The Extra's Rise

The permit meeting took eight minutes. That's how I knew it was real.

We gathered in a secure room off the palace's operations wing. No ceremony, no press. A wall screen showed Stormgate Flats with three test cells highlighted. The queen and king stood at the head of the table with the focus of people who sign things that can move an army or stop one.

"Three conditions," Queen Lyralei said. "No media or private drones. Hard stop on the first drift alert. Full logs to the Royal Ward Office within twenty-four hours."

"Accepted," Reika answered for our side. She stood to my left, posture easy, eyes already counting exits and angles.

Marcus Viserion tapped the tablet. "This is a training event, not a demonstration. If it starts to look like a show, we pull it."

"Understood," I said.

He looked at me for a beat like a man who has seen too many fields and still shows up for the next one. Then he signed. The queen added her signature. Protocol Officer Mira Dae took the file, slid a coded key across the table to Reika, and passed out clipped permits with the royal crest and today's timestamp.

"Authority delegated," Mira said. "Captain Selene Vyr commands the outer cordon, Chief Ward Engineer Kade Opalus owns the site wiring, and Medical answers to Saintess Rachel for the session. If anyone asks, that's the chain." She nodded once and left, already on her radio.

The royals didn't linger. "Good luck," Lyralei said. "Bring back clean numbers." They were gone in a whisper of boots and a door that didn't slam.

Tiamat waited until the room was ours again. "We keep this simple," she said. "No Grey. No miracles. We're adding laws to your Sword Unity one small truth at a time."

Lyra, calm and steady, met my eyes. "I'll provide wind and light shears. No spikes. No tricks."

Seraphina tapped her pencil on a notepad lined with precise boxes. "Clocks are synced. Drift thresholds are marked. If I call a halt, we halt."

Rachel's voice carried that warm tone that presses things into order without getting loud. "Your vitals stream to me. If heart rate or neural load crosses the line we agreed on, I pull you. You will not argue."

"I won't," I promised.

"Security," Reika said, reading from her slate while moving. "Outer ring under Captain Vyr. Tagged drones only; all others are dropped. Access badges color-coded. Evac lanes clear. If someone uninvited blinks, Selene blinks faster."

"Copy," Selene's voice came through the wall speaker—cool, professional.

"Tuning team is me and Lyra," Tiamat added. "Lucifer may observe if he wants a bad seat. He doesn't touch the dial unless I point at him."

Lucifer, leaning in the doorway like he'd been born there, spread his hands. "Bad seat accepted."

If his sudden appearance felt abrupt, there was a simple reason: he'd landed in Valdris an hour earlier on his way to a closed-door consult with Lyra about the northern anchor plan. Ian had pinged him; Tiamat had cleared it. The North wanted eyes on how we were training toward Sovereignty, and Lucifer was already in the air. He stuck the landing and walked in.

We rolled within the hour.

Stormgate Flats Test Cell B looked like what it was—an empty, honest piece of ground that already knew how to be yelled at. The inner ring went up inside thirty minutes: simple poles to mark the line, clean chalk arcs on packed soil, four kill-switch pylons at the corners. The outer ring set beyond that: Royal Guard trucks, a row of med tents, engineer vans with their doors open and cable spines running neat.

Chief Kade Opalus walked me through the wiring like he was showing a new tech their first clean install. "Ward lattice is live on a three-layer weave," he said, tapping a schematic on his tablet. "Layer one reads stress. Two and three damp if one starts to sing wrong. If your cut tries to teach the ground bad habits, I'll hear it."

"Thank you," I said.

"Don't thank me," he replied. "Follow the lines."

Seraphina set her measurement tripods at twelve points around the ring, then checked them by hand like the instruments would lie if she didn't look them in the eye. "Timestamps are true. We're logging angle, pressure, arc length, and variance. Drift alarm at point five percent."

