The next few days passed in a blur, and Akari and her friends trained harder than ever before.

Kalden spent several more days in his alchemy lab, making soulshine pills for himself and Akari. Like Relia’s pill, these were each attuned to their own bodies and mana, letting them increase their daily gains with no side effects.

Akari made slow progress on her displacement technique, but she struggled to dig up the right memories. She knew her father had several theories about this, but the details were vague, and her dreams were no help.

She and Kalden also practiced their shaping skills for the admissions exam, which happened the first Kelsday before classes. Akari wasn’t worried about her spot in the Artegium now, but the stakes were even higher than last year. Schools posted their scores publicly, and that meant another chance to impress the Solidors.

Meanwhile, Relia spent her days racing against the clock. She hadn’t broken through to Artisan yet, but it should be any day now. At least, that’s what she claimed. Akari hadn’t seen the numbers for herself.

Relia didn’t look too bad on the outside, but she’d also started taking multiple shardbreaker pills per day. That couldn’t be healthy or sustainable.

“You sure she’ll be okay?” Akari asked Elend one night in his study.

Elend glanced up from his book. “I wouldn’t go that far, lass. But we’re doing all we can to help her.”

Talek, that wasn’t a good sign. If Relia were close to a breakthrough, then Elend would have said so.

“We need a real fight,” Akari said. “Something that pushes her harder.” Their current pace was already unsustainable, and they spent every day with aching muscles and mana channels. Glim had also been using her dream mana to simulate life-and-death scenarios, pushing their souls to their limits.

For all that, it wasn’t the same as a real battle. Elend could talk about research all he wanted, but their subconscious minds knew the truth. They were safe here in the Darklight’s estate. Nothing could truly hurt them, and they all knew it.

Elend hummed in consideration. “You might be right, lass. This is one of the hardest parts about teaching Mana Artists. There’s no clear line between trauma, and the hardship you need to advance.” He spun in his chair and met her eyes. “Fortunately, I already have a field trip planned.”

~~~

Team training was every Irinday and Narsday in the Darklight’s basement. They’d started outside, but the days grew colder as they reached the end of Hexember. High winds blew from the southeast, strong enough to pull non-Apprentices off their feet.

Just a figure of speech, of course. Koreldon City didn’t have true mana storms, despite its spot on Espiria’s eastern coast. Multiple peninsulas kept them safe from the Inner Sea, and they only raised the mana walls for monthly tests.

Still, the city had its share of old-fashioned blizzards, and she was happy to stay inside until school started next week.

Glim usually spent the first hour of training helping everyone learn their respective roles. After that, she left the team to strategize on their own. The interschool games had strict rules about teacher involvement. Teachers could help students individually, but not at a team level. That was the captain’s job.

“Makes sense if you think about it,” Arturo said during one of their training sessions. “Glim could make models of our opponents, and give us perfect strategies to beat them.”

“Sure,” Akari said. “Glim’s overpowered, but she’s also unique.”

“Other Knowledge Artists can do the same.” Arturo gestured to Kalden. “Imagine your boyfriend as a Grandmaster. He could lead some shitty team to victory with the right plan. The whole game would be Grandmasters playing against each other, and the students would just be along for the ride. It’s the same reason we build our own equipment.”

He was right, of course. It might be annoying now, but only because she had access to all the best resources. If the tables were turned, Akari would be pissed if she lost to some rich kids who paid for the best teacher.

Then again, this setup made more sense with an experienced captain who actually wanted to lead. She understood Elend’s long-term plans, the whole thing just felt like a stone in her shoe. Akari didn’t like planning the way Kalden did, and she didn’t watch these games on TV like Arturo. She just wanted to train.

On the bright side, Elise Moonfire hadn’t been a problem so far. She showed up to practice on time, kept to herself, and never complained. True, she probably had plans to betray them again, but things could have been far worse.

~~~

New Year’s Day came and went, and everyone gathered in the Darklight’s basement for another team training session. Elend was running late, and they all did warmups while they waited.

A few minutes passed before Glim appeared in one of the tall mirrors, and everyone spun to face her. “Hey,” the mana spirit said with a cheerful wave. “Elend wants to see you guys in his study.”

Akari glanced around. “Who?”

“All six of you,” she said.

Weird. Elend’s study was one of the smallest rooms in the house unless you counted the closets and bathrooms. Why not meet them down here like he always did?

Glim leapt from the mirror, taking her Missile form and leading them up the stairs into the main hall. There, they found Elend shaking hands with an unfamiliar woman. She was about his age, with silver hair cut in a boyish style, and rounded, black-rimmed glasses.

Akari blinked at the stranger and rounded on Glim. “Is that Grandmaster Sterling?” There were only a few powerful Space Artists in Espiria, and she’d memorized them all last semester.

The Glimmissile bobbed up and down in a nod. “She was doing Elend a favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

“You’ll see!”

