Talon Gray moved through the ruins with slow, careful steps. The broken city stretched in every direction.....collapsed towers, shattered roads, metal twisted into shapes that didn't belong to anything living. The sky above him was a dull, cracked gray, the kind of color that made it impossible to tell what time it was.
He pulled his jacket tighter. The wind cut through the holes in the fabric, brushing against his ribs like cold fingers. He hadn't eaten since yesterday. Maybe the day before. Hunger made everything blur together.
He ducked under a fallen beam and slipped into the shell of an overturned transport truck. The metal groaned under his weight. He crouched low, listening.
Nothing.
Just the wind.
He sat with his back against the wall of the truck and closed his eyes for a moment. His breath fogged in the air. He rubbed his hands together, trying to warm them.
A faint crunch echoed outside.
Talon's eyes snapped open.
Footsteps.
He held his breath. The sound grew closer#### slow, deliberate, not the frantic scurrying of scavengers. Whoever it was, they weren't trying to hide.
The steps stopped right outside the truck.
"Talon Gray."
His heart slammed against his ribs. No one should know his name.
He pressed himself deeper into the shadows, but the figure crouched down and looked inside. A hood covered most of their face, but their voice was calm.
"You look rough."
Talon didn't answer.
The figure reached into their coat and pulled out something small. A pendant. Dark, smooth, shaped like a shard of night. It pulsed faintly, like it had a heartbeat.
Talon stared at it.
The figure held it out. "This belongs to you."
Talon shook his head. "I don't understand."
"You will."
Before he could ask anything else, a deep rumble rolled through the ruins. The ground vibrated. Dust drifted from the truck's ceiling.
The figure tensed. "We need to move."
Talon tried to stand, but his legs buckled. Hunger and exhaustion dragged him down. The world tilted.
A shadow moved at the edge of his vision####large, fast, wrong.
The pendant pulsed.
Darkness rippled around him, cold and sharp. The air shifted. The world snapped out of focus.
Everything went black.
#######
Talon woke to warmth.
He blinked up at a ceiling he didn't recognize####smooth metal panels, soft lights, no cracks, no dust. A blanket covered him. Clean. Heavy. Too soft to be real.
He sat up slowly.
A crest was stitched into the blanket: a circle divided into four sections, each marked with a different symbol. He'd seen it before, on posters half‑buried in rubble.
The Academy.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Recruit Gray," a voice called. "Report for system evaluation."
Talon froze.
System evaluation.
He didn't have a system.
He barely had anything.
The door slid open. An instructor stood there#### tall, uniform crisp, expression unreadable.
"Move," they said.
Talon climbed out of the bed. His legs were shaky, but he followed the instructor down a long hallway. The walls were lined with glowing panels. Recruits passed them, some talking quietly, others adjusting their uniforms.
They reached a wide room filled with scanning platforms. Dozens of recruits stood in line, waiting their turn. Talon stepped into the back of the line.
One by one, recruits stepped onto the platforms.
A girl with silver hair.
SCAN COMPLETE.
CORE: ICE.
ENERGY SIGNATURE: CRYSTAL MANIPULATION.
A boy with broad shoulders.
SCAN COMPLETE.
CORE: EARTH.
ENERGY SIGNATURE: TERRAIN SHIFT.
Another recruit.
SCAN COMPLETE.
CORE: FIRE.
ENERGY SIGNATURE: IGNITION.
Each scan lit up the screens with bright colors and clean labels.
Then it was Talon's turn.
He stepped onto the platform. The scanner hummed to life. Lines of light traced across his body.
The pendant under his shirt pulsed once.
The scanner flickered.
NO SYSTEM DETECTED.
NO CORE SIGNATURE DETECTED.
NO ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED.
The room went silent.
Someone whispered, "Tier Zero."
Another voice: "Why is he even here?"
The instructor sighed. "Gray, Talon. Tier Zero."
Talon stepped off the platform. His chest tightened, but he kept his face blank. He walked to the corner of the room, away from the others.
Something cold brushed his palm.
The pendant.
It pulsed again#### soft, steady, like it was breathing with him.
He curled his fingers around it.
Not a dream.
Not an accident.
Something inside him was awake.
#####
Orientation began an hour later. Recruits gathered in the main hall, sitting in rows while instructors explained the academy structure.
Tier One: elite recruits with rare or powerful cores.
Tier Two: strong, reliable, consistent.
Tier Three: average but trainable.
Tier Zero: no system. No core. No future.
Talon sat alone at the end of a row. The instructor's voice faded into the background. He kept his hand on the pendant under his shirt.
It pulsed again.
A faint warmth spread through his fingers.
He didn't know what it meant.
He didn't know what he was supposed to do.
But something was changing.
####
The mess hall was loud and crowded. Recruits lined up for food, talking about their cores, their signatures, their training assignments.
Talon grabbed a tray and sat at an empty table. The soup was thin and barely warm. He ate slowly, keeping his head down.
A group of Tier Two recruits walked past.
"That's him," one whispered.
"No core."
"Why'd they even bring him here?"
Talon kept eating.
The pendant pulsed once beneath his shirt.
####
Training began the next morning.
Recruits lined up in the yard. Instructors called out names, pairing students for sparring.
Talon stood at the edge of the group, unchosen, unnoticed.
He hoped he could slip away.
But Rowan Hale#### top of Tier One, sharp‑eyed, confident####
pointed straight at him.
"You," Rowan said. "Tier Zero. Let's see what you've got."
Talon stepped into the ring. His heart pounded. He raised his hands, unsure of what to expect.
Rowan moved first.
Wind gathered around his arm. He struck. Talon dodged the first blow, but the second hit his shoulder. The third sent him stumbling.
The crowd laughed.
Someone clapped mockingly.
Talon pushed himself up.
Rowan stepped forward again.
The pendant pulsed.
A shadow strand flickered from Talon's hand#### thin, unstable, barely visible. It snapped outward, blocking Rowan's strike for a split second before fading.
Rowan froze.
"What was that?"
Talon didn't answer.
He didn't know.
The match ended with Talon on the ground, breathless and bruised. Rowan walked away, but he kept glancing back, thoughtful.
Talon sat up slowly.
The pendant pulsed again.
A shadow strand curled around his fingers before fading.
He stared at his hand.
Something inside him was awake.
And it wasn't going back to sleep.