Morning came too clean.
The sky was clear, the streets below humming with ordinary life—cars, voices, distant laughter. It felt wrong after the night before, like the world had decided to pretend nothing had happened.
Ari couldn't stop replaying it in his head.
The way Kael had moved.
The way power bent around him like it wanted to obey.
"You're staring again."
Ari blinked and looked up. Mika stood across the kitchen, arms crossed, eyes sharp. She'd been like that since dawn—focused, alert, like something inside her had clicked into place.
"Can you blame me?" Ari muttered. "Our stepdad crushed a god-tier hunter like he was swatting a fly."
Kael set three cups on the table.
"Correction," he said calmly. "I neutralized a destabilized entity before it caused mass casualties."
Ari stared. "That's… worse."
Kael almost smiled.
They didn't go to school.
For the first time ever, Kael didn't even pretend.
"There are moments," he said as they walked beyond the city limits, "when normal life becomes a liability."
The land around them changed the farther they went—trees growing taller, air quieter, the ground humming faintly beneath their feet.
Mika felt it immediately.
"This place," she whispered. "It's layered."
Kael nodded. "Good. You're sensing the boundary."
They stopped in a wide clearing surrounded by ancient stone pillars, half-buried and cracked with age. Symbols etched into them glowed faintly as Kael stepped forward.
"This is a dead training zone," he explained. "Disconnected from civilian space. Whatever happens here won't bleed out."
Ari swallowed. "You've been hiding places like this… everywhere, haven't you?"
"Yes."
"…That explains a lot."
Kael turned to face them.
"Today isn't about power," he said. "It's about control."
He raised his hand, and the ground split.
Not violently—precisely.
A shape emerged from the earth, forming itself from stone and condensed rift energy. Humanoid. Faceless. Silent.
A training construct.
Ari's heart jumped. "You said no monsters."
"I said no monsters," Kael replied. "This is a mirror."
The construct moved.
Fast.
Ari barely had time to react before it lunged. Instinct took over—he raised his arm, panic surging—
—and the air hardened.
The construct slammed into something invisible and rebounded, cracking as if it had struck steel.
Ari froze.
Slowly, he looked at his hand.
A translucent barrier shimmered around him, faint lines of energy locking together like a lattice.
"I— I didn't—"
Kael's voice cut through, sharp but steady. "Don't think. Feel."
The construct attacked again.
This time, Ari stepped forward.
The barrier shifted, reshaping into a curved edge that slammed into the construct, sending it skidding across the ground.
Ari's breathing was wild. "Did I do that?"
"Yes," Kael said. "You project defensive force subconsciously. Rare. Extremely valuable."
Mika didn't get time to process that.
Her construct emerged without warning—leaner, faster.
It vanished.
Mika's eyes widened. "Where—?"
Behind her.
She spun—
—and the world fractured.
For a split second, everything slowed. Lines appeared—paths, angles, weak points. Mika moved through them like she'd always known how.
She sidestepped, grabbed the construct's arm, and pulled.
Not with strength.
With direction.
The construct collapsed inward, energy unraveling as if its core had been untied.
Silence fell.
Mika stared at her hands.
Kael exhaled slowly.
"Spatial intuition," he said. "You perceive structural truth. If refined… you could dismantle gods."
Ari looked at her, stunned. "Okay, no pressure or anything."
Mika laughed—short, breathless. "Says the walking fortress."
Kael waved his hand, and the constructs dissolved into light.
"This is why I stayed hidden," he said quietly. "Power awakens faster when danger approaches."
Ari frowned. "So… Darius wasn't the real problem."
"No," Kael replied.
The air shifted.
The pillars around them pulsed once—then dimmed.
Kael's gaze lifted toward the treeline.
"They found us," he said.
A presence pressed against the edge of the zone—cold, observing, distant.
Not attacking.
Watching.
Mika felt it too. "That's not a hunter."
"No," Kael agreed. "That's an organization."
A symbol burned briefly in the air beyond the barrier—an eye fractured into seven segments.
Ari's chest tightened. "Friends of yours?"
Kael's expression hardened.
"Enemies," he said. "Old ones."
The symbol vanished.
The forest went quiet again.
Kael turned back to them, his voice firm.
"Training just became mandatory," he said. "And secrecy is no longer an option."
Ari clenched his fists, energy flickering instinctively around him.
Mika straightened, eyes sharp, fearless.
"Good," she said. "I'm done being in the dark."
Kael looked at them—really looked at them—and nodded once.
"Then welcome," he said, "to the hunt."
Far away, something ancient adjusted its gaze.
And for the first time in years—
Kael Ryven prepared for war.