Kaiden woke up to silence.
Not the peaceful kind.
The heavy kind — the kind that presses against your ears so hard you start wondering if you've gone deaf.
His eyes fluttered open slowly, vision blurred by white light. The ceiling above him wasn't concrete, stone, or steel. It was glass — curved, seamless — with faint streams of green light flowing through it like veins.
"…Where am I?" he muttered.
His throat was dry. His body felt… strange. Not injured. Not tired.
Just light.
Like gravity had loosened its grip on him.
"Medical wing," a voice answered calmly. "Observation chamber, to be exact."
Kaiden turned his head.
Standing near the wall was a woman in a dark emerald coat, arms folded behind her back. Her hair was silver, cut short, sharp eyes glowing faintly with Flow. Beside her stood two other faculty members — one older man with a scar running across his face, and a younger woman holding a floating tablet made of light.
Kaiden swallowed. "…Faculty?"
"Yes," the silver-haired woman said. "And no, you're not in trouble. Yet."
That yet did not feel comforting.
He tried to sit up — and froze.
Green threads of Flow drifted off his skin like mist.
"…Okay," Kaiden said weakly. "That's new."
The younger faculty member's eyes widened. "It's still leaking."
The scarred man let out a low whistle. "Damn. That's not leakage. That's resonance residue."
Kaiden frowned. "You keep saying that word. Resonance. What does it even mean?"
The silver-haired woman stepped closer.
"It means," she said, "that your Flow didn't just synchronize with the crystal."
She leaned down, her gaze piercing.
"It answered something."
---
Meanwhile — Outside the Chamber
Gray sat on a bench with his arm still supported, leg bouncing anxiously.
Jehyun stood beside him, adjusting his glasses for the tenth time in five minutes.
"They've been inside for a while," Jehyun said quietly.
Gray scoffed. "Yeah. That's never a good sign."
Around them, other students were slowly regaining consciousness. Fifty total had passed — spread across the five crystals.
And now?
They were finally seeing each other.
Gray's eyes narrowed as he scanned the room.
"Yo," he muttered. "Tell me you're seeing what I'm seeing."
Jehyun followed his gaze.
Near the opposite wall stood a tall guy with crimson hair tied back, arms crossed. Heat rolled off him even while standing still. A red crystal emblem glowed faintly on his collar.
Beside him leaned a girl with ocean-blue eyes, water floating lazily around her ankles like it had a mind of its own.
Near the windows, a blonde guy cracked his knuckles — yellow sparks snapping between his fingers, laughing with two others.
And then—
A boy in violet robes sat alone, eyes closed, Flow completely suppressed. The air around him felt… wrong. Heavy. Like pressure before a storm.
Gray exhaled slowly.
"…Yeah," he said. "Those guys scream problem."
Jehyun swallowed. "Rivals?"
"Big ones."
---
Back Inside — The Truth of Resonance
Kaiden stared at the faculty, heart pounding.
"You said my Flow answered something," he said. "Answered what?"
The scarred man spoke this time.
"A call."
Kaiden's brow furrowed. "From who?"
The room dimmed.
The green light in the walls intensified.
And then—
The air shifted.
Kaiden felt it instantly.
A presence.
Not hostile.
Not friendly.
Just… vast.
The glass ceiling above him shimmered, turning into an endless sky. Clouds stretched infinitely, glowing with emerald light. Wind whispered from everywhere at once.
His breath hitched.
"What the—"
A silhouette formed within the clouds.
Tall.
Regal.
Wings made of flowing wind and light, stretching beyond sight.
Eyes like storms.
A voice echoed — not loud, but absolute.
"Child of motion."
Kaiden couldn't move.
His body didn't obey him — not because it was frozen, but because every instinct told him to listen.
"You carry Zephyr not as a tool… but as nature."
His chest burned.
Green markings flared briefly along his arms.
"You are not merely a wielder."
"You are a vessel."
Kaiden's thoughts screamed.
A vessel? For what?!
The figure raised a hand.
Wind wrapped around Kaiden — not violently, but reverently.
"I am Zephyrus."
"West Wind. Gentle breeze. Harbinger of change."
The world shook.
Kaiden's heart felt like it would explode.
"You resonated because you did not seek power."
"You sought movement."
"Forward."
Memories flashed — running through halls, standing back up after being beaten down, choosing to move even when terrified.
"You will walk a path watched closely."
The presence leaned closer.
"Do not disappoint the wind."
The sky shattered.
Kaiden screamed—
Kaiden jolted upright, gasping.
The medical chamber snapped back into place.
Sweat drenched his shirt.
The faculty stood rigid.
