Chapter 56: Unseen Currents (Part 1)

Elias Hale leaned back against the cold, sterile wall of the hallway, arms crossed tightly over his chest. His jaw clenched as he stared down at his Academy-issued tablet, scrolling through another round of curated updates. The outside world felt distant, fragmented, like a place he only knew through these filtered snippets of news. It didn’t matter. Elias had long since accepted his reality here in the Academy.

What interested him now wasn’t the outside world, but the faces that had begun appearing in the Academy’s halls—particularly the two new Class 5s.

Levi Blackwell and Jake Foster.

Their names had been whispered more and more lately. He’d seen flashes of their faces in the background of a student’s selfie, news clips, and whispers of what happened at Galewood. An entire city wiped out, and only these two had survived. Class 5s—rare, powerful, and dangerous. Elias had heard of Levi before, but seeing him in person, even just in passing, was different.

Elias didn’t put much stock in rumors, but the Academy never put anyone like them in the common areas unless there was a reason.

He sighed, clicking the tablet off and slipping it into his pocket just as the door to the training room slid open with a low hiss. He was called to another session, he hated this place.

He stepped inside, his usual cold composure settling over him like armor. The room was sterile, the reflective glass of the observation panels casting back his image as if to remind him that he was always being watched.

But this time, he wasn’t alone.

Elias’s eyes narrowed as he saw someone standing in the middle of the room—someone he hadn’t expected. He recognized him immediately from the images. White hair, glowing red eyes. Levi Blackwell.

Elias’s mind went into overdrive, trying to figure out what was going on. He hadn’t been paired with anyone in a long time, especially not someone like Levi. The Academy was always cautious about Elias’s powers—his ability to manipulate the molecular structure of anything made him very dangerous in their eyes, a risk they controlled by keeping him isolated.

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But now, for some reason, he was being placed in the same room as the infamous Levi Blackwell.

Levi, for his part, didn’t really acknowledge Elias’s arrival. He stood in the center of the room, his expression calm, detached. His red eyes briefly flicked in Elias’s direction, but there was no recognition, no sense of familiarity. Just cold observation.

Elias frowned slightly, feeling the tension rise in his gut. This wasn’t just a normal session. The Academy was testing something, but they hadn’t bothered to tell either of them what it was.

“First time I’ve had company in one of these,” Elias muttered, half to himself as he moved further into the room. His tone was casual, but his posture was tense, every muscle primed for whatever came next.

Levi didn’t respond immediately. He simply watched Elias, his eyes narrowing just slightly. Elias could sense the same calculation that often ran through his own mind when facing someone new. It was the look of someone constantly on edge, wary of what the Academy was going to do next.

“What is this?” Elias asked, more to break the silence than anything. He wasn’t expecting Levi to know, but the quiet between them was unnerving.

Levi shifted his gaze toward him, his voice low and calm. “You tell me.”

Elias didn’t reply right away. He knew this was a test. Everything in the Academy was a test. But why put the two of them together? There was a tension in the air, something unspoken, but it wasn’t personal—at least not yet. They didn’t know each other.

“They want to see what happens,” Elias muttered under his breath, his eyes flicking toward the observation windows. The Academy was watching, as always, but this time they were waiting for something specific.

Levi’s gaze followed Elias’s toward the windows, his expression unreadable. He wasn’t tense, but there was something in his posture—something controlled, calculating. Elias wasn’t sure if it was indifference or if Levi simply didn’t care what the Academy thought.

“What’s your deal?” Elias asked finally, turning his attention fully to Levi. He wasn’t trying to provoke, but curiosity got the better of him. Levi was a mystery, even to someone like Elias, who had seen enough of the Academy’s inner workings to know how things usually played out.

Levi’s eyes flicked back to him, cold but not hostile. “What do you mean?”

“You’re a Class 5, right? You and Foster.” Elias’s tone was casual, but he was gauging Levi’s reaction.

Levi didn’t flinch. His expression remained calm, almost bored. “Yeah.”

Elias nodded slowly, sizing him up. There wasn’t much more to say. The Academy wanted to see how they reacted to one another, but Elias wasn’t going to give them what they wanted—at least, not yet. He wasn’t about to play into their hands without understanding the game first.

The silence between them stretched on, the tension thick but unspoken. Neither of them moved, but the room felt charged, as if something was waiting to happen.

Elias’s mind raced through the possibilities. His molecular manipulation was one of the most dangerous abilities the Academy had ever encountered, but he couldn’t quite figure out what they wanted to see by pairing him with Levi. Was it a test of power? Control? Maybe the Academy was looking for a clash, a trigger to see if one of them would break.

But Elias wasn’t interested in playing by their rules.