Kai and I stayed frozen, half-crouched at the entrance.

  "So? What the hell are you doing down here?" Nico tilted his head. "It's past midnight. Have you both lost your minds?"

  Kai didn't know how to respond and looked to me. I cleared my throat and straightened up to stand.

  "Better question," I said, "how did you even get here?"

  Nico raised a brow. "I walked?" He sighed with the long-suffering air of someone perpetually surrounded by idiots.

  My brows twitched.

  "What I meant was, how did you know we were here?"

  Nico paused, his eyes swept over the heat-warped slits in the walls, and the faint glow still emanating from spots where fire had lingered too long. "Well, I was taking a stroll out at night and just happened to sense this."

  "A mana spike like that doesn't stay contained," Nico continued, "But that's not the point. If I sensed it, half the Academy did too."

  My stomach clenched. He was absolutely right.

  Behind him, Elias groaned with a wet, pained sound.

  He rolled onto his side, one hand pressing against the back of his neck, face contorting as consciousness returned. "What the-what happened?"

  His eyes found Nico and locked onto him.

  Elias went completely still. The confusion on his face melted into something more careful. "Nico? Um... Why are you here?"

  Nico clicked his tongue. "Because you're an idiot. If I have to clean up after you one more time, I won't stay quiet about it."

  Elias pushed himself up to a sitting position, still rubbing his neck. " Clean up? I was experimenting and testing limits. It just got more intense than expected. There was no need for help."

  "Really?" Nico said with flat certainty. He walked and picked up a piece of the cage's wall. It was a metal fragment warped by heat that had fallen off. He looked it over and then tossed it to Elias.

  Elias swallowed hard, "Uh..." he then looked past Nico toward Kai and me. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to. But it looks like I got carried away."

  Kai offered a small shrug, like he couldn't be bothered to care about something already done. I nodded briefly.

  Because it wasn't the apology I was interested in. Rather, my focus was on watching Elias around Nico, which was fascinating. His entire demeanour had shifted. He was far too compliant, less theatrical, less demanding.

  'Did the two have a history I am unaware of?'

  I kept my attention on Nico. "How do you two know each other?"

  "That's not really any of your business-" Nico's expression tightened almost imperceptibly.

  "Oh..I guess we're kinda family?" Elias answered before Nico could finish.

  "Shut up," Nico snapped. It was the first real emotion he'd shown besides being lazy.

  Elias clicked his tongue in annoyance and looked away.

  Kai shifted slightly and shot Nico a glance. "Kai Ashcroft."

  Nico scratched his head and then nodded once. "Nico Selwyn."

  His attention returned to me, then swept across the demolished training cage. Nico spoke with sudden urgency. "With that said, we need to leave right now."

  Before anyone could move, footsteps echoed from the main dome. Deliberate and Unhurried in the way that meant absolute confidence.

  Then the air changed.

  Mana flooded the doom, dense and sharp enough to make my lungs constrict reflexively. I recognised it instantly.

  'Aluis?'

  He appeared at the cage entrance wearing a comfortable jacket thrown over plain sleepwear, as if he'd just rolled out of bed. The blindfold remained in place, a strip of dark fabric that covered his eyes completely.

  His arms were crossed, head tilted slightly as he surveyed the scene.

  "I was wondering," he said, voice conversational with an amused edge, "what could cause such a disturbance at this hour."

  His attention moved methodically as he surveyed the room. Scorched walls, scattered metal fragments, the lingering heat distortions in the air.

  Then to Elias, still sitting on the floor and finally to Kai and me, still clustered near the entrance.

  Aluis exhaled through his nose, and I caught what might have been the faintest hint of a smile beneath the blindfold. "How enthusiastic."

  Elias opened his mouth to speak. Kai stayed silent.

  "Professor—"

  Aluis raised one hand slightly. "Don't."

  "There are no explicit rules prohibiting facility use during night hours," Aluis continued, voice perfectly level. "However, causing a mana spike detectable across campus does get my attention. "

  His blindfolded gaze swept across us and landed on Elias. "Quite the impressive results for a first year. But the three of you will be punished accordingly."

