Chapter 7 — "First Sparks of War"
The gates sealed shut behind him with a hiss of pneuma and sigils, and Erik found himself standing in what could only be described as a sanctified threshold between mortality and magnitude.
This wasn't just an academy.This was a civilization built around power.
The Grand Atrium of Induction spread out before him—an impossibly vast hall that defied normal geometry, its dimensions warping and shifting with every glance. Great banners hung from arcing obsidian ribs high above, each representing one of the Six Foundational Disciplines:
Aethercraft
Sorcery
Occult Engineering
Soul Sciences
Mystic Alchemy
Elemental Synthesis
Each banner pulsed with living glyphs and shuddered as Erik passed under them. He could feel them appraising him.
New Initiates—hundreds of them—stood scattered in awe, their expressions ranging from wonder to terror. Some looked like hardened warriors; others, like wide-eyed scholars. A few weren't even entirely human.
A booming voice cut through the awe.
"Eyes front, worms!"
A man descended from the air in a flash of fire and gold. He wore armor of shifting brass and blue flame, a long cloak trailing behind him made of interwoven spell-thread and chain. His eyes burned with inner light. A floating sigil hovered over his shoulder: Dean-Instructor Kriegwald, Chair of Thaumatodynamics.
Erik's breath hitched at the name. Kriegwald. It meant "War's Authority" in Old Velhazic.
"You stand in the center of Velhraz—world-arc, soul-forge, and crucible of the cosmos. You are nothing. But you may yet earn the right to become something more."
The floor trembled. Above them, stars blinked into view, forming constellations that twisted into Arcane Equations. Every student felt the pulse of ancient power, of truths carved into the fabric of existence.
"Those of you bearing active Glyphs, step forward."
Only a dozen did.
Erik stepped among them, and immediately noticed the scrutiny. A few smirked. Others sneered. He caught one boy's cold stare—platinum hair, icy aura, and a robe woven with midnight steel threads. He bore a triple-inscribed crest: House Drachenlicht.
Elite bloodline. One of the Founding Families.
The boy didn't speak, but his expression said enough: You don't belong here, orphan.
Dean Kriegwald's eyes flicked across the group.
"You twelve are now Initiates of the Arc Disciplines. The rest will fight for admission into the Standard Cohorts. Some of you will die. Some of you will rise. All of you will bleed."
He raised a hand, and before Erik could react, a beam of golden lightning speared down and struck them all.
Pain surged through Erik's body—not physical, but soul-deep. The Glyph on his hand blazed to life, and he felt it burn new lines across his skin, branching like veins of molten fire. When it faded, the others stared at their own bodies in shock. They had been marked.
"Your Glyphs are now bound to Velhraz. Any attempt to leave before a year passes will result in complete psychic annihilation. Congratulations."
What?!
"Now—survive your first night."
The floor split apart, revealing a spiraling chasm below. Students began to fall—no, they were pulled—into it by an unseen force.
Erik tried to resist, but the world bent around him. The next thing he knew, he was falling through violet storms, twisting labyrinths, and whispering shadows.
When he landed, it was in a place that smelled of rust, ozone, and something older than time.
A single phrase burned itself into the air above him, carved in floating runes:
"Trial Zone: Sector Θ – The Bleeding Vaults"
And beneath that, in smaller text:
Survive for 12 hours. Kill or be killed. Allies optional. Watch for Warden Entities. Victory = Advancement. Failure = Deletion.
He wasn't alone. Others dropped around him, dazed. One girl got up and immediately vanished—vaporized by a crimson lance of light from the shadows.
Erik scrambled for cover behind a jagged obsidian pillar, breathing hard, blood pumping.
The Academy had begun its true lesson.
And it wasn't about learning.
It was about who would survive long enough to learn.
End of Chapter 7