The Wrath descended through the upper atmosphere of Sevencore at a breakneck pace. That, Jace figured, couldn’t have been wise. They weren’t supposed to be drawing attention.

  But then again, Kinfild did seem to only have one way of entering a planet’s atmosphere, and it wasn’t slowly.

  They passed through a thick wall of cloud, flames brimming in front of the ship. Jace clung tight to the armrests of his seat. Finally, after a few minutes of descent, Kinfild pulled back on the control yoke, and their course flattened out.

  They crossed another level of swirling gray clouds. Lightning flickered around them, and an immense pressure welled up from below. It was a spiritual pressure, almost like what Jace felt in the dungeons, but more…natural. Like it came from a planet, not an artificially implanted core.

  His senses weren’t the best, but it was much more powerful than a regular planet. If he had to guess, he’d probably have said it was seven times as powerful. The planet’s name did nothing to help him reach that conclusion.

  Lessa raised a hand to her forehead, and she winced.

  “Is the pressure too much?” Jace asked.

  “I’ll get used to it,” she replied. Being a mortal, she didn’t have the best tolerance to immense spiritual pressures. “It’s like going down a steep hill with a stuffed nose. Kinda unpleasant, but it’s not going to kill me.”

  “Nice place to build an Academy!” Perril shouted from the crew hold.

  “They didn’t ask me where they were going to put it,” Kinfild replied. “But I suppose the location has something to do with the prevalence of dark-aspect Wielders.”

  Beside Jace, LeeKay whined. His single eye stared out the viewscreen, and he let out a sad tone.

  “I don’t know what’s going on here, bud,” Jace whispered. He reached down and patted the kyborg’s head. “But we’ll keep you safe.” He paused. “Still, you don’t have to leave the ship if you don’t want to.”

  In response, LeeKay jumped up and scampered up the side of the chair and perched on Jace’s shoulder.

  “I’ll take that as a ‘I’m coming with you’,” Jace said.

  The last of the clouds peeled away, and Kinfild slowed down enough that the flames stopped flickering across the viewscreen. A light flickered to life on the viewscreen, a white hologram projected just in front of it, guiding Kinfild to some place over the horizon.

  Mountains of blackish-purple obsidian raced past below, turning into streaks below him. They covered most of the landscape as far as he could see, except for an ocean on the southern horizon. Even the trees seemed to accept the gloomy theme, taking on a dark red hue for the pines, or just an outright dark gray for the deciduous trees. There was no sign of civilization between them.

  “They built their academy here because of the Aes,” Ash said from the crew hold, speaking loud enough that everyone could hear. “There’s a lot of dark-aspect, but the natural, pure-aspect Aes from the planet below is also much stronger.”

  “That won’t do us any good,” Jace said. “I don’t gather Aes like most Wielders do, and Lessa can’t do it at all.”

  “Well,” Kinfild said. “Her exo-suit will fill up much faster than normal, and she won’t have to let it rest like the others.”

  “There’s no reason you can’t learn an Aes-gathering technique like the others,” Ash said. There will be cycling classes, and they’ll likely teach all the new intakes a new technique to use.”

  “My core is slightly unstable,” Jace provided.

  “Excuses. You’ll work around it.”

  He probably would. It didn’t make it any less mildly-irritating. “Sure.” But if he did master it, he’d be able to accumulate Aes even faster than any of his peers. Two different methods of quick intake? It would be excellent. “I’ll give it my best shot.” He glanced back. “But we’re also still going there to hunt down information about the Generous Hand, aren’t we?”

  “That’s the primary objective Lady Fairynor gave you.”

  “And it’s what I want,” Jace said. “This war is gonna keep going as long as he’s still alive.”

  “I’d definitely like to deal with him, too!” Lessa called. “Not a huge fan of the breaking down the wall and doomsday stuff!”

  “That too…” Ash said darkly. “But remember: you won’t be able to touch him if you don’t improve yourselves.”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “We’re coming up on the landing platform,” Kinfild informed them. “Facing forward, please. And be ready to get off, all of you.”

  Jace reached for the release switch for his crash harness and leaned forward, looking through the viewscreen. Ahead, the forests and mountains gave way to an enormous caldera where there had once been a massive volcano. Either it was dormant, or they’d done some kind of super-technology-magic to turn it off for good. He would believe either if someone told him.

  Within the caldera was a city. They filled the stone bowl up to the ridge, and even during the “day,” they were lit with glowing neon signs and purple holo-lanterns. The buildings themselves were made of drab gray and black stone, and they had clay shingle roofs. The eaves’ corners lifted up slightly, like a cartoon elf’s shoes. At every intersection, an enormous ring marked roadways for foot traffic, and streams of air traffic soared overhead.

