For the first time, The Veil moved.
Although it could barely be called a movement. A slight turn of the head beneath the pillar marked by the veil. Their robes were layered, pale grey fading into black at the edges, making them look half-erased by the chamber's shadows. No features were visible beneath the cloth covering their face.
The Mirror looked from The Chain to The Thorn.
"You gave a fraction of your power to a mere child?!"
The Thorn hummed.
"Child... is such a limiting word."
The Mirror's disgust returned. "You are a vile human."
"Oh, Mirror. You should know by now. None of us are human anymore."
"You are a disease."
"HAHA. I have been called far worse by far prettier mouths, though, they wouldn't be alive to tell you."
The Chain's voice cut across them before the room could ignite again.
"Ahem. The student will act when the disruption begins. His purpose is to destabilise the student groups, draw high-value targets into conflict, and inflict damage on future heirs if the opportunity presents itself."
A thin smile touched The Chain's mouth beneath the steel mask.
"More importantly, the fragment he carries will allow The Thorn to take control when necessary."
The Eye's glowing slit narrowed.
"Direct possession?"
"Temporary," The Chain said. "It's crass, short, but effective. The vessel will not survive extended use."
The Thorn shivered with delight.
"Howwwww tragic."
The Mirror looked like he might be sick.
The Eye ignored both of them. "And what of his expected strength?"
"Unknown, but with The Thorn's fraction fully active, I suspect somewhere in the Forma range."
The room absorbed that information.
Even The Mirror didn't mock it.
Forma, depending on whether it's Initiate, Adept or Master, was not an insignificant force. Certainly not among first-years. Not in an exam full of students still measuring themselves against boorish Circuits and inefficient class rankings. A temporary Forma-level student planted among them would not simply be dangerous.
It would be catastrophic.
"Is it enough to kill the heirs?" The Eye asked.
"Enough to threaten them," The Chain corrected. "Remeber. Killing them is not the mission. Damage, panic, and division will suffice for our goal."
The Thorn pouted.
"Oh. I don't like the way you say that."
"I know."
"But the little princes and princesses would scream SO beautifully."
The Mirror spoke flatly. "You are proving my point every time you open your disgusting mouth."
The Thorn looked delighted. "Then perhaps I should open it wider... for you."
The Mirror warped in his face in utter repulsion.
The Chain continued without reacting.
"When the disruption begins, The Thorn's role is to create chaos and occupy the Academy's response. He will not be responsible for retrieving the piece."
"Obviously. That creep would get distracted by all the noble students running around," The Mirror said.
The Thorn glanced at him and licked his lips.
The Chain went on.
"The Gate will enter through a door-path established before the final extraction window. His task is one. Locate the chamber. Retrieve the piece. Exit without being noticed."
The projection above the floor shifted again, showing a buried structure beneath the island. Its shape was incomplete, hidden beneath layers of stone, root, and old warding.
"The piece rests beneath the island's lower ruin."
The Gate finally moved.
It was only a nod.
It was quiet.
And precise.
The Chain looked at him. "Your door will take time."
The Gate's voice emerged softly, almost without texture.
"All true doors take time to open and close."
The Thorn laughed under his breath.
"Oooooh, I like that. Miserably dull, but poetic at the same time."
The Gate did not look at him.
The Chain said, "The Thorn will buy that time. Hollowspawns will cause surface-level chaos. The student will fracture student cohesion. The Thorn will escalate once the faculty begin containment procedures. While they respond, The Gate retrieves it."
The Mirror crossed its arms.
"Hollowspawns," he said with visible distaste. "We're relying on those manic ideologistic filth now?"
"Not relying," The Chain corrected. "Using."
"They are unstable with no true direction."
"Yes, but they are expendable."
The Mirror seemed to accept that distinction more readily than he should have.
The Eye spoke again.
"How many?"
"Enough to force dispersion and attention. Not enough to draw military response before we obtained the piece."
"And after?"
"After," The Chain said, "they may die."
The Thorn raised a hand.
"May I keep a couple of Academy students?"
"No."
"One?"
"No."
"Hmph! You didn't even consider it."
"I have considered enough of your requests to know the result of them."
The Thorn became deflated, placing both of his hands over his heart again.
"This room is too cruel to me."
The Mirror muttered, "Not cruel enough."
The Veil remained silent.
The Gate remained silent.
The Eye asked, "Does Aetherion know the piece is there?"
"No," The Chain said. "All those fools know is that there are ruins. They know the island has an ancient activity beneath it. They believe whatever remains is inert and worthless."
The Mirror laughed once.
"Hahaha. Inert. That word has buried more nitwits than swords and magic ever have."
The Chain's gaze moved toward the broken seal carved into the floor.
"The Houses have spent centuries mistaking silence for submission."
For the first time since the meeting began, the chamber itself seemed to listen.
There was weight in the statement.
Old weight.
The kind of weight that did not belong to politics, or missions, or the petty cruelties of noble students on distant islands.
Something older slept beneath their words.