Rachel showed me the med tent. She pressed my finger to a sensor, checked the feed on her tablet, and then looked up at me with a small smile that makes people do what she asks even when they thought they wouldn't. "Water before we start," she said. "Two sips before each run. Breathe on fours."

I drank. I breathed.

Reika walked the perimeter and pointed out lanes like a guide pointing out exits. "If I say out, you jump the line and keep moving until you hit the blue tarp," she said. "Don't look back. I will be looking back for you."

I nodded.

Tiamat and Lyra moved to the center of the ring with me. Lyra rolled her shoulders and the air listened. A soft crosswind formed, steady and honest. Tiamat's presence settled the ground the way a hand can settle a skittish horse.

"Baseline, three drills," Tiamat said. "We end the session early if you get greedy."

"Understood," I said.

I drew Valeria. She flowed into a simple sword—no plates, no extra edge, just balance that felt like home.

"Drill A," Tiamat said. "No-bounce."

I pictured a clear sphere around my hand and forearm. The tiny law I wanted was simple: on first contact inside that bubble, the edge would bite instead of chatter, even if the wind pushed.

Lyra nodded. "Crosswind at three meters per second."

I stepped into the line. First touch, the edge bit clean. The cut stayed neat. Seraphina's pencil made a small, satisfied dot.

"Again," Tiamat said.

Second pass, same. The wind tugged. The edge obeyed the law anyway.

"Third with shear," Lyra said. The wind changed shape—same speed, but a small tear in it like a snagged seam.

I felt the chatter before it started and tried to force the bite. Forcing failed me. The tip jumped a hair. Seraphina's tablet chirped.

"Drift point seven," she said.

"Stop," Rachel ordered, decisive and calm. I stepped back, shook my hand once, and breathed in fours. Drink. Reset. No one looked disappointed. This was the work.

"Reset the wind," Tiamat said.

Lyra smoothed the shear. I reminded myself the law was small on purpose. First contact, bite; nothing more. I made the cut. Clean. Seraphina's dot returned.

"Drill B," Tiamat said. "Shortest line between two chalk marks."

Seraphina had drawn two marks on the ground six meters apart. The rule was narrow: when the blade moved between them, it stayed on the shortest possible line regardless of crosswind. No flourish. No speed games. The wind tugged left then right in a slow cycle.

I cut. The line held true. Second pass, same.

"Heat shimmer," Tiamat said without looking. Lucifer raised a hand, and the air over the chalk wavered like a road on a hot day. It wasn't a big change, but it made the line look like it was somewhere else.

I started the third pass and overcorrected. Valeria nudged my palm in warning. I ignored her. The point wobbled a degree off true. Seraphina's tablet beeped again.

"Stop," Rachel said. No judgment, just the end of a rope.

I stepped back and exhaled. "Sorry."

Rachel shook her head. "Don't be. That's the point."

Tiamat's eyes were easy and exact. "Lock it at seventy percent and finish the set."

I cut slower. The line stayed honest. My shoulders unlocked on their own.

Kade's voice came over the inner channel. "No ward damage. Lattice shows no bad habits learned."

Reika lifted a hand at the perimeter. "Pad clear."

"Drill C," Tiamat said. "One-breath arcs."

Seraphina chalked a half circle on the ground. I had one breath—no more—to draw the arc cleanly and finish without wobble. First pass, clean. Second pass, clean. Third pass, my lungs tried to buy me another half-beat and my wrist followed. Drift chirp. Rachel's hand went up. We stopped. Reset. On the fourth pass, I took the breath I had and nothing extra. It held.

We wrapped the baseline the way professional crews like to wrap things—quiet, no victory lap, everything folded and labeled so the next run starts where this one ended.

Lyra met me by the chalk line. "Tomorrow, we put those same tiny laws under motion," she said. "No new tricks. Just the same truth while your feet move."

"I'll be there," I said.

