"The Central Academy will stand as a testament to equality among shrouded across the Central Authority. All students will be given equal opportunity to succeed, no matter their origin or standing. Students will live and die by their own merits, not those of the ones who came before them. It is this principle that lets the Central Authority stand against the 10,000 Empires and the Burning King with pride. We are all equal before the Code and the One Shroud. The Code must be upheld, and the Shroud covers all." Excerpt from the inaugural speech by Headmaster Damon Vestigious, the Ghost of Authority, at the opening of the Central Academy.

Caeden and Erik were interrogated for hours after their ordeal. No matter how many times they repeated the same thing, the interrogators were suspicious of them. They seemed to believe that the both of them had somehow been in on the attack. For some reason. Caeden could not figure out the logic behind that one, considering they nearly died. It seems that their survival was what made them suspicious. They should have died, so surviving meant they had to have known what was going to happen. Not that that made any sense.

Eventually, they seemed to give up, though several threats were given out that if any discrepancies showed up in their stories, they wouldn't be living very long. Caeden felt even more sympathy for the revolutionaries, not that he would ever say that out loud. After all, if this was how they were treated for having solved the crisis, how bad must it be for the ones who caused it? That sympathy stopped at letting them take the lives of hundreds of people out of some misguided sense of justice, but he was still sympathetic.

For a whole week, not much of note happened. Caeden and Erik would hang out, Caeden would study Forged Infinity, Erik managed to almost fall off the ship six times, a normal week. The only important thing they did was train. After seeing it in effect, Caeden was interested in learning Erik's technique for slipping past those collars. Caeden had no real experience interacting with other shrouded, so the way two shrouds could interact was unknown to him.

Thus began one of the most frustrating and enlightening series of exercises Caeden had ever experienced. Erik was a terrible teacher, explaining things in only the vaguest of terms. Then he would go on a tangent about whatever insane experience had led him to that discovery without actually finishing his explanation.

Despite that, by practicing against Erik, Caeden learned how to overcome another shroud's defenses, if only a little bit. He also grew to appreciate just how skilled Erik was at this. Caeden had always been aware of how his shroud allowed him to extend his senses outside his body, but Erik had applied this in a way that had never occurred to him.

The way Erik explained it, every shroud produced an area around the shrouded within which they could sense various aspects of the world, like heat or texture. It was essentially a giant bubble that constituted the effective range of a shroud. The only thing that could block that bubble was certain kinds of infused materials, or another shroud. But, you could push your own shroud through another's. Caeden had been vaguely aware of all of this, but the way Erik applied that was fascinating.

Since the person whose shroud you were trying to subvert could sense your own shroud's efforts, they could put up an equivalent resistance, making the process much harder. However, there was a limit to how much of a shrouded bubble they could remain aware of. Trying to stretch your mind to cover such a large area was essentially impossible. So, using his own shroud's extrasensory properties, Erik assessed where and how his opponent was focusing their attention, and subverted it.

This was what he described as a rhythm. An individual has a certain way of reacting unique to them, and if he could follow that rhythm, he could slip past their shroud essentially uncontested. It was much easier said than done, though. Caeden tried to copy his methodology and failed spectacularly. Practicing on each other, Caeden would try to pierce Erik's shroud.

Their practice evolved into a game, both of them trying to keep the other's shroud from reaching their body while also attacking. In that week, Caeden didn't win even once. He never got close. Erik just slipped right by his defenses with seeming ease. Caeden's only comfort was the slowly increasing amount of time where he could hold off Erik's masterful assault. It was mentally exhausting, and he could only keep it up for under an hour.

The end of that week came with some bittersweet news, delivered to Caeden after one of his and Erik's games. Anthony showed up at their self-designated training area, a secluded corner of the vehicle hanger, toward the bow of the ethership.

"Caeden, we need to talk for a minute." Anthony's expression was grim. Caeden immediately worried about his uncle. He hadn't been allowed to see the man all week. The medical ward he was in had been unaffected by the attack, but apparently, he was still recovering from the severe burns and shrapnel wounds he had.

"What's wrong?"

Anthony gestured for Caeden to follow him. Apparently, this was a private conversation. Caeden shot Erik a glance, who shrugged. He would probably end up telling Erik about it anyway. The amount of trust the two of them had generated over the course of their life-threatening adventure was rapidly turning into the strongest friendship Caeden had ever had.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Still, for the Keeper's sake, Caeden followed the frowning man past a few skippers into an alcove the same as the one he had just been in. There, Anthony stared at him for a few long, tense moments. Caeden wanted to yell at him to spit it out, but he had enough self-control to realize Anthony was working through what he was going to say.