Something sealed.
Something unfinished.
The Eye lowered their head slightly.
"And The Crown is certain this is one of the seven?"
"The Crown is certain. Do not question him again."
No one questioned it.
The Mirror looked away.
The Thorn's smile thinned into something almost reverent.
The Gate's fingers flexed once at his side.
The Veil did not move, but the shadow around their pillar seemed to darken.
The Chain lifted his hand, and the projection vanished.
Only the broken seal remained.
"Remember Thorn and Gate. There will be no full engagement with Aetherion, unless absolutely necessary," he said. "This is not a declaration. Not yet. We take the first piece and leave. If students die, they die. If heirs are wounded, all the better. But the sole goal of the mission is retrieval."
The Thorn made a small disappointed sound.
The Chain ignored it.
"After the piece is secured, The Gate withdraws. The Thorn withdraws if possible."
"... If possible?" The Thorn echoed, delighted.
"If impossible," The Chain said, "you will not be mourned."
The Mirror smiled faintly.
"HA! Praise the Founder! At last. Good news."
The Thorn turned toward him again, eyes shining. "Tch, tch, tch. Mirror, Mirror, Mirror. I know you care more than you like to admit."
"I assure you. I do not."
"I know you will miss me if I die."
"I would celebrate your death with expensive wine and a warm bath."
"Make sure to invite me."
"No."
The Eye sighed softly.
It was the first human sound they had made.
The Chain's patience had thinned out to the maximum.
"Enough of this."
This time, neither The Mirror nor The Thorn pushed further.
The Chain turned slightly, looking at each member in turn.
"The Veil."
The silent figure inclined their head.
"How are your preparations?"
The Veil's voice was quiet enough that it almost vanished into the room before fully forming.
"Aetherion's records will blur. Transport lists will not show what they should. The island's barrier will account for two shadows that do not belong."
The Chain nodded.
"The Eye."
"The timing is narrow," The Eye said. "The safest window opens after the first major beast surge. Faculty attention will be divided between assumed student extraction and perimeter stabilisation. The Thorn should not reveal himself before then."
The Thorn clicked his tongue.
"Tch. How restrictive."
The Eye turned slightly toward him.
"If you reveal yourself early, some faculty may reach you before The Gate establishes the door."
The room quieted again.
Not with fear exactly.
But with recognition.
The Chain said nothing for a moment.
Then nodded.
"Ok. Good. What about you, Gate?"
"I will aim to enter when the first barrier door breaches open. I will retrieve the piece. I will leave when the second door opens."
The Mirror looked at him. "And if the chamber resists your door?"
"It will not."
"That is not an answer."
"It is the only answer that matters."
The Mirror gave a small, grudging smile.
"Fine. At least one of you understands competence."
The Thorn lifted one finger. "Hey! Hey! Hey! I am very competent."
"Yeah. At being repulsive."
"At many things."
The Chain's fist tightened.
The room remembered silence.
The Thorn's smile lingered, but he stopped speaking.
"So," The Chain said, "everyone understands the plan?"
One by one, the figures nodded.
The Gate gave the smallest motion.
The Veil's head lowered.
The Eye inclined their mask.
The Mirror nodded reluctantly.
The Thorn bowed with mocking elegance, one hand spread wide as if performing for an invisible audience.
For a moment, the meeting seemed finished.
Then The Eye spoke.
"One question remains."
The Chain turned toward them.
"Ask."
"If this is a first-year examination," The Eye said, "why is the Thorn needed specifically to fend off faculty? None of them should be strong enough to be a meaningful problem."
The Chain was silent.
Then his answer came.
"Normally, that would be true."
The Thorn's smile widened before the sentence finished.
The Chain looked toward the empty seventh pillar, the one marked by the crown.
"But this year, they have him."
The Mirror's expression changed.
The Eye went still.
Even The Gate's shadowed face tilted slightly.
The Chain spoke the title with a rare note of caution.
"The Sungrave's Verdict."
The Eye murmured immediately.
"Orin Davan."
The name moved through the chamber like a blade drawn slowly from a sheath.
The Thorn inhaled.
It was not fear.
It was a pleasure.
His twisted pink Aether flickered beneath his skin again, crawling up his throat in thin, thorn-shaped veins. His hands trembled, not from weakness.
From anticipation.
"Ohhh," he said softly, almost lovingly. "How I yearn to meet him…"
He tilted his head back, eyes half-lidded.
"And fight him…"
His smile split wider.
"And taste him."
The chamber temperature seemed to drop.
The Thorn shuddered once, then laughed under his breath.
"I can't hold back my excitement."
The Mirror took one slow step away from him.
"Ugh," he said. "Stay away from me, you creep."
The Thorn looked at him with bright, poisonous affection.
"No promises, Mirror."
The Chain's voice ended the meeting.
"The first piece will return."
Six shadows stood around the broken seal.
The seventh seat remained empty.
And far away, across sea, forest, tower, and nobility, an island waited beneath the arriving storm.