Chapter 10 CHAPTER TEN
AERIS
“Talia Vey. Rhys Talar. We lost both of them,” Captain Neris announced, his voice steady, almost clinical, as we gathered back in the assembly hall.
A heavy silence fell. Our supposed ten-strong squad had been whittled down to eight.
Two gone.
Two lives extinguished before we even understood what survival truly demanded.
A chill crawled up my spine, cold and insistent. My stomach twisted in knots.
I could have been one of them.
Exhaustion etched itself into everybody's face. Mud and leaf stains marred what had been freshly pressed uniforms. Hair clung in sweat-soaked strands to foreheads.
Captain Neris’ voice cut through the murmurs. “For those of you who returned, understand this: surviving the forest is not enough. Every choice you made out there was observed. Every hesitation. Every instinct you failed to trust. Nothing was unseen. You will not be given another warning. You will be expected to know, to act, and to endure.”
He paused, letting the weight of his words settle over us. The silence that followed pressed down, heavier than any exhaustion.
“You are now aware that danger is not abstract. It does not wait for opportunity—it hunts. It stalks. And when it comes for you, it will show no mercy.”
I felt it then: exposed, raw, every flaw and misstep from the woods burned into my mind as though etched by fire. My heart thumped violently, and I could almost feel Neris’ gaze tracing every scar, every tremor of my limbs.
Then, after a long pause, Neris’ expression softened. “We will begin reorganizing the squad structure immediately. Leadership cannot be left to chance. The Storm Owls will need someone capable of directing, guiding, and controlling. I have observed who possesses not only power, but judgment.”
“Rowan Calder,” he announced.
My blood froze. The same Rowan…the one who had deliberately left me exposed to the beast in the Lunafern Woods, the one who had spoken of the Thalorian feud with a venomous grin. The betrayal burned fresh in my mind.
And now, he was named our squad leader.
The room seemed to tilt. I could finally see him clearly…his sharp jaw, the dark sweep of hair that fell across his forehead, the steady blue of his eyes that now locked onto mine. And that smirk…Gods, that smug, infuriating smirk curling at the edge of his lips as he met my gaze.
“You have more magic in you than anyone here,” Captain Neris continued. “Judgment, power, and precision. You will guide this squad. Protect your team. And remember…there is no room for hesitation.”
Rowan’s smirk widened just slightly, as if he knew exactly the effect his presence had.
I clenched my jaw. My chest burned…not from exhaustion, but from fury.
Rowan tilted his head, just enough for me to see the glint in his eyes. He didn’t speak, but his expression said everything: challenge accepted, and I’m enjoying your outrage.
I wanted to throw something at him, to yell, to do anything to break that smugness but I didn’t. Because I had learned something back at my house: survival came first. Fury would have to wait.
Captain Neris’ voice cut through the tension again, commanding attention. “Prepare yourselves. The forest trial was only the beginning. A leader has been appointed, but the strength of this squad lies in all of you. You will be tested again. Harder and Sharper. And next time, hesitation will cost more than you think.”
The assembly ended in a silence heavier than the one that greeted us that morning. No one dared speak as Rowan stepped forward, the new squad leader, and we followed him out of the hall toward our quarters.
I could still feel his gaze on me. I could still see that infuriating smirk. And I knew, with terrifying certainty, that this was only the beginning.
The walk back to our dormitory felt longer than the entire night in the forest. No one spoke,not even the loud ones, the cocky ones, the ones who had boasted hours ago about how “easy” the Lunafern Woods trial would be.
Now, we moved like ghosts.
By the time Rhea and I finally pushed open the door to our shared quarters, my bones felt like they were humming with leftover fear and exhaustion.
Rhea collapsed face-first onto her bunk with a groan. “If Captain Neris announces one more thing today, I’m going to disintegrate on the spot.”
I set my bag down carefully, my hands still trembling faintly. “Don’t joke about that.”
She peeled her face off the blanket and blinked at me. “…too soon?”
“Way too soon.”
Silence settled for a moment. I sank onto my bed, elbows on my knees, trying to breathe past the knot in my chest. The assembly still replayed over and over…the names of the dead, Neris’ cold warnings, the announcement of our new leader.
I didn’t even realize Rhea was studying me until she spoke softly.
“You went pale when Captain Neris said Rowan Calder.”
I swallowed. My mouth felt dry. “He’s the one,” I said quietly. “The guy from the forest.”
Rhea sat up straighter. “The one who…?”
“Left me,” I whispered. “He saw the beast right behind me and walked away. No warning. No hesitation.” My fingers twisted the fabric of my shirt. “He said it was payback”
Rhea’s eyes widened, horror blooming across her face. “That’s..Aeris, that’s cruel. That’s not even a rivalry. That’s—”
“Deliberate,” I said.
She scooted closer until our knees touched. “You can’t trust him if he wants you dead”
“I know.”
“But now he’s our squad leader,” she murmured, disgust twisting her tone. “Great. Fantastic. Love that for us.”
Despite everything, a short, humorless laugh escaped me. “I’ll survive him. Somehow.”
“Obviously,” she said, nudging my shoulder. “Because we’re sticking together. If he tries something, we deal with it. If he thinks we’re easy targets, we prove him wrong.”
The warmth of her certainty settled something inside me.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Please,” Rhea scoffed lightly, lying back down. “If I’m going to die in this academy, it’s not going to be because of some smug, grudge-holding pretty boy with too much magic and not enough empathy.”
I snorted. “You think he’s pretty?”
“Objectively,” she said, waving a tired hand. “But that’s irrelevant. I still want to punch him.”
A tiny smile tugged at my lips.
The exhaustion finally caught up to me, dragging my eyelids heavy. Rhea’s breathing evened out as she curled into her blanket.
We had survived the woods.
We had survived the trials.
Rowan Calder was a problem for tomorrow.
I lay back on my bed, staring at the ceiling for a moment before the stillness became unbearable. My hands were already moving before I fully realized it reaching beneath my pillow for the small stack of books I kept tucked there like secret treasures.
The familiar scent of old paper and pressed leaves washed over me the moment I opened the first one.
Herbal Lore of Eastern Virelia.
My mother used to joke that if magic failed me entirely, I’d make an excellent healer or a terrifying poisoner. I’d spent half my childhood wandering the forests at home, gathering plants, studying their shapes, their smells, learning what could kill and what could cure.
It was the one thing I never disappointed anyone in.
I flipped through pages filled with sketches…moonvine petals, frostroot stems, firemoss clusters. Notes scrawled in my own handwriting filled the margins.
Stimulates core energy.
Heals burns.
Toxic when boiled avoid inhaling steam.
I smiled faintly. This..plants, concoctions, salves,this was the one place my mind quieted. The academy might judge power and combat skill, but knowledge… knowledge stayed loyal.
I pulled out another book, thicker and heavier: Cures, Compounds & Concoctions of Old Virelia. The spine cracked softly as I opened to a bookmarked page..an antidote made from crushed sunsilk seeds. I read the recipe again, committing each step to memory even though I already knew it.
The words steadied me. Grounded me.
Made me feel like, in a place built on danger and death, there was still something I understood.
Still something I could rely on.
But as comforting as the pages were, exhaustion tugged hard at my eyelids. My muscles ached with a heaviness the books couldn’t chase away.
Right. I needed sleep. Desperately. Today had been brutal, and tomorrow… tomorrow would probably be worse. First day of classes, first real taste of what Aetherian expected from us.
I closed my books gently, running a thumb along the edges before sliding them back beneath my pillow.
“Sleep,” I whispered to myself.
And this time, sleep came quickly.