The parchment felt heavier than it looked.
Nola stared at the golden wax seal shaped like a comet with a trail of seven stars pressed into the center of the recommendation letter.
It carried the weight of the Comet Legion's trust. General Asarra herself had written it, a rare honor even among prodigies.
She exhaled, fingers brushing over the edge of the scroll. Her heart pounded not with joy but with unease.
Across the training court, Taveer sat under a half-bloomed sakura tree, his own letter dangling from his fingers.
The Void Legion seal, a void circle etched with obsidian ink, pulsed faintly. His eyes weren't focused on the parchment. They were locked on the horizon, far past the stone walls and sunlit peaks of Eldhollow.
Maika stood between them, a pale-blue robe of the Nebula Legion already clasped around her shoulders. It shimmered like morning dew beneath starlight. She had accepted her fate without hesitation.
But none of them spoke. Not yet.
Maika broke the silence first.
"So… that's it, then?" Her voice was almost inaudible over the breeze. "We're not going together anymore?"
Nola looked up, finally meeting her friend's eyes. Maika had always been the brightest among them, the one who smiled even during blood training and sparring drills that cracked ribs. But now, her eyes were glassy.
"It is just for six months," Nola replied softly. "We will be together in six months without worries."
Taveer chuckled darkly. "Strength, or loyalty? Because I'm not sure what these legions really want from us anymore."
He rose and walked to them slowly, the Void seal now clutched tighter in his fist. He didn't look at Maika. His eyes were only on Nola.
"You gonna take it?" he asked, eyes burning into her.
Nola nodded. "Asarra, the commander of Comet Legion said I would fit right in for assasination and quick strike teams. She said it would be the best place for me to improve myself. That's… power I can't ignore."
"But can you trust her?" Taveer snapped, his voice sharp. "You think Comet's any better than Void? She wants your blade, not your mind. She thinks that you are worthwhile only because of your brother."
"And Void doesn't?" Nola asked, her voice quiet but cutting. "All Legions only want to improve their footing. You said it yourself. So why are you going?"
Taveer took a step back, visibly shaken. He turned away, face to the wind.
"Because," he whispered, "I have something I have to do. It can only be done by me going to the Void Legion."
Maika winced. "So we're all choosing something poisonous. Lovely."
A moment passed. Then another. The sakura tree rustled again.
"I kept thinking we'd stick together through this," Maika said at last, looking to the clouds. "I thought we'd all rise as one. Now Nola is the spear of Comet. Taveer, the shadow of Void. And me… the wind of Nebula. All of us separated."
Nola stepped closer. "But we're too different now."
Maika nodded, wiping her eye. "Yeah. That's the truth, isn't it?"
A long silence followed. Not empty, but loaded. A silence that wrapped around the heart and squeezed until it bled.
Nola felt the sharp sting of parting before anyone had even moved.
She tried to steel herself. She thought about the blood she had spilled. The monsters she had slain during the last expedition. The darkness she had already let inside. And yet this, this moment of saying goodbye was harder than betrayal, harder than war.
She turned to Maika. "You'll be safest in Nebula. They're… gentler."
Maika gave a crooked smile and turned to Taveer. "And you'll be in the most dangerous one out of all of us."
Taveer scoffed behind them. "I don't think so. It could be worse for Nola."
"I know that she will get through," Maika said. "And I think you know it too, Taveer."
He didn't respond. He just looked at Nola again.
"I'm going to have to leave tonight," he said. "Void expects me to vanish. I don't get to say goodbye to anyone else."
Maika's lip trembled. "Don't say it like that."
"It's how they work," he muttered. "You disappear. You don't write. You don't come back. Not until the six months are over."
Taveer walked forward again, stepping past Maika, until he stood just before Nola.
"You know," she said in a low voice, "when I first met you, I thought you were dangerous. Cold. Brilliant, yes but someone who'd cut ties without flinching."
Taveer held his gaze. "And now?"
Nola leaned in slightly. "Now I think you're human. Which makes it worse."
He reached up slowly, fingers brushing her cheek.
"Nola… do you feel anything for me?"
Nola swallowed hard. Her hands trembled at her sides.
She wanted to say no.
She wanted to maintain control, to cling to that cold ambition that had carried her this far. She wanted to say I'm beyond this, beyond petty love, beyond longing.
But her throat tightened.
"I….I-"
He didn't wait.
Taveer kissed her.
It wasn't soft. It wasn't sweet. It was raw and desperate, carved from the panic of time slipping away. His hand cupped the back of her neck, as if afraid she'd fade the moment he let go.
Nola froze but then leaned in.
For a breathless moment, she melted.
She tasted fire, regret, and something wild, something untamed. A flicker of what could've been.
But it ended as suddenly as it began.
He pulled back, panting. His eyes were glassy now too.
"I shouldn't have done that," he whispered. "But I needed to."
Nola stared at him. Her lips parted. She couldn't find the words.
Maybe there were none.
Taveer stepped away, not looking back.
Maika said nothing as he vanished into the shadows of the garden, his figure dissolving into the violet dusk.
Nola stood still for a long while.
Maika came up beside her and gently took her hand. Her grip was cold.
"You'll survive this," Maika said.
Nola didn't answer.
She looked at the Comet seal again.
For the first time, she questioned if the path she chose was really hers—or just the one she was manipulated into taking.
But it was too late now.
The stars had diverged.