A runner from Protocol handed Reika a sealed slip. She scanned it, then slid the summary to me. The Concord had requested that two Western envoys attend our next session as observers—no data pulls, no interference, just eyes behind the outer ring. Names were bolded: Crown Princess Kali Ashbluff and Crown Prince Jin Ashbluff. Old allies. They'd worked under me when Ouroboros was still clawing its way into something real.

Reika looked up from the slip, measuring. "They can come," she said. "We'll brief them on ground rules."

"Loop them in," I agreed. "Kali respects lines. Jin will, if you stare at him while you say it."

Lucifer snorted. "I'll help stare."

We drove back to Valdris with a small stack of clean numbers. It didn't feel like much. That's how I knew it mattered.

I slept well.

The next morning started with the same quiet focus. Selene's Guard checked badges. Kade's crew ran continuity on the lattice and marked two pylons that wanted a nap. Seraphina updated the array calibrations and swapped a tripod that didn't like the wind. Rachel restocked the med tent and bullied me into stretching before tea. Reika ran three short security drills until the outer ring moved like one person.

We met in a side room for a last check. Tiamat drew two small circles on a slate with her fingertip.

"Yesterday, you taught your edge two truths at rest," she said. "Today, you teach them while your feet move. Same power. Same restraint."

Lyra nodded. "I'll bring the wind up one step. No surprises."

Lucifer rolled his shoulders. "I'll float and keep my mouth shut unless called."

"Unexpected sentence," Reika said dryly.

"Write it down," he replied.

We rode back out. Stormgate Flats looked the same, which was the point. The inner ring set clean. The outer ring watched. The air had that quiet feel before an orchestra starts.

"Moving 'no-bounce' first," Tiamat said. "Cones are set. Keep the bite on first contact while you snake through. If drift chirps, you stop."

Lyra brought the crosswind up. I started slow. Bite held. Turn. Bite held. Turn. On the third cone, the shear changed shape. I felt the chatter rise, let go of the urge to force it, and let the law do its job. The bite held. Seraphina's pencil moved. Rachel kept me drinking between runs. We did it again, a touch faster. It held.

"Moving 'one-breath arc' next," Tiamat said. "One breath means one breath. No credit for drama."

She chalked the arc. I moved, counted the breath by feel, and finished with just enough left not to cheat. Twice clean. On the third, I tried to turn it into a picture instead of a cut. The chirp sounded. Rachel lifted a hand. We reset. I made the small thing small again. It held.

"Light pressure," Tiamat said, lifting her eyes toward the watcher in white. "Lucifer. You can steer. You cannot hit. His job is to land one clean no-bounce bite and one clean one-breath arc while you make him choose bad angles. If he enlarges the law, we stop."

Lucifer came down lightly, took the line opposite me, and gave me exactly the kind of pressure that makes old habits flare. It felt like sparring with a river that has opinions. Twice I tried to widen the truth to meet him. Twice I heard Rachel clear her throat, which was more effective than any alarm. On the third pass, I kept the bite small and it cut anyway. On the fourth, I took the single breath I had and finished the arc on time. Lucifer raised his hand and stepped back. "Clean," he said.

Kade's voice came through. "No ward damage. Lattice stays boring."

"Good," Reika said. "Boring keeps people alive."

That was the session. No drama. No broken ground. Two small truths now able to survive my feet moving and someone smart pushing me off line.

On the way out, another slip found us. "Ashbluff flight on approach," Mira Dae said over the line. "Crown Princess Kali and Crown Prince Jin will be wheels-down by dusk. They'll brief with Captain Vyr and observe tomorrow's block."

"Clear them," Reika replied. "Tag their drones. If they brought more than we agreed, we park them."

"Understood."

Back in Valdris, we filed logs to the Ward Office and the Concord pool. I ate dinner with Luna and tried not to talk shop while she talked about the way the sunset had looked from the med tent—like the sky was practicing a new color. I didn't quite succeed. She didn't mind.