At dawn, the Academy of Shea stirred behind its squared stone walls, its symmetry as rigid as its rules. Two barracks opposed the courtyard—one for the nobles, with private polished stone floors and large windows, and one for the commoners, where cold, crowded rooms echoed with restless footsteps. Between them stood the central building, its towering halls reserved for officers, the dining halls, study rooms and a library. Beneath its foundations, whispers spoke of a swimming pool, hidden and exclusive to the academy’s highest-ranking cadets.


    In one corner of the grounds stood the sparring ring, its little gate, its sand sprinkled cobblestone, encircled by a metal Harmony gears of a unique design. It shimmered faintly, keeping the chaos of training in check. But not the calls and insults. Across from it, the Aviary seemingly integrated into the wall of the perimeter, perched high and wide, its stone walls weathered and plain. It’s glass canopy protecting the birds nested Inside. black messenger birds were groomed and trained there, their calls rising over this military''s square, as they persisted in their work with the sunrise, whether they only worked in the daylight or simply flew silent in the night none of the cadets new. their favour was a fickle thing either way, without a crystal present.


    The first weeks of the month had been torture. Me and my room mates had made it to the line that first day before sunrise, thanks to my timer, and everyone else who did not, were reprimanded. That means pushups.


    The few who cried were tossed out the gates in shame.


    Everything that followed was a blur, running everywhere, pushups, eating and drills. The dorm rooms were inspected every day, perfection in clothing, in conduct, where and how we slept, when and where we took a shit, and heavens above if the bathroom was not spotless after.


    I had been reprimanded six times in six days for my ‘nail polish’. My black nails were permanent, I knew. My best efforts to remove it, fruitless, and now its particular shine was part of my hazing as a cadet and the cause of much jealousy from Maren, who could not afford such a lustre. Noble that she was. Why any noble went through the bother was beyond my understanding.


    My strong sturdy legs accustomed to constant walking day after day were my saving grace. I was not last in line at stops and breaks, but the line was getting shorter.


    Weeks quickly turned to a few months, but I had yet to learn all of my officers names or rank. There was so much to learn and the symbol of a recruit, was less the badge on our uniforms and more evident in the fact that we had to stamp the foot and otherwise pay our respects with a nod, than anything else. If you did not understand your superiors rank, be that soldier, instructor or officer. They were clearly your superiors and were to be obeyed.


    ———


    My timer broke through the haze of sleep, chiming in my ear, leaving no room for comfort or hesitation. I sat up abruptly, my heart racing, the instinct to move drilled into me from my first day at the academy. Around me, the other cadets groaned and shuffled out of their bunks, acostomed to following my example. their tired grumbling filling the dim, stone-walled common quarters.


    “Morning already?” Dev yawned from his bed near the door, ruffling his dark curls. I didn’t notice his scars anymore. His uniform, was already half on, his lanky frame, somehow always poised for movement.


    I swung my legs over the edge of my bunk, hopping down, my boots hitting the cold floor. I slept with them on from to time, if you saw a Sargent or the like, eyes twinkling too merrily, it was often a sign a midnight exercise was imminent, it is a pain getting dressed in the dark when four boys are clunking around you.


    “I feel like we just got to sleep.” Deven gave me a lopsided grin.


    “That’s because we did. We were up scrubbing the training ring until midnight, remember?” I said. I hated mornings more than anyone and he had the audacity to remind me.


    “Get moving, cadets! Formation!” A voice boomed down the hallway.


    My roomates, Nathan and Sohee, exchanged glances before hurrying to get ready. Sohee’s hands fumbled with his belt, while Nathan muttered curses under his breath as he shoved his feet into boots that had been worn by at least three cadets before him.


    My boots were non standard, the officers did not agree, but when they failed to find a pare that did fit my tiny feet, they relented with even stricter rules for spit and polish.


    I felt a twinge of envy for how easily Dev carried himself. He had adjusted fast to this life. Where I felt like a stranger in a world that wasn’t mine, Dev seemed to belong, as if the academy had been waiting for him. I was additionally trying to be something even more than I actually was. Living a lie was hard business.


    “Ready?” I asked, offering him another quick smile.


    “Not really,” he said, but he followed anyway, casual, comfortable.


    The training grounds stretched before us, our formation still a little shoddy, a wide expanse of stone walls and open sky. Cadets gathered in their ranks, the nobles and commoners separated by an invisible, but unyielding divide. I stood among the common cadets, feeling their stares. I had been forced to the front from day one, my place determined by chance. Though most of the attention was fleeting, curious glances here and there, I couldn’t shake the feeling that some of the whispers were for me. I was perhaps a little paranoid.


