[Outskirts of Veltharr — Open Field — 8:45 AM]

The team arrived from the eastern edge where they had been watching.

Raven assessing Alex’s damage — her hands on his side, pressure on his shoulder. Alex letting her without protest.

Emily with minimum [Heal] — enough for his side to stop protesting.

Maya with her notebook.

Kira looking at Marcus.

The boy watching from the group’s edge — with the expression of someone filing everything away to process later.

Marcus with Aurum back on his shoulder.

The dragon in reduced size.

---

They sat on the rocks on the north side of the field.

Marcus spoke first.

"The report to Father Agustín."

"What are you going to tell him?" asked Alex.

"The truth." Marcus looked at the field where they had fought.

"That the bearer of Fragment 1 operates at a level that the Temple’s current resources cannot handle without significant institutional cost." A pause.

"That immediate capture is not viable."

"Cael will probably say the same thing, so that will keep them thinking for a while."

"That buys the team time?"

"Weeks. Maybe a month." Marcus. "Agustín is not impatient — he’s methodical. If he receives a report of tactical inviability, he will recalculate instead of acting rashly."

"And after the month?"

"It depends on what the team does during that month."

---

Several seconds of silence.

Raven finished assessing Alex’s damage and stepped back.

Maya made a note.

The boy kept observing.

Alex looked directly at Marcus.

"Do you want to know where we’re going?"

Marcus looked at him.

"Carter, if I know where you’re going, I can follow you." He said it without threat.

Alex smiled.

"I’m asking because there’s a difference between following someone and someone telling you where they’re going."

The same logic applied now.

"We’re going to the Celestial Academy."

Silence.

Aurum turned his head toward Alex.

Marcus looked at him for three full seconds.

Then:

"You must be the biggest idiot I know."

---

Emily made a sound.

Raven smiled slightly.

**"I agree with the diagnosis,"** said Grim.

"Grim."

**"It’s an objective observation."**

Marcus smiled.

But something in his expression was the closest Marcus Steele came to finding something genuinely absurd.

"The Celestial Academy has a permanent Temple presence. Father Agustín has just arrived. Director Magnus cooperates with the Temple institutionally. A pause.

"And you want to go in with active corruption, two Fragments without full integration, and a team that the Temple has documented."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Alex looked at the team.

Then at Marcus.

"Because Fragment 5 is in the Academy. In the oldest building. And if we don’t get there before Agustín finds it, the Temple gets access to something it shouldn’t have."

Marcus processed that.

His eyes — the usual calculation, but faster than normal. As if the information was fitting into a map he already had but that had gaps he hadn’t been able to fill.

"Fragment 5." He said it quietly.

"In the Celestial Academy."

"In the oldest building. Inside an object. Still without an active bearer."

Marcus looked at the empty field.

"How do you know something like that?"

**"From the original Harvester’s memories. Confirmed."**

More silence.

Aurum murmured something — not audible to the rest, but Marcus heard it. He processed it.

"The Master Guild has had theories about Fragment 5’s location for years." Marcus measured his words. "None pointed to the Academy."

"No one looked for it there because everything in the Academy shines equally." Alex. "It’s the best possible camouflage."

Marcus nodded slowly.

With admiration and recognition.

---

"There’s something you should know before you go in," said Marcus.

Alex looked at him.

"Cael returned to the Temple."

The team processed that.

"When?" asked Raven.

"Four days ago. After the Catacombs, Cael filed his operations report and returned to headquarters." Marcus looked at Aurum. "Father Agustín summoned all high‑level Inquisitors for the Fragment situation. Cael included."

"Is Cael in trouble?" asked Emily.

"Cael is always in some kind of political trouble with Agustín’s faction." Marcus. "But Cael has been navigating that politics for twenty years. He’s not a novice."

"Why are you telling us this?" said Kira.

Marcus looked at her.

