Entry – 003 | Year 151 | Month 5, Day 3| Post-Fall


    Stage: Resonance!


    I felt it.


    Just for a moment, I felt it. It was cold, bright, and sharp.


    Instructor Leven tells me that I''ve been ''chosen''. He tells me that I''m lucky and should be honored.


    The World Authority funded this Aether Zone. They monitor us through these beacons. I''ve never seen one though. Their hidden, somewhere.


    Still, it''s much better than living in the Wastelands.


    Entry – 024 | Year 152 | Month 3, Day 21 | Post-Fall


    Stage: Resonance (Upper Threshold)


    The World Authority sent down a message today.


    They said that two cities in the east had been recaptured.


    Can''t believe people believed them. Some of the initiates cheered, as if they would be posted in the Safe Havens. They weren''t born in the dirt like the rest of us.


    I know better. Growing stronger doesn''t get you inside. It gets you used.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Still, I have to get stronger.


    Entry – 041 | Year 153 | Month 8, Day 13 | Post-Fall


    Stage: Forging – Core Formation.


    They sent over an Authority Official over to observe the Core Trials today.


    No name. Just a coat with the Authority''s insignia. His eyes were like drones—flat and scanning. He only spoke when a kid failed the Compression. He was down, screaming and begging. He burnt out, then collapsed, still breathing—but barely.


    "Insufficient stability, reassign the resource." He said.


    Guess we were just resources. Not soldiers. Not humans.


    But I already knew that.


    I''ll keep walking this path. Not because I trust them, but because I want to grow strong enough the protect the ones that I love.


    Entry – 078 | Year 154 | Month 10, Day 3 | Post-Fall


    Stage: Forging – Substage 2 (Core Stabilization)


    We got new robes today. Authority issued. White trim, with a mark of progress sewn into the collar. I couldn''t help but feel proud, just for a moment.


    They say that with more power, comes more responsibility. That sounds noble, until you realize you''re really nothing but a name on a piece of paper.


    Aether''s just another currency, and some of us will be too poor to keep it.


    Entry – 105 | Year 155 | Month 12, Day 3 | Post-Fall


    Status: Preparing for Ascension Trial.


    They say that Ascension tests not only your power, but also your loyalty.


    I''m not sure whether it''s loyalty to the Authority or to something else.


    One of my instructors, Instruction Rhys, pulled me aside today. He asked if I "Had any connections," since my "progress was too stable."


    I didn''t. My family was killed in one of the breaches. I was raised by a scavenger outpost until the World Authority drafted me here.


    He looked disappointed.


    My trial is tomorrow. They say that if you''re pure, you''ll pass. Otherwise, you''d be unraveled from the inside out.


    I''m scared, but hopeful.


    Journal end.