    Deven stood beside me now, arms crossed behind his back, face forward as the instructor strode into view. He was a tall man with graying hair and a voice that could break rock. He stopped in front of us. “Today’s session will focus on sparring. Pair up!”


    This was a refreshing turn of events, after my first day, I found out that half of us had no prior practice with a sword and that meant conditioning. Half days, lunging forward, front foot extended, repeated into oblivion. A small red ball suspended in the air which we had to hit with the pointy end of a stick after that. Not even a sword to start. My amazement at this new novelty with the crystal wore off quickly, when I failed to skewer the stupid thing. Sore legs, sore thighs, ridiculous stretching, every inch of me aching. After that, sequencing. Steps and parrying. Head, facing shoulder, followed point. “You are a small target, be smaller!” I was told. “Smaller movements!” “Smaller steps, larger lunges!” Small, small, small or large, large, large! It was either or and it was wearing thin.


    The cadets shuffled awkwardly for a moment, the commoners glancing at each other while the nobles stood in confident clusters. No formal formation. Dev turned to me, but before he could speak the Instructor cut in, “Yes you will be sparring together today, cadet common and noble alike. You are all cadets, remember that!”


    We were then forced to make space, mingle and form up for sparing. Two for two.


    Deven groaned. “Seriously, Kellan? Can’t you bother someone else?”


    Kellan ignored him, turning his gaze to me. “You’re with Corren.”


    This ‘Corren’, had been lingering nearby, stiffened at the mention of his name. His expression didn’t exactly fill me with confidence, but he nodded and motioned for me to follow him in to the sparring ring.


    The familiar hum sounded and surrounded my body.


    The ring was a simple circle of cobblestone, sand and intricate gears fused into the floor. We were surrounded by onlookers who had not found space. I adjusted my grip on the practice sword I had picked up going in, its worn leather hilt rough against my palm. Across from me, Corren stood rigid, his knuckles white as he held his. I feared him a little more than his sword at this point. He was all hard angles and sharper than the worn smooth wood between us.


    “Ready?” I asked, trying to sound confident.


    “Sure” he nodded.


    The instructor’s sharp voice rang out. “Begin!”


    Corren moved slowly, his blade swinging in a wide lazy arc. I sidestepped easily, my reflexes taking over. I raised a sword to block his next attack, the crack, its own compliment.


    “Keep your guard up!” Dev called from the sidelines, his voice carrying over the noise.


    I deflected another clumsy strike and countered with a quick jab. Corren stumbled back, then his faint became clear: He stepped in another lazy arc this time, but it was smooth and Graceful and bent impossibly low. He struck hard and fast then upwards into my sternum. I was winded and doubled over before I knew it. Being so small I had never practiced a defence from anything under me.


    “Focus on control, not strength.” Corren said. “Agility, not speed”


    When I had stood up straight, he held up a hand. A casual gesture, he waited, hand still raised. “What?” I asked.


    He razed a lazy eyebrow and told me to hit his palm. “Why?” I asked more slowly.


    I was still aching and a little annoyed at Dev, my distraction. And I wasn’t exactly in the mood to have a new little ‘noble’ instructor. He was a cadet like me.


    He held up his sword again threateningly. “Do it” I knew there was no avoiding this, he meant the threat, but he also meant to teach, I could see that.


    I jabbed the palm of his hand. “No impact” he said. He took a step closer and marked a point a third of the way down on my sword. “This is your new sword, there is no sword beyond this point, now hit my hand.” He stepped away.


    i looked at my sword, its new ‘length’ then at him.


    “Your to far away” I said.


    “Yes and your enemy will lay his life down for you, no?” I understood. He waited.


    I took two half steps for a burst of speed, focused on his hand and the ‘new’ tip of my sword, everything focused down to a narrow field of view and I lunged. I struck true. I nearly fell into his arms, but it was a good hit.


    He pushed me gently back a bit “You felt the impact? The difference? You must always strike at a closer point, so your energy transfers through to the end.” He slid his sword smoothly under my arm for emphasis, standing close. “You cut through your enemies, not onto them”


    “I understand” I said. “Like a pickaxe through rock. His eyes lit up, then were guarded. “Just so” he said. And stepped back again.


    We continued sparring, the fight slowly becoming more balanced as Corren told me how to adjust my stance and movements. By the time the instructor called an end to the match, he was breathing as hard as I was. hard but smiling faintly.


    “Not bad,” he offered me a nod.


    “Thanks,” I smiled.


