The ladder ended where the floor should have been, because advancement in Astral Zenith always hid a trapdoor.
The academy spent six minutes pretending the stairs did not exist.
The floor beneath the ladder was where the academy hid every student it did not want the rankings to remember.
That was impressive, even for Astral Zenith.
A hidden staircase had opened inside a sealed supply room on Foundation Floor Three after a corrupted Silver Ladder field trial involving Bloodstone Leeches, a Support Witness target marker, and a bell that rang from somewhere older than the official dungeon map.
The correct response should have included evacuation, lockdown, and several adults admitting they had lost control of the murder basement.
Instead, the first message through the sigil was administrative.
"Team Seven," Veylan snapped, voice distorted by interference, "hold position. Do not approach the unauthorized access point."
Unauthorized access point.
