The squad gathered in an empty training room on the third floor—a neutral territory that none of them claid as their own. It was late evening, past the ti when most students had returned to their dormitories. The fluorescent lighting cast harsh shadows across the sparring mats, making the space feel clinical rather than intimate.
Silas arrived last, as was his habit.
Duncan stood near the far wall, arms crossed, expression carefully neutral. Mara sat cross-legged on one of the benches, her twin daggers resting beside her—she was never without them anymore. Adam leaned against the doorfra, observing with that quiet intensity that made people uncomfortable when they noticed it. Bessia occupied the center of the room, hands folded in her lap, looking like she was attending a funeral.
Maybe she was.
"So," Duncan said when the silence had stretched too long. "Ashmar."
"Ashmar," Silas confird. He didn’t sit. Didn’t move further into the room than necessary. His posture suggested he was already half-gone, already calculating his next move in a place none of them would see.
"Six months minimum," Bessia added quietly. "That’s what the briefing said."
"Could be longer," Mara said. "Depends on how the program develops."
Another silence.
Adam broke it with characteristic bluntness. "Are we supposed to pretend this matters?"
Everyone looked at him.
He t their gazes without flinching. "I’m not trying to be cruel. I’m being realistic. I an the guy has been part of this squad for months, and I know almost nothing about him." He gestured vaguely. "Where he’s from. What he cares about. What he plans to do after graduation. Anything beyond his core abilities and that he’s useful in combat."
Everyone felt sothing about the move Adam was making.
It was obvious enough to notice—deliberate, calculated—but laid out in a way that didn’t imdiately reveal its end goal. Not reckless or impulsive. Just... strangely positioned.
Like a chess piece advanced one square too far.
No one openly questioned him. Adam rarely acted without layered reasoning. But the discomfort lingered.
Because whatever he was setting up—
—he hadn’t explained it.
And that ant the squad was reacting to consequences they didn’t yet understand.
Silas’s expression didn’t change. "Is there a point to this?"
"My point," Adam said, standing, "is that we’re standing here pretending to say goodbye to soone we never really knew. And that’s fine. We don’t owe each other life stories. But let’s not act like this is so profound loss."
Duncan shifted uncomfortably. "That’s harsh."
"It’s true." Adam picked up his rifle, sheathing it with practiced efficiency. "He has been a tactical asset. A competent teammate when it served his interests. But he’s never been one of us. Not really."
"And whose fault is that?" Bessia asked, her voice carrying an edge that surprised everyone. She was looking directly at Silas now. "You’ve been distant from the start. Never shared anything personal. Never asked about any of us beyond what was relevant."
Silas t her gaze. "I didn’t realize friendship was a requirent for this so called squad mbership."
"It’s not," Mara said quietly. "But it helps."
The statent hung in the air, heavy with implications.
Silas looked at each of them in turn—Duncan’s uncomfortable solidarity, Adam’s brutal honesty, Bessia’s hurt disappointnt, Mara’s analytical assessnt. And finally, Bright, who’d been silent throughout, watching from the corner like he was cataloging data for future reference.
"I’m not built for this," Silas said finally. The admission ca without emotion, clinical as a dical diagnosis. "Whatever this is. The bonding. The shared struggles. The belief that we’re all in this together." He gestured vaguely at the space between them. "I don’t feel those things. I’ve never felt those things."
"Then why stay in the squad at all?" Duncan asked. Not accusatory—genuinely curious.
"Utility," Silas answered. "Having a team provides advantages. Social cover. Reduced scrutiny from instructors and noble factions." He paused. "And occasionally, competent backup when a situations deteriorate beyond my individual capability."
Adam laughed—a short, sharp sound. "At least you’re honest."
"Honesty seed appropriate for a farewell."
Bright finally spoke, his voice cutting through the tension with unexpected gentleness. "You don’t have to explain yourself. We all knew what this was."
Silas turned to him, sothing almost like surprise flickering across his features.
"We’re not friends," Bright continued. "We probably never will be. But we’ve kept each other alive. That counts for sothing." He pushed off the wall, moving to the center of the room. "So here’s what I’ll say: survive Ashmar. Learn what you can. Co back if you want to. Don’t if you don’t."
He extended his hand.
Silas looked at it for a long mont, then shook it once. "Practical advice. Appreciated."
"That’s all you’re getting."
The handshake broke. Silas nodded to the others—not quite a bow, not quite a salute, sothing in between—and turned toward the door.
