“During a surge, it is permitted to employ all cadets to stand along the defenses of a given city, territory, or estate. It is why they are inducted immediately as Orions upon passing their entrance exam. None are exempt from this law, and failure to assist is considered high treason.”

- Hunter Handbook, (1st edition)

“Well done, my strong ally!” Elio yelled as I stumbled off the field. Many of the crowd had dispersed after Prince James had convinced Redmoor somehow to end the fight early. According to Elio, James had reminded the instructor of how deadly a Shardclaw strike could be if left unchecked. Reluctantly, Redmoor admitted that I had struck a deadly blow, but wasn’t too happy about it. A good thing, too, as the charge on my left gauntlet took forever to recover. If I had missed, I would be the one carried out of that circle.

“You have proven your mettle once again! First in the arena, then with the alpha, and now this! The Shadow Lord would be proud indeed at your noble feats!”

In his arms, my smiling comrade had my jacket draped over one arm. Together, we made for the medical sect. A hand tugged on my left arm, now absent of its armor. I turned and stopped in my tracks.

“Thay, what just happened?” Charles demanded. His eyes were as frantic as the choked-out words. “Are you okay?” he asked, pressing close to me. I took a step back.

“What are you doing, Charlie?” He looked hurt at my question but didn’t justify his presence.

“I—” he tried to get out, but whatever he wished to say halted before it reached his tongue.

“You thought that showing concern only after I proved I was right would help mend things? I heard what you said about me. You practically called me a liar, you two-faced jerk!” Tears started to well in the corner of my eyes, and I convinced myself it was because of the pain in my shoulder, and not the agony at seeing my best friend fall apart in front of me. To my side, Elio stepped forward, but I stopped him. I needed to handle this. Charles whispered something too quietly for me to hear.

“What?”

“I didn’t call you a liar.” His words were still soft, but they were coated with waves of guilt and remorse. My heart melted a bit at his tone, and I felt like I saw my friend for the first time in ages. If he had merely stopped there, I would’ve been happier for it. “I just made a few observations, Thea, that’s all. I know you. I know your dad never gave you any real hunting training. You were all alone out there, with a single gauntlet. Not a sword. Not an axe or bow. A gods-damned gauntlet.”

He met my eyes then, wringing his hands like they held the answer. “When you came waltzing in with that dead Shardclaw, it was like I didn’t know you. You—You’re changing, Thea. More than you think. And all for something that is impossible. Please, stop this madness before it kills you!”

My heart hardened again.

“Oh, like how it was impossible I survived one night in a hells-cursed forest? Or that I managed to not just kill an Alpha Shardclaw but fend off against his pack too? I didn’t even mention the stupid waterfall creature, because the second I opened my mouth about the most believable part of my story, everyone immediately assumed me a liar and a thief.” I pinned him with a glare that spoke louder than my next words. “I didn’t sleep in some bush and happen upon the dead wolf. I fought for my life. I won. You should be proud of me, not question the legitimacy of my claims.”

I walked away from his slumped form, leaning against Elio as red stars swam across my vision. When I was too far away to turn back, he called after me.

“They won’t stop, you know.” I didn’t look over my shoulder at him, but he pressed on, desperation lacing his voice. “Get out of here, Thea. They will kill you now, for what you’ve done. You didn’t just defeat them. You embarrassed them. They’ll come for you, and won’t stop until you’re dead. Please, just get out of here while you still have a chance!”

“I don’t like him,” Elio muttered as we left his earshot. I chuckled darkly, my best friend’s claim hitting me harder than I let on. “He seems like the kind of man who would rather face dishonor and live than die with his comrades.”

I shrugged, unsure of what to say.

“No matter! Together, we pugilists will be untouchable!” Elio’s sincerity was enough to disperse the worst of the storm clouds in my heart. Those same brewing omens of thunder and chaos took that moment to gather over us. “Has it really been 17 days? Incredible, how time flies when you are gathering strength and knowledge in preparation for war and glory!”