"I suppose I'll start with the good news first." He finally started, "Your uncle is fine. Well, he's awake and stable. Fine is a relative term. You can go visit him now."

Caeden felt an urge to bolt for the medical ward, not really caring what else Anthony had to say at that point. The other man must have seen it in his eyes because he grabbed Caeden's shoulder. "Wait. You're not going to like the rest, but you'll have to hear it."

"Just spit it out." Caeden was officially out of patience.

"Your uncle is alive, but the damage has rendered both of his arms and one of his legs unusable. He is, for all intents and purposes, a paraplegic." Anthony took a deep breath, "And the Central Authority has decided they will not be healing him."

"WHAT?" Caeden shouted. He nearly punched Anthony. "WHY?!"

Anthony flinched and fidgeted guiltily. He looked around them before creating a shroud barrier around both of them. Caeden and Anthony were now in a cocoon of swirling white haze with small twinkling bits of blue and green in it, like glitter.

"No one is going to hear me right now, so I need you to listen," The nervousness had vanished, replaced with no small amount of fear. "The official explanation is that the process would be too costly, and is unnecessary, which is only mostly true. The CA doesn't care if your uncle lives or dies, sure, but they won't heal him to hold it over you."

Caeden stared uncomprehendingly. "Why? Why would they care enough to hold it over me? I'm nobody important. I'm just some random shroud from the continents."

Anthony shook his head. "There's more to it than that. You're dual-shrouded, which is pretty rare, and most dual-shrouded tend to be powerful. The CA doesn't have access to many potentially powerful shrouds compared to the families, outside the council and a few others. They pursue anyone who could potentially be an asset aggressively. Then there's that." Anthony pointed at Forged Infinity, hanging from the sash of Caeden's robes. He had been given a standard military issue set after his previous clothes had holes ripped through them.

"That thing is unique, as far as I've heard. Most dual-shrouded would have two different weapons for their different shrouds because making a shrouded weapon that works with both was considered impossible. That thing is bound to you, and the CA is extremely interested in studying to try and reverse-engineer the tech. A transforming weapon on its own is incredibly innovative. You just became one of the most coveted assets in the Central Authority, kid."

"So what the fuck am I supposed to do?" Feelings of rage and hopelessness welled up. "I never asked for any of this. I just wanted to be a smith."

"I know. Most of us continentals never ask. We just get picked up. I was the same." Anthony sighed again. "Look, there's one way you could get your uncle healed, guaranteed."

"You better not be messing with me."

"I'm being one hundred percent honest." Anthony held his hands up, "Swear on my life."

Caeden stared him down, but he couldn't see any reason for Anthony to lie to him. "... I'm listening."

"Become the top student in your class."

"...Seriously?"

"I'm being dead serious. At graduation, the top student is allowed to ask for anything from each of the four council members."

"That seems way too easy."

Anthony snorted. "You have no idea what you're talking about. The requirements to even reach the fifth year are insane. I dropped out after the third, remember? Most continentals only make it that far. And that's not even close to being the top student. You essentially have to prove you're the strongest, most effective military asset out of every other shrouded in your entire class. I'm only telling you about this because you'll learn about it anyway. I would be amazed if you managed it!"

"There's no other way?" Caeden felt skeptical about the whole situation.

"Do you have millions of credits to pay for a total body reconstruction by an accomplished shrouded?"

"No."

"Then yeah, this is all you got. The kind of healing your uncle needs is something only the families or the Central Authority itself can help him." Anthony gave a sort of apologetic half-smile. "Sorry."

Caeden covered his face with his hands and let out a frustrated moan. "Ugh. This isn't your fault, but it really sucks. He's not in any danger at least, right?"

"No, no!" Anthony assured. "He's fine. Outside of the complications associated with the damage to his limbs, he's as healthy as he's ever been. They can't very well hold his recovery over your head if he was in danger of dying, after all."

"That's incredibly shit."

"You have no idea. The families will make the CA look kind. Trust me."

"Is that everything?" Caeden was officially 110% done with this whole conversation.

"Ah, don't be surprised if someone comes looking for you to ask about that thing."

"It's called Forged Infinity, and they can eat it." He wasn't about to indulge the people who were essentially holding his uncle's health hostage.

"That's a terrible name."

"I didn't come up with it." Caeden snapped. "...But, yeah. It is."