Chapter 103: Fifty-Two Names
Lucian Valorian’s consciousness drifted somewhere between waking and oblivion, his awareness fragmenting into disconnected sensations that his exhausted mind struggled to process into coherent thought.
Pain. Not the sharp, immediate agony of physical injury, but something deeper a hollow ache that seemed to radiate from his very core outward. His essence reserves weren’t just depleted; they felt scraped clean, like someone had taken a blade to the inside of a well and carved away every last drop of water along with layers of stone beneath.
Voices filtered through the fog. Medical personnel, probably. Their words blurred together into meaningless sound, but the urgency in their tones was clear enough.
Hands on his body checking vitals, administering treatment, the cool touch of healing essence trying to stabilize systems that had been pushed far beyond safe limits.
’Did it work?’ The thought surfaced sluggishly through the exhaustion. ’Did they get them out?’
Lucian tried to open his eyes. Failed. His body wasn’t responding to commands, too busy trying to keep him alive to waste energy on peripheral functions like consciousness.
Time became meaningless. Seconds or hours he couldn’t tell. The fog would thin occasionally, allowing fragments of awareness before dragging him back down into darkness.
Somewhere in one of those brief moments of clarity, he heard it:
"Lord Valorian’s essence core is stable, but he’s completely exhausted. It’ll take weeks, possibly months before he’s recovered enough for normal activity."
Professor Harold’s voice. Familiar. Competent. If Harold was treating him, then he was at the Academy. Which meant...
With enormous effort, Lucian forced his eyes open. The world swam into blurry focus medical equipment, white walls, the distinctive architecture of the Academy’s healing wing.
Harold appeared in his vision, the older professor’s face drawn with exhaustion but professionally composed. "Lord Valorian. You’re awake. Don’t try to move your body needs "
"Did it work?" Lucian’s voice came out as barely more than a rasp, his throat raw. "The students... did they make it through?"
Harold’s expression shifted relief mixing with something heavier. "Fifty-two survivors extracted successfully. You held the portal stable long enough for Colonel Hestian’s team to complete the rescue operation."
Fifty-two.
Out of two hundred.
The number sat in Lucian’s chest like a stone.
A long pause, then the question emerged quieter, more personal than he’d intended: "Kael? Did Kael Ashford survive?"
Harold’s eyebrows rose fractionally surprise, perhaps, that Lucian’s first specific question was about one particular student rather than the overall casualty count. But he answered without hesitation.
"Yes. He was the last survivor to cross the threshold. Arrived minutes after the final rescue group, critically injured but alive." Harold’s professional mask slipped slightly, showing something like bewildered respect. "He crossed three kilometers of collapsing terrain alone to reach the extraction point. Against all probability, he made it."
Something in Lucian’s chest loosened slightly.
’The boy survived.’
He’d watched Kael Ashford during the Awakening Ceremony months ago witnessed that moment when an SS-Rank fire manipulation ability had manifested with such raw power it had literally shaken the chamber. Had seen the boy’s pale eyes assess the assembled nobility with barely concealed skepticism, questioning whether royal service represented genuine opportunity or gilded cage.
Lucian had respected that skepticism. Had recognized something of himself in it.
And now that skeptical boy had survived three days in a dimensional hellscape that had killed one hundred forty-eight others.
"His condition?" Lucian asked, his voice growing weaker.
"Severe injuries, but recovering. Professor Harold is monitoring him closely." The professor’s hands moved with practiced efficiency, checking Lucian’s vitals. "Lord Valorian, you need to rest. Your essence core is stable but completely depleted. Pushing yourself "
"The other SS-Rank student," Lucian interrupted, exhaustion making his words slur slightly. "Baron Millbrook’s daughter. Did she..."
Harold’s expression darkened. "She survived, but sustained critical injuries. She was wounded by corrupted students, and the corruption began spreading through blood contact. Professor Leo performed emergency amputation to prevent her essence core from being compromised."
He paused. "She lost significant tissue mass from her abdomen, but her temporal manipulation abilities remain intact. She’ll recover, but the trauma will take time to heal."
Lucian closed his eyes.
Two SS-Rank students. Both survived. But one mutilated to prevent corruption, the other having fought through hell alone for three days.
"Rest, Lord Valorian," Harold said firmly. "You’ve done your part. The students who could be saved were saved because of your sacrifice. Now let your body recover."
But one more question burned through the exhaustion.
"The dimensional rift... did Vex seal it?"
"Not yet. The realm’s collapse is preventing natural closure. But it’s one-way only nothing can cross from the other side. We’re maintaining observation until it seals naturally." Harold’s hands guided Lucian back down to the bed. "Sleep now. When you wake, the crisis will be over."
Lucian’s last coherent thought before darkness took him was simple:
’Fifty-two. We saved fifty-two.’
It wasn’t enough. Would never be enough.
But it was fifty-two children who would go home to their families.
Including the skeptical, pale-eyed boy who’d questioned authority and survived when one hundred forty-eight others hadn’t.
Then there was only darkness, and the slow work of a body trying to rebuild essence reserves that had been sacrificed to save lives.****
## Meanwhile - Principal’s Office
Principal Whitmore stood at the window of his office, staring out at the Academy grounds with an expression that had aged ten years in three days.
The sprawling campus that usually hummed with life students training in the yards, scholars debating in the gardens, the controlled chaos of young awakened learning to master their abilities was silent. Unnaturally, oppressively silent.
By royal decree, all Academy activities were suspended until further notice.
The training grounds stood empty. The lecture halls were dark. The dormitories housed fewer than half their normal occupants, and those who remained moved through the corridors like ghosts, speaking in hushed tones when they spoke at all.
