Embers Beneath the Mask

Valeforth Academy — Northern Courtyard, Sector 7

11:42 AM — The Next Day

The clouds hung low and gray, choking the light out of the sky. Wind dragged dead leaves across the gravel path like whispers of forgotten things.

Alyss walked in silence.

Her steps were slow, but steady. Recovery had taken weeks—weeks of painkillers, silence, and watching the ceiling. The ribs still ached when she breathed too deeply. Her shoulder still burned if she turned too fast.

But pain had never been the issue.

The problem was that she had time to think.

To remember.

And now—confront.

She turned the corner of the training sector, heart slow, mind calm. Her expression unreadable.

Noven stood beneath the broken clock tower, as if waiting.

He wasn't.

His gaze didn't lift when she arrived. He continued looking at the half-collapsed structure, hands in his coat pockets. A silent ghost among crumbling stone.

Alyss stopped a few feet away.

"You knew I was there," she said.

Noven didn't respond. The wind carried her voice into the ruined air.

"I was bleeding out, and you let it happen. I fought Black Vein alone. I nearly died. And I never saw you. Not once."

Still, he said nothing.

She stepped closer. "Say something."

His voice came low, distant. "You're alive."

"That's all?"

"That's everything."

Alyss blinked. "You really mean that."

Noven finally turned.

His eyes met hers—calm, flat, emotionless.

And for the first time, she understood something terrifying.

He wasn't avoiding her out of guilt.

He didn't feel guilt.

"You really didn't care if I died."

"I didn't say that."

"Then what are you saying?"

He studied her face a long moment, then turned his gaze away again.

"I didn't interfere because it would've changed nothing. You chose the path. You understood the cost."

"And if I died?"

"Then you failed to account for it."

Alyss stepped back like he'd struck her.

But she didn't cry. Not anymore.

"I thought there was something beneath all that cold. Something human. I was wrong."

"You want me to lie to you?" Noven asked. "To pretend I watched that fight and felt fear? To say I sat awake worrying about you? I didn't."

His words were surgical.

Precise.

And hollow.

Alyss clenched her fists. "Why do you even talk to me at all?"

He looked at her again, a slight tilt to his head like she was asking a question in a foreign language.

"You're useful."

"Useful."

Noven nodded. "You're intelligent. Cunning when you aren't clouded by emotion. You ask questions others are too scared to voice. You force people around you to sharpen. Including me."

She stared at him in disbelief.

"You think that's a compliment?"

"It's a fact."

A gust of wind pulled through the ruins, catching the silence between them like a scream muffled in cotton.

Alyss looked down.

Then back at him.

"What are you?" she asked softly. "You're not just a student. You're not like the rest of us."

"I never said I was."

"But you hide it."

"Because it's easier," he said. "To be underestimated. To be ignored."

"Why?"

"Because everyone's playing a game," Noven said. "And most of them don't even realize it."

She exhaled, stepping further away now, not out of fear—but resolve.

"I don't want to be part of your game."

"You already are."

She looked back at him—quiet, cold, burning.

"I hate you."

Noven nodded once. "That's fine."

She turned to leave, boots crunching gravel.

But before she disappeared around the ruined archway, she stopped.

"I don't know what happened to you," she said without turning, "but someday… someone will reach into that empty place you call a heart. And when they do, you won't know what to do with it."

Then she vanished.

⸻

Facility Zero — Underground Observation Sector

1:13 PM

A glass wall separated the chamber from the command corridor. On the other side—Subject One sat in the middle of a sparring cell, motionless.

Blood smeared the walls.

Three unconscious trainees lay on the ground around him.

The scientist adjusted his glasses.

"Triple knockout in under 15 seconds," he muttered. "He didn't even use aura techniques. Just pressure control and brute counters."

Behind him, the butler stood watching silently.

"Have him continue," the butler said. "Remove the next three."

"Sir, he's been doing this all morning. At this pace—"

"He doesn't fatigue like normal assets."

"Yes, sir."

The scientist pressed a button, opening the next chamber.

The butler turned slightly, gaze half-closed in thought.

"She confronted him today, didn't she?" he murmured.

The scientist looked up. "Pardon?"

"Alyss. She recovered."

"Yes. Returned to class two days ago. Full mobility this morning."

The butler's smile was cold and amused.

"And?"

"She confronted him under Sector 7 Tower, surveillance confirms. No violence. Only verbal exchange."

"And how did he respond?"

"Coldly."

The butler's grin widened.

"Good. That's how it begins."

⸻

Valeforth — Rooftop, Student Dormitories

4:31 PM

Noven stood alone, looking out over the academy walls. The sky was darker now—storm clouds beginning to form again.

Behind him, a voice spoke.

"I saw you with her."

It was Avalith.

He didn't turn.

"She's still clinging to what's left of her illusions," she said. "What will you do if she becomes a problem?"

Noven finally turned.

"I'll remove her."

Avalith studied him a moment.

Then, to his surprise, she smiled faintly.

"She's stronger than you think."

"I know exactly how strong she is."

A pause.

"She still believes she can change you."

"That's her mistake."

Avalith stepped beside him, letting the wind pull at her white hair.

"You say that with certainty," she said, "but you don't look so sure."

Noven said nothing.

She stared at him for a long moment.

Then walked away.

Leaving him alone.

Again.