The mess hall still smelled faintly of steel and ozone when Kiro and Ara stepped into the corridor.
The trail was faint, but Kiro didn't need footprints — the golden thread of the fleeing spearman pulsed faintly in his mind, a beacon cutting through the dark.
"North wing," he murmured.
Ara kept pace beside him. "That's where the upper towers are. Students aren't allowed past the fifth landing."
"Rules," Kiro said, "are for people without a reason to break them."
They climbed the first stairwell two at a time, boots thudding against stone. The torches here burned a strange greenish hue, casting shadows that seemed to stretch just a little too far.
Ara glanced at him. "You're sure it's not a trap?"
"Oh, it's a trap," Kiro said. "The question is whether it's for him… or for us."
The thread pulled him past the fourth landing — where the air grew colder — then up to the fifth, where a locked iron gate barred the way. A weathered plaque read: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY – ARCHIVE TOWER.
Ara touched the lock. "Sealed with Talent. We're not getting—"
Kiro reached out, brushing the thread's edge. The lock clicked open.
Ara blinked. "What did you—"
"Later," he said, pushing through.
The stairs above were narrower, spiraling tightly. Here, the walls weren't bare stone but etched with strange glyphs that shimmered faintly when the torchlight touched them.
They were halfway up when the first sound hit — a low, wet scrape.
Ara froze. "That's not the spearman."
"No," Kiro agreed. "It's something he woke up."
The thread pulled them toward a landing where the stairs opened into a long hallway lined with iron doors. Every few seconds, one of the doors trembled — something inside testing the restraints.
"Archives," Ara whispered. "But not books."
Kiro didn't answer; he was focused on the pulsing thread. It led to the very end of the hall, where the spearman was frantically working on another sealed door.
The man looked up, eyes wide. "You—how did you—"
"Run out of breath already?" Kiro stepped closer. "That was sloppy."
The spearman's knuckles whitened on the latch. "You don't understand. They're here."
"Who's—" Ara began.
The wall to their left exploded.
A massive shape surged through the dust — a hulking figure of chained stone, its eyes glowing with molten light. Two more crashed through the far end, their chains dragging like metal snakes.
Ara swore. "Containment constructs. Those aren't supposed to be awake."
The spearman bolted, not toward Kiro or Ara, but into the newly created hole in the wall.
Kiro lunged for him — but one of the constructs' chains whipped around, smashing into the floor between them. The shockwave knocked Ara off her feet.
The threads were chaos now, golden lines tangling in his vision as fear and violence spiked.
Kiro grabbed Ara's arm, hauling her up. "We're not winning this in a hallway."
She gestured toward the wall's jagged gap. "Then we follow the idiot."
They plunged through the breach into another stairwell — this one older, steeper, and unlit. Kiro's mental grip on the spearman's thread tightened.
"Two floors up," he muttered. "He's headed for the roof."
"Why the roof?" Ara asked, ducking a falling beam as the constructs tore after them.
"Only one way to find out," Kiro said.
The air grew colder as they climbed, until frost crunched under their boots. They burst through a final door — and the night sky swallowed them.
The roof was a wide circular platform, the Academy's spires stretching into the darkness. At its center stood a tall, cloaked figure Kiro recognized instantly.
The observer from the arena.
The spearman dropped to one knee before the figure. "I delivered the breach, as ordered."
The figure didn't look at him. Their voice was smooth, but edged. "And yet, you brought guests."
Kiro stepped forward. "You've been watching me since day one. Why?"
The figure's head tilted slightly. "Because you don't belong to them, Kiro. You belong to me."
Ara drew her blade. "Over my dead body."
"That," the figure said softly, "can be arranged."
Chains rattled behind them — the constructs had reached the roof.
Kiro's mind was already moving. He could control one, maybe two minds at once without losing his grip. But here…
He might have to push himself further than ever before.