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  My brows furrowed.

  'Three?'

  I looked left.

  Nico was gone. Completely, utterly gone. Vanished as if he'd never been there at all.

  My stomach dropped.

  Kai's eyes darted around as he realised the same thing. Elias' face twisted with a flash of pure indignation.

  'The little bastard just... left. Without a word.'

  Aluis stepped forward and tapped the floor once with his foot.

  The stone answered eagerly.

  Rock erupted around each of us in separate circles, jagged teeth of earth surging upward and inward. It locked around our torsos from shoulders to hips in seconds, trapping arms and legs. Cold stone pressed against my ribs through my jacket.

  Elias immediately started struggling, cursing under his breath, muscles straining against immovable rock. The stone didn't budge.

  Kai, on the other hand, went perfectly still, not wasting energy on futile resistance.

  Aluis observed our varied reactions with what I was increasingly certain was further amusement.

  "You're so eager to utilise the combat cages before your first official battle instruction," he said, "Excellent. I appreciate the initiative, consider this a fair bargain for disturbing my sleep."

  He paused, then added with a casual smirk, "If any one of you attempts to leave before I return, the consequences will be more... creative. I do enjoy creative solutions to student problems."

  He turned and walked away, footsteps echoing until distance swallowed them, leaving us alone with our poor decisions and what was shaping up to be a very educational wait.

  The arcane lights hummed softly overhead. My stomach growled loudly, a reminder that I'd been looking forward to breakfast in a few hours.

  Kai's stomach answered a moment later.

  Elias tried twisting against the stone restraints again.

  "Don't bother, you'll just make it worse."

  Elias froze mid-struggle, as he stared at the empty aisle where Nico should have been sharing in our collective misery instead of probably sleeping peacefully in his bed.

  "Unbelievable," Elias muttered. "He just... left."

  "Smart of him," Kai said quietly.

  "Coward," Elias shot back.

  "He was logical. Even then, it is kind of annoying." I corrected.

  All I could do was lean back against the cold stone and wonder exactly how long Aluis intended to let this particular lesson marinate, and whether Nico was currently laughing about abandoning us to face the consequences alone.

  'Probably.'

  -

  Time didn't crawl.

  The rock collar around my ribs stayed cold no matter how much my body heat tried to convince it otherwise. My neck had locked into position, and at some point, my hunger had dulled into a constant ache.

  Kai had long gone quiet.

  Elias had cursed creatively for the first hour, then fell silent too, his anger burning through its fuel until all that remained was stone, exhaustion, and the slow realisation that dramatic protests were just a waste of time.

  I must have dozed at some point.

  Because the next thing I knew, the dome had been invaded by voices, dozens of them echoing off the curved ceiling, multiplied and distorted. Boots scuffed across the floor. Academy bands chimed as students moved.

  'Aluis. He's back.' My eyes glimmered with hope.

  Aluis led the students deeper into the dome. "The purpose of the sparring facilities is control. Not victory. You must learn to control and use your magic effectively."

  I blinked hard and tried to lift my head. The cage row was lit properly now, arcane lamps casting everything in clean white light, and what looked like an entire class of first years stood in a loose semicircle facing the sparring capsules.

  Aluis walked with his hands behind his back. He drifted toward the cages and stopped beside us like we were part of the standard equipment.

  "And this," he said, voice dry as desert sand, "is what happens when students confuse training facilities with personal playgrounds."

  A few students turned to look.

  Murmurs and smirks rose and fell as they registered the three of us half-buried in rock, necks protruding at awkward angles, faces drawn with fatigue and what was probably going to be lasting social trauma.

  "Three cadets from your year decided to experiment with the cages last night. They encountered some... difficulties." Aluis chuckled.

  My eyes focused properly for the first time in hours. Kai did too; he'd been slumped against his stone collar, but the moment Aluis started using us as a teaching aid, his attention snapped back online.