  At the very center of the city was one of the largest buildings Jace had ever seen. It was made of the same black stone that the rest of the city was, but its walls were sharp and angular, and they reached high into the sky. Buttresses supported the outer walls, like a cathedral, and spires rose out of it at every point. It was impossible to find a central point to look at. Everything was a central point, everything was demanding his absolute attention.

  “Is that the Academy?” Jace asked, pointing at it.

  “That is the Academy’s city branch,” Kinfild said. “Where we’ll land. You, however, will travel across the countryside to a different, ancient temple, where the main academy is.”

  “Ancient temple?” Lessa exclaimed. “I…alright, I was gonna say I haven’t been to one of those, but I definitely have, considering the dungeons. Am I gonna be disappointed?”

  “I hope not,” Jace replied, pointing farther into the distance. On the other side of the caldera, poking out between mountains, was a rigid lump of black stone. It was a tall, squished trapezoid, and one of many scattered throughout the valley. He couldn’t see all of them, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to.

  “This planet was once an ancient fortress of one of the Enemy’s lieutenants,” Ash explained, calling out from the crew hold. “When the Luminains vanquished him, they sanctified it, but that temple will always be a source of darkness. For dark-aspect Wielders, it’s heaven. For us…well, we probably won’t enjoy the experience too much.”

  Kinfild guided the Wrath down to a landing platform near the edge of the Academy’s city branch. There was a rim of landing platforms around it. As soon as they settled down, Jace jumped to his feet, grabbed his bag, then turned to Lessa. “You got everything you brought?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “You?”

  “Hopefully.”

  “If you need anything, call us on the transmitter,” Ash insisted. “We’ll do our best to come help, but at the shortest, we’ll be a half hour away.”

  “With any luck, we won’t get in any trouble,” Jace said, but knowing them, that wasn’t going to happen at all.

  He hoisted his backpack up onto his shoulder, then marched down the boarding ramp and stepped down onto the landing platform. Like everything here, it was made of a gray-black stone. Up close, it had a glassy sheen, but it wasn’t quite obsidian, and it was nowhere as slippery as he was expecting.

  They walked across the landing platform. Lessa waved back at Kinfild, Ash, and Perril, who waited in the Wrath’s doorway. None of them followed.

  “It’s not like we’re leaving them forever,” Jace said.

  “Yeah, but we’re supposed to be students departing on our long, five-year semester at a magic academy!” Lessa exclaimed. “You’ve gotta get into character.”

  Jace sighed, but she was right. He turned, walked backward, and gave them a wave too. “See you at winter break!” he called.

  That was probably pushing it. He didn’t even know if they had winter break here. But…was that a smile from Kinfild? It might have been, but they were getting too far to tell. He turned forward again.

  They crossed the platform, then took a short bridge over to a promenade that wrapped around the building. A guard met them outside. He was wearing a full suit of plasticy black armour, a heavy helmet with a glowing purple visor, and a cloak. A rudimentary holographic badge was projected above his heart, denoting that he was a Soul-Circle Opening stage Wielder. A curved saber hung at his hip, and he held a plasma rifle.

  “Students?” he asked. “New intakes?”

  They both nodded.

  The guard pointed to the open doorway beside him. “Meet in the central hall. A monorail will take you to the main campus. The next train departs in…two minutes, if you hurry.”

  “Thank you!” Lessa exclaimed. She and Jace darted into the building. They followed a long hallway with a polished floor, until they arrived in a hall with barren walls and a simple mural on the floor. Seven orbs arranged in a circle, with a seven-pointed star connecting them at its tips.

  A crowd of students gathered at one end, maybe about forty of them, all in uniform. Girls wore uniforms like Lessa, and boys wore uniforms like Jace, so at least the two of them weren’t out of place.

  A raised dais stood in front of the students, where four more guards, exactly like the first, stood watch with plasma rifles. At the center was a man in a long, purple robe, with a tall turban on his head. “Greetings, students!” he announced. “I am Professor Gold, and I will be guiding you to our main campus. For those of you who pass the entrance exam, this will be your home for the next five years. For those of you who fail, this will be a pleasant few weeks for you, I hope.”

  On his breast, he still bore a holographic projection of a rank badge, but instead of the open circle, his depicted a flame, for the Spirit-Burning stage—one above Nascent Heart.

  Jace noted that the man was awfully cheery for someone who lived in a place like this, but that was better than a gloomy asshole, Jace figured.

  They probably sent their best foot forward to greet the new recruits.

  A second man emerged behind him, stepping up onto the podium. He carried a holographic lantern, and wore a long brown coat. Professor Gold motioned to him and said, “The only mortal on campus, Groundskeeper Tillman. You will respect him as if he was a Spirit-Burning Wielder. Understood?”

  A chorus of agreement rolled up from the crowd.

  “Very well!” Tillman shouted in a deep, scratchy voice. “Come with us to the monorail. I promise you, you won’t forget the first proper view of the Academy, so keep your eyes wide open.”