Lyra's POV
We burst through the portal and plunge straight into water.
Ice-cold water that steals my breath and drags me down. My lungs scream. Which way is up? I can't see anything except murky blue darkness. Panic claws at my throat—I'm going to drown, I'm going to—
Strong hands grab me, pulling upward. We break the surface and I gasp, choking and coughing.
"I've got you." Zain's voice is steady even as he keeps us both afloat. "Breathe. Slowly."
The others surface nearby—Nyx cursing creatively, Ren flailing, Aria already swimming with practiced strokes toward what looks like a platform.
We're in the middle of an endless ocean. No land visible in any direction. Just water stretching to the horizon under a green-tinted sky. The platform Aria found is made of ancient metal covered in glowing symbols.
"Everyone on the platform," Zain orders. "Now."
We swim. My arms burn with effort, the cold seeping into my bones. Zain stays beside me the entire time, ready to catch me if I go under.
We haul ourselves onto the metal surface, dripping and shivering. The platform is barely big enough for all five of us.
"I hate water worlds," Nyx mutters, wringing out her hair.
Ren's scanning device beeps frantically. "The portal closed behind us. And according to these readings, we're on a planet that's ninety-eight percent ocean. No landmasses for thousands of miles."
"Perfect," I say through chattering teeth. "We're trapped on a metal raft in the middle of nowhere."
The Codex's voice booms across the water:
"TRIAL THREE: PROVE YOUR UNITY. SURVIVE THE DEPTHS TOGETHER OR DROWN ALONE."
"I don't like the sound of that," Ren whispers.
The water around our platform begins to churn. Something massive moves beneath the surface—multiple somethings, their shadows dark against the lighter blue water.
"Tell me those are friendly fish," Nyx says, already drawing her daggers.
"They're not fish." Zain's ice spreads across the water near us, forming a defensive barrier. "They're serpents. Water serpents mutated by Starborn technology to guard this trial site."
A head erupts from the water—easily ten feet long, covered in scales that shimmer like oil on water. Its eyes glow red. Rows of teeth like swords.
Then another head appears. And another. Three serpents, each one bigger than our entire platform.
"How are we supposed to fight in the water?" Aria asks, her healing magic useless against monsters.
"We don't." Zain points at symbols on the platform edge. "This is a puzzle trial, not combat. The serpents are meant to pressure us while we solve it."
"Solve what?"
The platform starts sinking.
Water rushes over the edges, covering our feet. Within seconds, we're ankle-deep. The serpents circle closer, sensing weakness.
"The symbols!" I shout, recognizing the pattern. "They're instructions! We have to activate them in the right sequence or we sink!"
"How much time do we have?" Ren asks.
The water reaches our knees.
"Not enough. Zain, keep the serpents back! Everyone else, help me with the symbols!"
Zain's ice barrier thickens, forming walls that force the serpents away. But I can see the strain on his face—holding back three massive creatures while standing in water is draining his power fast.
I press my hand to the first symbol. It lights up, and ancient text scrolls through my mind. Instructions in Starborn language.
"It's a team activation!" I translate frantically. "Each of us has to touch specific symbols simultaneously or it resets!"
"Which symbols?" Nyx demands.
"I'm reading as fast as I can!"
The water is waist-deep now. The serpents are ramming Zain's ice walls, cracks forming.
"Lyra!" Aria's voice is scared.
"Okay! Okay, I've got it!" I point at different symbols around the platform. "Nyx—that one with the blade mark. Ren—the gear symbol. Aria—the healing spiral. Zain—"
One of the serpents breaks through the ice barrier. Its massive head swings toward us, jaws opening.
Zain redirects his magic, forming an ice spear that pierces through the serpent's skull. It screams—a sound like metal tearing—and thrashes. Its body slams into the platform, nearly throwing us off.
"Zain's symbol!" I scream over the chaos. "The shield mark on the far edge!"
"I can't reach it and hold the other serpents!" He's bleeding from his forehead where he hit the platform during the impact. "The barrier will fall!"
The water is chest-deep. We're sinking faster.
"Then let it fall!" I make a split-second decision. "Everyone to your symbols—on three, we activate together! Trust me!"
"Lyra, if we drop the barrier, those things will attack!" Ren protests.
"I know! Zain—can you freeze the water around us after you release the barrier? Just for five seconds?"
His gold eyes meet mine. A moment of perfect understanding passes between us.
"Yes."
"Then do it. Three! Two! One! NOW!"
The ice barrier shatters. The remaining two serpents surge forward. But Zain is already moving—he touches his symbol while simultaneously releasing a massive wave of freezing magic.
The water around our platform turns to solid ice in an instant, trapping the serpents mid-lunge. Their heads are frozen inches from us, teeth bared, eyes still burning red.
