The wind over Tower II carried the smell of rain and scorched stone.
Valen stood on the outer terrace alone, watching storm glyphs shift through the sky. Below him, cadets sparred and instructors barked orders.
None of it mattered.
Not anymore.
A single report hovered in front of him—encoded, sealed, and marked with a clearance higher than his own.
He'd cracked it anyway.
Because the Council had underestimated how much he remembered.
> Subject: Greenbottle, Lyle
Codex response: Acceptance.
Codex status: Root-layer synchronization initiated.
Architect contact confirmed.
Recommendation: Immediate retrieval or containment.
Below that:
A second file.
Marked Restricted: Valen Stride – Eyes Only.
But it wasn't sealed.
It was waiting for him.
---
He opened it.
And found exactly what he didn't want to see:
A replay.
A perfect echo of his own Codex trial.
He watched himself again, age fifteen, standing in the Core Room with his hand on the glyphmarked book.
His voice, smooth. Confident.
Then—
A surge of resistance.
The Codex snapped shut.
And burned him.
Not fatally.
But enough to disqualify him.
He remembered being told it was his fault.
Too aggressive.
Too proud.
Too impatient.
But the truth was now on the screen.
> [Compatibility: Artificially Suppressed]
Candidate integrity compromised to maintain Host Delay Protocol.
Target: Greenbottle Lineage.
> You were never meant to succeed.
---
Valen stepped away from the screen.
His hands trembled.
He wanted to scream.
Wanted to break something.
But he didn't.
Because another truth came into focus.
Clearer than any file.
> If the Codex picked Lyle…
> It means it already knew I'd come looking again.
> And now I'm not a candidate…
> I'm an enemy.
---
Behind him, the door slid open.
Instructor Veil entered, slowly, as if approaching a wounded animal.
"You shouldn't have read that."
Valen didn't look at her.
"You lied."
"We protected you."
"You sabotaged me."
"You were never the match. We thought you might be the leash."
That finally made him turn.
His eyes were wild now.
"You think I'm going to watch some broken-boy orphan carry the power that was forged for me?"
Veil said nothing.
Because she didn't need to.
Valen had already made up his mind.
---
That night, the eastern watchpoint signaled a breach.
Only one signature.
High-tier.
But cloaked.
It wasn't the Retainer.
It was Valen Stride.
Leaving the Academy without orders.
And for the first time in years, he wasn't smiling.