    In the ring next to us, Deven and Kellan had not heard the instructor and were in a tight match. Kellan’s strikes were aggressive, his movements sharp, but Deven’s speed and agility kept him just out of reach.


    “Come on, Kellan,” Deven taunted, sidestepping. “Is that all?”


    Kellan lunged, but Dev ducked and swept his leg out, sending the bigger boy flat on his back.The crowd that had slowly formed erupted in laughter as Kellan scrambled to his feet, his face red with anger.


    Dev winked at me then, as he stepped out of the ring. “Easy,” he said, brushing the dirt off his hands.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Later, back in the common quarters, a short recess before lunch, the tension from the day’s training began to ease. I sat cross-legged on my bunk, watching as Sohee animatedly recounted his sparring match to Nathan.


    The room filled with laughter of another sort and for the first time since arriving at the academy, I felt a faint sense of belonging. The walls still felt cold, the divide between noble and common still present, but in that moment, I wasn’t alone. It eased my heart, but not the hum in my chest or the twisting of my stomach, I shook it off and reminded myself I hadn’t eaten properly, but I could feel a change.


    ———


    After a quick lunch in the mess hall we were scheduled for the aviary, the food was bright, colourful and good. It was also the only place cadets truly mingled. Officers ate separately in a mess hall that doubled as a lounge, the quality an indicator of who and where you belong, you did not cross that line or disturb them at lunch.


    Food and eating was almost holy here, soldiers could also use the officers lounge, but they also ate separately. we had our rotation of training, but had yet to enter the aviary. Until today we had not been introduced to the military’s ‘soft power’, in the form of messenger birds.


    They were unique in their ability to get messages up to pilots and the airships that carried them.


    It was a brisk walk over, the day was getting colder and we lined up loosely outside, uncertain, tense. My chest was humming.


    Black feathers glinted like shards of polished obsidian as the birds shifted on their perches, their sharp eyes tracking every movement in the aviary. The air smelled of damp, bitter and something faintly metallic. I stood among the other cadets, feeling small beneath the vast dome of stone and glass overhead. Rafters and beams criss crossed, littered with perched birds looking down. One of them shat on Dev. He was not amused.


    The chatter among the cadets echoed in the enclosed space, a mix of excitement and unease.


    “Settle down!” barked the instructor, Captain Victor, his voice cutting through the din. He was a broad, no-nonsense man with a salt and pepper goatee, bald and an ever-present scowl.


    The group fell silent.


    “The black birds ‘Ravn’ are not pets,” Victor began, pacing before us. “They are tools of war, trusted allies on the battlefield. They deliver messages through storms, over enemy lines, and across vast distances. They trust no one easily. If you can’t win their trust, or feed them these,” he held up a little white crystal,”you’re useless to them.”


    The birds certainly new what he was holding, eyes trained on him. He tossed it into the air. He did not expect it to come down again.


    “Today you will each have a bird sitting on your arm, for however long it chooses to sit there, is that understood?” Everyone stomped a foot. “You get a few tries, but no longer than this lesson and I do not expect our friends here to grace you with their company for very long” he added.


    “Line up!” Victor ordered.


    The cadets shuffled into place. Deven was beside me, leaning slightly toward my ear. “Think they bite?” he whispered.


    I glanced at the nearest bird, a sleek creature with razor-sharp nails and a cruel beak. “Definitely.”


    Dev grinned, but there was tension in his shoulders. The stakes were high, and failure here wouldn’t just be a blow to our pride—we all head it in Victors voice, this was make or break time, one of the rare ones that would have you out the gates by sun down. I felt like I was going to fail. The hum in my chest amplified twofold and I didn’t like it.


    A cadet stepped forward, a boy named Jorric. He approached a perch with confidence, the bird on the perch tilted its head, watching him with unsettling stillness. Jorric extended his arm, but the moment his hand got too close, the bird let out a caw and snapped its beak, forcing him to step back.


    Some laughed nervously, but they exchanged knowing looks.


    One by one, cadets approached the birds. Some were met with wary indifference; others, like Jorric, were outright rejected. By the time Dev had a turn, the tension in the room was palpable.


    Dev took a step forward, his hand outstretched. The bird he chose, a large male? with a missing feather in its tail, regarded him warily.


    “Come on,” Dev murmured. “We’re on the same side, right?”


    The bird shifted, but after a long pause, it hopped onto his arm, shat on him again and flew off. He hadn’t realised that it was the same one until then. Victor made a tick on his clip board.


    “Nice one” I said as Dev returned to my side. He did not smile.


    “Show-off,” muttered Nathan who still had no success from nearby. The bird he had chosen was smaller, wary and uninterested.


