Separation didn't announce itself.
It crept.
You only noticed it when you reached for something familiar and your hand closed around air instead.
Dreyden felt it on the second morning after Oversight's scheduling adjustments.
The low-output hall was half-full.
Not unusual.
But the faces were different.
Lucas should have been running form drills in the south quadrant.
He wasn't.
Raisel usually trained independently at this hour.
She wasn't here either.
The space felt wrong — not empty, just rearranged.
Deliberately.
Dreyden finished a slow circulation cycle and stood.
A minor detail tugged at him.
Three students who'd previously shown visible cohesion after the cafeteria suspension incident weren't sparring together anymore.
They were rotating partners.
Compliant.
Disconnected.
Not broken.
Not yet.
Just… diluted.
He wiped sweat from his palms and stepped outside.
His interface pinged lightly.
Advanced Demonic Energy Seminar — Lucas Reinhardt
