Chapter 80
*Jiselle*
Flames sparked in each circle. The glow of ancient runes shimmered at our feet, casting eerie shadows across the stone. My circle flared suddenly–hot, alive, demanding. A student was pushed into mine.
A boy I recognized. Nervous. Tall. One of the quieter ones in our strategy class. He was already mid–shift, his features twisting in the half–transformation between human and wolf. I could smell his fear, sharp and sour, even from where I stood. I barely had time to register his name before the stone beneath us blazed silver and our trial began.
But I wasn’t ready.
Not yet.
I hadn’t even figured out how to hold back my power, and now it was clawing at the surface, humming beneath my ribs like a storm waiting to erupt. I swallowed hard, fists clenched, trying to breathe through the panic rising in my throat.
Then I heard it.
A sharp, pained cry–one that ricocheted across the chamber like a cracked bone snapping in a silent room.
Emari.
I turned instinctively, eyes snapping to the circle two rows over. She stood in the center of it, chest heaving, her shoulders square but shaking slightly. Her opponent was already backing away–either in fear or confusion, it wasn’t clear.
Her uniform was torn at the shoulder, and blood streaked one side of her face. But that wasn’t what caught everyone’s attention.
It was the silence in her power.
The absence.
She’d shifted–her wolf fur showing at her jawline, her eyes glowing faintly gold–but the runes at her feet hadn’t flared the way they had for others. There was no burst of energy. No elemental charge. No ripple of premonition or shadow. Just her.
Plain.
Ordinary.
Sira’s voice boomed above, a detached echo that offered no comfort.
“Enhanced.”
The word struck like a thunderclap.
There were murmurs immediately. Gasps. One girl even laughed quietly until someone elbowed her.
Emari didn’t move.
Not at first.
Then her face twisted–shock giving way to denial, then fury. Her lips parted like she was about to speak, about to refute the assessment. But nothing came.
No one corrected it.
No magic burst from her fingertips to prove them wrong.
D
No alternate flare of power answered her silent scream.
And then she did scream–but it wasn’t pain.
It was rage.
A deep, guttural howl that cracked from her throat and echoed through the chamber with such wild desperation it made the hairs on my neck rise.
She dropped to her knees.
Fists slammed into the stone with so much force I thought she might break her own bones. Her pride–her legacy- shattered in front of everyone who had ever praised her, feared her, wanted her.
She wasn’t a powerhouse.
She wasn’t a threat.
She was Enhanced.
The lowest of the five ranks.
The most common.
Successfully unlocked!
Chapter 80
The rank given to wolves who had only the basic gifts. Heightened senses. Speed. Healing. But no magic. No greatness
And Emari Johar–the girl who had mocked everyone and carried her family name like it was a crown–was now one of them.
I watched, frozen.
And for a brief, fractured second–l pitied her.
But only for a moment.
Because then another sound split the air.
A roar.
Not like Emari’s. Not broken or angry. This one was pure, wild energy. It came from across the chamber–loud, hot, alive.
Ethan.
He stood in the middle of his circle, fists clenched, head tipped back as fire poured from his hands like Wing lava, Flames spiraled up around his arms, licking across his shoulders, forming a barrier of heat between him and his opponent.
The boy opposite him tried to shift–but it didn’t matter.
Ethan was already in motion.
He struck the ground with his palm and the stone cracked beneath him. Wind surged outward in a dome, sending the other student flying across the ring. The boy hit the edge and groaned, stunned but conscious.
The crowd roared.
Sira’s voice rang out again. This time with real energy.
“Elemental. Rank Four.”
Students gasped. A few clapped. Eva let out a low whoop beside me and grinned. I couldn’t help smiling back, pride swelling in my chest.
Ethan glowed–not from the flames–but from within.
He looked powerful. Confident.
Like this was always meant to be his.
And then–another sound. One that made my stomach drop.
A scream.
Not one of triumph.
Not of anger.
This was terror.
A circle near mine.
A boy–maybe fifteen–slim and small, with pale brown curls and wide eyes. He stood frozen. Trembling. The rune circle beneath him sparked once… then went dark.
He hadn’t manifested.
Not even a flicker.
I saw the panic in his eyes before he even moved.
He looked up–toward the instructors–begging, pleading.
I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I saw the tears.
Then the two instructors entered his ring.
No words.
No trial.
They grabbed him by the arms.
He fought. Kicked. Screamed.
But they dragged him out of the circle and into the shadows without pause.
Gone.
Just like that.
No explanation.
No second chance.
Chapter 80
Eva’s hand gripped mine. Tight.
We both stared, horror curling in our stomachs like ice water.
“This isn’t a trial,” I whispered, voice hollow. “It’s a purge.”
Eva didn’t answer.
She didn’t need to.
Because in that moment–I saw the truth.
This wasn’t about growth.
This wasn’t about celebration.
This was about elimination.
About refining the pack to only those who were strong, special, controllable.
The rest?
Expendable.
I felt my stomach twist. My magic simmered beneath my skin–angry, restless, hungry.
The plan. The plan had to work.
We couldn’t let this continue.
We wouldn’t.
I glanced back at Ethan’s circle. He was grinning now, chest heaving, fire still pulsing faintly around his fingers. The instructors called for reset, ready to move the next trial into motion.
Then, subtly, he did something that wasn’t part of the original plan.
A small pulse of wind erupted from his feet–a ripple that skated across the floor and knocked over one of the lesser pillars near the back of the chamber. It didn’t fall–but it cracked just enough to splinter the rune glowing beneath it.
Gasps followed.
A minor disruption.
Enough to draw attention.
Enough to begin.
My gaze shot to Nate–already on the far end of the chamber, using the moment to slip past two enforcers. His presence was barely there. Veilborn stealth at its best.
Eva looked at me, eyes wide.
But then… she stiffened.
Her entire body went still. Her gaze snapped toward the left side of the arena, where one of the Council members had begun murmuring into a spell circle.
“What is it?” I whispered. “What’s wrong?”
Her grip tightened. “I… I can feel something. There’s too much energy. Too many threads pulling in too many directions. Something’s going to go wrong.”
I stared. “You’re sensing it?”
She nodded, dazed. “I can’t explain it. But something’s going to fail. We’re going to fail.”
I blinked, realization dawning.
“You’re Sentinel,” I breathed.
Eva blinked rapidly. “I guess so.”
“But–Eva, what else? What are you seeing?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “It’s too much. It’s like voices and shadows and flashes all layered together. I can’t make sense of it.”
Before I could respond, Instructor Sira appeared at her side.
“I think I know what’s happening here,” she said calmly, placing a hand on Eva’s shoulder. “Come with me, dear, I’ll help.”
Eva looked at me helplessly, panic flickering in her eyes. I took a step toward her, but two other instructors were already flanking me.
“No,” I said. “Wait–she’s not-”
“Your trial is next,” one of them said, grabbing my arm.
Chapter 80
I looked back at Eva one last time. She mouthed something, but I didn’t catch it.
And then I was pulled away.
Shoved into my own circle.
Alone.
My power pulsed. Silver heat beneath my ribs. My breath hitched,
The runes around me flared. The trial had begun.
But I didn’t release my power.
Not yet.
Because across the chamber, one of the council members–the same woman who had watched me with thinly veiled hatred since my first day–was leaning forward in her seat.
Watching me.
Waiting.
And I knew-
She was out for my blood.
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