JTatMJgY
Just stillness. The kind that comes before a storm.
He whispered, “Found you.”
But he didn’t say it aloud.
Not yet.
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and then Add to home screen.