A month vanished like mist in sunlight.

Kael stood before the mission board in the Mission Hall—a massive holographic display that dominated the entire eastern wall, scrolling with available quests in a rainbow of difficulty colors. Green for easy. Yellow for moderate. Orange for hard. Red for potentially lethal.

The Hall was packed. Gold, Silver, and Bronze students jostled for position, arguing over quest selections, forming groups, breaking groups, reforming groups with different members. The noise was deafening.

Sage pressed against his left side. Rue pressed against his right.

"Outdoor mission," Sage murmured. Her tail brushed his thigh. "Maybe somewhere remote and private."

"Beast cores pay well," Rue added, her voice smaller than her sister’s but no less intent. "The northern forests have good hunting grounds and are very secluded."

Kael smiled.

He knew exactly what they wanted. A mission in the wilderness, away from the academy, away from prying eyes...

Appealing.

"The beast core collection mission," he said, nodding toward a yellow-tagged quest on the board. "Three-day duration. Northern forests. Minimum group of three." He glanced at Sage. "Sounds perfect."

Sage’s golden eyes sparkled.

Rue’s cheeks flushed pink.

They approached the submission terminal—a sleek desk staffed by a young woman with a practiced smile and tired eyes. She looked up as they arrived.

"Mission submission?"

"Beast core collection," Kael said. "Group of three."

The woman’s fingers moved across her terminal. "Names?"

"Kael Vorn. Sage Moonveil. Rue Moonveil."

The woman’s fingers stopped.

She looked up.

"Did you say Kael Vorn?"

"Yes."

Her expression shifted.

"One moment."

She reached beneath the desk and pressed a small button. A soft chime echoed somewhere in the building.

Kael frowned. "Is there a problem?"

"No problem. Just... protocol. Please wait."

Sage’s tail bristled. "Protocol for what?"

The woman didn’t answer.

Thirty seconds passed.

Then the door at the far end of the Mission Hall opened.

A man who looked to be in his late thirties, maybe with lean build, angular features, hair the color of ash swept back from a sharp face. Round eyeglasses perched on his nose and a cigarette dangled from his lips, smoke curling upward in lazy spirals walked in.

His cultivation was... odd.

Kael’s Essence Trace flickered. The man’s signature wasn’t like anything he’d seen before—not a clean burn like Lyra’s, not a chaotic mess like a normal cultivator. It was diffuse, spread thin across the area around him like fog, impossible to pin down to a specific location.

Mana Heart. Probably. The density was there, buried under layers of something else.

He reached Kael as he smiled around his cigarette and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Kael Vorn! Finally!" The voice was warm, friendly, aggressively casual. "Come with me."

Kael didn’t move. "Who are you?"

"Let’s leave the questions for later."

The man’s hand tightened on Kael’s shoulder as Kael found himself being guided away from the submission terminal, away from Sage and Rue.

"Hey—" Sage started.

"Stay there, pretty lady," the man called over his shoulder. "I’ll bring him back. Probably."

Sage’s tails flared. "You can’t just—"

But they were already moving, weaving through the crowd, the man’s grip on Kael’s shoulder somehow impossible to shake despite its apparent looseness.

They exited the Mission Hall through a side door.

The man released him.

Kael turned.

"Who the fuck are you?"

The man took a long drag from his cigarette.

"Name’s Smoke." He adjusted his glasses. "Lyra sent me."

Kael’s expression shifted.

"Lyra."

"Yes." Smoke smiled. "She has... thoughts about you."

"What kind of thoughts?"

"From now on, you only accept missions that come through her. She’ll send them through me. You complete the mission, she reports your achievements to the academy, everyone’s happy." Smoke took another drag. "Simple, yes?"

"Ohhh yeaaahhh!"

Smoke paused.

His cigarette stopped halfway to his lips.

"You didn’t let me finish."

Kael’s grin split his face. "Sorry. Continue."

Smoke stared at him for a long moment. Then he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"As I was saying before being interrupted, Lyra has been tracking the House of Crimson since before you ever heard of them. Your little adventure in Thornwick accelerated her timeline. She’s moving against them now, and she wants you involved."

"Involved how?"

"Missions. Specific ones. Targets she’s identified, locations she’s scouted, operations she’s been planning for months." Smoke held up a finger. "In exchange, she reports your contributions directly to the academy. Your rank improves. Your reputation grows. You get access to intelligence and resources that random beast core missions couldn’t provide."

"And the catch?"

"No catch. Lyra doesn’t do catches." Smoke’s eyes glinted behind his glasses. "She does favors. And favors always come due."

Kael processed this.

"What’s the first mission?"

Smoke’s smile widened.

"Getting ahead of yourself, aren’t you? I haven’t finished explaining the team composition yet."

"Team composition?"

"Of course, you can’t go alone." Smoke ticked names off on his fingers. "You, obviously. Yenna Frostveil—Rank 1 Gold class, Sector 1, ice manipulation, terrifying in all the right ways. Cassian Vale—Rank 3, time manipulation, annoying but effective. And Lyra herself, when the mission requires it."

Kael’s eyebrows rose.

"You’re putting me with the top two students in the academy."

"What about Sage and Rue?"

"What about them?"

"I promised them a mission."

Smoke’s expression didn’t change. "They can take academy missions. You can’t. Not anymore."

"I don’t recall agreeing to that."

"You didn’t agree to being born either, but here you are." Smoke pushed off the wall. "Look, kid. Lyra isn’t asking. She’s informing. You can say no, walk away, go back to your fox girlfriends and your beast core missions. But the House of Crimson isn’t going to stop because you’d rather get laid in the forest."

Kael was quiet.

"The choice is yours," Smoke said. "But Lyra’s offers don’t come twice. And she doesn’t make them to people she doesn’t think are worth the investment."

He turned to leave.

"Wait."

Smoke paused.

"Who are you to Lyra?" Kael asked. "Really."

Smoke looked at him over his shoulder.

His lips curled.

"And why would I tell you that?"

Kael stared.

Men, that same dismissive, amused, slightly condescending tone that Lyra used every time he asked a question she didn’t want to answer.

"You guys are definitely related," Kael said.

Smoke’s smile widened.

"Good luck on your first mission, Kael Vorn."

He walked away.

Kael stood alone in the hallway.

Sage and Rue were going to be furious.