[Imperial City — The Column — Day 21]

Viktor arrived with a box.

The size of a suitcase, made of dark wood, with the kind of lock used by someone who knows that what they are carrying requires specific care.

He placed it on the third‑floor table.

He opened it.

Documents.

Folders separated by name.

Seals that the team recognized as official from the Celestial Academy — not cheap forgeries, the kind of work that required contacts that cost.

"Two weeks," said Viktor. "The Circle did what it could."

He began distributing.

---

Alex first.

Identification document.

Exchange student admission letter.

A fabricated academic history from a region remote enough that no one could verify it directly.

"Exchange student," said Viktor. "Specialization in magical control systems — specific enough to justify your level of knowledge, obscure enough that no one asks detailed questions."

Alex read the history.

"Registered level."

"Artificially suppressed." Viktor. "The Aura Suppression you already use, pushed to its limit for the entire stay. Your level reading has to be consistent with the documents at all times."

"How long can I keep Aura Suppression at its limit?"

"That’s the right question." Viktor looked at him. "Hours without a problem. Days with effort. Weeks—" A pause. "Weeks are going to cost you."

"I know."

Viktor nodded.

He continued distributing.

---

He reached Grim.

He stopped.

"The companion," said Viktor.

**"Yes."**

Viktor looked at him. Looked at the documents he didn’t have for Grim. Looked at Alex.

"The problem with the companion is that there’s no cover that will work." Viktor, direct. "Grim in any form is recognizable to anyone with an updated report. The eyes. The flames. The scythe."

**"I know."**

"And in Form 2/7 inside the Academy—"

**"I know that too."**

Viktor waited.

Grim looked at Alex.

**"I’m not going in."**

The team processed that in silence.

"Grim—" Emily began.

**"I’m not going in,"** he repeated. Without drama. Data.

**"If I go in, Alex’s cover collapses within hours. Someone from the Temple will recognize the companion before we reach the oldest building."**

Alex looked at him.

**"We’ll use Death’s Synergy’s synchronization to communicate."** Grim.

**"If you need me inside, you reach the perimeter’s edge and call. I’ll be there as fast as I can."**

"And if I don’t have time to reach the perimeter?"

Grim looked directly at him.

**"Then we improvise."**

"That’s not a plan."

**"It’s what we have."**

Silence.

**"I don’t like it,"** said Grim.

"I know."

**"We’ll be apart for weeks."**

"I know."

**"And if something goes wrong inside—"**

"I know, Grim."

Long pause.

**"I don’t like it."**

"You already said that."

**"I’m repeating it because it’s still true."**

---

Viktor continued.

The girls.

Emily first — her folder was the thinnest because Emily needed the least fabrication. A healer studying at the Academy, specializing in advanced magical healing techniques. Completely plausible. Completely consistent with who Emily was without anyone having to pretend too much.

"You are the group’s most solid cover," Viktor told her.

Emily took the documents.

"No potion?"

"No potion."

Emily nodded, relieved.

Then Viktor looked at the rest.

He took four small vials from the box.

The liquid inside was a color that didn’t correspond exactly to any natural color — somewhere between blue and silver, with something else beneath.

"Temporary regression potion," said Viktor. "Not permanent. Twelve hours of maximum effect with a standard dose. It reverts physical appearance to an earlier stage — in this case, first‑year college student age."

Raven took one of the vials.

She looked at it.

"How far back?"

"Four to six years depending on the individual."

Kira took hers.

"Side effects?"

"Temporary. Some orientation confusion in the first twenty minutes while the body processes the change." Viktor. "Nothing that affects skills or memory."

Maya took the third without comment.

The fourth remained on the table in case it was needed later.

---

Viktor left to give privacy for the process.

The team with their potions.

Kira went first.

She drank it with the practicality of someone taking field medicine.

The effect took thirty seconds.

Her features slightly softer.

Her height slightly reduced.

Her ears — enchantment aside — in the same position but with the look of something newer, less defined by years of use.

Kira looked at her hands.

"This potion is practical."

"How do you feel?" asked Emily.

"The same." Kira. "Just smaller."

Maya evaluated her with a tactical eye.

"Approximately four years younger."

"Am I still functional?"

"Why wouldn’t you be?"

"I’m asking out of protocol."

Maya: "Yes."

"Good." Kira resumed her normal position. "Next."

---

Raven took hers.

The change in her was different from Kira’s — less in her features, more in her posture.

