The domain air felt heavier than normal, thick in a way Noah couldn't quite explain. He stood on the grass that shouldn't exist in any real location, watching his dragons circle above like they were caught in some invisible current.

Storm's Arctic Shroud manifested in brief pulses, frost spreading through the air before dissipating. Nyx's flames flickered across his scales in patterns that seemed almost restless. Ivy's vine appendages extended and retracted, reaching toward nothing Noah could see.

But they were calming down. The frantic circling from moments ago had slowed, become less desperate. Their movements were still agitated, but the immediate crisis seemed to be passing.

Noah stayed where he was, not approaching. Experience with beasts had taught him that certain situations demanded distance over comfort. When an alpha called, it overrode most things. Loyalty, training, even bonds built over months or years. It was like watching a dog succumb to rabies—the animal you knew was still in there somewhere, but the disease had taken control, and getting too close meant getting hurt regardless of past affection.

'I don't know what they're hearing. Don't know what they're feeling. But whatever it is, it's strong enough to make them forget I exist.'

Storm passed overhead, close enough that Noah could have reached up and touched his tail if he'd jumped. The wyvern didn't acknowledge him. His pale blue eyes stayed fixed on some distant point beyond the domain's boundaries, his attention completely absorbed by whatever signal was reaching him.

They weren't communicating with Noah. They were calling to something he couldn't hear, responding to something he couldn't sense.

Noah found a spot on the grass and sat down, crossing his legs, settling into the meditation posture Master Anng had drilled into him at the academy. If he was going to wait and observe, he might as well make use of the time.

He closed his eyes, focused inward, found his core. The white energy of chi responded immediately, familiar and warm, flowing through the pathways he'd spent time cultivating. He let it move naturally, following the major channels first—from core through arms and legs, then cycling back. The minor pathways activated next, smaller streams of energy connecting everything into a cohesive network.

His blood pressure dropped. His breathing deepened. The frantic edge that had been building since he woke up to the news about Lucas and then the system notification appearing began fading, replaced by the calm focus that came from proper chi meditation.

'Slow down. Think this through properly.'

Above him, the dragons continued their circling. Noah tracked their movements through sound rather than sight—wingbeats, the occasional shriek or roar, the rush of displaced air when one of them dove before climbing again. They were still agitated but the pattern was changing. Every few minutes, they'd pause mid-flight, hover in place, their heads tilting like they were listening to something.

Noah opened his eyes slightly, watching Storm hang motionless in the air, his body completely still except for the occasional wing adjustment to maintain altitude. The wyvern's attention was laser-focused on something Noah couldn't perceive. Not visual, probably. Maybe auditory, though Noah heard nothing except wind and wingbeats. Could be something else entirely—a feeling, an instinct, some sense that dragons possessed and humans didn't.

'Whatever it is, it comes and goes. They react, then calm down, then react again. Like a signal that's not constant. Not strong enough to make them force their way out but strong enough to keep them on edge.'

His mind drifted while chi continued circulating through his meridians. The Lucas situation. That's what he'd been dealing with before the system notification pulled him here. His friend sitting on the training hall floor, locked in some kind of dissociative state, unable to process present reality.

'What did I actually see?'

Noah replayed the scene in his memory. Lucas in a fetal position, rocking slightly, his face buried against his knees. The crowd of Eclipse members standing at a distance, their expressions were ranging from horror to uncertainty. The way everyone had been speaking in careful implications rather than direct statements.

It happened this morning. It wasn't his fault. He didn't see. She probably spooked him.

The recruit had been running solo forms in the back corner. Lucas had entered for early training, not knowing anyone else was there. She'd made a sound—probably just an exhalation from exertion, nothing threatening—and Lucas had turned around.

'And saw a threat that wasn't there.'

That's what trauma did. It rewired threat assessment, made the brain see danger where none existed. Lucas had spent months in Arthur's shadow dimension, alone, constantly alert for threats in a place where genuine threats probably existed. His nervous system had adapted to that environment, become hypervigilant, and now that hypervigilance was triggering in safe situations.

