The door clicked shut behind as Vice Chancellor Kevin Voss left. Leaving a soft echo lingering like a whisper in a tomb.
Ryker sat motionless on the infirmary bed.
The sterile scent of mana sterilized air did nothing to clear the chaos spiraling in his mind. The faint hum of mana circulation echoed in the silence, the sound too clean, too perfect too fake.
Above, the ceiling's crystal lights flickered softly, casting dim, cold shadows on the polished floor.
Outside these walls, the Academy still buzzed students healed, professors whispered, systems rebooted.
Inside, Ryker's thoughts clawed at the walls of his sanity.
'This isn't the same story I edited.'
His fists clenched the bed sheet tightly, making his knuckles pale.
The simulation. The abduction. The city that was soaked in blood and ruin.
None of it should have happened.
That wasn't a test... that was war.
Real. Brutal. Intentional.
And the worst part?
It felt deliberate.
'Goddamn it…'
