Lyra's POV
The portal spits us out onto hard ground that knocks the air from my lungs.
I gasp, rolling onto my side. My hands press against cold stone covered in frost. The air here is thin and bitter, burning my throat with each breath.
"Everyone accounted for?" Zain's voice cuts through my disorientation.
I force myself to sit up. We're on some kind of ancient platform surrounded by ruins—crumbling walls covered in the same glowing symbols from the library. Above us, an alien sky stretches endlessly, three moons hanging where Earth's sun should be.
"Where are we?" the girl with daggers asks, already on her feet and scanning for threats. Up close, I can see she's about my age, with dark hair pulled back in a messy ponytail and eyes that miss nothing.
"A Starborn outpost," Zain says, brushing dust off his uniform like we didn't just jump through an impossible portal. "Based on the moon configuration, I'd say we're in the Kreshna system. Roughly eight hundred light-years from Astrana."
The boy with glasses makes a strangled noise. "Eight hundred—we can't get back! We're going to die here!"
"Calm down," the silver-haired girl says gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. Healing magic pulses from her touch, soothing his panic. "I'm Aria. What's your name?"
"R-Ren," he stammers. "Ren Takeshi. I'm just a B-Rank technomancer. I shouldn't even be here. I was just reading about ancient computing systems and then—"
"And then you got pulled into the most legendary activation in academy history," the girl with daggers interrupts. "I'm Nyx. And honestly? This beats hiding from bullies in the stacks." She grins at me. "So you're the Starborn Heir, huh? You don't look like ancient alien royalty."
"I'm not," I say quickly, finding my voice. "I'm just—I'm F-Rank. There's been a mistake."
"The Codex doesn't make mistakes," Zain says flatly. He's studying me with those unsettling gold eyes. "Your magical signature is suppressed. Someone sealed your power when you were young. Very young, based on how deep the seals go."
"That's impossible. I've always been F-Rank."
"Have you?" He steps closer, and I have to force myself not to back away. Zain Korathi is terrifying up close—not because he's threatening me, but because of the sheer power radiating off him like heat from a star. "Think. Any gaps in your early memories? Times you felt different but couldn't explain why?"
I open my mouth to say no, but then I remember. Being five years old. A doctor's appointment with Headmaster Vorn. Needles and pain and crying. Waking up feeling hollow, like something vital had been carved out of me.
"Oh god," I whisper. "He did this to me. My adoptive father."
"Why would he suppress a child's magic?" Aria asks, horrified.
Before anyone can answer, the ruins around us start to glow. The same symbols from the library activate, spreading across every surface. The Codex's voice echoes through the air:
"TRIAL ONE: PROVE YOUR WORTH. COMBAT EVALUATION COMMENCING."
"Combat?" Ren squeaks. "No one said anything about combat!"
The ground trembles. Then cracks. Ancient metal constructs tear themselves free from beneath the stone—humanoid machines with glowing cores and bladed arms. Six of them. Each one radiates power that makes my skin prickle.
"Defense protocols," Zain says, already summoning his magic. Ice crystals form around his hands, razor-sharp and deadly. "They're testing if we're strong enough to continue."
"I vote we're not!" Ren shouts as the constructs charge.
Everything happens at once.
Nyx dissolves into shadows, reappearing behind a construct to drive her daggers into its joints. Aria's healing magic shifts into a shield that deflects a blade strike. Ren pulls out a small device that shoots electricity, shorting out one construct's systems.
Zain is a force of nature. Ice spears pierce through metal like paper. He moves with lethal precision, each strike calculated to maximum effect. Within seconds, he's destroyed three constructs.
I'm useless.
An F-Rank mage in a battle between B-Rank and SSS-Rank fighters. I can't do anything but stumble backward as a construct turns toward me, its blade arm raised to strike.
"Lyra, move!" Nyx screams.
I can't. Fear roots me in place. The blade swings down.
Then something inside me breaks.
Not my body. Something deeper. One of Zain's suppression seals, cracking under the pressure of life-or-death terror.
Power floods through me like lightning. My body moves on instinct, my hand raising toward the construct. Energy I've never felt before—brilliant, fierce, mine—erupts from my palm.
Starfire. Pure white-gold flames that turn the construct to melting slag in seconds.
The silence that follows is deafening.
I stare at my hand, still glowing with residual power. The holographic display above my head flickers and changes:
D-RANK - LEVEL 1 UNLOCKED
"Holy shit," Nyx breathes.
The remaining constructs power down, dissolving into light. The Codex's voice returns:
"FIRST TRIAL COMPLETE. PRIMARY KEYBEARER AWAKENING: 5% PROGRESS. NEXT TRIAL COORDINATES UPLOADED."
Five percent. I'm only five percent of what I should be. What I was before Vorn sealed me.
"That was Starborn combat magic," Zain says quietly. He's watching me with an expression I can't read. "Raw, unrefined, but unmistakable. You really are the heir."
"I don't understand." My voice shakes. "Why would someone suppress Starborn DNA? Why hide what I am?"
"Because the Galactic Council has been hunting Starborn descendants for centuries," Aria says softly. "I've read about it in forbidden medical texts. They consider you a threat."
"A threat? I couldn't even pass basic combat magic class!"
"You couldn't because they made sure you couldn't," Zain corrects. "Every trial we complete will break another seal. You'll level up. And when all the seals are gone..." He pauses. "You'll be what they feared most."
A new portal shimmers into existence nearby, showing a different location—a forest world with purple trees and twin suns.
"We should go back," Ren says nervously. "Report this to the academy. Get proper authorization."
"Go back to what?" I ask bitterly. "I'm a fugitive. They think I'm a thief. And now I know my own adoptive father crippled me on purpose. The academy won't help me—they're part of whatever conspiracy this is."
"Then we keep going," Nyx decides. "Find out what the Codex wants. Break all your seals. Get strong enough that no one can mess with us again."
"This isn't a game," Zain warns. "The trials will get harder. We could die out here."
"We could die back there too," I point out. "At least here, I'm finally finding answers."
Zain studies me for a long moment. Then something almost like approval flickers across his face. "Fine. But we do this strategically. No heroics. No unnecessary risks. And you—" he points at me, "—train every single day. If you're going to carry Starborn power, you need to learn how to use it."
"You'll teach me?"
"Someone has to keep you alive long enough to reach your full potential." His tone is matter-of-fact, but there's something else underneath. Something protective. "Besides, I have my own reasons for wanting answers about the Starborn conspiracy."
Before I can ask what he means, alarms blare from Ren's device.
"Uh, guys?" He holds up his scanner, face pale. "Something just activated the portal behind us. Something's coming through from the academy."
We all spin toward the Echoing Library portal, still open like a wound in space.
Figures emerge from the light. Guards in combat armor. And leading them—
Kael. Celeste. And six mercenaries armed with weapons that definitely aren't standard academy equipment.
"There she is!" Celeste points at me, her perfect face twisted with fury. "The thief who activated forbidden technology!"
"Lyra Ashford, you're under arrest!" one of the guards shouts. "Stand down immediately!"
Kael's eyes meet mine across the ruins. He smiles—cold, calculating, victorious.
"Did you really think you could escape?" he calls out. "You're not special, Lyra. You're just a mistake we're finally correcting."
The mercenaries raise their weapons. Not stun weapons. Kill weapons.
"Run," Zain says, his voice deadly calm. "Now."
And as energy blasts start tearing through ancient stone, we dive through the second portal into the unknown.