Chapter 6
The caravan rolled through the southern gate just past dawn.
Jai leaned out slightly from his seat, eyes wide as the Imperial Capital stretched open before him—white stone streets webbing outward like veins, glinting bridges arcing over canals, and bronze domes catching the rising sun like fire caught in metal. Banners snapped in the breeze: lions, serpents, falcons—and the phoenix. Always the phoenix. The imperial sigil gleamed above the rest, gold-on-red, its wings flared like judgment itself.
He said nothing. Didn’t need to. Sheeren stirred inside him, quiet but watchful. She felt the pressure coiling in him—the awe, the tension. The weight.
This was no forest hamlet. No sleepy border town. This was the Empire’s heart.
The caravan let him off at the base of the Marble Rise. A broad, open plaza unfurled before the massive mountain-hewn gates of the Imperial Academy. The stone stretched skyward, walls chiseled with beasts of every kind—howling, leaping, roaring in silent eternal battle.
Jai adjusted his satchel, eyes scanning the crowd.
Candidates. Hundreds of them. Packed into the square in tight knots. Nobles in silks, boots polished to mirrors. Commoners in simpler gear, standing straighter than they should. Most were bonded. Jai didn’t need to see their tattoos—he could feel them.
Soul bonds buzzed faintly beneath the air. Owls. Serpents. Lions. Griffons. Even from this distance, their presence pressed against his senses. Some light, fluttering. Others heavy—predatory. It was like walking through a field of barely sheathed blades.
He slipped through the crowd, keeping his head down.
“Stay hidden,” he murmured.
Sheeren had already retreated into the soul-mark, resting on his back, her presence curling like smoke beneath his skin. The dye Shanika had given him still held—she looked like a large, orange-coated feline if glimpsed outside. But he didn’t want to risk it.
The plaza buzzed with tension.
And then Jai saw them.
Two groups, standing apart from the rest—an invisible wall between them and everyone else. Not by space, but by presence.
On one end: a boy in light golden armor. Not garish. Functional. Polished to a sunlit sheen. His back was bare beneath the shoulder plates, revealing a lion soul-mark that rippled across muscle like a creature ready to lunge. The bond wasn’t just powerful—it was dominant. Jai had seen lioness marks before—sleek, quick. This wasn’t that. This was a warlord’s beast.
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Around him stood others. Not sycophants. Allies. Some noble, some not, but all carried themselves like they belonged at the center of things. The boy himself stood loose and still, hands clasped behind him, gaze drifting across the square like he’d already passed the test. For the briefest second, his eyes met Jai’s.
And just as quickly, moved on.
Jai looked away.
Not in fear. Not quite. But the ease with which that golden youth dismissed him—it stung. It reminded him that whatever fire had awakened in his blood, he was still a stranger here. Still alone.
The chill didn’t come from that boy.
It came from across the plaza.
The other group stood with more space around them. Not by choice. By instinct. Students kept their distance, murmuring without getting close.
The boy at their center wore plain black. Not armor—cloth. Fitted, simple, neat. A red sash tied around his waist. His dark hair was brushed back, not a strand out of place. His face was all sharp lines and quiet calm.
Jai saw it as he turned slightly. Just beneath the collarbone, peeking from the edge of his shirt—a phoenix. The soul-mark shimmered in the morning light, its wings tucked inward like a flame coiled into stillness.
A flare of heat surged in Jai’s chest. Phoenix.
Of course it would be him. The bastard son. The one whispered about in markets and taverns. Jai hadn’t needed anyone to point him out. That tattoo was enough.
The air around him felt thinner.
Beside him, four others.
One was massive—towering over the crowd even while still. His shoulders strained against the crimson of his formal robe, and curling black ink wound across the side of his thick upper armUrsan Titan
Another was dressed in silver-blue with a high collar and long sleeves, but as he turned, the short crop of his pale hair revealed a stylized Storm Falconside of his neck
Then came a boy in dark armor—lean and angular, every plate trimmed in gold. As he moved, Jai glimpsed a shifting mark wrapped around the back of his forearmManticore
And finally, the fourth. Pale-haired, blue-eyed, and unassuming at first glance. But a quiet strength clung to him. His armor left his right forearm bareGriffon
They didn’t posture.
They didn’t need to.
Jai watched, saying nothing.
A knot twisted in his chest.
Everyone here had someone. An entourage. A circle. A name. He had none of those things. Only a bond he didn’t fully understand, a village behind him, and a beast in his skin.
The greatness he was told he carried—it felt very far away, standing alone in this sea of certainty.
A flicker of heat pulsed in his ribs—Sheeren, just for a moment. Not words. Not comfort. Just presence. A reminder.
Still, the silence felt loud. The faces around him too familiar with belonging.
He pulled his hood up slightly and made for the registration line.
He didn’t need attention. Not now.
Let the storm gather. He’d move like wind beneath it.
For now.
