Chapter 5: The Null Zone Incident
POV: Adam/Pavel
The summons came at dawn, delivered by a runner who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. Adam was in the middle of helping distribute breakfast when the young soldier approached, his expression carefully neutral.
"Pavel Kozlov?"
Adam nodded, wiping his hands on a kitchen rag.
"You're to report to the special training ground immediately. Mixed unit exercise."
"Mixed unit. That means Grisha and First Army together. That means..."
"Magnificent cheese sculptures are plotting world domination!"
The runner blinked. "Right. Just... report to Instructor Vadim. He's expecting you."
As the soldier hurried away, Adam felt his stomach drop. Mixed unit training meant close proximity to multiple Grisha using their abilities simultaneously. With his [Nullify] field still growing in power, the potential for disaster was enormous.
"I should find an excuse. Fake an illness. Anything to avoid this."
But even as the thought formed, Adam knew he couldn't. Avoiding the training would draw exactly the kind of attention he was trying to avoid. Better to go, keep his head down, and hope his abilities stayed contained.
The special training ground was located on the camp's eastern edge, where the morning sun could illuminate the proceedings without casting shadows across the exercise area. Adam arrived to find a mixed group already assembled—a dozen First Army soldiers standing in formation alongside six Grisha in their distinctive colored coats.
At the front of the group stood a man who could only be Instructor Vadim. He was tall and lean, with the kind of precise bearing that spoke of years of military discipline. His coat marked him as a Squaller, and the way he held himself suggested he was very good at what he did.
"Ah, Kozlov." Vadim's gaze swept over Adam with professional assessment. "I understand you've been having some... difficulties since your injury."
"Dancing bears love moonlight!"
Several of the Grisha exchanged glances. Adam caught sight of familiar faces—Ivan and Fedyor among them, along with others he recognized from his kitchen duty proximity farming.
And there, standing slightly apart from the main group, was a young woman with pale blonde hair and the kind of sharp beauty that suggested noble breeding. She wore a blue kefta that marked her as a Squaller, and everything about her posture screamed confidence bordering on arrogance.
"Zoya Nazyalensky. Oh, this is going to be bad."
"Today's exercise," Vadim announced, "will focus on coordination between Grisha and infantry units. The purpose is to familiarize both groups with combined tactics that may prove useful in... upcoming operations."
Adam's blood chilled. Upcoming operations. The Fold crossing was coming, and they were preparing for it.
"Grisha will demonstrate their abilities while infantry personnel observe positioning and tactical applications. Questions?"
Zoya raised her hand. "Will we be working with the full range of our abilities, or should we maintain restraint for the infantry's comfort?"
Her tone was polite, but there was an undercurrent of disdain that made several of the soldiers shift uncomfortably.
"Full demonstration, Miss Nazyalensky. Our infantry need to understand what Grisha are truly capable of."
"Full demonstration. With me standing right here with an anti-magic field."
Adam tried to edge toward the back of the group, but Vadim noticed the movement.
"Kozlov, front and center. Since you'll be working with cartographic units, you need to understand how Grisha abilities affect navigation and positioning."
"No. No, no, no."
But Adam had no choice. He shuffled forward until he was standing perhaps two meters from where Zoya had positioned herself for the demonstration.
Close enough for her to smell his fear-sweat. Close enough for his [Nullify] field to interfere with whatever she was about to do.
"Miss Nazyalensky, if you would demonstrate basic wind manipulation for tactical applications."
Zoya stepped forward with fluid grace, raising her hands. Adam could feel the buildup of power, like static electricity before a thunderstorm.
"Maybe if I step back slowly, she won't notice..."
"Wind can be used for reconnaissance," Zoya began, her voice carrying clearly across the training ground. "Creating air currents to carry sound, or to disturb enemy positioning."
She gestured, and the air around her hands began to swirl. What should have been a controlled demonstration of wind manipulation instead sputtered like a candle in a hurricane.
The carefully formed air currents dissolved into random breezes that barely rustled the grass. Zoya's expression shifted from confidence to confusion as her power flickered and died.
"I..." She tried again, hands moving in the precise gestures she'd performed thousands of times before. Nothing happened. The air remained stubbornly still.
"Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. She's in my range."
[PROXIMITY BONUS ACTIVATED]
[GRISHA PRESENCE: ZOYA NAZYALENSKY]
[+15 EXP GAINED]
[EMOTIONAL INTENSITY: PANIC x1.4]
[BONUS EXP: +6]
[WARNING: NULLIFICATION FIELD DETECTION IMMINENT]
[CURRENT EXP: 54/100]
Zoya lowered her hands, her face flushed with embarrassment and growing anger. "There's something wrong. I can't access my abilities properly."
Instructor Vadim frowned. "Perhaps you're overtired. Ivan, would you assist with a demonstration of Heartrender capabilities?"
Ivan stepped forward, but as he moved within Adam's range, the same thing happened. The subtle awareness that Heartrenders maintained of biological functions—heartbeats, breathing patterns, blood flow—simply vanished. He stood there for a moment, hands raised, looking as confused as Zoya.
"I can't..." Ivan's voice was tight with barely controlled alarm. "My abilities are completely suppressed."
The watching soldiers began to murmur. Nothing like this had ever happened before.
"They're all going to figure it out. Every Grisha in this camp is going to know there's something wrong with me."