The recruit had spooked him. Lucas's brain had processed "unexpected presence" as "potential threat" before his conscious mind could catch up. And whatever defensive response had started to activate, whatever Lucas had been about to do, he'd caught himself before it happened. But not before everyone saw the moment, saw him shift into combat readiness against someone who posed zero actual danger.

'So he shut down. Dissociated completely rather than risk hurting someone. That's why he's sitting there rocking. His brain can't reconcile being safe with feeling threatened, so it just opted out of processing reality entirely.'

Noah understood it intellectually. Made sense from a psychological perspective. But understanding didn't solve the problem. Lucas was still locked in that state, and Noah had no idea how to help beyond the obvious—make him feel safe enough to return to present awareness voluntarily.

Above, Nyx dove suddenly, plummeting toward the ground before pulling up at the last second, his flames erupting in frustration. Storm and Ivy followed, all three of them descending to lower altitude, circling maybe fifty feet up instead of the hundred-plus they'd been maintaining.

Their heads tilted again, simultaneously, like they were all hearing the same thing at the same time.

Noah watched, counting seconds. The focused attention lasted maybe ten seconds before they resumed normal flight patterns. Still agitated, still circling, but not actively trying to reach whatever was calling them.

'It's not constant. Comes in waves. They respond when it's strong, calm down when it weakens.'

He let another hour pass, maintaining chi meditation while monitoring the dragons behavior. The pattern held consistent—periods of intense focus lasting ten to thirty seconds, followed by ten to fifteen minutes of relative calm. Whatever signal was reaching them operated on irregular intervals, not strong enough or constant enough to override their bond with Noah but present enough to keep them on edge.

Eventually, Noah stood, his legs protesting slightly from sitting in meditation posture for extended time. The dragons noticed him now, their attention shifting to track his movement. Storm descended, landing twenty feet away, his head tilting in that characteristic gesture that meant he was assessing Noah's mood.

"I know something's calling you," Noah said. The dragons couldn't understand human language in any conventional sense, but tone and intent came through clearly enough. "I don't know what it is yet. But I'm going to figure it out. Just need you to stay here for now, alright? Don't try forcing your way out. I'll come back to check on you."

Storm chirped, the sound carrying acknowledgment if not agreement. Nyx and Ivy landed nearby, their postures relaxed but alert.

Noah activated his dimensional travel, felt reality fold around him, and emerged back in the training hall.

Most of the crowd had dispersed. The core team remained—Sophie, Diana, Kelvin, Lila, Seraleth, Sam. They'd spread out around the hall's perimeter, maintaining distance from Lucas who still sat in the same position on the floor.

Lucas hadn't moved. Still rocking slightly, still locked in whatever internal space his mind had retreated to. But his posture had shifted minutely, his shoulders less tense than before. Progress, maybe. Or just physical exhaustion from maintaining that position for over an hour.

Noah crossed the training hall floor, his footsteps echoing in the mostly empty space. The team watched him approach but didn't interfere, letting him handle this however he thought best.

He stopped about five feet from Lucas, close enough to talk normally but far enough that he wasn't invading space in a way that might trigger more defensive responses.

"Hey, bro," Noah said. His tone was casual, conversational, the way he'd talk to Lucas during any normal interaction. "So I've been avoiding sparring with you since you got back. You noticed that?"

Lucas didn't respond, didn't look up, but Noah saw his rocking slow slightly. Listening, even if he couldn't engage yet.

"I've been dodging it because honestly? I'm scared to find out if I'm still on the same level as you or not. Deep down, I doubt it. You were already powerful before Arthur captured you. Months in that shadow dimension, pushing your lightning abilities beyond normal limits just to survive? You came back stronger." Noah paused. "You're probably the strongest person I know. Well, strongest good guy I know, anyway."

He chuckled, the sound genuine despite the situation. "Arthur doesn't count. He's a nightmare wrapped in human skin. But you? You're the kind of strong that actually matters. The kind that survives hell and comes back still trying to be decent."