  Elias was still unconscious, mouth slightly open.

  Aluis didn't even glance at him. "I trust this serves as an adequate demonstration of why the facilities have rules."

  The cadets laughed.

  My gaze drifted across the crowd and snagged on a familiar pale face standing near the edge of the group.

  Nico.

  His hands were in his pockets, and his mouth held the faintest curve. It wasn't quite a smile, but definitely the expression of someone enjoying a private joke at our expense.

  I stared at him with what I hoped was the appropriate level of accusatory intensity.

  Elias stirred at that exact moment, as if some instinct had warned him it was time. He blinked, focused, and immediately spotted Nico in the crowd.

  The sleepy confusion vanished from his face instantly, replaced by a glare.

  Nico's expression didn't change. If anything, he looked more entertained.

  Aluis turned slightly toward us, and I could practically feel his attention like a weight on my shoulders. "Now then. You've had several hours to reflect on your choices."

  I managed a nod that was probably more like a twitch. Kai nodded too, jaw tight with what looked like suppressed mortification.

  Elias opened his mouth.

  "It wasn't our—"

  "Shut up," I hissed.

  Kai's glare added silent but emphatic agreement. Elias swallowed whatever defence he'd been about to mount and looked away.

  Aluis paused, then made a small flicking motion with his wrist.

  The stone collars loosened and sank back into the floor with a grinding slide. Blood rushed back into my legs so fast it made me sway. Kai rolled his shoulders once, slow and controlled. Elias stood too quickly and winced as circulation returned.

  Aluis didn't give us a moment to celebrate our freedom.

  "You three will observe today," he announced. "Participation is a privilege you've temporarily forfeited."

  My calf still throbbed from yesterday's disc impact, and observation sounded like the kind of mercy I wasn't going to question.

  Aluis faced the class again. "Today's focus: controlled sparring."

  He let that settle, "The rest of you may select your own partners. However, until you demonstrate that you understand what control means, you will limit yourselves accordingly. No lethal techniques. No finishing combinations. If you cannot restrain your enthusiasm, you do not belong in this facility."

  The students began shifting, gravitating toward partners and forming clusters as they sorted themselves into pairs.

  Then a voice cut through the organising chatter.

  "Hey."

  The bruised boy stepped forward with that stubborn energy. He pointed directly at Nico with the confidence of someone who'd been planning this moment.

  "You," he said. "Spar with me."

  Nico turned his head slowly. He looked at the boy for a moment, one eyebrow climbing toward his hairline.

  "I'm sorry," Nico said, tone perfectly bland. "Do I know you?"

  The boy twitched. "It's me."

  Nico's expression remained politely blank.

  The boy's jaw clenched. "We met. You—"

  He tried to say it without sounding pathetic, but desperation leaked through anyway. "Outside the second-year facility. You remember."

  Nico blinked once, "I'm afraid I don't recall."

  The boy's cheeks flushed red, then deeper red, like his face was trying to match his hair through sheer force of embarrassment. He clicked his tongue.

  "Fine," he said, voice tight. "Doesn't matter. Let's spar."

  Nico shrugged with minimal effort. "Sure."

  The crowd's attention crystallised around them as they'd suddenly become the most interesting thing in the room.

  "Capsule three," Aluis said, pointing toward a chamber. "Proceed."

  Nico and the bruised boy walked toward it. The capsule door hissed open and swallowed them both.

  Aluis lifted his hand, mana brushing against the capsule walls, and the opaque surface turned crystal clear. The entire class could see inside now, every movement and expression on display like they were performing in a fishbowl.

  "Names," Aluis called out, voice carrying easily through the capsule.

  The bruised boy stood straighter. "Darius Vale."

  'So that's him?' The name caught my attention.

  Nico didn't react at all. "Nico Selwyn."

  Aluis addressed them both. "Rules are simple. No lethal attacks. No techniques designed to maim or cripple. Control and technique matter more than dominance."

  He paused, letting that sink in, then added with what might have been anticipation, "Begin."