"So you'll be following us back to AFO to sign up as a faction member," Jacob said, his tone cool but with a slight edge, as he led Kieran through the academics gate.
Kieran paused just before stepping through. He cast one last look back at the academy.
The familiar walls towered behind him like a fading memory. Through the open gates, he could see students funnelling toward the school hall—some excited, others uncertain. The air still buzzed faintly with the aftershock of the barrier lifting, an invisible pressure that had loomed over the campus now dissipated.
The selection ceremony had finally begun.
It should have happened immediately after the Awakening. But thanks to the chaos that unfolded, it had been postponed—giving rise to whispers, suspicion, and now, a tense rush to secure talents before they were swept away.