    When it was my turn, Dev watched closely, curiosity flickering in his eyes but giving me space.


    But nothing. I had approached the nearest perch, where a slender female bird waited. She was beautiful.The Ravn shifted its weight, its sharp eyes locked on mine.


    “Be calm, be confident,” I told myself, But the hum in my chest stirred and changed, fourfold as if the crystal buried inside me was responding to something. “No,no,no,no” I whispered, but it made three quick “caw, caw, caw’s” and flew off.


    Victor was at the end of his board. He looked at me, then up at the Ravn. My chest was about to burst, I hadn’t learned anything yet, I had barely started, the hum tightened and built. Tenfold I thought anyone not deaf would hear it.


    The bird hesitated, its head tilting. Then, to Victor’s astonishment, it cawed and kept on at it, the other Ravn joined in, sounding out a rhythm.


    The room erupted in murmurs.


    “What’s happening?” one cadet asked.


    “Who know’s” another muttered. Everyone was looking to Victor.


    Tenfold and I was panicked, a flurry of movement, a burst of feathers and they stopped. I had flinched with everyone else, but as we all straightened up I felt a plump weight on my head. Victor was staring at me.


    “No way,” Nathan said, his voice shaky.


    “Have you had advanced classes cadet Sari?” Victor asked.


    “No” I said. Shaking internally, I thought I might cry from the buzzing in my chest, it was starting to remind me of the mountain and that deep mine.


    The bird was stil there, I felt a rustling in my hair, a flap of wings and the hum resided abruptly.


    “You lie to me again and you are out the gate Sari.” He gave me a stern look and ticked his board. “you are to move up to the noble quarters by the end of the day, pack your things.” He dismissed the rest of us for evening dinner and let Nathan walk out the gate with a little dignity.


    I didn’t know how to feel. I was promoted? I didn’t get the bird on my hand, it landed on my head and I had spooked the whole aviary. I went back to my dorm room instead of eating and said a brief goodbye to Nathan, which was not the custom, but surprisingly he gave me a hug after packing, no ill will and walked out, his back strait to meet Victor for a final salute.


    Alone, finally for a bit of peace, i got on my bunk and laid down to settle myself, but not before i felt a stabbing in my head when it hit the pillow.


    A feather fell out. Great, I am a mess, I thought.


    Had I seen what Victor saw that day. It would have been the Ravn plucking a tail feather and sticking it in my coiled hair. A mark of a pilot.


    ———


    The night was quiet, but not the kind of quiet that let you sleep. It was the kind of silence that wrapped around, like a warning. Maybe it was just my new room: it was single, simple and private. It had a trunk at the foot of my bed, curtains and a writing desk. One book case. A wash basin next to the door. All empty. Save my satchel in the locked trunk. My locker was in the hallway with all my other gear. I had been here a week and my rooms still felt hollow, empty, new.


    I couldn’t explain how I knew. Maybe the way the shadows moved, a whisper of sound or something. This place, I didn’t like it. It spoke to me softly like the hum in my chest. It was effecting my sleep. I did have a crystal powered wash basin, that was definitely a bonus I thought, ever the optimist.


    I slipped out of bed, the chill of the stone floor biting against my bare feet. The room was dark except for the faint glow of moonlight filtering through the window, I opened my door carefully, I could here soft snores from the hallway, Corren, he mumbled something in his sleep, rolling over. Never one to shut his door.


    I peered further out and then I saw my locker slightly ajar, my stomach sank.


    She didn’t even try to hide what she was doing. Maren was crouched in front of it, her back to me, her gloved hands sifting through my things like she had every right to be there.


    For a second, I just stood there, watching her. The sight of her—tall, composed, her gold hair pulled into a perfect braid, even in the middle of the night—she filled me with a rush of anger


    She thought she owned this academy, just like a noble. And why wouldn’t she, the work,The rules, they didn’t apply to people like her. No rule spoken is no rule broken Dev would say.


    I leaned against the doorframe, crossing my arms. “Looking for something?”


    Maren froze, her shoulders stiff. Slowly, she turned, but her face was perfectly calm, not concerned, just calculating, crouched and predatory. how much of a threat did I pose? That didn’t feel like a lot right now, i hadn’t my boots on.


    “You’re up late,” she said smoothly, standing and brushing off imaginary dust.


    “So are you,” I said, My voice was calmer than I felt, but my hands were shaking. I balled them into fists to stop it.


    “Oh, don’t be shy on my account,” she cooed. Coming over then, invading my space in such a casual and insulting manner. How did she do it! Slipping between my defences. Why I let her take my hand was beyond me.


