The acceleration felt like fire in her veins.
Yuna woke gasping, body drenched in sweat, the warmth from yesterday's activation still pulsing beneath her skin. Not painful. Just present. Constant. Like her blood had learned a new rhythm overnight.
One hundred nineteen days.
The number hung in her mind. Yesterday felt like a dream. The underground chamber, the seven-pointed star, the Ancient System's voice declaring their deadline. But the heat coursing through her proved it was real.
She dressed quickly. The silver-blue training clothes felt different against her skin now. More responsive somehow. Like they recognized what she was becoming.
The corridor was already full of noise. Combat drills had started without her.
Yuna ran.
The training grounds blazed with activity.
All six of her teammates were already there, spread across different sections. Marcus at the striking posts, fists connecting with stone in controlled bursts. Aria in her wheelchair at the center, eyes flickering with that tactical shimmer as she tracked everyone's movements. Silence phasing through obstacles, more solid than yesterday. Lyric painting colors in the air that shifted and reformed. Chen Wei and David sparring, the military girl clearly winning.
And Thess. Standing at the edge. Watching.
"You're late," Thess said as Yuna approached. No anger in her voice. Just observation.
"I overslept. The activation... it was intense."
"It will be intense for several days. Your body is adapting to accelerated growth." Thess's ancient-young eyes studied her. "How do you feel?"
Yuna considered the question. The fire in her veins. The constant pulse of warmth. The sense that something inside her had woken up and was hungry for more.
"Different," she said. "Stronger. But also... restless."
"Good. That restlessness is the System pushing you toward growth. Don't fight it." Thess gestured toward the training grounds. "Now catch up. You're already behind."
The first drill was combat basics.
Yuna faced Chen Wei across a marked circle. The military girl stood in perfect fighting stance, burn scars visible on her forearm, eyes cold and assessing.
"Rules," Chen Wei said. "First to land three clean hits. No powers. Just technique."
"I don't have much technique."
"I know. That's why we're training."
Chen Wei moved.
Fast. Efficient. A blur of motion that Yuna's eyes could barely track.
The first hit landed on Yuna's shoulder before she even raised her guard. The second caught her ribs. The third swept her legs out from under her.
Yuna hit the ground hard. Three seconds. Three hits. Complete defeat.
"Again," Chen Wei said, offering a hand.
Yuna took it. Stood. Reset.
They went again. Three hits. Five seconds this time.
Again. Seven seconds.
Again. Ten.
By the twentieth round, Yuna was bruised everywhere, breathing hard, and had managed to block exactly two attacks.
"Better," Chen Wei said. Not kindly. Just accurately. "Your instincts are improving. Your technique is still garbage."
"Thanks for the encouragement."
"Encouragement doesn't stop enemies. Training does." Chen Wei cracked her neck. "Again."
Two hours of combat drills. Two hours of getting beaten by Chen Wei, then David, then Chen Wei again.
Yuna's body screamed. Her muscles burned. Every joint ached.
But the acceleration... she could feel it working. Each round, she saw patterns slightly faster. Reacted slightly quicker. The System wasn't making her stronger instantly. It was compressing months of learning into days.
Still not enough.
Chen Wei had years of military training. David had natural spatial awareness from his RIFT Attunement. Even getting beaten by them repeatedly, Yuna was the weakest fighter in the group.
The weakest everything.
"Break," Thess called. "Water. Fifteen minutes. Then team exercises."
Yuna collapsed onto a bench. Her hands shook as she reached for the water flask someone had left there.
Marcus sat down beside her. His massive frame made the bench creak.
"You're pushing too hard," he said quietly.
"I'm behind. I need to catch up."
"You've been training for two hours straight without water."
Yuna looked at the flask in her hands. Full. She hadn't drunk anything since waking up.
"I forgot."
"You didn't forget. You ignored it." Marcus's voice was gentle but firm. "I've seen that look before. In mirrors, mostly. It's the look of someone trying to punish themselves into being better."
Yuna's throat tightened. "I just want to be useful."
"You are useful. Your CHORD ability kept us coordinated during the void-hound fight. Aria said your emotional sensing helped her predict attack patterns."
"That's not enough. In a real fight, I'm the weakest link."
"So train smarter. Not until you collapse." Marcus's hands, those killer's hands, rested on his knees. Steady now. "Catching up dead isn't catching up, Yuna."
The words hit harder than Chen Wei's fists.
The team exercise was an obstacle course.
All seven summons. One path. Fifteen obstacles ranging from climbing walls to suspended rings to a section that required crossing while objects were thrown at them.
"Together," Aria commanded from her position at the starting line. Her wheelchair wouldn't navigate the course, but her voice would. "I'll coordinate. Everyone follows my calls."
"And if your calls are wrong?" Lyric asked, theatrical as always.
"Then we fail together. Better than failing separately."
They started.
The first obstacle was a fifteen-foot wall. Marcus reached the top first, then turned to help others up. His strength made it easy to lift Chen Wei, David, Lyric. When Silence reached for his hand, she phased through it accidentally, frustration flickering across her face.
"Focus," Marcus said gently. "You can do this."
