Multiple trumpets blared in perfect unison, pulling Vel's attention toward the elevated platform. Birds scattered from the arena's upper reaches, wings flashing against stone as they fled the sudden noise.
Students turned toward the sound. The instruments twisted and gleamed as performers moved in rhythm, their formations shifting like pieces on a game board. Tomas clutched his wand, eyes tracking the floating banners that displayed the three factions' emblems above the crowd.
The fanfare cut off as sharply as it had begun.
Silence stretched for several heartbeats. Even the displaced birds had gone quiet.
Then drums rolled from the two lines of performers flanking the central podium. Not sharp military beats, but something deeper. The Academy ceremony march echoed off arena walls.
The music built toward something that demanded attention, then stopped.
A puff of colorful smoke erupted at the podium's center. When it cleared, Archmagister Elyssia emerged from the dissipating cloud.
The performers lowered their instruments. The floating banners settled into perfect alignment.
No one spoke. Elyssia let the quiet stretch until it became something you could feel in your chest.
Then she opened her mouth to address them.
"Welcome, students of Lona Academy."
Her voice carried effortlessly across the crowd without any apparent amplification magic.
"Today marks the beginning of the Ternion Tournament, a tradition as old as these stones beneath our feet."
As she finished, instructors and officials moved into formation behind her, arranging themselves in a formal line near the arena gateway. Lyvenna was among them, her usual warmth replaced by professional distance—the same detached expression worn by the others.
"You stand not merely as students, but as representatives of the Academy's finest traditions. The Ternion Tournament exists not to crown champions, but to forge them through adversity."
The weight of those words settled over the assembly. Vel understood them differently than anyone else present—this generation would face real threats sooner than they knew.
"It matters not which faction you serve or which affinity you command. What matters is how you adapt, how you innovate, and how you overcome."
Adaptation. Innovation. The exact principles Vel had been teaching his unstable classmates.
"This year marks a departure from tradition." Elyssia's voice gained new intensity. "Typically, the Ternion Tournament is held for second or third-year students, allowing them time to develop their abilities before facing such challenges."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
"However, this year is special. I believe the exceptional potential demonstrated by this first-year class warrants an earlier test of your abilities."
"The sooner we understand your true capabilities, the sooner we can guide you toward the training and purpose that will serve both you and our realm. Why wait when talent stands before us ready to be shaped?"
"Now, I invite the representatives of our three factions to share a few words before we begin."
The ceremony shifted into recruitment mode. Three figures approached the podium, but their speeches faded into background noise as Vel spotted Celia weaving through the crowd toward them. She looked flustered, her usually neat uniform slightly wrinkled.
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