Lucas's fingers twitched against his knees. Small movement, barely noticeable, but Noah saw it.

"I know you went through things in that dimension that I can't imagine. Months alone, constantly alert, no idea if you'd ever get out. That does things to a person. Rewires how your brain processes threats, makes you see danger where none exists. What happened this morning?" Noah's voice stayed level, matter-of-fact. "That wasn't you attacking someone. That was your nervous system doing what it was trained to do—identify threats and prepare to defend. The recruit spooked you, your brain processed it wrong, and you caught yourself before anything actually happened."

He sat down on the floor, mirroring Lucas's general posture but maintaining that five-foot distance. "You're safe now. The dimension is gone. Arthur can't reach you. Eclipse headquarters is secure, we've got enhanced security protocols, and everyone here is on your side. The people in this building aren't threats. They're family. Weird, dysfunctional, occasionally annoying family, but family."

Lucas's head shifted slightly, just a fraction of movement, like he was processing the words but couldn't quite engage with them yet.

"So here's the deal," Noah continued. "You need to snap out of this. Because if you don't, I'm going to have no choice but to actually kick your ass in a sparring match to prove you're not some untouchable force of nature. And honestly? I'd rather not face that level of humiliation. My ego's fragile, Lucas. I need to maintain the illusion that I could maybe hold my own against you for at least a few more weeks."

Lucas's shoulders shook slightly. Not rocking this time. Something else.

"I'm serious," Noah said, and a smile crept into his voice. "You better snap out of this or I'm challenging you to combat. Full contact, no holding back, in front of the entire faction. And when you inevitably wipe the floor with me, I'll have to live with that embarrassment forever. Kelvin will make jokes. Diana will give me disappointed looks. Sophie will probably compile statistics on exactly how badly I lost. It'll be terrible."

Lucas's head came up slowly. His eyes were red, exhausted, but focused now. Present. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth despite everything.

"Dream on, Eclipse," Lucas said. His voice was rough, cracked from not speaking for hours, but it was him. Actually him, not whatever dissociative state he'd been locked in.

Then his eyes welled up, tears forming despite the smile, and Sophie moved first. She crossed the distance in three strides, dropped to her knees beside Lucas, and pulled him into a hug that was equal parts fierce and gentle.

Diana followed immediately, her usual reserve cracking as she wrapped her arms around Lucas from the other side. Lila was next, then Seraleth, all of them converging on Lucas in a group embrace that was messy and uncoordinated but absolutely genuine.

Lucas's shoulders shook properly now, actual crying, the kind that came from releasing pressure that had been building for months. He buried his face against Sophie's shoulder and just let it out while the four women held him, providing the kind of physical comfort that words couldn't touch.

Kelvin stood near the equipment storage, watching the scene with visible emotion on his face. Then he grinned, his usual humor troublesome self reasserting itself despite the tears in his own eyes.

"Damn," Kelvin said loudly enough for everyone to hear. "Look at all the love he's getting from the girls. Maybe I should lose a few marbles too and see what happens. I've been traumatized as well, you know. Noah's dancing at the academy still haunts my nightmares."

Several people laughed despite the emotional weight of the moment. Lucas actually chuckled, the sound muffled against Sophie's shoulder but audible.

Noah stood, walked over to Kelvin, and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Your trauma is self-inflicted from having to watch yourself in mirrors."

"Harsh but fair."

They stood there, watching the core team provide the kind of support Lucas needed, and Noah felt something settle in his chest. This was what Eclipse was supposed to be. Not just a faction, not just a military unit, but people who actually cared about each other enough to show up when things got hard.

But this peace and quiet didn't settle with him.

His mind drifted back to the domain, to three dragons circling restlessly, responding to something he couldn't hear. Whatever was calling them, whatever alpha signal was reaching across distance to summon his dragons, it was still out there. Still active. Still demanding response.

But that was a problem for later. Right now, his friend needed him present, needed the team present, and that took priority over everything else.

One crisis at a time.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.