Silence tried again. This time her hand stayed solid long enough for Marcus to pull her up.
Yuna was last. She could have used her wings, but that felt like cheating. She climbed, muscles screaming, and Marcus's hand caught hers at the top.
"Good," he said. "Keep moving."
Second obstacle. Suspended rings over a twenty-foot drop. The System's acceleration made Yuna's grip stronger, but her technique was still terrible. She swung, missed a ring, caught herself barely, swung again.
"Left hand higher," Aria called from below. Her RIFT Attunement let her see the optimal path. "Lyric, you're drifting right. David, slow down, you're getting ahead of the group."
They crossed. Barely. David nearly fell twice. Chen Wei caught him both times.
Third obstacle. A corridor where wooden blocks swung from the ceiling at random intervals. Silence went first, phasing through the ones she couldn't dodge. She made it look easy.
"Show-off," Lyric muttered, then yelped as a block nearly took their head off.
"Focus," Aria snapped. "Lyric, duck. Chen Wei, go left. Marcus, straight through, you can take the hits."
They made it through. Yuna's shoulder caught a glancing blow that would leave a bruise, but she kept moving.
Fourth obstacle. Fifth. Sixth.
By the tenth, they were working together. Not perfectly. Not smoothly. But together. Aria's calls came faster, more confident. Marcus positioned himself to catch anyone who fell. Silence phased through to scout ahead. Lyric's illusions distracted obstacles for crucial seconds. David's spatial awareness caught dangers Aria missed. Chen Wei's military discipline kept everyone moving.
And Yuna?
Yuna connected them.
She didn't realize it until the twelfth obstacle, when David started panicking. His breathing went ragged. His movements got jerky. Fear overwhelming his training.
Yuna felt it through the CHORD. Not just his fear, but the echo of it spreading to the others. Panic was contagious.
She grabbed his arm.
"David. Look at me."
His eyes were wild. Seventeen years old and terrified.
"I can't do this. I can't, I'm not strong enough, I'm going to fall, I'm going to..."
"You already did it." Yuna's voice was calm. Steady. The CHORD ability pulsed between them, and she pushed confidence through the connection. Not her confidence exactly, but something warmer. Belief. "Twelve obstacles. You made it through twelve. Three more. You can do three more."
David's breathing slowed. The panic receded.
"Three more," he repeated.
"Three more. Together."
They finished the course. All seven. Nobody fell.
Evening came slowly.
The team gathered in the Academy dining hall, exhausted and hungry. Food appeared on the long table without anyone serving it. Magic, probably. Yuna had stopped questioning impossible things.
Marcus sat next to her. Aria across. Silence on her other side, occasionally scratching messages in her notebook. Lyric at the end, dramatically draped across their chair. Chen Wei eating with military efficiency. David still clutching his book but actually eating for once.
"First day post-activation," Aria said. "Assessment: we're not dead."
"Inspiring," Lyric drawled.
"It's accurate. Statistically, first-day acceleration training has a twelve percent injury rate. We had zero serious injuries."
"Define serious."
"Broken bones. Torn ligaments. Unconsciousness lasting more than thirty seconds."
"So the bar is very low."
"The bar is survival." Aria's voice was sharp, but something soft lurked underneath. "And we cleared it. All of us."
Silence held up her notebook: TODAY WAS GOOD.
The simple words hit harder than they should have. Yuna felt the team's emotions through the CHORD. Exhaustion. Pain. But also something else.
Hope.
Fragile. Uncertain. But present.
"One hundred nineteen days," Yuna said quietly. "If we can survive one, we can survive more."
"That's not how math works," Aria replied.
"Maybe not. But it's how people work."
Marcus almost smiled. His hands, resting on the table, didn't tremble.
"Tomorrow we run combat rotations," Chen Wei announced. "Paired sparring. Everyone fights everyone. Learn each other's patterns."
"Sounds painful," Lyric said.
"Growth is painful. That's how you know it's working."
David spoke up, quiet but present: "I'm scared. Every day. But... I'm less scared when you're all here."
Chen Wei nodded. "Same. Military taught me individual strength. This teaches something else."
"Team strength," Marcus finished.
Silence's notebook: FALLING TOGETHER > SURVIVING ALONE.
Yuna looked around the table. Seven insufficient people. Seven rejected. Seven desperate.
But together.
"One hundred nineteen days," she repeated. "We make it through together. All of us."
Seven voices responded. Some confident, some terrified, one silent but present.
"Together."
Outside, the Academy's strange light dimmed toward night. The violet sky deepened to purple, then black.
Inside, seven disasters ate dinner and pretended they weren't falling apart.
But falling together was better than falling alone.
And maybe, just maybe, that was enough.
That night, Yuna dreamed of wings.
Silver light spreading from her back. Not flickering. Not fading. Solid. Strong. Carrying her above the training grounds, above the Academy, above the Ashfall Reach with its five hundred thousand frozen dead.
Higher. Further. Until she could see the whole of Valdris spread beneath her like a map.
And in the dream, she wasn't insufficient.
She was enough.
She woke with tears on her cheeks and warmth in her chest.
One hundred eighteen days remained.
Day two had begun.
[END CHAPTER 11]