"Because if Cael is in the Academy when you arrive — and if Agustín has him there as direct supervision — your margin for maneuvering changes." A pause. "Cael in open terrain operates with his own judgment. Cael under Agustín’s direct supervision operates under the Temple’s judgment."

"Are they different?"

"Considerably."

---

Marcus stood up.

Aurum adjusted his position on his shoulder.

"One more thing." He looked directly at Alex. "If you manage to enter the Academy — and if you manage to leave — the Master Guild is going to want information." It wasn’t a threat. It was Marcus’s honest version of the deal he was offering. "Not now. Not in terms of capture or reporting to the Temple. Just information."

"About what?"

"About Fragment 5. About what you find in the oldest building." Pause. "The Master Guild has had incomplete theories for years. If you have the correct information and we have the correct distribution network..." He left it unfinished.

Alex looked at him.

"Eventually," he said.

Marcus nodded.

"Eventually."

He extended his hand.

Alex took it.

The handshake of two people who aren’t exactly allies but recognize each other.

Marcus let go.

He turned.

He walked toward the southern road.

Aurum returned to his full size and Marcus climbed onto him.

At the edge of the field — without turning — he spoke one last time.

"Carter."

"What."

"If you manage to get into the Celestial Academy with what you’re carrying and come out with what you’re looking for..." A pause. The longest of the entire conversation. "I’ll be eager for the next round."

Aurum turned his head toward Grim for one last second and took flight.

Grim looked back at him.

**"Until next time,"** said Grim.

Aurum nodded his head.

They disappeared into the sky.

---

The team in the field.

The sun fully up now. The morning advanced.

Veltharr behind them.

Imperial City and the Celestial Academy to the south.

Raven: "Now he knows where we’re going."

"Yes," said Alex.

"Do you care?"

Alex thought about Aurum recoiling in Imperial City. About Marcus arriving alone.

"No."

Raven looked at him for a second.

"Good."

The boy from the edge of the group.

"Will we see him again?"

"Probably," said Alex.

"As an enemy or as..."

"As Marcus." Alex picked up his backpack. "Which is both depending on the day."

The boy processed that.

He filed away the information with the same seriousness with which he filed away the rules of Crowns and Kingdoms.

**"Interesting,"** said Grim. **"The world outside ritual organizations is more complex than the Heralds described."**

The boy looked at him.

"Did the Heralds describe the world to you?"

**"The previous bearer listened to them describe the world. I listened to the memories."**

"And how did they describe it?"

**"As an obstacle."**

The boy looked in the direction where Marcus had disappeared.

"It doesn’t seem like just an obstacle."

**"No."** Grim’s crimson flames. **"That’s what the Heralds didn’t understand."**

---

[Veltharr — The Broken Rock — 9:30 AM]

The team back at the inn to pick up the last things before leaving.

Maya with the final map — the route to Imperial City, the stop points, the time margins.

Emily distributing the remaining potions according to long‑travel protocol.

Kira checking the arrows one last time — the second time that morning, which meant she was processing something.

Alex by the window with the extinguished Anchor Stone in his hand.

Grim beside him.

**"Are you okay?"**

"Yes."

**"The fight with Marcus."**

"It went well."

**"I’m not asking if it went well. I’m asking if you’re okay."**

Alex looked at him.

He thought about Battle Flow at 41% — contained, deliberate. About the difference between fighting to win and fighting to see. About what he had seen.

"Marcus has grown." He said it quietly. "In one year, he really has grown."

**"Yes."**

"Does that worry me?"

**"Does it?"**

Alex considered honestly.

"No." He put away the extinguished stone. "It reminds me that time passes for everyone."

**"So?"**

"So you have to use it well."

Grim’s flames still.

**"Good."**

The owner of The Broken Rock saw them off at the door with the same expression as always — no questions, no comments. Just seven travel food packages that no one had asked for.

Kira counted them.

She distributed them.

The team left Veltharr heading south.

Imperial City.

Viktor.

The Celestial Academy.

The place where everything began.