Whitmore was seventy-six years old. He’d served as Principal for thirty-one of those years, had guided thousands of students through their awakening and training, had weathered political crises and dimensional threats and budget disputes with the kind of steady competence that came from decades of military command turned administrative experience.
But he’d never lost two hundred students in a single incident.
Never had to stand in this office and process casualty reports that read like a small massacre.
A soft knock at the door interrupted his bitter contemplation.
"Come in," Whitmore said, his voice rough from hours of delivering terrible news to grieving families via communication crystal.
Professor Leo entered, looking as exhausted as Whitmore felt. The combat instructor’s uniform was still stained with blood and worse substances from the rescue operation. His normally sharp eyes were hollowed with the kind of exhaustion that came from fighting beyond your limits and knowing it still wasn’t enough.
"The final casualty verification is complete, Principal," Leo said quietly, holding a folder that seemed to weigh more than paper should. "One hundred forty-eight confirmed deceased. Fifty-two survivors, all accounted for and receiving medical treatment."
Whitmore took the folder with hands that trembled slightly. Inside were names. Students he’d welcomed to the Academy personally. Young awakened who’d trusted this institution to keep them safe.
"How many families have been notified?" he asked.
"All of them, as of two hours ago. King Kendrick personally visited the families of noble houses. Military officers handled notifications for the others, as per His Majesty’s directive." Leo’s voice remained steady through obvious effort. "The King requested that we prepare detailed reports on each deceased student’s capabilities and final known location for families who want that information."
"Of course he did." Whitmore set the folder on his desk carefully. "Because he’s handling this disaster like a father who failed to protect his children, not a king managing political fallout."
Leo moved to stand beside him at the window. "The suspension of Academy activities how long do you think it will last?"
"As long as it takes to verify every defensive ward, every dimensional barrier, every protection we claim makes this place safe." Whitmore’s voice carried bitter self-recrimination. "Because those protections failed, Leo. A white rift opened inside our most heavily shielded training ground and consumed two hundred students. Our wards, our barriers, our decades of operational safety all of it meant nothing."
"The white rift was unprecedented," Leo said carefully. "Master Vex’s preliminary report indicates it shouldn’t have been possible within the Academy’s dimensional protections. He’s theorizing external interference or a completely unknown phenomenon"
"Theories don’t bring back dead students," Whitmore interrupted, exhaustion bleeding into anger. "Theories don’t explain to grieving parents why their children trusted us and we failed them."
Silence fell between them, heavy with shared grief.
"What about the survivors?" Leo asked eventually. "Harold reported that most are physically stable, but the psychological trauma..."
"Will require specialized care." Whitmore turned from the window. "I’ve already sent requests to the kingdom’s best trauma healers. Students who want to return home will be granted immediate leave. Those who prefer to remain here will receive every resource we can provide."
"And the two SS-Rank survivors?"
Whitmore’s expression shifted grief mixing with something more complex. "Baron Millbrook’s daughter sustained injuries that..." He paused. "She’ll recover. Her abilities are intact. But she paid a terrible price."
"And the Ashford boy?"
"Fought S-Class beasts alone for three days and somehow lived to cross three kilometers of collapsing terrain to reach extraction." Whitmore’s voice carried something like awe beneath the exhaustion. "Harold’s report suggests sustained high-intensity combat rather than evasion. That boy survived through capability when one hundred forty-eight others fell."
Leo nodded slowly. "The King will want to meet with him."
"Undoubtedly. And Lord Ashford will push for his son to accept King’s Guard service immediately." Whitmore’s jaw tightened. "But that boy just survived something that would break most veteran hunters. He needs time to recover, not political maneuvering."
"Will you advocate for him?"
"If necessary." Whitmore moved back to his desk. "The Academy failed to protect him. Failed to protect all of them. The least I can do is ensure the survivors aren’t immediately conscripted before they’ve processed what happened."
Leo nodded, understanding the unspoken weight behind those words.
"What are your orders regarding the suspension, Principal?"
"All teaching staff remain on-site for student support, but formal instruction is cancelled until the King lifts the suspension. Security personnel will assist with the ongoing investigation. And I want every defensive ward on campus tested and reinforced."
Whitmore’s voice hardened. "This will never happen again. Not while I’m still here."
"Yes, Principal."
As Leo moved toward the door, Whitmore spoke again, quieter.
"How are you holding up, Leo?"
The combat instructor paused, his back to Whitmore. For a long moment, he didn’t answer.
"I knew most of them," Leo said finally. "The deceased students. I’d trained them, corrected their forms, pushed them to improve. They trusted me to prepare them for dangers they’d face." His voice roughened. "And when it mattered most, nothing I taught them was enough."
"You saved fifty-two," Whitmore said. "You and Hestian held that portal against corrupted entities. Without you"
"Fifty-two out of two hundred isn’t a victory, Principal. It’s a tragedy we barely survived."
Whitmore had no answer for that. Because Leo was right.
After he left, Whitmore returned to the window, staring out at the silent campus.
Somewhere in the medical wing, fifty-two survivors were processing trauma that would define the rest of their lives. Baron Millbrook’s daughter recovering from mutilation. The Ashford boy carrying whatever he’d learned in three days of hell.
’We failed them,’ Whitmore thought. ’And now we have to find a way to deserve their continued trust when we’ve proven we don’t.’
Outside, the Academy grounds remained silent.
Inside, the Principal who’d guided thousands of students stood alone, counting the cost of safety measures that had failed when they were needed most.
And wondering how many more would die before they understood the true scope of what they faced.