Veiled was never quiet.
But this morning, it was too quiet.
When Elior returned, there were no questions, no reprimands. Just long glances and hushed whispers in the halls.
Someone had seen him leave.
Someone had told.
Internal Review
He was summoned within the hour.
Not to the academy's boardroom—but to Sublevel Three, beneath Veiled's surface.
The room was sterile, metal, and cold.
Three figures waited inside. Only one spoke.
"We're aware you left the perimeter last night."
Elior stayed silent.
"You received contact from an external glyph carrier. Possibly Kade. Is that correct?"
Still silent.
"You didn't report it. That's a violation."
The voice leaned closer, darker now.
"But what concerns us more… is this."
A hologram blinked to life above the table.
Kade's data shard.
Elior froze.
"We intercepted the playback. You watched it."
Someone had been watching.
"You're either with us, or you're with him."
Mira's Doubt
Later, in the training bay, Mira found him alone.
She didn't yell.
She didn't even ask where he'd been.
"They're monitoring your room."
Elior nodded.
"They think you're turning."
A beat.
"Are they wrong?"
He looked at her.
Wanted to say no. Wanted to explain the glyphs, the message, the fire that burned in him since the Rift. But instead—
"Do you think they're wrong?"
Mira didn't answer.
She just left.
A Visit in the Dark
That night, another letter appeared.
Not slipped under his door—this one embedded in the wall, like it had been burned into the paint.
"Third Ring is cracking.
They'll try to seal it.
You must not let them.
—K"
Elior's sleep came in flashes of fire and static.
He woke to sirens.
Containment Protocol
The Third Ring—Veiled's deepest vault—was under emergency lockdown.
Glyphs had appeared across the outer gate. Self-activating. Reactive. Living.
Veiled's teams scrambled.
Juno shouted into comms. Guards locked every exit.
And in the chaos, one word echoed over the speakers:
"Breach."
Elior pushed through the crowd.
The vault was glowing.
Glyphs pulsed in rhythmic patterns. Like a heartbeat.
Then—through the shimmering air—a shape.
Kade.
He was inside the Ring. Smiling.
"Now you see."
The Choice
Mira appeared at Elior's side, weapon drawn.
"He's destabilizing the Ring. We have to shut it down."
Elior looked at her.
Then at Kade.
"He's not attacking," he whispered. "He's… calling it."
"Calling what?"
Elior stepped forward.
Mira shouted after him.
"Don't you dare!"
Kade extended a hand through the glyphlight.
"You don't belong to them, Elior. You never did."
Behind him, the Ring began to open.