She looked at herself in the mirror Emily had taken out.

She evaluated for ten full seconds.

Then she turned to Alex.

"What do you think of my younger version?"

Alex looked at her.

"Raven—"

"Valid question." Raven completely serious. "Did you ever think you might have sex with my younger version?"

The room processed that question in silence.

Kira tilted her head.

"I hadn’t thought about that." Her ears in an evaluative position. "Can we do it while we’re at the Academy?"

Raven looked at her.

"Why not?"

"Valid logic," said Kira.

Alex began processing that.

*Raven younger. Kira. At the Academy. Simultaneously or—*

Emily slapped his arm.

"Pervert."

"I didn’t say anything."

"Your face said everything."

"My face didn’t—"

"Everything!"

**"Everything,"** confirmed Grim from the corner.

Raven looking at Alex with that smile.

"For reference," said Raven, "the answer is yes. If the Academy has adequate privacy."

Kira nodded.

"We’ll coordinate."

Alex looked at the ceiling.

**"Problematic,"** said Grim.

"Thanks, Grim."

**"And logistically complicated."**

"Grim."

**"Just observing."**

---

Maya took hers without drama.

The change in her was the most subtle of the three — or the most noticeable, depending on how you looked at it.

The younger version of Maya had the same expression as always, the same calculating eyes, the same posture.

Maya evaluated herself in the mirror for three seconds.

She made a note in her notebook.

"Functional," she determined.

Akari at cat size. One tail. Completely ordinary in appearance.

She sat down.

She looked at her paws.

She looked at Maya.

She looked at the space where the other eight tails had been.

**"The dignity of F6,"** said Grim, **"is not in how many tails one has."**

Akari looked at him.

**"That’s something the Harvester would say."**

Akari kept looking at him.

**"It makes no sense,"** Grim. **"I know. But I wanted to say it."**

---

[Viktor in private with Alex]

Two days before leaving.

The third‑floor room without the team.

Viktor with a communication crystal different from Valeria’s — smaller, a color that wasn’t exactly any color under normal light.

"If things spin out of control inside the Academy, use it." He placed it on the table. "The Circle has a presence at four points around the perimeter."

Alex took it.

"How much presence?"

"Enough to cause a distraction." Viktor. "Not enough to fight the Temple."

"What level of ’spinning out of control’ requires using it?"

Viktor looked at him.

A long look.

"You’ll know when the Witch Hunters arrive."

Alex looked at the crystal.

"And if they don’t arrive?"

"Then you’ll have entered, found what you were looking for, and left without incident." Viktor. "In that case, the crystal is just extra weight in your pocket."

"How many times has it worked out like that?"

"Fewer than I would like." Viktor picked up his cup again. "But more than the Temple knows."

---

[Night of Day 26]

The team asleep or in process.

Alex with the identity documents in his hand — reading for the third time the fabricated history of someone who wasn’t him but would have to be him for weeks.

Corruption stable at 73%.

F4 in its usual parallel conversations — less urgent at night, more present during the day when Alex actively used skills.

Grim in the corner at 80cm.

Looking at the ceiling.

**"Alex."**

"Yes?"

**"F1. In the Academy’s summoning room."** His flames still. **"It was there for decades."**

"I know."

**"When we go back there, it’s going to remember."**

Alex looked at him.

**"I’m going to remember too."** A pause. **"The moment when the Harvester was divided. Where the hatred began."** His flames. **"That place is where it all started for both of us. For the Harvester and for you."**

"Is it going to be a problem?"

**"I don’t know."** Grim. **"I’ve never been there since you summoned me. Since I was just F1 alone."**

"And now?"

**"Now I’m more than F1."** His crimson flames looking at the ceiling. **"But the place is going to remind me of what I was before I became more."**

Alex put away the documents.

"Could it be difficult?"

Grim looked at him.

**"It could be difficult."**

Alex nodded.

"Good."

**"Good?"**

"I prefer to know it before we’re already there."

Grim considered that.

**"Yes."** His flames returning to their usual stillness. **"That’s better."**

The room in silence.

Tomorrow — or in two days — the Celestial Academy.

The place where everything began.

The place where Fragment 1 had waited for decades.

The place where Fragment 5 now waited.

Alex turned off the lamp.

The dark ceiling.

Grim in the corner with his crimson flames as the only light source.

Like the first night after the summoning.

Before either of them knew what was coming.