Chapter 62: The Announcement

  The notice went up at dusk.

  No bell. No assembly. Just a single sheet placed on the board outside the training hall, the academy seal pressed cleanly into the corner. Students slowed as they passed it, steps shortening before they meant to stop.

  By nightfall, everyone had read it.

  The academy would begin its next adventure cycle.

  Instructor-led.

  Field deployment.

  Mandatory participation.

  Details would follow. Squads would be assigned. Preparation windows would be short.

  The words were dry. Administrative. They did not describe danger. They did not need to.

  Laurent felt the shift immediately—not as fear, but as orientation. Training stopped being abstract the moment the announcement existed. Every drill from here on would point somewhere. Every mistake would carry a shape beyond the field.

  Around him, reactions varied.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Some students leaned closer to the board, rereading lines as if they might change. Others stepped back too quickly, as though distance could delay what was coming. A few spoke in low voices, already speculating about routes, threat levels, the meaning of instructor-led.

  Cael read once and nodded.

  “That’s earlier than last year,” he said.

  Laurent glanced at him. “You sound relieved.”

  Cael shrugged. “Better than waiting.”

  That sounded right.

  Ms. Eira addressed them briefly the next morning, after drills had already begun. No speech. No framing.

  “You will be assigned,” she said. “You will not choose your squad. You will not choose your role.”

  She let the silence stretch.

  “What you have chosen,” she added, eyes passing over shields and weapons alike, “will be tested.”

  Mr. Irel said even less.

  “Out there,” he said, voice flat, “your gear won’t forgive you. Your habits won’t either.”

  Then training resumed.

  The field felt narrower after that. Exchanges sharpened without growing louder. Students conserved energy more carefully, paid attention to spacing they might once have ignored. Recovery routines stretched longer into the evening.

  Laurent noticed how often his thoughts returned to the same questions—not if he could survive, but who he would be useful to. Where his steadiness mattered. Where his restraint might fail him.

  He stayed near Cael, not to hide, but because the presence grounded him. The idea of a squad no longer felt theoretical when he imagined it that way—pressure shared, not diluted.

  By the time night settled over the academy, the announcement had done its work.

  The next phase was no longer approaching.

  It had arrived.

  And whatever form they had taken inside the walls would soon be carried—with no revision—beyond them.