The rain began before dawn, a thin silver curtain veiling the Academy's rooftops and casting the courtyards into a muted grayscale. Sandra stood at her window, watching droplets race down the glass in erratic paths—fragmented lines converging, splitting, meeting again. The metaphor was too accurate. Factions. Loyalties. Her own secrets. Nothing moved in straight lines anymore.
A soft knock broke the silence.
She didn't need to ask who it was.
Tristan entered first, posture rigid, silver eyes sharp. He scanned the room out of pure habit, picking up details most people would miss. Behind him, Sebastian slipped in like a shadow, the rain caught in his hair, golden eyes bright against the dim light.
"Briefing in ten minutes," Tristan said. "But we start earlier. With you."
Sebastian leaned against her desk, crossing his arms. "We found something last night. Something that concerns you directly."
Sandra turned fully toward them, the Harmonization System already pulsing with pre-alert intensity. "Show me."
Tristan handed her a datapad. The screen displayed a heat map of hybrid signals inside the Academy—patterns that had been scrambled, corrupted, then partially restored. One signal pulsed more intensely than the others, irregular, unstable.
Sandra's breath stalled.
It matched the echo that had reacted to her markers yesterday.
She swallowed. "This signal… it's linked to my resonance?"
Sebastian nodded slowly. "That's what we think. Someone inside has the same hybrid frequency pattern as you."
Sandra's pulse accelerated. The System reacted immediately—stress markers, instinct spikes, emotional overload.
"And it's not just a signature match," Tristan added. "It's synchronized. Perfectly."
The words hit her like a physical blow.
Synchronized markers meant connection. Biological, ancestral… or engineered.
She forced her breathing to steady. "So someone in this Academy shares what I am. Or what I'm hiding."
Sebastian stepped closer, eyes narrowing with a mix of concern and fascination. "Not just shares, Sandra. Mirrors. Whoever this is… they're tied to you."
The air tightened around them. Sandra felt the walls closing in—not just metaphorically.
The Academy was no longer just a place of learning or rivalry. It had become a maze of secrets connected directly to her veins.
"We track that signal," she said. "Immediately."
Tristan nodded. "Already in progress."
They led her out into the corridor. The rain drummed sharply against the windows, echoing the intensity in her chest. They descended toward the eastern wing—a place long associated with covert activity, hybrid experimentation, and faction meetings disguised as study groups.
As they walked, Sandra noticed the change.
Students didn't just watch her.
They avoided her.
A group of Fox Clan cadets moved aside as she passed, whispering behind raised hands. A pair of Eagle elites narrowed their eyes, clearly analyzing her the way predators analyze anomalies.
She felt exposed. Targeted.
Sebastian leaned close without touching her. "Ignore them. They sense change but can't define it. Fear makes them loud."
Tristan added quietly, "You are drawing attention for reasons none of them can understand. But we do."
Sandra's chest tightened at the subtle 'we'. United. For now.
The eastern wing was colder, lit by muted blue strips along the walls. Tristan activated a scanner on his wrist, projecting real-time tracking patterns in three-dimensional lines.
"There," he said. "Second floor. Classroom C-19."
Sandra felt the pulse in her wrist intensify. The System was reacting again—recognition, resonance, alarm.
Sebastian touched her elbow lightly. "Stay behind us."
She didn't argue. Not this time.
They approached the door. Tristan signaled silently: Sebastian left, Sandra center, Tristan right. Discipline. Instinct. Precision. They pushed inside.
The room was empty.
Except for one figure standing near the back wall, hood drawn, posture still.
The moment Sandra entered, the figure turned.
Her breath caught.
Not because she recognized the person's face—
—but because the System exploded in a cascade of alerts:
Direct Resonance Match.
Hybrid Lineage Echo.
Genetic Proximity: High.
Risk Level: Critical.
Sandra stepped back instinctively.
Tristan grabbed her wrist, steady. "Easy. Don't rush."
Sebastian's eyes narrowed to slits. "Who the hell are you?"
The hooded figure lowered the fabric, revealing sharp, delicate features, eyes the color of stormlight, and markings faintly shimmering beneath the skin.
"Sandra Avelis," the figure said, voice calm but charged. "I came because you're in danger. And because you are… like me."
Sandra's heart thudded painfully.
"Who are you?" she asked, barely above a whisper.
The figure's lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile.
"My name is Lyra. And if you're here at the Academy… it means they never told you the truth."
Sandra felt the floor tilt beneath her.
Tristan stepped forward, protective, commanding. "Explain. Now."
But Lyra's eyes stayed locked on Sandra, as though the others didn't exist.
"Your lineage isn't just hybrid," she said. "It's forbidden. And someone is trying to erase everyone who carries it."
Sandra's pulse spiked violently. Tristan's hand tightened around hers. Sebastian moved closer, ready to strike at any hint of threat.
"What lineage?" Sandra demanded.
Lyra's next words shattered the room:
"The lineage of the Primordial Beast, Sandra. The bloodline capable of creating life that the System cannot register. The bloodline they fear most."
Sandra's breath froze.
Tristan inhaled sharply.
Sebastian's jaw clenched with primal instinct.
Lyra stepped closer, eyes filled with something raw, urgent.
"And you," she said softly, "are the last one capable of bearing its heir."
The air detonated with silence—heavy, suffocating, intimate.
Tristan's grip on her wrist became possessive.
Sebastian's body angled toward her, protective, tense.
The System pulsed one final time:
Hidden Baby Arc Initiation Triggered.
High-value target identified: Sandra Avelis.
Triangle proximity tension escalating.
Sandra whispered, voice nearly breaking:
"What does that make me?"
Lyra answered without hesitation.
"A threat. A hope. And the future everyone here is fighting over."