The shuttle lifted from the mining ridge with a deep mechanical hum.
Kael felt the vibration through the metal floor beneath his boots as the landing struts retracted and the craft rose slowly into the morning air.
He stood near the rear viewport, watching the ground fall away beneath them.
The mining terraces spread across the mountainside like giant staircases carved into the rock.
Tiny figures moved between the structures below.
Miners.
Workers.
People beginning another day beneath the mountain.
Kael spotted his parents near the edge of the landing zone.
Even from this height he could recognize Garrick's broad stance and Lira's still figure beside him.
The shuttle rose higher.
The ridge grew smaller.
Then the camp disappeared behind a rocky outcrop as the shuttle turned toward the eastern sky.
Kael exhaled slowly.
"Well," a voice said behind him.
"That was dramatic."
Kael turned.
Darius Tal sat in one of the passenger seats with his boots resting casually on the floor brace.
"You always watch places like that when you leave them?"
Kael shrugged.
"First time."
Darius smirked.
"Right."
The academy student leaned forward slightly.
"You realize most academy students start training when they're children."
Kael nodded.
"I figured."
"So you're already about ten years behind everyone."
Kael didn't respond.
Darius tilted his head slightly.
"Not worried?"
Kael looked out the viewport again.
"Should I be?"
Darius grinned.
"Yes."
Before the conversation could continue, Aria stepped into the aisle between them.
"That's enough."
Darius leaned back in his seat.
"I'm just being honest."
"You're being irritating."
"Same thing sometimes."
Aria ignored him and turned to Kael.
"You'll get used to him."
Kael glanced at Darius.
"I doubt that."
Darius smiled.
"Give it time."
Aria sat in the seat across from Kael.
For a moment none of them spoke.
Outside the viewport the mountains stretched endlessly across the planet's surface.
Stone ridges.
Deep valleys.
Crystal mines scattered across the landscape like small scars carved into the earth.
Kael had never realized how vast Terrava was.
"First time seeing the planet like this?" Aria asked.
Kael nodded.
"It's bigger than I expected."
Darius laughed.
"You grew up in a hole in the ground."
Kael ignored him.
Aria smiled faintly.
"Terrava is mostly stone," she said. "Deep continental plates and heavy crust layers."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"You sound like Professor Halvek."
"Well he is my father and I've studied under him for four years."
"That explains it."
Darius stretched his arms.
"Four years of geology lectures."
"You chose the academy too," Aria pointed out.
"Yes, but I was hoping for more explosions."
Kael frowned.
"Explosions?"
Darius shrugged.
"Elemental combat training."
Aria rolled her eyes.
"Earth element doesn't work that way."
Darius gestured toward the mountains below.
"It literally moves mountains."
Kael felt the quiet whisper of the earth through the shuttle's hull.
Even thousands of meters above the ground he could still sense it faintly.
Distant.
Muted.
But still there.
The sensation made him uneasy.
Aria noticed his expression.
"You feel it, don't you?"
Kael blinked.
"What?"
"The planet."
Darius groaned.
"Oh great."
Aria ignored him.
"Most students take years before they can sense Terrava from orbit."
Kael shifted slightly.
"I'm just looking at rocks."
Aria studied him carefully.
Then she smiled slightly.
"Of course."
At the front of the shuttle, Professor Halvek sat beside Dr. Solen reviewing a small handheld scanner.
Inside the device rested a tiny sample of resonance powder.
Dr. Solen frowned at the readings.
"The structural bonds shouldn't collapse like this," she said quietly.
Halvek nodded.
"Yes."
"Have you seen anything like it before?"
"No."
Halvek adjusted the scanner slightly.
"The stone did not fracture."
"It unraveled."
Dr. Solen glanced toward the back of the shuttle where Kael sat speaking with the students.
"You think the boy caused it?"
Halvek was silent for a moment.
Then he turned off the scanner.
"I think," he said calmly, "that Kael Holt may prove to be a very interesting student."
The shuttle engines shifted pitch as the craft climbed higher into the atmosphere.
Far below them, the vast stone surface of Terrava stretched toward the horizon.
And somewhere deep beneath that ancient crust…
The earth still listened.