CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE RESONANT TRIAL (Part three)
The glyph ring pulsed once—
then again—
each beat a silent countdown
to the first names that would be chosen.
But some names…
never came.
No voice called for Riko.
No flicker of glyphlight lit beneath his boots.
He stood at the far end of the arena's upper tier,
arms crossed, jaw locked,
eyes never once looking away from Zephryn.
He didn't flinch.
Didn't speak.
Didn't leave.
Because this wasn't rejection.
It was removal.
Like the system had already decided—
"He knows too much. He doesn't belong."
Selka saw him.
Didn't react.
Kaelen noticed too—
his fingers tightening ever so slightly on the strap of his halberd.
Then came the second absence.
Rhae.
Her name was never mentioned.
No symbol flared.
No scroll listed her rank.
Just silence.
Complete.
A single student leaned forward from the stands—
"Wasn't she—"
Liraen didn't even look at them.
But the silence that followed that half-whisper
was colder than the air beneath the Veil.
Yolti finally exhaled.
"I knew she wouldn't show."
Kaelen nodded once.
"She already left the story."
Zephryn didn't respond.
His eyes were locked on the center glyph—
And the way the spiral kept humming like it knew
what was about to unfold.