⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
NATION OF NARDOX — SOL’RAHN ACADEMY TERRACES — MIDDAY HEAT
The practice fields rang with impact.
Sigils flashed. Aether snapped and faded. Dust hung in the air where students reset their stances and tried again.
Team Heart took the far terrace, half in shade, half in heat.
Taro was the first to slow down.
”Alright guys, I’m cooked. I’m done.”
Ren glanced up from tightening his wraps.
“My man.. you tired of losing? Cus I’m tired of losing.”
Mina, Zakiah and Kariah jogged over and joined them.
Mina was right on cue. “Alright I’m hosting try-outs for a new duo. I’m tired of carrying you in combo anyway.”
Taro had no comeback he just shrugged like he knew it was true.
The young team shared a sincere laughter.
Practice ended with heat still clinging to skin and the team moved with the crowd.
Boots striking stone in uneven rhythm as students poured out from the Academy fields.
Twin suns dipped low, casting long gold slashes across the terraces.
Laughter rose and fell in pockets. Arguments sparked and died just as fast.
Kariah walked between Ren and Taro, braid damp against her collar. Zakiah and Mina were right behind them.
Ahead of them, older students clustered near the stair rail, voices low but animated. The kind of tone that carried urgency even when the words didn’t.
“You hear about that UCL match last night?”
All of Team Hearts ears tilted without meaning to as the older students continued talking.
“Which one?”
“The underground one. Not the sanctioned stuff. Real Crownfall.”
Ren glanced sideways and chimed in before he even realized it. “There’s an underground league?”
“Straight up,” one of the older boys said. “But it’s never gone mainstream like this.”
Another boy laughed. “Yea it’s hard to contain the noise when newbies are butchering platinum bracket headliners.”
They kept walking. The conversation drifted with them.
“Underground league. X’Omnera side. Technically illegal as hell. No sponsors on record. No rules anyone chooses to enforce. But if it makes people rich, it’s all fair game in X’O.”
“Who’s the team?” Mina asked quietly.
The answer came without drama.
“Triple Kill.”
The name settled before the first student continued, voice lower now.
“Matchmakers moved them straight to headliner rotation, and they literally slaughtered the other team before the match was fully announced.”
Ren scoffed. “No way.”
“Way. Bets tripled overnight.”
“Three of them. All different styles. One plays his Aether like music. Green light. Cuts you before you can even read his rhythm. Dudes a badass.”
Taro swallowed.
“Another’s Sylvannan, some type of squirrel or fox.” the second added. “Blacked the entire arena out with some weird acorn.”
”Just tossed it in the air before the other team had even said their prayers and POOF. A void.”
Kariah’s fingers curled slightly at her side.
“And the third?”
The older students hesitated now.
“Big,” the first said finally. “Panteran. Doesn’t show much but people literally stop moving when he looks at them.”
”Where’s all this happening?” Kariah asked.
A girl laughed once. Sharp. “Weren’t you listening to anything we just said? In X’O.”
The terrace widened. The older students peeled off toward the inner districts, conversation breaking apart as schedules reclaimed them.
Team Heart reached the lower archway where paths split.
Ren stretched his shoulders. “People always hype underground fighters.”
Taro nodded. “They burn bright. Then they disappear.”
Kariah didn’t answer.
Her gaze stayed on the city beyond the gates. Sol spread outward in clean lines and warm stone, forges humming beneath the streets like a steady heartbeat.
Somewhere beyond the capital, the Wilds carried its own legends. Somewhere else entirely, she could only hope her brother Kit, was still ok.
Zakiah bumped her arm. “You good?”
Kariah blinked. Smiled. “Yeah.”
They crossed beneath the arch. Academy guards stood watch, spears grounded, eyes forward. The familiar weight of safety settled in.
At the far end of the courtyard, a figure waited.
Imani.
Arms folded. Robes catching the sun just right.
Beside her stood Soros, posture rigid, attention split between the horizon and the students moving past.
And behind them..
Kariah’s chest tightened.
Her father stood with them.
Not at rest.
Engaged.
Hands moving as he spoke. Measured. Commanding. The air around him carried quiet heat, the kind that commanded attention without asking.
Kariah slowed to a stop.
Ren followed her gaze. “Guess that’s your cue.”
She nodded.
Team Heart kept going, voices already shifting back to drills and meals and petty rivalries. Their footsteps faded down the inner stairs.
Kariah turned off the path.
As she walked toward Imani and the men waiting with her, the city noise fell away. The rumors stayed behind, echoing faintly, unresolved.
Somewhere far from Sol, a name was spreading.
Here, in the capital of Nardox, something else was beginning.
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