Chapter Six — The First Nine Months

At five in the morning, the Academy was already awake.

Everyone except Kai.

The training bells rang through the eastern residence wing.

Rayden was already dressed.

Zayne had been awake for twenty minutes.

Mei was tying her hair back.

Lyra was sitting on the edge of her bed, still half asleep but somehow already irritated with the world.

Aurora was standing by the window, watching the first light spill across the floating towers.

Vikram was brushing his teeth while trying to read his training schedule upside down.

And Kai—

Kai was dead.

Not actually dead.

Just completely unwilling to participate in the morning.

“Five minutes,” he mumbled into his pillow.

Vikram stood beside his bed.

“You said that fifteen minutes ago.”

“Five more.”

“Coach said anyone late has to run the eastern stairs.”

Kai opened one eye.

“How many?”

“Three hundred.”

Kai closed his eye again.

“Tell him I died.”

Vikram sighed.

“Fine.”

He walked toward the door.

Then stopped.

“Also, Aurora asked if you're coming.”

Kai's eyes opened immediately.

“WHAT DID SHE SAY?”

Vikram grinned.

“Got you.”

Kai threw a pillow at him.

---

Ten minutes later, Kai came sprinting through the eastern courtyard.

Barefoot.

One sock in his hand.

The other hanging from his mouth.

His shirt was half tucked in, his hair was pointing in approximately seventeen directions, and he was carrying one shoe under his arm.

“MOVE!”

Students jumped out of his way.

“I'M COMING!”

He nearly crashed into a stone pillar.

“I'm fine!”

He wasn't.

Vikram was already waiting at the training entrance.

He looked Kai up and down.

“Nice uniform.”

Kai looked down.

“Oh.”

He was still holding his sock.

Aurora covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.

Kai saw her.

His entire expression changed.

He immediately straightened.

“Morning.”

Aurora smiled.

“Morning.”

Kai looked at Vikram.

“Did I look cool?”

“No.”

“Thanks.”

The instructor appeared behind them.

“Late.”

Kai turned.

“Technically, I'm early for tomorrow.”

The entire group laughed.

The instructor did not.

“Three hundred stairs.”

Kai's smile disappeared.

“Can I appeal?”

“No.”

“Can I cry?”

“No.”

“Can I die?”

“No.”

Vikram patted his shoulder.

“Good luck.”

Kai looked at him.

“You're my best friend.”

“I know.”

“I hate you.”

“I know.”

---

The training centre was nothing like a gym.

It was an enormous circular chamber carved beneath the Academy.

The ceiling disappeared into darkness.

Stone platforms floated several metres above the ground, connected by narrow bridges.

Streams of water ran through the walls.

Wind moved constantly through the upper levels.

Ice covered one side of the chamber.

Darkness pooled in another.

And at the centre stood a massive circular arena surrounded by rings of glowing symbols.

Above it, suspended in the air, was a giant sphere made of seven different lights.

The Academy called it the Convergence Chamber.

The Seven called it the place where dreams went to die.

Master Aurel stood at the centre.

He looked exactly as terrifying as he had the day they met.

Behind him stood the other instructors.

Master Corven, who taught combat.

Master Elian, who taught elemental control.

Master Seris, who taught mental discipline.

Master Veyra, who taught defensive magic.

Master Rovan, who taught history and strategy.

And several others whose classes the Seven had already learned to fear.

Aurel looked at them.

“Today begins your real training.”

Kai was still climbing the stairs.

Aurel didn't even look at him.

“Four hundred.”

Kai stopped.

“WHAT?”

“Five hundred.”

Kai immediately started running again.

Vikram whispered,

“He's learning.”

---

The first lesson was control.

Not power.

Control.

Rayden was made to stand inside a circle of light while shadows attacked him from every direction.

At first, they overwhelmed him.

Then he learned to disappear into them.

By the end of the morning, he could move through the shadows without leaving a trace.

Master Seris watched from the platform.

“Again.”

Rayden nodded.

Again.

And again.

And again.

He never complained.

Zayne's training was completely different.

He had to control the wind without allowing a single piece of dust to move outside a marked circle.

He failed repeatedly.

He hated failing.

Especially in front of everyone.

But eventually, the air obeyed him.

A single leaf floated in front of him.

It moved exactly where he wanted.

Zayne smiled.

Then a gust knocked Vikram off his feet.

“ZAYNE!”

“Sorry.”

“You're not sorry!”

“No.”

Kai laughed.

---

Kai's fire was supposed to be simple.

It wasn't.

His flames responded to his emotions.

Anger made them violent.

Excitement made them unpredictable.

Fear made them explode.

And embarrassment—

Apparently—

Made them enormous.

Which became a problem when Aurora walked past his training circle.

Kai's flame suddenly shot ten feet into the air.

Everyone stared.

Aurora blinked.

Kai stared at his fire.

Then at Aurora.

Then back at the fire.

Vikram slowly smiled.

“Oh.”

Kai glared at him.

“Don't.”

Vikram whispered,

“Your fire likes her.”

Kai threw a flame at him.

