?Thermal radiation from the glass rapier spiked the ambient temperature. The air in the carriage grew thin as oxygen fed the impending Ether reaction, stinging my skin. In the millisecond before the tension snapped, a heavily scarred hand shot out, clamping around the blond’s wrist like a steel vice.

  ?"Who do you think you are? Get your filthy hands off me!" Elias snarled. His pupils were blown wide with a mix of shock and pure, aristocratic disgust.

  ?The owner of the hand stood up, his sheer mass eclipsing the sunlight. He towered over the blond, muscles corded under an old, oil-stained uniform. His hair was black as spent charcoal, but it was his eyes that locked the room down—dark crimson irises, glowing like subterranean magma.

  ?"Ethan Clostil. From Vakus," he rumbled. The acoustic resonance in his chest was deep enough to make the glasses on the nearby table rattle.

  ?Elias glanced at Ethan’s rugged gear and let out a sharp, mocking breath. "Vakus. The eastern labor camps. This is an auxiliary carriage; you should be sitting with the cargo where you belong."

  ?"Heh. Personally, I just can't stand the smell of expensive perfume on people who don't do a damn thing all day. It’s suffocating." Ethan shrugged, the pressure on Elias’s wrist visibly increasing.

  ?"Fitting," Elias sneered. "Baseless trash from Vakus belongs in the rear with the iron dust."

  ?Ethan’s patience hit zero. Six steel 'Medium' plates tethered to his belt began to chatter with magnetic vibration. They detached, flying toward his right fist and locking over his knuckles into a heavy iron gauntlet. The air around his fist distorted as the localized gravity began to warp. They were seconds away from turning the carriage into scrap metal.

  ?I sat between them, a cold drop of sweat tracing a path down my spine. Great. The train is a rolling asylum for monsters.

  ?"Disengage your mediums before the thermal sensors trigger a lockout."

  ?The voice was flat, devoid of any emotional flare. A young woman with auburn hair sat opposite us, adjusting her glasses without looking up from her ledger. "Elias Sunnier. Sunnier bloodline, Solaris. I doubt you want to be disqualified before reaching the coast for violating the public ordnance on weapon deployment. Academy Directive Four is explicit: all applicants are under 'provisional protection' as long as they remain on institutional transport. Sit down. Your noise is becoming a nuisance."

  ?Elias ground his teeth, the veins at his temple bulging. The logic was undeniable; the solar glow on his glass blade faded as he severed the Ether connection. He wrenched his arm free from Ethan’s grip and stormed toward the forward cars.

  ?Ethan dropped back into his seat, the suspension groaning under his mass. "Wipe the sweat, kid. If I hadn't grabbed him, you’d have a cauterized hole in your gut. Carrying hazardous cargo like that... the proctors are going to have a field day with you."

  ?"I didn't ask for the help," I said. My voice was tight. I kept my posture rigid—a reflex from the slums where every debt came with a hidden price.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  ?"What was that, ash-hair?" Ethan shot back, his temper flaring again.

  ?"Still at it?" The girl finally looked up. Her emerald eyes scanned us through the lenses. "Ethan... leading with your hormones is a quick way to become a failure statistic." She turned her focus to me. "And you... Marcus, right? Gratitude is a baseline logical response for someone who just saved your life. Projecting defensive hostility is just inefficient."

  ?Ethan and I locked eyes for a second, then looked away in unison.

  ?"Tch. Persistent as a sentinel," we both muttered under our breaths.

  ?"Vanessa Lucenna. Oasis," she stated, effectively ending the introduction. "Shut up and conserve your metabolic energy. You’ll need it if you want your name on the Aurelius roster."

  ?Ethan opened his mouth to argue, but the look in Vanessa’s eyes suggested she was already three steps ahead of whatever he was going to say. He let out a sharp huff, throwing his back against the bulkhead.

  ?"Fine. I surrender to the four-eyed logic," Ethan muttered. He glanced at me and gave a quick, sharp wink. "Since she’s already done the talking... I’m Ethan. Vakus. Former warrior caste, looking to rebuild a family name with my own two hands." He tapped the iron plates at his waist—a gesture that was surprisingly careful for a man who looked like he could punch through a tank.

  ?I looked at them. An engine with legs and a living calculator. My plan to remain an invisible variable had officially failed. I exhaled and sat up straight.

  ?"Marcus Eterno. Dustopia," I established. "I’m here because I’m out of exit vectors. And if you don't want the Sentinels swarming this car, keep the decibels down."

  ?"Hmph. Dustopia and Oasis," Ethan noted. "A literal collection of outsiders."

  ?Vanessa turned a page without looking up. "A cooperative matrix among outliers might be the only thing that gets you through the 'Scale' test... assuming you don't kill each other first."

  ?The truth in her words settled over the carriage. The bickering died, replaced by the rhythmic thrum of the bogies as the train began its steep ascent into the clouds.

  ?"Next station: Aurelius Academy."

  ?The automated announcement rang out. Harsh, unfiltered sunlight flooded the carriage, forcing us to squint. Above the world, the shadow of a colossal floating island loomed like a sleeping god.

  ?As the train breached the final cloud layer, the bored yawn on Ethan’s face froze. Even Vanessa lowered her pen.

  ?Aurelius wasn't just a school. It was a suspended kingdom. A central landmass the size of a tectonic plate hung in the stratosphere, surrounded by a swarm of satellite islands connected by stone bridges that looked like spider silk. Endless waterfalls spilled over the cliffs, turning into rain for the world far below.

  ?White marble temples floated weightlessly near modern glass domes that fractured the sunlight into a million gems. The train targeted a massive igneous rock formation—the central institute—crowned with pristine white spires that pierced the sky.

  ?The doors hissed open. Enriched oxygen and high-density Ether hit my face with enough force to make my fingertips go numb.

  ?The station plaza was packed with thousands of applicants. The segregation was immediate. High-caste kids in expensive, tailored silks clustered in the light. In the shadows, relegated to the edges, were us—the battered outliers from the fringe territories. Desert nomads, islanders, and mechanics. Every eye held the same hunger.

  ?As the three of us stepped onto the marble concourse—a mechanic, a brawler, and an analyst—the scrutiny from the forward carriages hit us like a physical weight. We were trash washed up on a pristine shore.

  ?Instead of shrinking, Ethan puffed his chest. He let out a hearty, booming laugh that echoed across the plaza.

  ?"The hell are you all staring at?" Ethan roared, his crimson eyes flaring as he swept a gaze across the high-caste families. "Never seen a Vakus heavy infantryman before? Log the name: Ethan Clostil. You'll want to remember it before I take your spots!"

  ?Vanessa rubbed her temples. "Embarrassing."

  ?I stayed rigid, scanning for cover and calculating the nearest exit vectors. In the Solaris cluster, Elias was staring us down, his jaw set. We hadn't even reached the testing area, and we had already painted a target on our heads.