LEONA (Cadet - Fire Manipulation, 3 Star mage):
I never liked silence.
Silence meant the aftermath—of a battle, a secret, a truth you couldn't unhear.
And now, silence wrapped itself around us like a funeral shroud.
We were deep in Sector 9. No civilians left here—just scorched earth, dead air, and the occasional mutated scavenger sniffing for mana.
I followed behind Olamilekan and Joshua, staying a few paces back. Ibou was ahead, his fingers twitching with nervous precision as he scanned the terrain with his handheld.
I didn't know Ibou well, but you could tell a lot by how someone walked after seeing death up close. Ibou walked like someone who'd seen it too many times and started keeping secrets from it.
Joshua looked better than last time I saw him—stronger, darker, quieter. The way his shadow magic curled around his fingers like it had a mind of its own… it used to scare me. Now? It just made sense. Everything was changing. Why shouldn't we?
Olamilekan though…
He scared me.
Not because of what he could do—but because he didn't flinch anymore. Not when people screamed. Not when monsters bled purple. Not even when that strange glyph last week burned through the sky and whispered his name.
There was something in him. Something ancient.
But I didn't ask.
None of us did.
Not even Ibou, and he was the one who got real quiet around Ola, like he knew something we didn't.
"So what are we looking for, exactly?" I asked, finally breaking the silence.
Ibou didn't look back. "A pulse. Something massive shook the mana grid five days ago. Origin point narrowed down to this quadrant."
"And if it's another beast?" I asked.
"We kill it," Joshua said simply.
I didn't press. I was the only non-team member in this group. My fire magic was strong, yeah—but I didn't have what they had. The history. I was just here because I scored high in last month's trial. Earned a spot.
Sometimes, I wished I hadn't.
We hiked up the ridge. Wind howled between crumbling towers of steel. The sun above was blackened—always was now. Like the sky had been punched in the face and never recovered.
That's when we saw it.
A shadow against the skyline. No, not a shadow.
A tower.
Tall. Seamless. Pitch black. Made of some strange metal that looked like obsidian but shimmered like water when you stared too long.
"What the hell is that?" I whispered.
Olamilekan stepped forward, jaw clenched. He didn't speak.
Joshua did. "That wasn't here before."
"No structure of this magnitude exists in the archives," Ibou added. "Not even in pre-event schematics."
"So it just… appeared?"
Ibou turned to me. "No. It was brought here."
That's when I noticed something else.
The tower wasn't just tall. It pulsed. Like a heartbeat. And it wasn't a beacon. It was a summons.
A call.
We moved closer, and with every step, my fire reacted—sparks flickered from my palm unbidden. Joshua's shadow hissed. Ola's eyes glowed faintly. Ibou tapped a symbol on his neck, and it shimmered with gold.
Magic was screaming. And we were walking toward it.
At the base of the tower, an archway formed as we approached—like it knew we were coming. No doors. Just darkness, beckoning.
Etched into the arch was a message, in a language none of us spoke.
Except Ola.
He stared at it for too long. His eyes narrowed. Then he looked away.
"What does it say?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Nothing."
But he was lying. I knew it.
Before I could press, the ground beneath us cracked. Something moved inside the tower.
Not a machine.
A roar.
A living one.
Ibou raised his device. "Scans show ten distinct mana signatures. Each one stronger than the last. Structured vertically. That means—"
"Ten floors," Joshua said, his voice flat.
"Each housing… what? Guardians?" I asked.
"Beasts," Ola said. "It's a trial."
We all looked at him.
"How do you know?" I asked.
His eyes glinted. "I've seen one before. In a dream."
Nobody spoke for a while.
Finally, Ibou turned to us. "The NSDA will find this soon. But if we go in now, we control the narrative. We learn its secrets before they do."
Joshua nodded. "And destroy anything inside that threatens the outside."
I swallowed. "You're really planning to go in?"
"Leona," Ibou said calmly, "we don't have a choice."
He tapped his comms. "This is Ibou, Cadre Alpha. We've found the source. Initiating exploration protocol. Team is entering the structure. Await further data."
Ola was already walking through the arch.
Joshua followed.
Ibou next.
I hesitated.
Just for a second.
Then I followed.
The tower swall
owed us whole.
And somewhere above, on one of those ten impossible floors, something ancient stirred awake—
—and it knew our names.