Vikram ducked.

Aurora laughed.

Kai immediately forgot he was supposed to be embarrassed.

---

Aurora was one of the strongest fighters among them.

That surprised everyone.

She was kind.

Soft-spoken.

Patient.

And absolutely terrifying when she entered the combat ring.

Master Corven attacked her with a wooden staff.

She blocked.

He attacked again.

She turned.

Disarmed him.

He swept her legs.

She jumped.

The water from the training pool rose behind her.

Aurora landed.

The water followed.

She sent it forward.

Corven blocked it.

Aurora smiled.

Then she was already moving.

She struck his shoulder.

The instructor stepped back.

“Good.”

Kai was watching from the side.

His eyes were practically glowing.

Vikram nudged him.

“Stop staring.”

“I'm watching training.”

“You've been watching Aurora for six minutes.”

“She's very good.”

“You think she's pretty.”

“I didn't say that.”

“You didn't have to.”

Kai shoved him.

Vikram laughed.

Aurora looked over.

“What are you two doing?”

“Nothing,” Kai said immediately.

Vikram answered at the same time.

“He's in love.”

Kai nearly choked.

Aurora's cheeks turned pink.

Lyra looked between them.

“Oh, this is going to be unbearable.”

---

Mei became frighteningly good at close combat.

She was fast.

Precise.

She didn't waste movement.

While everyone else relied on their abilities, Mei learned how to fight without them.

Master Corven once told her:

“You don't fight like someone your age.”

Mei shrugged.

“I've had practice.”

Nobody asked what she meant.

Lyra was learning something completely different.

Her hair had become almost impossible to contain.

At first she could control a few strands.

Then dozens.

Then hundreds.

By the fourth month, she could send her hair across a room and pick up objects without moving.

One afternoon, she was sitting at breakfast when Mei noticed her cup floating toward her.

“Did you just—”

Lyra's hair placed the cup gently in her hand.

“Yes.”

“That is disgusting.”

“Thank you.”

“Can it do that with food?”

Lyra smiled.

“Yes.”

“I'm keeping you.”

---

And Vikram—

Vikram was becoming something the teachers hadn't expected.

His power wasn't just mind control.

It was mental force.

The stronger his mind became, the stronger he became.

He learned to enter someone's thoughts.

Create illusions.

Block memories.

Manipulate perception.

And, eventually, influence abilities themselves.

But there was a price.

Every time he pushed too far, he suffered headaches so severe he sometimes couldn't stand.

He hid them.

Mostly.

Rayden noticed.

He always noticed.

One evening, Vikram collapsed after training.

Rayden caught him.

“You're pushing too hard.”

Vikram smiled weakly.

“I'm fine.”

“You're not.”

“I'm emotionally fine.”

“Vikram.”

“Physically questionable.”

Rayden sighed.

Then helped him up.

That was how their friendship worked.

Rayden didn't talk much.

Vikram talked enough for both of them.

Somehow, it worked.

---

The Academy was hard.

Harder than any of them had imagined.

There were days when they failed.

Days when they were injured.

Days when their powers refused to cooperate.

Days when the instructors sent them back to their rooms without dinner because they had failed a basic training objective.

Nobody was allowed special treatment because they were the Seven.

If anything—

they were punished more.

“Again.”

“Again.”

“Again.”

The word became the soundtrack of their first months.

There were nights when they sat together in silence, too tired to speak.

There were mornings when someone had to drag someone else out of bed.

There were days when they hated the Academy.

And days when they secretly loved it.

Because somewhere between the bruises and the arguments and the terrible food—

they became friends.

Not ordinary friends.

Something closer.

They had been taken from their lives.

Separated from their families.

Dropped into a world they didn't understand.

And slowly, without realizing it, they began replacing what they had lost with each other.

Nine months passed.

The seven no longer walked through the Academy separately.

They walked together.

Kai and Vikram were inseparable.

Mei and Lyra had become partners in crime.

Aurora had somehow become everyone's emotional support.

Zayne still pretended he didn't care about anyone.

Nobody believed him anymore.

Rayden remained quiet.

But he smiled more.

And Kai—

Kai was still late.

Every.

Single.

Morning.

On the first day of their tenth month, he came running into the training hall with his shoes in his hands.

Master Aurel looked at him.

Kai stopped.

Everyone stared.

He looked down at his feet.

Then back at Aurel.

“Before you say anything…”

Aurel raised an eyebrow.

Kai smiled.

“I brought both socks today.”

Vikram doubled over laughing.

Even Rayden smiled.

Aurora shook her head.

And for the first time—

Master Aurel laughed too.

Just once.

Very quietly.

None of them noticed the Headmaster watching from the balcony above.

She looked at the seven children.

Then toward the eastern horizon.

Far beyond the Academy.

A dark mark had appeared in the sky.

A crack.

Tiny.

Almost invisible.

But it was there.

And somewhere on the other side of the world, a man was holding the first Key in his hand.

Veyr looked at it.

And smiled.

The Seven had been training for nine months.

They were getting stronger.

So was he.