Location:Obsidian Academy + Mission Territories
Date/Time:Late Scorchwind, 9939 AZI
Realm:Lower Realm
The Mission Hall board smelled of fresh jade lacquer and barely contained desperation.
Contracts hung in vertical rows — jade panels inscribed with mission parameters, reward amounts, and danger rankings, each one glowing faintly with the formation work that kept the ink from smudging. White-ranked contracts on the left wall: herb gathering, minor deliveries, city patrol routes. Green-ranked in the centre: beast subjugation, escort duty, resource extraction. Blue and Red on the right, locked behind a formation barrier that pulsed every time a student got too close without the appropriate clearance sigil.
Three months since enrollment. The lockout had lifted. The board was open.
Jayde stood in front of it with her hands behind her back, and Takara on her shoulder, and a feeling in her chest she recognised from another life.
