The wind howled through the camp's canvas, lifting the blue flags that cracked above our heads. Beneath the azure sky, the mountain stretched its stony flanks all the way to the horizon.
Before me, about three hundred students. Three hundred faces bathed in light, three hundred breaths suspended in the cold of morning. Eleven perfectly aligned units. At their head: Ayame, Miyu, Kaelthys, Talyra, Luno, Kairen, Lyss, Rynelle, Erius, Naël… and, at the center, the support unit led by Hikari — my keystone.
To my left, Sylvara, straight as a blade, her gaze grave, almost solemn.
To my right, Reina, motionless, hands clasped behind her back — the coldness of a queen before war.
I took a step. Then another. Each crunch of stone sounded like the beat of a drum. The silence weighed heavy. One could have heard a dragon's scale fall. I let that silence linger — so that each would hold their breath, so that tension would rise in rhythm with my heart.
Then I spoke.
