Chapter 9: The Lightning Rod

Enzo 

The air in Aethelgard Spire always smelled like ozone and wet pavement. Below the ever present storm clouds, perched on a wind-lashed training platform, Enzo Alvarez felt the familiar, exhilarating buzz under his skin. It wasn't just the ambient lightning crackling around the floating island towers it was the raw potential coiling inside him, a live wire waiting to be grounded.

Thinking back to the Awakening Ceremony the surge he felt wasn't gradual it was a supernova detonating in his chest. Power, pure and terrifying, ripped through him. He wasn't just bracing for the the storm anymore; he was the storm. His vision whited out, filled with blinding violet arcs. He heard the gasps, the shouts of the instructors, the sizzle as uncontrolled lightning grounded itself inches from his fellow students. When the light receded, his dark eyes flickered with captured lightning, deep streaks of violet white flashing in their depths. Above his head, blazing with undeniable force: **RANK: S+. AFFINITY: Energy Domain(PRIME)**.

The roar of the crowd was thunderous. Enzo grinned, a fierce, wild thing. *S+Rank.* *Prime.* Back in the neon-drenched barrios of Nova Solis, scraping by on street smarts and petty theft , this would have been unthinkable. Now? It felt like destiny finally punching his ticket. He raised a hand, and a whip crack of violet lightning answered, splitting the air with a satisfying CRACK that echoed off the walls around him. The cheers grew louder. This was it. His time. Top of the food chain at the toughest academy in the sector.

The high lasted precisely eighteen minutes.

He was still buzzing, replaying the moment, flexing his fingers and feeling the static dance between them in his new, private dorm a significant upgrade from the shared room back home. 

When the summons came not from any instructor he knew but from a holographic that materialized from a envelope his mom brought him. The stylized dawn breaking over elemental sigils. Veridia Academy. A voice, smooth and implacable, delivered the news: Immediate transfer. Specialized cohort. The "Dawnbreaker Class."

Enzo stared. "Transfer? To Veridia?" The polished, high-tech academy? The one known more for its military style training and advanced tech integration than anything else? he felt like he was being robbed of a easy four years. "Why? I didn't apply he yelled at the hologram! "The Dawnbreaker Class requires the unique potential you represent, Cadet Alvarez," the voice replied, devoid of inflection. "Your presence is mandated by the inter-academy accord. Prepare for immediate departure. Transport arrives in twenty minutes."

The grin he had earlier completely gone, replaced by a scowl. Mandated. Accord. bullshit. This felt like it was about someone else's agenda. He slammed a fist against the wall, sparks flaring involuntarily from his knuckles, leaving a tiny scorch mark. S+Rank, and he still got shoved around like cargo.

The flight to Veridia was a blur of sleek corridors and unnerving silence. The transport plane was luxurious, silent, and utterly isolating. No storm winds hitting the hull, Just the sterile hum of advanced engines. He kept his bleached buzz cut pressed against the cool viewport, watching the chaotic beauty of Aethelgard's storm wracked skys recede, replaced by Veridia's serene, impossible landscape: floating gardens, geometric crystal structures glowing softly, everything ordered and… tame. It felt wrong.

The arrival was jarring. Instead of the rough atmosphere and competitive energy of Aethelgard's halls, Veridia's was polished and stuffy. A drone guided him through spotless, softly lit corridors that smelled faintly of flowers . No raucous greetings, just quiet nods from students who looked like they'd stepped out of a high-fashion catalog. His Aethelgard gear durable leather and reinforced boots felt clunky and out of place.

His new quarters were… excessive. Spacious, sleek, with a panoramic view that would have been breathtaking if it didn't feel like a cage. A uniform waited him, folded with irritating precision a crisp white button-up shirt, black tailored slacks, , a white silk ribbon meant for the collar, and polished black boots and the Dawnbreaker crest was pinned separately. He ignored it, pacing, static crackling, making lights flicker. Why is this happening to me? "What's this Dawnbreaker crap really about?"?

A chime at the door. "Dawnbreaker Orientation commences in thirty minutes, Cadet Alvarez. Attendance is mandatory."

Enzo muttered a curse in the quick-fire Spanglish slang of Nova Solis Mandatory. Again. He roughly pulled on the Veridia uniform, the fabric smooth and alien against his skin. The button up felt restrictive. He looked at himself in the mirror his tan skin, bleached hair, the dark eyes still flickering with restless lightning. The S+ Rank hovering above him was starting to feel less like a ticket to freedom and more like a chain to his new unwanted fate.

Grudgingly, he followed the drone's directions. The Dawnbreaker class was another Veridia marvel a vast space with chairs in a upward slope. It got quieter when he arrived all eyes drawn to his S+ rank above his head before landing on his face. Only a handful of students sat the rest stood getting to know each other near the lower desk all radiating power even from a distance. As he looked around the class he saw a few more S+ ranks.

His eyes locked onto the first one Rank:S+ a guy near the window, posture radiating coiled tension and weariness that seemed utterly out of place on someone who looked barely older than him. Storm-grey eyes scanned the room like a battlefield. Enzo's own lightning stirred, a low hum in his bones, reacting to the sheer, undefined pressure coming off the guy. Who the hell is that?

Then he saw her

Nearby, sitting apart from the rest, was a girl who looked carved from ice. Snow white hair cascaded down her back, skin so pale it seemed to glow. Her eyes were a piercing violet, holding a chill that had nothing to do with temperature. RANK: S+. hovered above her like a crown. She was beautiful in a way that felt dangerous, untouchable. He felt the ambient static around him spike, hairs rising on his arms as her Aura brushed against his own. Ice and lightning. Opposites. He saw her violet eyes flick towards him, sharp and assessing, before returning to the grey-eyed guy. 

A short curvy figure with vibrant green coiled curls woven with flowers and sandy tan skin RANK: S+ was trying to coax a small, glowing flower from the pot he assumed she brought with her, seemingly oblivious to the tension. Near her, radiating heat Enzo could feel even across the room, was a solidly built guy with obsidian dark skin and loc'd hair dyed like smoldering embers. He cracked his knuckles, a small plume of superheated air rising from them. RANK: S+. He caught Enzo's gaze and gave a curt, challenging nod. Fire. Another opposite.

Enzo glanced at them all crossing his arms. The air crackled with the unspoken friction of their combined energies his lightning, her ice, the fire, the life force, and the grey eyed unsettling shadow. This wasn't a class. This felt like assembling volatile elements in a confined space and waiting for the explosion.

The polished drone announced, "Dawnbreaker Class, please take your seats. Headmistress Vera will address you momentarily."

Enzo, the lightning rod scanned the impossible gathering the ice princess, the hot head, the mother nature, emo tryhard, and himself. All S+Ranks he was starting to piece the puzzle pieces together now on why he was shipped across sectors like a prisoner. His initial anger at the transfer started to turn into a deep, wary suspicion. They didn't feel like just students. They felt like they were pieces on a board. And he had no idea who was moving them, or what game they were playing. The static danced across his knuckles, whatever this Dawnbreaker Class was, it was going to be anything but tame.