Morning arrived earlier than Elias expected.

  The academy bells echoed across the campus just as the first light of dawn spilled over the mountain ridges surrounding Axiom Academy. The sound carried through the dormitory halls and across the stone courtyards, signaling the beginning of the training day.

  Elias had barely slept.

  His body had recovered from the paralysis, but his mind had not found the same peace. Every time he closed his eyes, fragments of the previous day replayed in his thoughts—the surge of power, the distortion of space, and the terrifying moment when his body had simply stopped responding.

  Three Axiom Paths.

  The instructor had said the word Convergence like it explained everything.

  But to Elias, it explained almost nothing.

  He stepped out onto the academy courtyard, joining the steady flow of students moving toward the training grounds. Conversations buzzed around him as groups discussed their awakened Paths, comparing abilities and early training plans.

  More than once, Elias noticed people glancing at him.

  Some of them whispered.

  Others simply watched with curiosity.

  Word had spread quickly.

  The boy with the fractured mark.

  Elias kept his gaze forward as he followed the crowd down the wide stone path leading toward the training fields. The academy grounds were far larger than they appeared from the dormitory windows. Several massive training yards stretched across the plateau, each designed for different types of Axiom practice.

  The largest of them lay directly ahead.

  A circular arena surrounded by tiered stone platforms where instructors could observe students during combat exercises.

  By the time Elias arrived, dozens of students were already gathered on the training floor.

  Some practiced controlled strikes against reinforced targets. Others attempted to manipulate small bursts of Axiom energy while instructors moved among them, offering corrections.

  The air itself seemed to vibrate with power.

  Elias stepped quietly toward the edge of the field, unsure where he was supposed to go.

  “Elias.”

  He turned.

  The lead instructor from the previous day approached across the arena. His calm expression remained unchanged, though Elias sensed the same careful attention in his gaze.

  “You’re walking normally again,” the instructor observed.

  “Mostly.”

  The instructor nodded.

  “That’s good.”

  Elias glanced around the arena. “So this is where we start?”

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  “For now.”

  The instructor gestured toward the students practicing nearby.

  “Everyone here is learning the same thing first—control.”

  Elias raised an eyebrow. “Even the strong ones?”

  “Especially the strong ones.”

  The instructor stopped beside a rack of training equipment and picked up a small metal sphere about the size of a fist. He tossed it lightly toward Elias.

  Elias caught it reflexively.

  The metal felt heavier than it looked.

  “Axiom training begins with awareness,” the instructor explained. “Most new students think power is about strength. It isn’t.”

  Elias turned the sphere over in his hand.

  “What is it about, then?”

  “Control.”

  The instructor pointed toward the center of the arena.

  “Try to move Axiom through your arm.”

  Elias stared at him.

  “That’s it?”

  “For now.”

  Elias hesitated before closing his eyes.

  He had studied the theory countless times.

  Axiom energy flowed through everything—the air, the ground, the human body. Awakening a Path allowed a person to guide that flow, shaping it according to the rules of their Path.

  At least, that was how it was supposed to work.

  Elias focused on the fractured mark beneath his skin.

  For a moment, nothing happened.

  Then he felt it.

  A faint current.

  Something subtle stirring beneath the surface of his arm.

  The mark flickered weakly.

  Elias felt a brief pulse of energy move toward his hand.

  The metal sphere vibrated slightly.

  Then the energy vanished.

  Elias opened his eyes.

  “That lasted about half a second.”

  “Longer than yesterday,” the instructor said calmly.

  Elias sighed.

  “So this is going to take a while.”

  “Yes.”

  Elias glanced down at the fractured mark again.

  “Shouldn’t I be learning how to use Forge or Gate first?”

  The instructor shook his head.

  “If you try to force those Paths right now, your body will collapse again.”

  “That makes sense.”

  The instructor folded his arms.

  “You need stability before power.”

  Elias rolled the metal sphere in his palm, still feeling the faint echo of that brief energy pulse.

  Nearby, several students were already performing far more impressive displays.

  One boy reinforced his fists with glowing Forge energy before striking a training pillar hard enough to crack the stone surface.

  Another student disappeared briefly and reappeared several meters away—a clean Gate Path displacement.

  Elias watched the demonstration quietly.

  Everyone else seemed to understand their power.

  Everyone else had a clear Path.

  He looked back down at his fractured mark.

  The lines glowed faintly.

  Unstable.

  Uncertain.

  Behind him, a familiar voice spoke.

  “Well, look who survived.”

  Elias didn’t need to turn around to recognize it.

  Marcus Hale stepped into the training area, his Forge mark already glowing faintly along his forearm. Several students nearby shifted aside slightly as he passed.

  Marcus stopped a few steps from Elias.

  His gaze dropped briefly to the fractured mark before returning to Elias’s face.

  “I thought your body shut down completely yesterday.”

  “It did.”

  Marcus studied him for a moment.

  “Guess you’re tougher than you look.”

  Elias shrugged slightly.

  “I try.”

  Marcus’s expression remained unreadable.

  For a moment, the tension between them hung quietly in the air.

  Then Marcus looked toward the instructor.

  “So he’s staying?”

  The instructor’s voice remained calm.

  “Yes.”

  Marcus nodded slowly.

  “That’s interesting.”

  He turned back toward Elias.

  “I’ll be watching.”

  With that, he walked toward the center of the arena, where several Forge Path students had already begun sparring.

  Elias watched him go.

  The instructor spoke quietly beside him.

  “Rivals are useful.”

  “That didn’t feel like a rivalry.”

  “It will be.”

  Elias sighed.

  “That’s comforting.”

  The instructor gestured toward the metal sphere again.

  “Continue.”

  Elias focused once more.

  The fractured mark flickered.

  A faint current moved through his arm.

  This time the metal sphere lifted slightly from his palm before dropping back down.

  The instructor nodded.

  “Better.”

  Elias frowned.

  “I didn’t feel Forge or Gate that time.”

  “Good.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you didn’t trigger Convergence.”

  Elias looked down at the fractured mark again.

  For now, the power inside it felt quiet.

  But he knew that wouldn’t last forever.

  Eventually the unstable currents would collide again.

  Eventually the Convergence would return.

  The question was whether he would be ready for it.

  Across the arena, Marcus landed a reinforced punch that shattered a training pillar into fragments of stone.

  Students nearby erupted in impressed murmurs.

  Elias watched the display carefully.

  Marcus was strong.

  Controlled.

  Everything Elias currently wasn’t.

  But Elias clenched his fist around the metal sphere.

  If the fractured mark gave him even a small chance to stand on that field—

  He intended to take it.