"Sometimes strength means admitting you can't do it alone."
The morning after the Binding thing, Artha woke up feeling... weird. But like, good weird. He actually slept until sunrise without those creepy nightmares about cosmic stuff trying to eat his brain.
He opened his eyes to Koroan doing his morning workout routine. The guy was literally making their whole tower shake.
Huh, Artha said, sitting up and stretching. No golden warmth in his chest. No future vision whispering about danger. Just... quiet. I thought losing my powers would suck more, but it's actually kinda nice. Like someone took a heavy backpack off my shoulders.
Morning sunshine! Reyan called from above, somehow hanging upside down with a cup of tea that wasn't spilling. How's being normal treating you?
Pretty good actually, Artha said, then winced. "Ow. But also everything hurts. My muscles feel like they got run over by a cart. Is this what you guys feel like all the time?"
"What do you mean 'you guys'?" Reyan said, looking offended. I have a perfect heavenly body that can sleep for 24 hours straight, thank you very much."
Artha chuckled.
Koroan, still doing push-ups, counted out loud: "96... welcome to the world... 97... of being mortal, buddy... 98... your body's been through a lot... 99... so give it time, yeah?... 100!"
Reyan looked at Koroan with disgust. "Hey you brute, why are you using my precious books as weights? And why is everyone even in our room this early? Get out of here, creeps. Your rotting sweat smell is burning my nostrils."
Liraya was sitting in the corner, cleaning her sword. She gave Reyan a death stare.
Reyan quickly grabbed a cup of tea and kneeled down in front of Liraya. "Here, my goddess, will you accept this token of my love—"
Everyone just stared at him. Even Sayen looked up from his painting corner.
Dude, koroan said. "Just... no."
Sayen had been quietly painting the whole morning scene - Artha stretching after waking up, Koroan's ridiculous workout routine, and Reyan on his knees getting judged by everyone. He held up the painting with a small smile.
Morning Training: Complete Disaster
Their first team exercise was basically a disaster movie.
Professor Ridu had set up this "simple" obstacle course in one of the practice rooms. It was supposed to be easy.
"Okay guys," Artha said as they walked up to the first puzzle. "I can't see the future anymore, so we need to actually talk to each other. Koroan, you go first. Liraya, watch his back. Sayen, keep an eye out for—"
BOOM.
Koroan had punched straight through what was obviously a puzzle lock, not a wall. The explosion sent all five of them flying.
"Well that worked great," Reyan said from where he'd landed in a fountain, somehow still holding his tea.
"That was supposed to be a thinking exercise," Liraya said, pulling herself out of a bush shaped like a dragon.
"Oops," Koroan said cheerfully from where he was hanging upside down. "My bad."
From across the yard, other students had stopped to watch.
"Fifty silver says they don't make it past the next one," some Rank B student called out.
"Hundred says they blow up the whole building," another one replied.
Even Varik was watching, looking actually interested instead of his usual snooty self.
"They're not working together," he told Faryne. "They're just... five people doing their own thing at the same time."
"Yeah," Faryne nodded. "Like watching five really good musicians try to play a song when none of them know what song it is."
Three hours later, they were sitting on the floor of what used to be a nice training room. Now it looked like a tornado had hit it. Everyone was covered in magical glitter that itched.
"Okay," Artha said, trying to sound calm. That didn't work.
Really? I couldn't tell, Reyan said, applying some healing cream to a burn that was still sparkling.
I miss being able to slow down time and figure things out," Artha admitted. "Turns out planning is way harder when you have to do it while stuff is exploding."
Koroan got serious, which was always weird to see.
"Back home in the mountains, we have this saying," he said. "The avalanche doesn't plan where it's going, but the rocks that start it decide the path. Maybe we're trying to control the whole mountain instead of just being the right rocks."
Liraya looked up from cleaning her sword. "What does that actually mean though?"
"It means," Sayen said quietly, "we should stop trying to be Artha's tools and start being his friends."
That hit different.
"Oh," Artha said slowly. "I've been treating you guys like... like things I need to coordinate instead of people I work with."
Exactly, Reyan said, getting excited. "We need to figure out how to work together as equals, not with you telling us what to do all the time."
Their second try was completely different.
Instead of Artha giving orders, they just... worked together. When Koroan needed to be careful instead of strong, Liraya was already there helping. When Liraya got surrounded, Sayen appeared out of nowhere to help her out. When Sayen needed a distraction, Reyan started showing off to get everyone's attention. When Reyan needed time to work his magic, Koroan made sure nobody could bother him.
And Artha? He just made sure everyone could talk to each other and saw how their different skills fit together.
By the time they finished, a whole crowd was watching. Not laughing at them this time, but actually impressed.
"Did you see that move in the seventh section?" one instructor whispered.
"I've never seen students work together like that," another one said.
Even Professor Ridu was taking notes.
among them there was marcus. waht so good about some rats running aroung.
he was jealious that the nobody like artha is commandig them.
That Evening
They were back in their usual circle in Dorm D, but everything felt different. Better.
So, Reyan said, juggling his tea cups, "we went from complete disaster to actually pretty good in one afternoon. Not bad."
"We learned to listen to each other," Koroan said, looking satisfied. "Turns out mountain wisdom works for magic teamwork too."
"For the first time since I got here, I actually feel like I belong somewhere," Liraya said quietly.
Sayen showed them his new drawing - all five of them working together perfectly, but drawn in a way that showed how connected they were instead of just how powerful.
"We're becoming something new," Artha said, looking at the picture. "Not just a team with a powerless leader, but... something the Academy doesn't have a name for."
"Good," Reyan said. "Names are boring anyway."
Then someone knocked on their door, which was weird because people usually just barged in or avoided them completely.
Artha opened it to find Faryne standing there, looking nervous.
"Um, hi," she said. "I hope I'm not bothering you, but I wanted to apologize for being such a jerk during the entrance trials. And... could you maybe teach me how you do that teamwork thing?"
Artha just stared at her. "You want to learn from us?"
Faryne laughed, but not in a mean way. "I've spent years getting really good at magic by myself. But watching you guys today... you did something I never thought was possible. You made each other better instead of just adding your powers together."
"She's not the only one," came another voice.
Varik stepped out from behind her, and he actually looked humble for once.
"What you did today goes against everything I thought I knew about magical combat," he said. "I'd like to understand how you developed techniques that seem to break the rules of cooperative magic."
More students started showing up behind them. Not the usual crowd looking for entertainment, but people who actually wanted to learn something.
Artha looked back at his teammates. They all looked surprised but also kind of proud.
"Well," he said, grinning. "I guess we're teachers now."
While everyone was having their impromptu study session in their messy common room, nobody noticed the person watching from the abandoned building across the courtyard. Tall, elegant, with features that would break Artha's heart if he saw them.
The watcher smiled coldly as he watched Class D making friends with other students.
"Perfect," he whispered to the shadows around him. "The more people he cares about, the easier this will be. Love makes the best chains."
Behind him, broken mirrors started humming with dark energy, each piece reflecting not what was happening now, but what could happen in the spaces between moments.
The real test was about to begin.