Chapter 2: The Girl with Silver Eyes
Zaira Thorne arrived at Arcforge Academy with little fanfare but undeniable presence. Where others gawked, she observed. Where others hesitated, she moved.
Silver eyes scanned the courtyard like sensors, evaluating everything—the gates, the students, the towering mechs looming over the campus grounds. She wore her uniform with precise sharpness, the edges tailored to match the confidence of someone who had prepared for this moment her entire life.
She didn't speak to anyone as she passed through the grand entrance, but whispers followed her.
"She's from the Thorne family."
"The Aetherborn prodigy?"
"I heard she built her first Spellmech at ten."
All of it was true. Zaira had been raised not only with access to the rarest mech components but with ancient grimoires handed down through bloodlines older than the Academy itself. Her connection to Aether was different—innate, primal. It made her powerful. And it made her dangerous.
But none of the other students knew the one secret she guarded closely:
Kael Virel.
She hadn't seen him in ten years. Not since their families had made the Pact—a forgotten alliance that ended in betrayal and fire. Her parents had called Kael's mother a traitor. Kael had vanished. Zaira thought him dead.
Until now.
She felt it the moment she stepped onto the training grounds. A pulse in the ambient energy. A resonance.
Zaira narrowed her eyes. "You're here, aren't you, Kael?"
---
The first day was overwhelming for most students. Orientation at Arcforge meant more than speeches and handbooks—it was a test of presence. The academy was an entity in itself, alive with humming conduits, levitating spires, and the scent of burning mana in the wind.
The Grand Hall of Echoes, a cavernous chamber shaped like a crystal bloom, shimmered with thousands of floating memory shards—recordings of past battles, student triumphs, and failures. New initiates stood in rows while the instructors and mechs observed from above.
Zaira barely paid attention to the Archmaster's speech. Her mind was elsewhere.
On Kael.
She saw him as the students were dismissed into their respective towers. He was across the courtyard, talking to a shorter boy with grease-stained gloves. Kael's hair was a little longer than she remembered, and the slums hadn't dulled the fire in his storm-gray eyes.
Her fingers twitched, instinctively reaching for the spell-inscriber clipped to her belt. She resisted the urge to call out to him.
He turned.
Their eyes met.
He froze. Just for a second. Then he looked away, muttering something to his friend before walking off.
Zaira's chest tightened. He remembered her. But he didn't smile.
---
Later that evening, in the dorms of House Astralis, Zaira sat on the edge of her cot, staring out the high arched window at the floating combat arenas in the distance. Her fingers traced the edge of a pendant she wore beneath her shirt—half of a broken gear, etched with her family's crest.
The other half belonged to Kael.
A knock on her door pulled her from her thoughts.
It was a girl with dark curls and a bright grin. "Roomie!"
Zaira blinked. "You are?"
"Rina Kestel. House Astralis. Top ten in the prep leagues. You?"
"Zaira Thorne."
Rina's eyes widened. "Wait. The Zaira Thorne?"
"I suppose."
"Stars. This is going to be fun." Rina dropped her bag on the second cot. "You excited for the pairing trials tomorrow?"
Zaira blinked. "What trials?"
"You didn't read the entrance schedule?"
"I skimmed it."
Rina laughed. "Everyone's tested in combat aptitude and mech resonance. They pair us up—randomly—for a survival scenario in the training domes. Teamwork under pressure. It's brutal."
Zaira's mind raced. If the pairings were random...
Could she end up with Kael?
Part of her hoped so. The other part feared it.
---
The Next Morning
Kael stood in the staging grounds with a squad of other nervous initiates, watching as massive glyphs shimmered across the sky, reshuffling the names of the pairings.
His name flickered.
Virel, Kael – Thorne, Zaira
He swore under his breath.
"Bad draw?" asked a nearby boy.
Kael didn't answer. His chest felt tight.
Of all the people in the galaxy...
She approached in silence. Zaira was calm, precise, flawless as ever. He hated how easily she slipped back into his life, like nothing had happened. Like she hadn't disappeared when he needed her most.
"Kael," she said softly.
He turned away. "Didn't expect to see you here."
"You always said we'd get into Arcforge together."
"That was before."
"Before your mother disappeared. Before my family called yours traitors. I know."
They stared at each other for a long moment.
Zaira held out her hand. "We can deal with the past later. Right now, we survive the trial."
Kael hesitated. Then he shook it.
The announcer's voice echoed. "Initiates, report to Trial Dome Theta."
---
Trial Dome Theta – One Hour Later
The dome was a simulated ruin—a war-torn city with collapsing buildings, hidden traps, and rogue Spellmech drones hunting the teams.
Zaira and Kael moved silently through the shadows, working their way toward a collapsed spire rumored to house the exit beacon.
Kael watched her as they moved—how she scanned corners, how her steps were precise but fast. She hadn't lost her edge.
They took cover as a drone mech thundered past, its massive frame scanning the area with searchlights.
"We flank it," Zaira whispered. "You distract it with a mana flare. I hit the core with a breaker rune."
Kael nodded and reached into his pouch. The flare hissed to life, buzzing with violet energy.
He tossed it.
The drone roared, pivoting toward the light.
Zaira sprinted, her spell-inscriber glowing with ancient symbols. She slid beneath the drone, etched a glyph onto its leg, and dove for cover.
The rune detonated.
The mech fell.
Zaira dusted herself off, panting. Kael offered his hand.
She took it.
For a moment, everything paused.
Then the final alarm sounded.
They reached the beacon, barely ahead of the collapsing rubble. As the dome faded away, revealing the Arcforge staff in the observation deck above, both of them stood breathless, covered in soot, but victorious.
---
After the trial, they sat beneath the skybridge that overlooked the lower campus. It was quiet here, far from the others.
Kael finally spoke. "Why didn't you write? Or send word?"
Zaira stared ahead. "My family forbade it. After your mother vanished, they feared what the Aetherborn would become. They called it a curse. I wasn't even allowed to say your name."
"So you just... stopped caring?"
"No. I never stopped. I thought you were dead."
Kael looked at her.
"I'm not," he said. "But I'm not the same kid who made you that pendant."
She pulled it from her collar—still wearing it after all these years.
"I am," she said.
Silence stretched between them.
"We make a good team," she added quietly.
"Maybe."
He stood. "We'll see how long that lasts."
---
Later that night, Zaira sat alone in the observatory tower, watching the stars through the arched crystal dome.
She felt Kael's presence before she saw him.
"You still sneak around like a ghost," she said.
"Old habits."
He sat beside her.
"You ever think about what comes next?" he asked. "After Arcforge?"
"All the time."
"What do you want?"
Zaira didn't answer right away. She looked up at the stars.
"To find out why they lied to us. About your family. About mine. About the mechs."
Kael looked at her.
"Then we find out together."
---
Next: Chapter 3 – Trials of Flame and Steel