Bessia stopped him with a single word. "Wait."
He paused.
She stood, crossing the distance between them, and did sothing that surprised everyone, including herself. She hugged him. Brief, awkward, over in seconds.
"Stay alive," she said when she stepped back. "Even if you don’t care about us, I’d rather not lose another squadmate."
Silas’s carefully maintained neutrality cracked for just a mont—sothing almost human flickering behind his eyes. "I’ll do my best."
Then he was gone, the door closing behind him with quiet finality.
The remaining five stood in silence.
"Well," Duncan said eventually. "That was depressing."
"That was necessary," Adam corrected. "We’ve been pretending things were different than they actually were. Better to acknowledge the reality."
Mara nodded. "Agreed. Though I’m curious—" she looked at Bright, "—why you were so diplomatic with him at the end. You’re usually more direct."
Bright shrugged. "Because he told the truth. And the truth was that we used each other for mutual benefit. Nothing wrong with that." He moved toward the exit. "Besides, he’s right about one thing. We did keep each other alive. That’s more than most people can say."
He left before anyone could respond.
In that sa room, Adam felt a surge of giddiness rise beneath his composed exterior.
His mastery was deepening.
Not in raw combat. Not in essence output.
In people.
What he had just done hadn’t been accidental. It was deliberate—subtle shifts in tone, calculated phrasing, carefully tid pauses. Steering emotion. Nudging conversation flow. Applying pressure without appearing to.
The practice he’d been doing with casual acquaintances had plateaued. Random candidates offered shallow reactions. Predictable responses. No resistance worth studying.
There was no growth in that.
So he escalated.
Testing his influence on people who mattered. People who knew him. People harder to manipulate because they assud trust.
And it worked.
The emotional currents in the room had shifted exactly as projected.
That thrilled him more than he expected.
It also wasn’t lost on him that Silas stood slightly apart from the group—functionally within it, psychologically distant. A lone wolf orbiting a pack.
Plus he was less likely to make it back alive from this absurd venture the academy laid out for him.
Adam hadn’t acted purely out of malice. Nor purely out of pragmatism. It was curiosity. Experintation. A desire to refine a skill that would define his long-term power far more than combat capability.
Influence.
And influence, unlike strength, required live testing.
Even if the test subjects were people he called allies.
-----
The foreign students arrived in three reinforced transports that looked more like military convoys than academy vehicles. They rolled through Sparkshire’s main gates at mid-morning, drawing imdiate attention from every student in the courtyard.
Twenty students from Ashmar erged from the first two transports—a mix of ages and ranks, but all carrying themselves with the rigid discipline of soldiers rather than students. They wore Crownspire Academy uniforms: dark gray with silver trim, practical rather than decorative.
Fifteen students from Solhaven exited the third transport—their uniforms were white with gold threading, almost ceremonial in appearance. They moved with a different kind of discipline, quieter, more reverent.
The Sparkshire students who’d gathered to watch kept a careful distance, curious but cautious.
Aldric Thorne stood at the entrance to the main academic building, flanked by two other instructors. He waited until all thirty-five foreign students had assembled before speaking.
"Welco to Sparkshire Academy," he said, his voice carrying across the courtyard without needing amplification. "You’re here for six months minimum as part of a joint educational initiative between our nations. While you’re within these walls, you’ll be held to the sa standards as every other student. No special treatnt. No diplomatic immunity. You break our rules, you face our consequences."
Several Ashmar students stiffened at the tone.
"Your dormitory assignnts and class schedules have been prepared. Orientation begins tomorrow at 0600." Thorne’s gaze swept across them, sharp and assessing. "I recomnd using the rest of today to familiarize yourselves with the facilities and introduce yourselves to your Sparkshire counterparts. Dismissed."
The foreign students began dispersing, so moving toward their assigned dormitories, others exploring the grounds.
One didn’t move.
Johnmark stood in the center of the courtyard, arms crossed, scanning the gathered Sparkshire students with open assessnt. He was tall—not quite Duncan’s size but close—with the kind of lean muscle that suggested speed and power rather than bulk.
His eyes locked onto soone in the crowd.
"You," he said, pointing. "The one with the spear."
Everyone turned to look.
Arlen keer—a second-year, with no relation to Adam or Lyanna, a combat specialist with mid-tier Initiate rank—blinked in surprise. "?"
"Unless there’s another student here holding a spear," Johnmark said. "I’m challenging you to a spar. Right now."
The courtyard went silent.
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