We all press our symbols at the same moment.
The platform flares with brilliant light. The water stops rising. The ice holding the serpents cracks and they sink back into the depths, wounded and retreating.
"TRIAL THREE COMPLETE. PRIMARY KEYBEARER AWAKENING: 15% PROGRESS. TRUST PARAMETERS EXCEEDED."
Another seal breaks.
This time the power surge makes me collapse. Zain catches me before I hit the metal, lowering me gently.
"Easy," he murmurs. "Your body needs time to adjust."
My magical display flickers: B-RANK - LEVEL 3 UNLOCKED
B-Rank. Three days ago I was F-Rank, the academy's joke. Now I'm stronger than sixty percent of students.
"How are you feeling?" Aria asks, her healing magic washing over me.
"Like I ran a marathon while on fire." I force myself to sit up. "But alive."
A portal shimmers into existence above the platform—our exit to the next trial location.
But before we can move, Ren's device starts screaming alerts.
"No no no no—" He stares at the screen, face pale. "They found us."
"Kael's team?" Nyx asks.
"Worse. The Obsidian Syndicate's main force. Fifty ships just entered orbit around this planet. They're scanning for our energy signature."
"How long until they find us?" Zain demands.
"Minutes. Maybe less." Ren's hands shake. "And there's something else. A transmission just broadcast across all Syndicate channels. A bounty update."
He shows us his screen. My picture—from the ranking ceremony—is displayed with new text:
LYRA ASHFORD - STARBORN HEIR - WANTED ALIVE REWARD: 50 MILLION CREDITS UPDATED THREAT LEVEL: SSS-CLASS PRIORITY WARNING: SUBJECT RAPIDLY INCREASING IN POWER. CAPTURE IMMEDIATELY BEFORE FULL AWAKENING.
Fifty million credits. My value quintupled overnight.
"The entire criminal underworld is hunting you now," Zain says quietly. "Not just the Syndicate. Every bounty hunter, mercenary, and desperate criminal in the galaxy just saw that posting."
"How did they update it so fast?" I whisper. "I just became B-Rank minutes ago."
"Someone's tracking you." His jaw tightens. "Someone with real-time access to your power levels. Someone who wants you captured before you get too strong to control."
"The academy," Aria realizes. "They must have monitoring systems in the Codex chamber. They've been watching this entire time."
Which means Headmaster Vorn knows exactly where I am and how powerful I'm becoming.
My device buzzes. A new message from an unknown number:
Hello, daughter. Impressive progress. But you can't run forever. Come home and I'll let Finn live. Keep running and he dies screaming. Your choice. You have 24 hours. - V.A.
Vorn. My adoptive father. Threatening to murder a twelve-year-old boy to force my surrender.
Something inside me cracks—not a seal this time. Something deeper. The last piece of the scared, powerless girl who wanted to believe good people existed.
"Lyra?" Zain's watching me with concern. "What is it?"
I show him the message.
His expression goes cold. "It's a bluff. He needs Finn alive to control you."
"Maybe. Or maybe he's desperate enough to do it." I stand, my legs steady despite exhaustion. "Either way, we keep moving. We finish the trials. We get strong enough that when I go back—and I will go back—they can't stop me from saving my brother and burning everything they built to the ground."
"That's my girl," Nyx grins.
But Ren is still staring at his scanner, face ashen. "Guys? The Syndicate ships aren't just scanning. They're landing. Drop ships are entering atmosphere. Hundreds of them."
"How many mercenaries?" Zain asks.
"I'm reading... at least three thousand combat signatures. Maybe more. They're surrounding this region."
Three thousand soldiers. For one B-Rank girl and her team of four.
"The next portal," I say urgently. "Where does it lead?"
Zain checks the Codex coordinates. Then his face goes carefully blank—which means the answer is very bad.
"Well?"
"The Shattered Citadel," he says slowly. "A Starborn fortress floating in deep space. It's also where the Galactic Council stores their most dangerous prisoners and confiscated technology."
"So we'll be jumping directly into a maximum-security prison?"
"Essentially."
I look at my team. Exhausted, wounded, hunted by three thousand mercenaries and the entire galactic government. Any sane person would surrender.
"Let's go," I decide.
"You're insane," Ren mutters. But he's already moving toward the portal.
We jump.
And as we're pulled through space toward the fortress, I hear Zain's voice in my ear:
"When this is over and you've unlocked your full power, promise me something."
"What?"
"Don't lose the part of you that still cares. Even after everything they've done. Power without compassion creates monsters."
I think about Vorn's message. About Finn dying. About three years of torture at the academy.
"I can't promise that."
His hand finds mine in the chaos of the portal. "Then I'll remember it for you."
We emerge into cold, empty space—and the massive metal fortress floating before us bristles with weapons.