The wind atop the Northern Tower tasted of iron and cloud.
From up here, the Academy looked almost peaceful sprawling courtyards, glimmering domes, enchanted lights drifting like fireflies. But beneath that beauty was a pulse of danger I could feel in my bones.
"This way."
Aster's voice drew me back. He led me through a narrow corridor carved from obsidian, runes glowing faintly along the walls. At the end stood a door marked with a silver crest a six-pointed star crossed by two blades.
"The Celestial Division," he said simply. "Your new unit."
He pushed open the door.
Inside, the air was thick with magic. Five figures turned to look at us.
Each radiated power in a different way a silent storm of presence that made the air hum.
The first, a tall woman with crimson eyes and a scar across her jaw, leaned against a table littered with maps.
"So this is the prodigy," she said dryly. "The one who lit up the entire Council Hall."
Aster ignored the tone. "Erian Vale. You'll be training under me from now on."
Her smirk widened. "Lucky boy."
The second figure, a boy no older than sixteen with silver hair and eyes like molten gold, gave a lazy wave. "Hi. Don't mind her. She eats sarcasm for breakfast."
The third a quiet man sharpening a blade didn't even look up. "If he slows us down, he's gone."
The fourth, a girl cloaked in black feathers, whispered, "He shines too bright. The stars always burn the hands that touch them."
And the fifth… wasn't human.
A shadow moved at the far corner tall, faceless, but with eyes like cracks in the night. It bowed slightly toward Aster.
Erian swallowed hard. "You call that a team?"
Aster's mouth curved faintly. "No. I call them survivors."
He turned to the others. "He's with us now. Treat him accordingly."
The woman with the scar chuckled. "So you're protecting him personally? That's new."
Aster didn't answer. He simply walked to the far side of the chamber, gesturing for me to follow.
"This will be your training hall, dorm, and field post," he said. "The Celestial Division handles missions the Council won't speak of publicly. You'll see the world's truth and it won't be kind."
I nodded, though my heart raced. "I didn't ask for this."
"No one ever does." His tone softened, almost imperceptibly. "But sometimes, the stars choose poorly."
Before I could reply, the crimson-eyed woman barked, "Heads up!"
A blade of light sliced through the air toward me fast, lethal. Instinct took over.
My hand rose, and a burst of silver radiance erupted, dissolving the attack into harmless sparks.
The woman grinned. "Good reflex. Maybe you won't die on your first mission."
Aster's eyes lingered on me not with approval, but something heavier.
Concern.
Then he said, "Training starts tomorrow. Rest for now, Vale."
As he walked away, I heard the faintest whisper beneath his breath words meant for no one but himself.
"…the stars never choose by accident."