The younger woman was visibly shaken. "He saw it."
The scarred man muttered, "No doubt now."
Kaiden clutched his chest. "…That wasn't a hallucination, was it?"
The silver-haired woman exhaled slowly.
"No," she said. "You experienced a Divine Glimpse."
Kaiden laughed weakly. "Cool. That's… not terrifying at all."
She actually smirked.
"Congratulations," she said. "You are now under Faculty Observation."
"…That sounds worse than being expelled."
"It is," the scarred man said. "Much worse."
Later that day, the fifty students were gathered in a massive hall.
Kaiden stood between Gray and Jehyun, still feeling off-balance.
Eyes were on him.
Whispers everywhere.
"That's him."
"The green crystal guy."
"Did you feel that pressure earlier?"
Four figures stepped forward.
The red-haired guy smirked. "So you're the wind freak."
The water girl tilted her head. "Interesting resonance."
The lightning guy grinned wide. "Hope you're fun to fight."
The violet-robed boy finally opened his eyes.
And when his gaze met Kaiden's—
Kaiden felt his Flow recoil.
The boy smiled faintly.
"Let's see," he said softly, "if the wind really chooses its own."
Gray leaned over. "Bro."
Kaiden swallowed.
"Yeah?"
Gray grinned.
"Welcome to the big leagues."
The wind stirred.
The hall didn't erupt immediately.
It tightened.
Like everyone inside instinctively felt that if one person took a wrong step, the entire place would explode.
Kaiden stood still, hands slightly trembling at his sides. He could feel it — the wind around him reacting, shifting with his breath, like it was alert… watching.
The four students stood a few meters away now.
Too close.
The red-haired guy was the first to speak again, a lazy grin plastered on his face.
"So," he said, rolling his neck. "You're telling me this guy—" he pointed straight at Kaiden "—is the one who caught a god's attention?"
A few students snickered.
Kaiden opened his mouth—
Gray stepped forward.
The floor crunched under his boot.
"Back off."
The air temperature dropped instantly.
Frost crawled along the marble tiles, spreading outward from Gray's feet in thin, sharp veins. His left arm remained still, strapped to the support, but his right hand was already glowing faint blue.
The red-haired guy raised a brow. "And you are?"
Gray didn't smile.
"The one you fight if you wanna get to him."
A murmur rippled through the hall.
The lightning guy laughed, sparks dancing between his fingers. "Damn, green boy brought a guard dog."
Gray's eyes flicked to him. "Say that again."
Jehyun immediately moved, stepping between them with his palms raised.
"Hey—hey," he said quickly, voice calm but firm. "No fighting. Not here. Not now."
The water girl tilted her head, watching Jehyun like she found him amusing. "You're scared."
Jehyun swallowed, but didn't back down. "Yeah. Doesn't mean I'm wrong."
The violet-robed boy finally moved.
Just one step forward.
The pressure hit instantly.
It wasn't Flow flaring.
It was suppression.
Kaiden's chest tightened as if the air itself had grown heavier. Even Gray gritted his teeth slightly, frost trembling at the edges.
The boy adjusted his sleeves calmly.
"No one said we'd fight," he said softly. "We're only curious."
His gaze locked onto Kaiden.
"Does the wind boy bleed like the rest of us?"
Kaiden's heart pounded.
The wind around him surged instinctively — papers fluttered, banners swayed violently.
Gray took another step forward, teeth clenched. "You don't test him."
"Oh?" the red-haired guy chuckled. "Looks like he already has testers."
Gray's Flow spiked.
Ice cracked up the pillar beside him.
Faculty members immediately shifted positions, eyes sharp.
Jehyun turned back to Gray urgently. "Gray—don't. Please."
Gray exhaled hard, frost stabilizing.
"…Tch."
The lightning guy leaned in, grin wide. "Relax. We're just saying."
He looked straight at Kaiden.
"Resonance isn't protection."
The water girl added calmly, "It's a target."
Silence fell.
Kaiden finally spoke.
His voice wasn't loud.
But the wind carried it.
"I didn't ask for this."
The violet-robed boy smiled faintly. "None of us did."
He turned away, robe fluttering.
"But gods don't choose randomly."
The four began to walk off.
Just before disappearing into the crowd, the red-haired guy glanced back.
"Survive the next test, wind boy."
Lightning crackled.
Water rippled.
Pressure lingered.
Gray let out a slow breath, frost retreating.
Jehyun adjusted his glasses, hands still shaking.
Kaiden stared at his own palm.
The wind curled around it.
Unsettled.
Hungry.
And somewhere far above—
The west wind shifted.
The trials hadn't begun yet.
But the hunt already had.