ShadowBound: The Need For Power

Liam made it back to his dorm after the announcement with the same quiet pace he had used leaving Beacon Hall, though his mind had already started moving faster than his feet.

The moment he entered his room, he shut the door behind him, crossed to his study desk, and sat down without bothering to change. The field of thought inside his head had become too crowded to ignore, and if he allowed himself to delay, it would only scatter into irritation later. He pulled out his personal book, several pieces of parchment, the Bastion Assessment guide, and a writing material.

Darkness shifted briefly at his side as the items he had stored earlier appeared one after another on the desk, settling neatly under his hand. He arranged them with deliberate care, placing the guide open near the center, his personal book to the left, and the blank parchment before him.

He stared at the blank page for a moment.

Then he wrote one line at the top.

Bastion Assessment: Real Beginning = Arrival.

Liam leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing.

Lucia’s first explanation of the Bastion Assessment had made him assume the main challenge would begin once the second-years reached Veyrhold. That had been logical enough. The abandoned fortified settlement was the central base, the main structure, the thing they had to secure, repair, defend, and use as a headquarters. It sounded like the assessment’s true beginning. Reach Veyrhold, claim it, survive from there.

Thion’s briefing had changed that completely.

The possibility of scattered arrival zones shifted the entire assessment backward. The academy was not only testing command inside a base. They were testing whether Sheila’s leadership structure could survive before it even had a headquarters.

The first failure point was arrival.

Liam tapped the writing material once against the parchment.

"That changes more than they realize," he muttered.

He began listing the obvious problems.

Students might land in small groups. Some groups might have no strong fighter. Some might have no healer. Some might have a reckless student who decided the best answer was to rush toward Veyrhold without checking who had arrived nearby. Others might freeze because they were waiting for Sheila’s orders while Sheila herself might be nowhere close to them.

Communication insignias could fail or distort. A weak group could panic. A proud group could move ahead too quickly. A hostile creature could attack before anyone had even formed a proper temporary unit. The more he wrote, the more the arrival stage began to look less like transportation and more like a deliberate pressure trap.

And more than that, it made Sheila’s commander role harder.

If Sheila landed far from the largest group, others would have to act without her. If Edith landed somewhere else, then even the vice commander would be unable to stabilize things quickly. That meant Sheila’s leadership could not be built around everyone waiting for her voice. Waiting for her voice would get people killed, scattered, or judged. She needed pre-established rules, fallback procedures, and local decision authority before deployment. If she failed to prepare people for separation, then becoming commander meant far less than everyone seemed to think.

Liam’s pen paused.

"She should notice that," he said quietly.

He stared at the line for a moment, then exhaled through his nose.

That was Sheila’s problem.

He had already placed himself behind her too many times. He had forced enough pieces into position. He had warned her. He had watched her handle Chris. She had proved she could stand before the year and answer pressure without him stepping in. That meant this, at least, was something she could do. If he took everything from her hands after that, then her command would remain a fragile thing built on Liam’s hidden repairs.

’Do it yourself,’ he thought, though there was less contempt in the thought than there would have been weeks ago. ’You showed you can.’

Still, he kept writing.

Not for Sheila. Not exactly. For himself. For clarity. For knowing how the assessment might move if Sheila was smart enough to think ahead properly. He divided the page into sections and began breaking the Bastion Assessment into phases.

Phase One: Arrival and Regrouping.

The first phase was simple in name and ugly in practice. Every small group needed to know what to do if separated. Do not run blindly. Do not chase screams unless the threat can be assessed. Do not rush toward Veyrhold alone unless the route is known and survival is likely. Find nearby students. Form temporary larger groups. Identify injuries immediately. Use communication insignias, but do not rely on them. Mark the route. Move toward prearranged rally points if those were established before deployment.

Liam’s writing slowed as another thought formed.

There was a flaw in the academy’s setup, though flaw was perhaps the wrong word. It was likely intentional. If the students chose commander and vice before deployment but landed scattered, then local leadership became just as important as central leadership. Sheila and Edith could be commander and vice, but they could not command every separated group immediately. That meant capable students had to be ready to take temporary control if they landed with weaker groups.

He wrote names beside the phase.

Asher. Charlotte. Maxwell. Dylan. Ariana. Other capable low/mid-rank students. Identify before deployment.

Liam stared at Dylan’s name for a second longer than the others.

"Annoying," he said under his breath. "But apparently not useless."

That was still irritating to accept.

He moved on.

Phase Two: Movement to Veyrhold.

Once students formed groups, they would have to move. This was where route safety became the deciding factor. Scouts would matter. Pace would matter. Whether a group prioritized reaching Veyrhold quickly or gathering more students first would depend on context, not a single rule. Believing in one answer for every situation was unacceptable.

If a group was strong and close to Veyrhold, moving quickly to secure an entry point might be best. If a group was weak, injured, or missing too many people, risky movement could turn into a slaughter. They might need to hide, signal, wait, or establish contact first.

Liam wrote while thinking through the movement problems.

A large group was safer against some threats and slower against others. A small group moved faster but could be overwhelmed. Students with bright, loud magic might reveal positions too easily. Students panicking might overuse Myst and attract things that sensed output. If communication failed, prearranged route markings would matter. If route markings were discovered by hostile creatures or other unexpected forces in Eldervale, they could become danger too. Everything had a cost.

He paused again, eyes shifting toward the shadow at the edge of his desk.

His dark magic would be valuable in this phase, depending on how much of it he chose to show.

Nyxie, if it came to that. Smoke. Raven. Other shadows.

They could scout ahead, locate students, track movement, confirm threats, and test routes without risking living students immediately. The issue was visibility.

He wrote a smaller note beneath the movement phase.

Shadow scouts valuable. Use openly only if necessary. Do not expose Nyxie unless benefit outweighs risk.

Phase Three: Securing Veyrhold.

This was where Thion’s warning returned most sharply.

Walls did not equal safety.

Veyrhold could not be treated as a safe base just because they reached it. It was an unknown structure filled with potential ambush points, hidden rooms, unstable walls, corrupted Myst pockets, trapped corridors, blind turns, collapsed sections, and places hostile creatures might already be nesting. The worst thing the students could do was reach Veyrhold and celebrate as if the hard part was over. Reaching Veyrhold was not the end of the first trial. It was the moment the actual exam widened its mouth.

Liam wrote harder now.

Do not flood inside carelessly. First hours = clearing, mapping, zoning. Nobody sleeps. Nobody wanders. Nobody claims rooms. Identify safe / dangerous / unknown / sealed / priority-repair areas.

He leaned back, imagining it.

Outer gate. Walls. Courtyards. Watchtowers. Storehouses. Old wells. Collapsed buildings. Underground sections. Narrow corridors. Shadows. Nests. The academy would not give them a base without teeth. Not after everything Thion said. If students ran in and scattered into rooms because they were tired from arrival, they might lose people before the first night.

"Safe must be proven," Liam murmured. "Not assumed."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!