CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

  ?The sharp, jarring strike of cast iron echoed through the western dormitory.

  ?Marcus jerked awake. His head throbbed like an overworked engine begging for oil. Beside him, Roy shot up, his eyes wide and unseeing, hair jutting out like rusted wire.

  ?In the center of the room stood Ethan.

  ?He was fully dressed in his Academy uniform. In his left hand, he gripped a heavy skillet. In his right, a metal spatula. He slammed them together again.

  ?"Get up!" Ethan bellowed, his voice bouncing off the stone walls. "If we don't grab the high seats now, we’re going to miss the bloodbath at the License Evaluations!"

  ?Marcus dragged his hands down his face, squinting at the wall clock. "Ethan. My brain is misfiring. It's six in the morning. Nobody's bleeding for another three hours."

  ?Roy didn't speak. He just blinked, nodded slowly, and let his spine collapse. He began a slow slide back down to his pillow.

  ?Before his head hit the mattress, Ethan moved. He grabbed Roy by the collar and hoisted him up like a sack of dead weight.

  ?"Oh no you don't!" Ethan slapped Roy’s cheeks lightly. Smack, smack. "We need food. We need seats. I might be dead last in written theory, Marcus, but when it comes to seeing who takes a hit first? I’m the best in the room."

  ?"Yeah, yeah. Number one," Marcus muttered, grabbing a towel. The moment he turned for the washroom, Roy’s body went completely slack. He slid off the edge of the bed and hit the floor with a dull thud, instantly trying to sleep on the rug.

  ?"Hey! Don't die on me!" Ethan yelled, grabbing Roy’s ankle and dragging him back toward the bed.

  ?Half an hour later, they dragged themselves into the massive dining hall. The air was still cool and the tables were mostly empty.

  ?They spotted Vanessa, Jinny, and Luna at their usual corner, surrounded by schedule parchments.

  ?"Morning, ladies!" Ethan boomed across the empty space.

  ?The three girls looked up. Their eyes widened.

  ?Marcus was trailing behind, hands shoved in his pockets, looking thoroughly drained. Ethan was panting heavily. Strapped to his broad back, clinging like an oversized, unconscious leech, was Roy. His head lolled against Ethan’s shoulder, drool already threatening the uniform fabric.

  ?"Heavy bastard," Ethan grunted, unceremoniously dumping Roy into a chair. Roy’s forehead hit the oak table. He immediately started snoring. Ethan pointed a thick finger at him. "Look at you three. Awake. Reading. Meanwhile, I had to physically haul this corpse down three flights of stairs!"

  ?Jinny stared at the snoring lump that was supposed to be her team leader. She pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a long, slow breath.

  ?"I have to trust this guy with my life," Jinny muttered, her voice thick with sarcasm. "He doesn't know how to throw a punch, he doesn't know his own magic, and he sleeps like he’s dead. I am so lucky."

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  ?Luna just offered a faint, tired smile.

  ?The sharp ring of a magical chime cut through the air. Above the center of the hall, a translucent ether-screen flared to life, displaying golden text.

  ?[ Academy Notice: License Evaluations for Wave Two Inductees will commence today. ]

  ?Ethan squinted at the portraits scrolling past. "Hey. Why do all the new guys look like they're from the East?"

  ?"Not all of them," Vanessa corrected, tapping her pen against her notes. "There are some Northern border recruits in the mix. But the sheer volume from Kamino Island is highly irregular. The Council must be enforcing a massive cultural integration mandate."

  ?Vanessa lowered her voice, her eyes darkening slightly. "Allowing this much Eastern blood into Aurelius at once... History has shown that when our two continents mix power structures, the friction is usually catastrophic."

  ?The heavy geopolitics triggered Ethan’s stomach. He, Marcus, Jinny, and Luna got up to hit the food line.

  ?As Marcus and Ethan navigated the narrow aisles, a figure suddenly bolted around a stone pillar, slamming hard into Ethan’s chest.

  ?"Whoa!" Ethan grunted, grabbing the man’s arm to keep him from bouncing off and eating the floor.

  ?Marcus’s eyes widened. "Professor Vane?"

  ?Silas Vane looked unhinged. His multi-lens glasses were crooked. Cold sweat plastered his chaotic hair to his forehead. He smelled strongly of ozone, panic, and old ink. "I must... I have to find Corneleus!"

  ?"What happened, Professor?" Marcus asked, keeping his voice steady despite the sudden cold creeping up his neck.

  ?Silas hesitated. His eyes darted around like a cornered animal, but the pressure broke his filter. "The Archivist just ran up. A historical dossier is missing from the subterranean vaults! Specifically... the Eternus file! I have to inform the Headmaster!"

  ?Silas yanked his arm free from Ethan’s grip and bolted through the crowd.

  ?Marcus and Ethan stood completely frozen.

  ?A full minute passed. The background noise of the cafeteria roared around them, but Marcus only heard the frantic beating of his own heart.

  ?Ethan slowly turned his head. All the color had drained from his face.

  ?That file... it had been sitting on the wooden desk in the vault they broke into yesterday.

  ?"Marcus..." Ethan forced the words out in a ragged whisper. "When we were down there... did you... grab any scrap paper? Anything at all?"

  ?"Are you out of your mind?!" Marcus hissed through his teeth. "Why the hell would I steal old paper?! I didn't even touch the desk!"

  ?"We’re screwed... Do we tell Vanessa?"

  ?Marcus rubbed his left hand. The purple Fracture under his skin was throbbing, reacting to his rising panic. "Yeah. This just went from trespassing to treason."

  ?They abandoned the food line. They power-walked back to the corner table, cutting off Vanessa before Jinny and Luna returned. Marcus leaned in close and repeated Silas’s exact words.

  ?Vanessa went completely still.

  ?The quill in her hand snapped with a sharp crack. Black ink stained her fingers.

  ?"You are absolutely certain?" Vanessa asked. Her voice was terrifyingly calm. There was no panic, just rapid, freezing calculation. "He explicitly named 'Eternus'?"

  ?They both nodded frantically.

  ?Vanessa pulled a cloth from her pocket, wiping the ink from her fingers with slow, deliberate motions. "Theoretically... there could be multiple subterranean vaults. Someone could have breached a different sector entirely."

  ?She looked up. The reflection on her glasses hid her eyes, but the fear radiating from her was palpable. "But practically... the chronal lock on the Dead Clock was highly complex. Someone leaked that cipher to us. They used us to break the lock, waited for us to panic and retreat... and slipped in right behind us to extract the file."

  ?The silence at the table was suffocating.

  ?"We were the crowbar," Marcus muttered, the reality making him sick to his stomach.

  ?"They're going to bury us," Ethan’s voice shook. His massive hands gripped the edge of the oak table so hard the wood groaned. "The Council is going to drag us down to the Black Site."

  ?"Focus, Ethan," Vanessa snapped quietly. She took a sharp breath, her face smoothing out into its usual aristocratic mask. "The Council has zero empirical evidence connecting us to the breach. The only thing that will get us killed right now is your paranoia. Shut your mouths, eat your food, and act like hungry First-Years. Understood?"