Excitement flared in Akari’s chest. Was the woman here to train her? Akari could definitely use the help. Especially with how slow her displacement technique was going. Well, technically, these things were supposed to take several months, but that wouldn’t impress the Solidors.

Grandmaster Sterling opened a portal and stepped through it. When she did, Elend turned to face Akari and the others. “Perfect. You’re just in time.” He made a broad gesture down the hall. “Right this way.”

Their footsteps echoed through the room’s high vaulted ceilings as they followed him.

“Hold it right there,” Elend said when they reached the doorway to his study. “Believe it or not, I don’t like blindsiding my students.”

“What?” Akari blurted out. Where was this attitude when he’d brought Elise Moonfire onto their team? Or when he’d made her captain?

Elend waved a dismissive hand. “The occasional surprise is fine, but too many can destroy the trust between student and master. So consider this my warning to you all. Once you step through this door, you can’t go back. If you didn’t come here for serious training, you should turn around now.”

Akari raised an eyebrow. They were stepping into his office. How bad could this be? Then again, this was Elend Darklight, and he didn’t normally bother with warnings.

Relia stepped forward first, and Kalden and Akari were right on her heels. The other three hesitated for another second, but there was no real choice here. They’d already agreed to accept Elend as their coach. Either they trusted him, or they didn’t.

The room was a tight fit with all seven of them clustered inside. Zukan found himself standing in the middle, and he had to duck his head to avoid the brass chandelier.

“Excellent.” Elend stepped around his wooden desk. His gaze settled on Kalden’s pouch, then Arturo’s backpack. “I’m glad to see that some of you came prepared.”

“Prepared for what?” Elise asked. She’d positioned herself on the other side of Zukan, several paces away from the rest of the team.

“Anything,” Elend said with a wide smile.

Oh, shit. Akari cycled spacetime mana into her palm and tried to open a portal back to her bedroom. Maybe she’d at least have time to grab her backpack. Not to mention a pair of shoes.

The portal didn’t open. Not that she’d really expected that to work. Elend already said they couldn’t go back once they crossed the threshold.

“You six have trained together for two weeks now, but you’re not a team yet. Not even close.” Elend turned his gaze to a photograph on the wall. It looked like a snow-covered mountain range in Espiria or North Shoken. “Do you know how the Espirian Special Forces train their teams?”

Kalden and Arturo each raised their hands, but it must have been a rhetorical question, because Elend kept talking. “They drop everyone in the wilderness and force them to rely on each other. There’s no time for games or arguments. Either they survive together, or they die alone.”

Elend got up from his chair and strode toward the door. “It’s the same with tamed raptors.” He glanced at Elise, who still stood apart from the others. “When the trainers introduce a new member to the pack, they don’t give them time to fight and bicker. They give them a common goal. Or a common enemy.”

The Grandmaster took a few more steps until he was standing in the doorway. “But the Artegium isn’t the military. They would never put students in danger like that. Fortunately, the Artegium isn’t in charge here today.” His smile widened. “I am.”

A gust of icy wind blew into the room without warning. Akari swung her head around just in time to see the drywall and studs ripped apart, revealing a dark, snowy landscape beyond. The furniture blew away next, followed by the rug and floorboards.

Mana swirled in the sky above. The clouds shone with deep blue light, and lightning struck the distant mountaintops. Another gust of wind knocked Akari off her feet, and Relia caught her hand before she blew off the mountain.

The air stung her body, almost as bad as Dansin Roth’s mana after the qualifying rounds. Ice formed all over her skin from the tips of her fingers to her nose. Smaller crystals formed over her glasses, and she Cloaked her muscles to stay warm.

Most of her teammates had lost their footing, too. Elise and Arturo took shelter behind a rock face, and Relia and Kalden clung to a smaller boulder.

Zukan remained on one knee. One hand held a flaming spear, which he’d buried into the mountain face. Another hand clutched an orange shield, and he raised that against the wind.

Akari turned back to Elend. His office doorway sat there like an open portal, leading back to the safety of the Darklight’s estate.

Talek’s tits and teeth. Was he about to strand them here? She’d been hoping for a field trip, but this was ridiculous. She wasn’t even wearing shoes, much less a proper jacket.

“Yes,” Elend shouted to project his voice over the raging storm. “I’m about to strand you on a dangerous mountaintop. And no, this isn’t dream mana. You’re really here.”

Panic surged through her as she clutched Relia’s arm. How was this training? They’d freeze to death long before they got to fight anything.

“Good luck!” Elend said. “And don’t forget, you have your admissions exams in four days. Try to make it back to Espiria on time.”

Back to Espiria? Where in Talek’s name was this place?

Elend stepped through the portal and slammed the wooden door behind him. The door blew away in a burst of wooden splinters, and it flew down the mountain with the rest of the debris.

The storm raged even harder, and a dragon roared in the distance.