“You mean, like how we’re at school?” I clarified with a soft grin.

“Right’O! That’s what I just said. Now, let’s clean up that gargoyle of a wound and go eat some bread!” He leaned in conspiratorially as we entered the academy proper. “I think bread is what the gods ate. I think it was their final gift to us before they passed on to whatever golden halls they now reside in.”

“I have no doubt in my mind that you’re right, Elio.”

That evening, I paced the short expanse of my dorm room, my mind amuck with thoughts. I twisted my hair around my left fingers while my other arm hung loosely in the sling I needed to wear for the next few hours. The healing they’d done had been extensive, but they mentioned something about letting the musculature set before I used the limb again.

Thank the dead gods for those healing cloths.

I slowed my methodical steps at the windowsill that led out into the chilly evening air. The smell of rain drifted lightly on the damp breeze. Outside, beyond the minor enchantment on my window that prevented too much heat from escaping, warriors with everglow lanterns strode along the ramparts. They patrolled the high wall that lay adjacent to our side of the city. Faint shouts could be heard as Orions gave orders in preparation for tonight’s surge.

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The surge.

The surge is just the beginning.

That’s what Kaelin had said right before he fled into the storm.

“Kaelin, what did you want me here for?” I asked the utilitarian room I was currently stuck in. A notice had been sent out just a few hours ago that stated there would be no call for the cadets of our hall to man the walls tonight. Some other hall of students would get that honor tonight. A part of me was relieved, but another, more feral side of me I was growing to appreciate, despised the mandate to hunker down in my bedroom.

“Kaelin, what do you need?” I asked again, and my pacing resumed. My socked feet plopped softly against the cool stone. I mentally rehearsed everything I knew for the hundredth time that night as darkness descended to an unnatural degree outside. The clouds of the surge blotched out the sky with impossible blackness, like the world had saved up its worst ire for tonight.

“You chose me over anyone in the academy, which I now know has an insane pool of powerful allies if you can get them into your circle,” I held up a finger. “You needed me to remember you when no one else could.” I held up a second finger. “Why? I am the only one who could follow your footsteps here. You didn’t trust anyone here, not even that girlfriend you never told us about.”

I swiveled when I reached the heavy door that secured the sound dampening ward on my room.

“Hunters, and not some gang, came to our house. They were freaking Orions. Orions!” I raised my free arm in exasperation. Thunder boomed outside and rattled the everglow lamps affixed to the corners of my room.

“The surge is just the beginning…” I recited. “That’s it, skräg this.” I hastily slipped into my boots and cursed some more as I tried to tie the boots with one hand. When that humiliating task was done, and I spat out some of the frayed edges of my bootlace from where I’d resorted to holding them in my mouth, I opened my door. Silence greeted me, seconded by the reduced lighting.

They’re probably reprioritizing the energy reserves to the ward, I concluded as I stepped into the hallway. With as quiet a gait as I could manage, I tip-toed down the stairs, careful to avoid the larger hallways where sentries were posted. It wasn’t technically against the rules to leave your room during a surge, but if they thought I was on duty and escaping the high walls, they would execute me faster than a Zengo on the hunt.

Cautiously, I made my way through the dim academy. Thunder peeled through the night and lightning illuminated the vacant corridors wherever there were windows. It cast each one into stark contrasts, and I shivered at the haunting shadows the powerful force produced.

“Where are you?” I pondered aloud in a whisper as I ventured deeper into the bowels of the massive complex of intertwined buildings. I searched for another twenty painfully silent minutes. Eventually, I crept down another set of stairs and arrived at a carpeted hallway that was better lit than the rest of the fortressed institute. No wind swept through this place, nor was a flame to be seen along the sconces to augment the light.

“Dragon horde,” I squealed in delight as I rounded the corner into a vault ceiling so high I was fairly certain this might be the source of the highest peak to the school’s architecture.

