Chapter 284: Beyond the Gate [Bonus]
Jin had nearly reached the upper annex’s equipment desk when a familiar voice called his name.
Lucian Vale was coming out of the adjoining training hall, hair damp and sleeves pushed up. He smiled when he saw Jin, then glanced down at Glitch and slowed.
Before either of them spoke, Jin felt the pressure.
His shoulders tightened. Beside him, Glitch put one foreleg forward and went still, his attention fixed on Lucian.
Jin recognized the sensation from instructors. With them it was usually faint, something he noticed only at close range or when their attention sharpened. Around Lucian, it was difficult to ignore.
"Sorry." Lucian stopped several paces away. "Give me a moment."
He let out a slow breath and concentrated. The pressure eased, although Jin could still feel it.
"Better?" Lucian asked.
"Yes." Jin rubbed Glitch’s shoulder. "It feels different up close."
"I keep forgetting I’m doing it until somebody reacts." Lucian looked embarrassed. "They’re making me practice containing it between sessions."
Jin relaxed a little. The instructors hadn’t been weaker than this. They had simply been better at keeping it to themselves.
Glitch remained watchful, so Lucian gave him another step of room.
"Is that really the same lizard?"
Jin couldn’t help smiling. "He still answers to Glitch."
"The profile said Peak Silver, but seeing him..." Lucian walked slowly around his far side. "What did you find?"
"A compatible evolution resource. Then I spent a lot of time waiting for the right conditions to use it."
"And it worked."
"Eventually."
Lucian grinned at him. "You should have sent me a picture."
"You’ve apparently been busy."
"A little. Come here. You need to see him too."
The Thunder Falcon stood on a low training perch inside the hall.
Jin stopped just beyond the doorway. The bird’s broader chest and heavier frame were apparent even with its wings folded. When it spread them, the lightning markings extended in pronounced, branching bands along the feathers.
Pressure came from the falcon too. Glitch lifted his head, and Jin kept a hand against his plating until the bird settled its wings again.
It was still recognizably Lucian’s falcon. It checked its tamer’s position before moving and greeted Glitch with a short sound that brought back their delegated-protection practice so clearly that Jin almost expected Lucian to ask him to take the old mark.
"He remembers," Jin said.
"I thought he might." Lucian stroked the feathers near its neck. "The completed evolution took some adjusting to. His first turns were awful."
"Glitch walked into a wall after the last Star."
Lucian laughed. "Did he blame the wall?"
"I’m fairly sure he still does."
The falcon hopped down. Lucian checked that the marked flight lane was clear before sending it up for a short circuit.
Jin watched it climb, bank, and drop into a controlled turn. He remembered the movement from their practice. Now the bird carried a larger body through it with a force that made him step back from the lane despite already standing outside it.
It returned to its perch and folded its wings, looking pleased with itself.
"Same Quality?" Jin asked.
"Same Quality," Lucian confirmed. "The Rank breakthrough completed the evolution. It didn’t give him another tier."
Jin nodded, still looking at the falcon. He knew the distinction from class. Seeing the result made the lesson considerably more interesting.
Glitch still has that ahead of him.
Reaching eight-Star had felt like a large step. It still was. He just wanted to know more about what came after it.
They sat on an equipment bench while Glitch inspected the edge of the flight lane. Flicker shifted in the small carrier Jin had brought for her, watching the larger bird through its open viewing side.
"How was it?" Jin asked. "The breakthrough itself."
Lucian’s hand paused on the towel across his knees.
"The instructors were satisfied."
"I meant for you."
"Oh." Lucian looked toward the falcon. "I was scared."
Jin waited.
"I knew we were ready. We’d done the checks. I still kept thinking about what would happen if we’d missed something." Lucian twisted the towel once between his hands. "Most of the energy was coming from him. I could feel how much I was asking him to give."
"Could you stop?"
"We had people watching for that. A failed attempt doesn’t automatically ruin you; sometimes you recover and reassess. But forcing it when something’s wrong can damage the bond, his core, my foundation. I knew all of that before we started."
Knowing hadn’t helped his expression much. Jin recognized that too.
"My family arranged the suite and the stabilization resources," Lucian continued. "There were instructors there who’d supervised it before. I had every reason to feel safe, and I still barely slept the night before."
"Did you tell them?"
"I asked if we could check him again." Lucian gave a small, sheepish smile. "I didn’t explain why I wanted another check."
