The corridor outside Nara's dorm was a marvel that would have left Hara Lee breathless. Now, it was just another potential deathtrap. Soft, ambient light emanated from the ceiling itself, illuminating walls of polished, iridescent material that shifted color subtly as she moved. Holographic displays flickered at intervals, showing campus maps, announcements in flowing, alien script, or serene images of Veridian landscapes – floating islands wreathed in mist, crystalline forests humming with bioluminescence. The air hummed with a low, constant energy, smelling faintly of ozone and something floral.
Nara forced her trembling hands to still at her sides. A defense mechanism she's always had, She lifted her chin, her black hair framing her shockingly beautiful face, her violet eyes cool and distant. She couldn't afford to panic. The assassins couldn't know she was onto them. Her only hope was to appear exactly as expected: slightly aloof, nervous noble girl focused solely on her Awakening.
The **[Awakening Ceremony: 01:18:37]** pulsed relentlessly in her vision. Below it, the new
**[Secondary Objective: REACH THE CEREMONIAL SPIRE]** glowed a steady, insistent blue. The
**[Primary Objective: SURVIVE]** remained a stark, blood-red warning.
Her dorm was in the Chrysalis Wing, reserved for new students and first-years awaiting their Awakening. The Ceremonial Spire was at the Academy's heart. A daunting distance. Every step felt like walking a tightrope over a chasm filled with invisible blades.
She moved down the corridor, her gait consciously measured, trying to mimic the poised walk she recalled seeing in her past life. Other students passed her – human and humanoid figures with skin tones ranging from deep ebony to near-translucent alabaster, some with subtle biological augmentations like feathered hair or scaled forearms, others accompanied by hovering personal drones. Their attire was a blend of urban streetwear futuristic fabrics and and stylish elegance – sleek jumpsuits with embroidered sigils, flowing skirts integrated with glowing circuitry. Nara kept her gaze forward, offering only the faintest, obligatory nod if someone of perceived higher status passed.
The first hurdle was the Grand Atrium. The Chrysalis Wing opened onto a vast, multi-tiered space that took Hara-Nara's breath away despite her terror. Soaring arches of glowing crystal met hundreds of feet above. Lush, bio-engineered flora cascaded down terraced walls, their leaves shimmering with internal light. Transparent tubes carried levitating pods between levels.
Holographic avatars of famous alumni or mythical beasts drifted serenely through the air. The sheer scale and advanced beauty were overwhelming.
It was also a nightmare for security. Crowds milled – students, instructors, maintenance drones, delivery automatons and family dropping students off . Countless places for an assassin to hide. Nara felt exposed, a single, target in the open. Her System flickered, the **[SURVIVE]** objective pulsing faster. warning her if danger is close? Or was she imaging things from overwhelming anxiety?
She chose a path skirting the edge, staying near the glowing flora-covered walls, putting solid structure at her back. Her senses were hyper-alert. The scent of ozone seemed stronger. The hum of the air felt… sharper. Was that drone hovering near the third-level landing pad watching her? Was the tall, androgynous student with the silver eyes glancing her way a fraction too long?
Paranoia is survival, Nara thought grimly. She kept moving, her expression a mask of detached elegance, her heart hammering against her ribs.
She entered a narrower transit corridor, a sleek tube leading towards the central academic sectors. Moving walkways hummed gently along the sides. She stepped onto one, letting it carry her forward, conserving energy while scanning constantly. The corridor branched ahead. The main route, well-lit and busy, led towards lecture halls. A secondary, dimmer passage veered off, marked with holographic symbols suggesting maintenance and utilities – a shortcut, according to her fuzzy memory, but less populated.
The System flickered again. **[Optimal Path Detected: Secondary Corridor Alpha-7. Estimated Time Saved: 7 minutes 12 seconds.]**
Seven minutes. Precious time shaved off the countdown. But… isolated. Darker. Perfect for an ambush. The main route was safer, but longer, and crawling with potential threats disguised as
"students or staff".
Do I trust the System? It was her only ally, however quiet and cryptic. And time was her enemy. Gritting her teeth, Nara stepped off the main walkway just before the branch and ducked into the secondary corridor.
The change was immediate. The ambient light dropped to a soft, functional glow. The smooth walls gave way to exposed conduits and humming energy lines. The air smelled of lubricant and cool metal. The gentle hum of the main corridors was replaced by the deeper thrum of machinery.
Footsteps echoed loudly here. Hers were the only ones.
She reached another dimly lit utility corridor her senses screaming. The air hummed with machinery, amplifying the frantic beat of her heart.
Then he stepped from a service hatch. she recognized him instantly.
Kaelen Thorne. The protagonist. His storm-cloud eyes, ancient beyond his years and weary, locked onto hers. That unnerving gaze saw past her shocking beauty, past the fragile mask she was wearing, he saw the sheer panic in her eyes the terror of Hara Lee beneath. Before she could muster a word, a hiss cut through the air.
Her System flared crimson: **[WARNING: PROJECTILE TRAJECTORY LOCKED!]**
Instinct, fueled by terror sent her diving behind a thick wall on the side of her. The energy dart imploded into the wall where her head had been.
Kaelen moved like quicksilver. Not a flinch, but a blur of controlled violence. A device flashed in his hand causing the lights to stutter. Another dart hissed overhead. Nara heard the sickening thud of impact, a choked gasp, and the brief, brutal sounds of a struggle ending abruptly.
