No alarm. No announcement. Just a knock—three sharp taps—and two instructors waiting in the hallway.
“Come with us, Cadet Veyl.”
They didn’t say why.
They didn’t have to.
The interview room was narrow. Windowless. Gray walls that seemed to hum without sound.
Kael sat across from Instructor Nyrell and Security Analyst Ven. Neither of them smiled. Both had slates open. Behind them, a reflective panel spanned the wall. It wasn’t a mirror. Not really.
Kael could feel eyes on him. Watching. Recording.
A presence.
Nyrell adjusted her glasses. “This isn’t disciplinary, Kael. We’re simply gathering context regarding the incident with Cadet Varn.”
Ven's tone was flatter. “Your proximity to her during the collapse is part of the pattern we’re tracking.”
Kael kept his voice even. “I didn’t do anything.”
Nyrell nodded, typing something. “Of course. But have you experienced any instability in your Imprint signature?”
Kael stared at her. “I don’t have an Imprint.”
A pause.
Ven tapped something on his slate.
“Your record says so. But there have been anomalies in your simulation logs. System responses outside expected parameters.”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Nyrell leaned forward slightly. “Kael, are you certain you haven’t been exposed to any… experimental protocols? Unverified enhancements?”
He said nothing.
Behind the panel, the silence shifted. As if something moved on the other side.
Kael forced his breathing to stay steady.
Nyrell spoke again, softer. “We need to understand what happened to Cadet Varn. If there is any connection, intentional or not, this is the time to be honest.”
Kael looked her in the eye.
“I didn’t touch her. I didn’t speak to her. She looked at me. Then she screamed.”
Nyrell nodded. “That will be all for now.”
Ven didn’t look convinced.
When Kael stepped out of the room, he froze.
Daniel. Annabelle. Emma.
All sitting in the hallway.
Waiting.
Annabelle stood first. “They pulled us too.”
Daniel looked pissed. “What the hell happened? They’re asking if you lost control. What does that even mean?”
Kael didn’t answer.
Emma crossed her arms. Her voice was calm, but her eyes were sharp. “They think you did something to her. Not with your hands—with your presence.”
Daniel stepped forward. “We know you, man. But... you gotta tell us if something’s going on.”
Kael looked at him.
“Would you believe me if I said I didn’t know?”
Daniel hesitated.
Didn’t answer.
Emma looked at Annabelle. “And she screamed like she saw death. That wasn’t just panic. That was recognition.”
Annabelle said nothing.
But her eyes were on Kael. And they didn’t look away.
Kael waited until the others left, then found an access terminal.
Not a student one.
He cracked into a secured faculty node using an old path Elias once showed him.
He searched Cadet Varn’s logs.
Locked.
Encrypted.
But something flickered.
A shadow log. Ghost file left behind by a corrupted transfer.
Kael opened it.
It was fragmented. Glitched. But readable.
One line repeated three times:
echo.kael / weight.transfer : unstable initiation
His hands trembled.
The system shouldn’t even recognize him.
He was Unimprinted.
But the log didn’t lie.
Something inside him was leaking into others.
He backed out of the terminal.
Too fast.
The screen went black.
Then blinked.
A single message appeared:
You are not cleared for your own identity.
Another line beneath it.
Resonance Level: 2%.
Kael stared.
Then the console shut down on its own.