Marked by Rift

Darian hadn't spoken a word since the simulation ended, but the pressure in the air hadn't stopped pressing on his shoulders. That pressure had a weight, and now he realized it wasn't from other cadets or instructors it came from something inside him.

Whatever lived beneath his ribcage wasn't sleeping anymore.

The evaluation hall outside the simulation dome was quieter now, filled with faint whispers as instructors reviewed combat recordings and cadets awaited classification results. One by one, names flashed on the main screen, each highlighted in a color-coded stream.

Blue: Civil Support.

Gray: Combat Reserve.

Crimson: Battleborn Tier Path.

Most names flickered blue or gray. A handful crimson. Then:

CADET: DARIAN VEX

STREAM: BATTLEBORN

SUB-TIER: PROVISIONAL – OMEGA

The room shifted. Not loud but aware.

A few cadets glanced at him with open curiosity. Others, like Ezek Kaarn, narrowed their eyes in unspoken challenge. Darian ignored them. He studied the display instead.

"Provisional?" he muttered under his breath.

Before he could ask, a system panel lit before his eyes.

[System Update]

Tier Stream Assigned: Battleborn – Omega Branch

Core Status: Unawakened

Combat Tier: Unarmed Instinct (Rank C)

Essence Sync: 28.7%

Next Trigger: First Rift Kill

Countdown to Rift Entry: 72 Hours

Three days.

That was all the time he had to prepare for his first real Rift. No more projections. No more simulations. No more invisible training wheels.

Just him and whatever waited beyond that gateway.

The group of newly designated Battleborn cadets only seventeen out of over four hundred were led down a secured corridor behind the sim halls. The walls here were darker, embedded with deeper sensors. Energy lines pulsed faintly behind transparent alloy plates.

Darian walked near the back, eyes scanning, senses open. Everything in his body felt hyper-aware. The more he moved, the more he realized he was adapting not consciously, but at a level that bypassed logic. The way his balance adjusted on curves, how he memorized angles of lighting, how he could almost feel the spaces behind him.

It wasn't memory. It was something else.

Like a beast watching the world from inside him.

Ahead, a heavy door opened. Inside was a long chamber with no screens or technology just a circular room with seats in layers, surrounding a platform in the center. A combat briefing pit.

A woman in sleek armor stood waiting. Her head was shaved on one side, long braid wrapped around the other shoulder. One eye gleamed with a faint white implant.

"Welcome, Battleborn," she said, voice sharp and steady. "I am Instructor Rhel. You're here because you weren't weak or lucky you were chosen by your reactions under pressure."

She walked slowly around the platform, boots echoing in deliberate rhythm.

"Some of you will not return from your first Rift. That is the reality we live in. This world is not held together by hope or ideals. It's held together by those who can stand inside chaos and not blink."

Darian felt the Void core inside him react. Like it approved.

"In seventy-two hours, you will enter Rift Zone Theta-Twelve," Rhel continued. "This is a low-grade dimensional breach, still unstable. Your objective is simple: kill one Rift-class entity. Survive. Return."

"Your success will activate your Beast Core or your Talent Matrix. Your path will lock based on your survival response."

She gestured to a floating panel.

[Mission Briefing: T-Zone Theta-12]

Classification: Low-Stable Rift

Threat Tier: Class C (Multiple Riftspawn Clusters)

Objective: First Kill → Core Awakening Trigger

Authorized Tools: Standard blade, sidearm, no drones

"You'll be issued a basic weapon kit. No support gear, no backup AI, and no extraction unless death is confirmed. This is not a simulation. If you hesitate, you die."

Rhel's eyes landed on Darian for the briefest moment. It was enough to make his spine stiffen.

"Omega Branch cadets," she added, "will be monitored separately. Special observation protocols apply."

"You'll receive your deployment briefing tomorrow morning. Dismissed."

The cadets dispersed silently. No jokes. No bravado. The atmosphere didn't allow it.

Outside the chamber, Darian leaned against a support pillar, eyes half-closed. His heartbeat had slowed, but that pressure inside hadn't faded.

He didn't need a system prompt to know the truth.

He wasn't afraid of the Rift.

He was afraid of what might come out of him when he stepped into it.

He'd seen how the system responded in the simulation. How it had begun to track movement, offer suggestions, predict action.

It was learning him. Studying him.

Or maybe…

[System Notification]

Phase 1: Instinct Sync Increasing – 43.2%

Warning: Core Type Not Registered in Standard Archive

Awaiting Environmental Catalyst: Riftfield Trigger Event

72-Hour Countdown Continues…

He rubbed his eyes.

"No rest, huh?"

The voice came from his right.

Ezek Kaarn stood there, arms crossed, leaning against the opposite wall.

"You know they're watching you, right?" he said. "The instructors. The Omega tag. They're waiting to see if you crack."

"Let them watch," Darian replied without looking. "Cracks just show what's inside."

Ezek's expression twitched, the smirk fading slightly. He didn't reply, only stared for another second before pushing off the wall and walking away.

Darian closed his eyes, exhaling slowly.

The system pulse in his chest felt stronger now like it was counting down with him.