As panic flooded Adam's system, something unexpected happened. The [Nullify] field, which had been a steady presence at the edge of his awareness, suddenly expanded.
[STRESS THRESHOLD EXCEEDED]
[EMERGENCY NULLIFICATION PROTOCOLS ACTIVATED]
[FIELD EXPANSION: 1 METER → 3 METERS]
[DURATION: TEMPORARY]
[WARNING: ALL GRISHA WITHIN RANGE AFFECTED]
The effect was immediate and catastrophic. Every Grisha within a three-meter radius of Adam suddenly found their abilities completely severed. Fedyor, who had been preparing to demonstrate healing techniques, stumbled as his connection to his power vanished. Two other Squaller trainees who had moved closer to observe found themselves grasping at empty air.
Six Grisha, all rendered temporarily powerless simultaneously.
The silence that followed was deafening.
"What," Instructor Vadim said slowly, his eyes scanning the affected Grisha before settling on the only common factor among them, "is happening here?"
All eyes turned to Adam, who stood in the center of what was clearly a dead magic zone. He could feel the weight of their suspicion, their fear, their growing certainty that he was somehow responsible.
"I need a cover story. Something, anything that explains this without revealing the system."
"I can explain," Adam said desperately.
"Magical vegetables cause wind disturbances!"
The absurdity of the statement hung in the air like a challenge to reality itself.
"Did he just blame vegetables for suppressing Grisha abilities?" one of the infantry soldiers whispered.
Zoya's eyes were blazing with fury. "You. There's something wrong with you, isn't there? Every time you're near me, my power flickers."
"She's been tracking the incidents. She knows."
Adam backed away, and immediately the Grisha began to report that their abilities were returning. The correlation was impossible to ignore.
"Crystallized moonbeams make terrible fashion accessories!"
"Stop," Vadim commanded, his voice cutting through the chaos. "Everyone step back. Now."
The group formed a rough circle around Adam, who stood alone in the center like a specimen under examination. He could feel the [Nullify] field contracting back to its normal range, but the damage was done.
"Kozlov," Vadim said carefully, "what are you?"
The question hung in the air like an executioner's blade. Adam opened his mouth, scrambled for some explanation that wouldn't end with him being handed over to the Darkling for experimentation.
"I think," he said slowly, "I might have caught something."
"Rainbow fish are learning to tap dance!"
"Caught something?" Zoya stepped forward, her expression dangerous. "What exactly do you think you caught that suppresses Grisha abilities?"
"Think. Think! What could explain this?"
"Grisha flu," Adam said with desperate conviction.
"Seventeen purple elephants are planning a coup!"
"Grisha flu," Vadim repeated flatly.
"Butterflies whisper secrets to sleeping cucumbers!"
Ivan made a disgusted sound. "There's no such thing as Grisha flu. That's not how the Small Science works."
But Adam could see doubt creeping into some of the faces around him. The idea was absurd, but it was also the only explanation being offered for an impossible phenomenon.
"Maybe," Fedyor said slowly, "there are things about Grisha abilities we don't fully understand. Interactions with... other conditions."
"Please. Please let them buy this ridiculous story."
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," Zoya snapped. "Grisha abilities aren't susceptible to disease. They're based on manipulation of matter at the molecular level, not—"
"Enchanted teacups are holding secret meetings!"
The speech curse chose that moment to deliver its most helpful contribution yet. The sheer absurdity of the statement, combined with Adam's wide-eyed, innocent expression, painted a picture of someone clearly not in control of his mental faculties.
Vadim studied Adam for a long moment, then shook his head. "Medical evaluation. Immediately. I want healers to examine him for any... unusual conditions."
"Medical evaluation. That could be good or very, very bad."
As the group began to disperse, Adam caught sight of movement at the edge of the training ground. A small cluster of observers had gathered to watch the exercise, and among them he spotted a familiar dark-haired figure.
Alina was staring at him with an expression of growing comprehension, her eyes wide with something that might have been recognition.
"She saw everything. She knows something is different about me."
Their gazes met across the distance, and for a moment, Adam saw past the confusion and fear to something deeper. Understanding, maybe. Or the beginning of it.
Then Zoya's voice cut through his thoughts like a blade.
"I don't care what the healers say," she announced to anyone who would listen. "There's something fundamentally wrong with that man, and I intend to find out what it is."
[RELATIONSHIP UPDATE: ZOYA NAZYALENSKY]
[AFFINITY: -10 POINTS]
[STATUS: ANNOYED]
[WARNING: CONTINUED SCRUTINY LIKELY]
[SURVIVAL BONUS: ESCAPED MAJOR EXPOSURE]
[+200 EXP GAINED]
[CURRENT EXP: 260/100]
[LEVEL UP AVAILABLE]
Adam trudged away from the training ground, acutely aware of the hostile stares following him. He'd survived the incident, barely, but at a cost. Zoya now saw him as a personal mystery to be solved, and the other Grisha would be watching him with new suspicion.
But he'd also gained something valuable: confirmation that his abilities were growing stronger under stress. The emergency expansion of his [Nullify] field showed that the system was adapting, evolving to meet threats.
The question was whether that evolution would happen fast enough to save him from the consequences of his own power.
As he approached the medical tent for his "evaluation," Adam touched the hidden messages from Kaz and tried not to think about how much more complicated things had just become.
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