The training yard had grown louder as the morning progressed. Dozens of students now occupied the wide stone arena, each group practicing different exercises beneath the watchful eyes of the academy instructors. The steady rhythm of impacts echoed across the field as Forge users tested their reinforced strikes against stone pillars. Occasionally a burst of Axiom light flashed through the air when a student lost control of their energy.

  Elias remained near the outer edge of the training ground with the small metal sphere resting in his palm. His arm still ached from repeated attempts to guide Axiom through the fractured mark, but he forced himself to continue. The instructor had been clear—control came before power.

  He closed his eyes again and focused on the quiet space inside his body where the fractured mark rested. For a moment there was nothing. The currents of Axiom remained silent, refusing to respond to his efforts. Elias exhaled slowly and tried again, following the breathing pattern he had practiced for years.

  Inhale. Hold. Exhale.

  The faintest sensation stirred beneath his skin.

  The fractured mark flickered weakly. Elias felt a thin current slide down his arm toward his hand, far gentler than the violent surge he had experienced during the fight with Marcus. That earlier power had been chaotic and overwhelming. This current was different. It felt light, almost directional, like the subtle shifting of air before a storm.

  The metal sphere lifted from his palm.

  It hovered for a moment only a few centimeters above his hand. Elias held his breath, concentrating on the sensation. The current did not feel heavy like Forge reinforcement. Instead it felt like the space around the sphere was slowly loosening.

  Then the air rippled.

  The sphere vanished.

  A soft metallic sound came from the stone floor beside him. Elias opened his eyes and turned his head. The sphere rested several steps away.

  He stared at it in confusion. He hadn’t thrown it. He hadn’t pushed it. The object had simply appeared somewhere else.

  The instructor noticed the sound immediately and walked over from across the arena. His gaze shifted between Elias and the sphere on the ground.

  “Do that again.”

  Elias bent down and picked up the sphere. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “Try.”

  Elias focused again, attempting to recreate the same sensation. The fractured mark flickered once more, but the energy didn’t gather as easily this time. The faint current appeared for a moment before fading.

  The sphere remained in his hand.

  Elias shook his head slightly. “It disappeared.”

  “That’s normal,” the instructor said calmly.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Elias frowned. “Normal for what?”

  “For a Gate Path.”

  Elias looked down at the sphere again, then at the fractured mark on his arm. The instructor pointed toward the spot where the sphere had landed.

  “You didn’t push it with force. You displaced it.”

  The explanation settled slowly in Elias’s mind. Gate Path users didn’t move objects the way Forge users did. They manipulated space itself, bending the distance between locations so something could appear somewhere else.

  He had studied the concept many times, but feeling it firsthand was completely different.

  The instructor folded his arms thoughtfully. “Your Convergence yesterday included Gate energy. That suggests your body may have a natural affinity for spatial flow.”

  Elias glanced down at the fractured mark again. The lines glowed faintly beneath his skin, overlapping and incomplete.

  “So Gate might be the first Path I can actually use.”

  “It appears that way.”

  A quiet voice spoke nearby. “That was interesting to watch.”

  Elias turned slightly and noticed a girl standing a few steps away. Her academy uniform carried the symbol of the Echo Path—a small eye surrounded by rippling lines. She had likely been observing for some time.

  “Most people couldn’t feel the spatial shift that clearly on their first day,” she added.

  Elias gave a small shrug. “It was mostly accidental.”

  “Most breakthroughs are.”

  She studied the fractured mark with quiet curiosity before shifting her attention back toward the arena. Across the training yard, a loud impact echoed as Marcus Hale shattered another practice pillar with a reinforced strike. The stone cracked apart beneath his fist, fragments scattering across the ground.

  Students nearby murmured in admiration.

  Marcus rolled his shoulder as the metallic glow of Forge reinforcement slowly faded from his arm. After a moment his gaze drifted across the arena and stopped on Elias.

  He had clearly noticed the earlier displacement.

  Marcus began walking toward them.

  Elias noticed immediately and sighed under his breath. The girl beside him followed his gaze toward the approaching Forge user.

  “That one looks determined.”

  “You could say that.”

  Marcus stopped a few steps away. His expression was calm, but his eyes studied Elias carefully.

  “You moved the sphere.”

  Elias didn’t deny it. “A little.”

  Marcus glanced down briefly at the fractured mark. His gaze lingered there for a moment as if trying to understand how the unstable symbol could produce a Gate displacement.

  “You’re unstable,” Marcus said after a pause.

  That was difficult to argue with.

  But his tone wasn’t mocking this time. Instead he sounded almost analytical, as if examining a puzzle.

  “If you manage to survive that instability,” Marcus continued quietly, “you might become interesting.”

  With that, he turned and walked back toward the sparring area.

  Elias watched him go while the girl beside him spoke softly. “That sounded almost like respect.”

  “Almost.”

  The instructor returned his attention to Elias. “Come with me.”

  Elias followed him toward the center of the training field where a circular platform had been carved into the stone. Geometric patterns lined the platform’s surface, faint runes designed to stabilize spatial distortions during Gate training.

  Several Gate Path students were already practicing within the circle, disappearing and reappearing across short distances as they attempted to refine their displacement techniques.

  The instructor gestured for Elias to step onto the platform.

  The moment Elias crossed the carved boundary, he felt the change immediately. The air seemed lighter, the space around him subtly flexible. The fractured mark flickered again as the faint current returned.

  Elias inhaled slowly and focused on the sensation rather than forcing it.

  The air rippled.

  The ground shifted beneath his feet.

  For a brief moment, the world blurred.

  Then Elias found himself standing two steps ahead of where he had been.

  He blinked in surprise.

  That had felt smoother.

  Behind him the girl laughed quietly while the instructor gave a small nod of approval.

  “It seems Gate will be your first stable Path.”

  Elias looked down at the fractured mark again. The symbol glowed faintly, quiet for now, but he knew the truth beneath its surface. The Convergence still waited there. Three different Axiom currents were trapped within the fractured structure.

  Eventually they would collide again.

  And next time, the outcome might not be as forgiving.