Silence, except for the thrumming conduits and her ragged breath.
Peering around the conduit, she saw Kaelen standing over the downed assassin in maintenance coveralls. But he wasn't searching yet. His booted foot pressed firmly on the assassin's wrist, pinning it to the floor. The man groaned, one eye swollen shut, blood trickling from his lip. Kaelen leaned down, his voice a low, dangerous rasp that cut through the mechanical hum.
"Standard explosion dart," Kaelen stated, holding up the small projector he'd disarmed. "Untraceable. Efficient. But overkill for a first-year noble girl." His storm- grey eyes bored into the assassin's. "Tell me who sent you and why her? why risk getting caught inside Veridia's walls?"
The assassin spat blood, a defiant glint in his good eye. "i owe you nothing, he spat and smiled
Kaelen's pressure on the wrist increased. The man hissed in pain. "Talk. NOW!"
A harsh, wet chuckle escaped the assassin. "Because the old words stir. The Forgotten Prophecy. The Four Keys." He strained against Kaelen's hold. "They slumber, unaware... She's one of them. Heir of Silvaine, beauty veiled by frost touch ."she must not awaken!"
His good eye flickered towards Nara, a mix of fear and fanaticism. "She dies today. They all die today. It's the only way to stop what comes!"
Kaelen's expression didn't change, but Nara saw a flicker in those ancient eyes – not surprise, but a grim recognition, a weariness that went beyond mere physical fatigue. He'd heard prophecies before. Heard them fail, heard them twist, heard them used to justify countless atrocities across his repeated lifetimes.
"Prophecies," Kaelen murmured, his voice flat, devoid of hope. "Always prophecies." He glanced down at the assassin, a chilling finality in his gaze. "This time... it's different." It wasn't spoken to the assassin, but almost to himself, a quiet observation laden with the weight of uncounted repetitions.
The assassin's defiance turned to confusion. "Different? What are you—"
He never finished. Seeing the man tense, a muscle twitch signaling a last-ditch effort – perhaps a hidden toxin weapon Kaelen moved. Fast, efficient, brutal. A sharp twist, a sickening
crack. The assassin went limp, the light in his eyes extinguished.
Nara stifled a gasp, coming out from behind the wall Four Keys? "beauty veiled by frost touch". killed before they wake.* The words echoed in her skull, chilling her blood. She was marked for death due to some ancient, apocalyptic prophecy she knew nothing about. And there were three others like her? Her System flickered:
**[New Data: Prophecy Fragment - "The Four Keys" - Logged for Analysis.]**
Kaelen straightened, his face impassive once more. He methodically searched the body, retrieving not just the dart projector, but also a small crystalline vial containing a few drops of viscous, iridescent poison. similar to the the drone's she believes, unmistakably deadly. He pocketed both items, his gaze scanning the shadows of the corridor with practiced vigilance.
His storm-grey eyes snapped back to hers, pinning her to the spot. The nonchalant look he gave her before gone now replaced with suspicion. He must have realised she knew the dart was coming towards her before she saw it with how fast she dodged, he'd seen how swift she reacted before the shot.
"You moved before the shot," he stated, his voice flat. He pointed at the hole in the wall behind her. you have pretty good reflexes for a unawakened.
Before Nara could formulate a response – a denial lost before it was born – her System interface flickered violently:
**[TARGET NEUTRALIZED: Level 1 Assailant]**
**[THREAT ASSESSMENT: Persistent. Secondary operatives active. Prophecy-Driven Hostility Confirmed.]**
**[Proximity Alert: Hostile Signatures Detected ]**
**[WARNING: EXPEDITE MOVEMENT TO CEREMONIAL SPIRE]**
The **[SURVIVE]** objective pulsed like a strobe light. *00:52:41.*
Kaelen's eyes narrowed slightly. did he notice her reading something?"
"You seem to be in a rush," he said, his voice low and relaxed. "Main routes might be death traps if there or more where this guy came from" he said as he kicked the dead man's shoe. Take the service lift." He jerked his head towards the end of the corridor. "End of this hall. Goes to Sub-Level 3. Cross the geothermal conduit accessway. Emerges near the Spire's foundation entrance. Less eyes."
He wasn't offering help. He was giving intel. Assessing her reaction. Testing her it seems.
Nara thanked him, legs trembling but holding her up. The standoffish elegance was gone. She met his all-too-knowing gaze. "Why tell me that ?" she asked, her voice raw but steady.
A ghost of something – not a smile, but a grim acknowledgment of something , unknown touched his lips. "Curiosity. Dead students usually complicate things." He glanced towards the service hatch he'd emerged from, the shadows seeming to gather around him. "Don't linger. They send the big guns next. not as nice as poison or exploding darts ... messier." His storm-cloud eyes held hers for a final, unsettling second. "This loop different. he muttered"
He melted back into the shadows near the service hatch as swiftly as he'd appeared, leaving Nara alone with a corpse, the echo of a terrifying prophecy, the weight of Kaelen's detached interest , and the chilling certainty that death was closing in.
Gathering the shattered pieces of her courage, Nara turned and ran towards the service lift, the assassin's dying words and Kaelen's storm-grey eyes burning alongside the relentless countdown.
**[Awakening Ceremony: 00:49:18]**
**[Primary Objective: SURVIVE]**
**[Secondary Objective: REACH THE CEREMONIAL SPIRE]**