Jin thought of Glitch in the evolution suite and the fruit he had waited so long to give him. He had trusted the compatibility assessment. That hadn’t stopped him imagining the readings going wrong once he could no longer take the resource back.
"I kept watching the monitors when Glitch evolved," he said. "Even when Doyen said they were fine."
Lucian nodded immediately. "Yes. Exactly that."
For a while, they watched their beasts. The falcon was preening. Glitch had lost interest in the flight markings and was resting his chin on his forelegs.
Jin had spent so much time thinking about the advantages Lucian had started with that it was easy to forget the part they shared. Better resources hadn’t made the bird less important to him.
"You did it, though," Jin said.
Lucian looked back at him and smiled. "We did."
"I want to watch your bouts."
"If they select me."
"That makes two of us."
Lucian glanced at Glitch. "Someone will have a use for him."
"Maybe. Marris used one of my scouting notes today."
"What did you find?"
Jin described the lynx’s recovery while Lucian listened. They were still talking when the equipment clerk called through the door to ask whether Jin intended to collect his things before closing.
He stood so quickly that Flicker chirped in complaint.
"Right. I actually came here for something."
Lucian helped him gather the carrier and folder, then promised to find him again after loading tomorrow.
Jin called home that evening with his travel supplies stacked beside the door.
Elsa answered, saw the bags, and immediately called for their parents.
"Everything packed?" Elena asked as she sat down.
"Almost. I keep finding things Glitch apparently needs."
"Food?"
"Most of it."
His father leaned into view. "What are you traveling in?"
"Armored road convoy. Escort vehicles, reinforced beast compartments. I can sit near both of them."
Arthur nodded. Elena asked about the loading time and whether someone would check Flicker’s carrier before they left. Jin showed her the fastenings the equipment clerk had demonstrated, turning the phone so she could see.
"Do you know when you’re fighting?" Elsa asked.
"I might not get a bout. The coaches choose five students for each opposing academy. Being in the delegation means I’m available, not that I’m starting."
"Oh." She looked disappointed. "I wanted to watch you."
"I want to fight too." Jin sat back against the bed. "But there are stronger people ahead of me. I’ll learn plenty just being there."
"You earned the place," Arthur said. "Getting selected for a bout is another thing. Don’t spend the whole journey worrying about it."
Elena smiled at him. "And enjoy some of it. You can call us about something you liked, you know. It doesn’t have to be a result."
That made Jin smile too. He had already been thinking about what he would say if he came home without fighting.
"I’ll send pictures."
"Of the beasts," Elsa said quickly.
"Occasionally your brother would be nice," Elena told her.
"Him too." Elsa leaned closer. "Where’s Flicker?"
Jin turned the phone. Flicker stood on the crate rail, considered the voices, and tucked her head down.
"She was awake a second ago."
"She heard you," Elsa said. "She’s ignoring us."
Glitch pushed his nose into the edge of the picture, and Elsa demanded that Jin move the camera back so she could see all of him.
They stayed on the call until his father noticed the early loading time and told everyone to let Jin sleep.
The vehicle hall was already busy when he arrived the next morning.
Handlers directed beasts toward their assigned compartments while students checked luggage and tried to stay out of the loading lanes. Jin kept Glitch close and carried Flicker’s frame against his chest until their transport was ready.
Glitch’s section had reinforced partitions and padded flooring. He turned around twice, tested the matting with his forefeet, and lay down as though he had personally approved its construction.
Jin secured Flicker’s frame in the designated restraint beside his seat. A handler checked it, checked Glitch’s partition, and showed him how to call the transport crew if either beast needed attention.
Only when the door closed did Jin realize how pleased he was that they could travel together.
The convoy moved shortly after six.
Through the narrow armored viewing strip, he watched the outer gate open. The shelter’s walls slid past, followed by cleared ground and sensor pylons. Then the transports turned onto an unfamiliar road.
He had been outside before. He knew better than to mistake an empty stretch of scrub for safety. Even so, he leaned closer to the window as the view widened beyond the outer works.
Broken ground stretched toward low ridges. Something long-legged scattered from the roadside ahead, too far away for him to identify before it disappeared into the scrub.
Flicker had woken. She stood upright in her frame, head turned toward the passing land. Behind them, Glitch’s steady breathing carried through the compartment.
Two days until the League.
Jin rested his wrapped hand on the bench and watched alongside her. The Verdance Hall roster could wait until they were tired of looking.