    “Such pretty nails, hmmm, must cost daddy a fortune back home”


    I snatched my hand back, and walked over to my locker, kicked my stuff inn and slammed the door with a satisfying klick.


    She smiled backing off towards her own rooms “where is home by the way? You always fail to mention, and you accent? I can’t place it.” She was sickeningly sweet and poisonous.


    She had heard about my acceptance into this quarter, had stirred up a fuss and boldly claimed I wasn’t a noble. “If it walks and talks like a seabird she had commented.” The officers did not agree or disagree.


    But they did have concerns, these were stifled by my grizzled silver haired friend, who I still could not discern rank or function. His clothing as plain as a cadet, but there was no officer who did not pay the respects with an upward head nod, or a garrison soldier who did not stamp the foot. He had told her to be quiet, stilled concerns and she had walked off to sharpen her fangs.


    She tilted her head, striking pose, studying me “You don’t belong here.”


    “Neither do you” I replied lamely. I struck gold with a flinch, but I didn’t know why.


    Her lip curled, “I’ll find it eventually” she said, “why not just show me? It clearly does not belong to you, and the house of its owner would surely need it back” she continued more darkly “you do know what the punishment is, to steal a legacy item do you not?”


    She saw no flicker of recognition. “Ooo, you don’t” she cooed again. She walked off with her prize and tossed a gentle threat over her shoulder as she slipped into her own rooms. “I’ll find it eventually, commoner, and your nail polish, thief.” Her door clicked shut.


    Corren had stopped snoring.


    I was in my own rooms again backtracked in thought over the conversation, restless, it was then, just before sleep when I realised why Maren had smiled. My key was in my closet locker and now it was locked shut. My word I was dumb, I let out a long, low groan of frustration. I thumped the wall with my fist and thought I heard her silently chuckling at me in the dark as I got up again.


    I didn’t sleep the rest of the night.


    ———


    “What happened?”


    “Nothing,” I said shortly.


    I was chewing my breakfast wedged between Kellan and Dev.


    They practically hated each other and this was the result, to Correns silent amusement across the table. “You look terrible” Dev said.


    “She does not” Kellan turned to me “oh,mmm yea, sorry, you do. What happened?”


    “Nothing!” I said.


    “Drop it, Deven,” he was about to say something again.


    He whispered across me “she gets cranky in the morning, best leave her be.”


    “Don’t tell me what to do.”


    “Just be quite would you both?”


    “My word,” I seethed.


    Corren was chuckling and chocking on a piece of toast.


    I was shooting glances down the table at Maren, distracted again hoping to catch her with an evil glare that matched my mood and paid her back a little. She was hard to fluster.


    She never looked my way. Oh I wanted to know how she did that!


    She was also obsessively batting her eyelashes at Sohee, how his common background didn’t bother her was a duplicity of no concern. She practically purred in his presence. I went back to my eating, my bowl of porridge cold and gelatinous.


    Dev frowned a moment later. “You sure your ok? Because if someone’s messing with you—”


    “I said, drop it,” I interrupted.


    Our portion of the table went quiet after that. The others back to their morning Breakfasts, but I could feel my unease hanging in the air. I needed to find out more about this humming, this blackness in my chest before it did anything again. It was a crystal I was sure, Ravn were black, they ate crystals, it made sense. Our classroom lessons would also be starting soon, now that we were considered ‘climatized’ : Harmonics, history and aviation. If we failed any subject, we were relocated to lesser academics and soldiering, further from the capital of Shea. But essentially it was not far from ‘out the gate’.


    Corren interrupted my thoughts having materialized behind me, taking my unfinished porridge away in the direction of the buffet tables. “Come on Little Rock, a sparring match! We have time and you need practice”


    Later, as I stood in the training yard, gripping the hilt of my practice sword, I realised a few things, I felt Corren was starting to know me better than Dev to be honest and that Dev didn’t like it, or my new pet name. ‘Little Rock’. It was the only time I liked the word ‘little’. my thoughts wouldn’t stop spinning.


    The hum, unpleasant within me now harmonised with the field around me, but Corren was a good distraction. He knew how to get my mind to focus on the task and the lesson at hand, the training.


    Maren had been looking for something specific. A millennia crystal, most likely. That’s what everyone thought… whispered. How else explain my connection to the birds? I had heard the rumours after my little event in the aviary, a few unusual power surges in the sparring ring also lending them credit.


    “Begin!” Correns voice and sword cracked against mine. Snapped back to the moment,


    we sparred.