Books were everywhere. They lined shelves like archaic guardians of this heavily warded structure. When I passed the threshold, I felt my aura get magically notated. Goosebumps coated my skin at the touch of the library’s magic, and they were only made worse as I took in the sheer density of knowledge contained in one room. Granted, the room could’ve stored dozens of my family’s small apartment within its walls without too much effort, but that was unimportant. What was important was that I officially decided to inquire if there was a room I could rent somewhere in here.

If possible, I never wished to leave this slice of heaven again. I practically giggled as I snuck along the carpet to where an index stood open for use. A few staff members and librarians bustled about, but none of them paid me any mind. For once, I considered my sling a boon, as it was pretty obvious I was not on duty at the moment. Plus, who in their right mind would go to a library during a surge?

The blessed, that’s who.

For there was no other word for such expansive access to such incredible truth. I stepped up to the index and immediately noticed a few things. First, each sturdy page was enchanted. In fact, the entire book was not so much a book as much as a stone slab with shifting colors. Ink swirled like oil in water, forming and shifting words in the three languages of the Alliance. Second, each entry was marked with the name of the book, its author, the assumed date of publication, where it was in the library, and who checked it out. It was beyond thorough and masterfully maintained.

The enchanted parchment swirled again and I saw a dwarvish text that translated to ‘Vice and Victory, a study of the Dunforge Enchanting Guilds’ shifted from one section of the library to another. Some person by the name of Fredreic Wiessel had just returned it and it was now getting placed back in a new spot. More entries blurred and transformed as new information was added.

“I’m sorry,” I told a passing attendant. “Can you show me how this all works?”

“Why apologize for ignorance?” The twig of an elf responded in a weathered voice. “It is the beginning of curiosity.” He smiled mischievously at me. “That’s what I tell the old missus when she asks where I’ve been. I’ve run out of ways of saying ‘in a book, dear.’” He cackled and then approached the lectern where the index resided. “It’s simple enough, young lady. Simply press on the runes here to navigate it.” He whirled on me with a deadly glare. “DON’T WRITE IN THE INDEX.” His voice echoed in the expansive room even though it was barely above a whisper. His smile returned in a flash, like he hadn’t just murdered me with his stare.

“Thank you!” I called after him. He raised a hand in acknowledgment but was already nose first in a book I didn’t recognize. A chorus of hushes collided with one another from across the library at my volume, and I winced at the admonishment.

Fight a nobleman? Nothing.

Get shushed in a library? Terrifying.

Following the old elf’s instructions, I navigated through the scrolling letters of the index. It took me several minutes, and I was again grateful there weren’t too many people around. There was some scrap paper next to the index, and I quickly wrote down a short list of texts for me to find. A gigantic boom of thunder rocked the building, and a second chorus of shushes replied quietly from around the room.

Only in a library could you find people who told nature to be quiet just so they could keep reading in peace. I chuckled at the display and finished my note-taking.

Precipitation of the Valorian Highlands, Vol 1 | 3, 17, 32B

The First Surge | 3, 17, 36H

Enchanted City, An Introduction to the Runic Language | 9, 4, 11G

Following the floor, hall, and shelf number respectively, I made my way to the third floor. It took me several minutes, but I eventually found the first two books. The first was in old Valorian, which was haughty as high heaven, but that was alright. I’d read worse under my mother’s restrictive tutelage. The second was of elven origin, which was far more my speed. The elves were many things, but inept storytellers were not among them. Even their ledgers contained similes and anecdotes that left the mind afloat and the heart ablaze.

The final book was harder to find. So hard, in fact, that I had to find that level’s index copy just to see if the book had been moved in the short time I’d searched for it. I pressed the various runes and stopped in my tracks. Next to the book on runes was an entry on the history of wardcrafting. That wasn’t the reason my heart practically halted in my chest. My palms grew sweaty as I read and reread those two words next to the wardcrafting title, where the name of the person who’d checked it out resided.

Prometheus.