DISGUISED AS A BOY TO INFILTRATE THE ACADEMY

WELCOME TO ZODI

"Welcome to ZODI, young man, do you want to state why you are here or are we all gonna be kept waiting?"

The voice cut through the cold air in the intake hall.

I looked up. The room was huge, stone and steel, with high windows that let in thin strips of light but no warmth. There were about twenty of us standing in a loose line, all new candidates, all trying not to look as tired and beaten as we actually were. And in front of us, standing with her arms crossed, was her.

Lady Diana.

She didn't look like a lady. She looked built. Like, _built_ built. Shoulders broad, arms corded with muscle under her black uniform, a scar running from her left jaw down to her collarbone. Her hair was cropped short, silver-blonde. She wasn't tall, maybe 5'8", but she took up the whole room. The kind of woman who could snap your neck and then go back to drinking her tea.

Around her were four men, all in the same black uniform, all armed. Guards? Instructors? They all looked built too, but none of them looked as dangerous as she did.

I looked at all of them, then back at her, and I answered before I could stop myself. My mouth always moves faster than my brain.

"Well I passed the test, didn't I? I didn't know I'd have to give a heartfelt speech to get in."

Silence.

One of the men who surrounded the woman took a step forward and glared at me. His hand went to the baton at his belt. "No one speaks to Lady Diana that way. You've only just passed the first test, know your place."

First test. So that hell run through the forest with the dogs and the maze was only the _first_ test. Great. Perfect.

I looked at Diana again. "So you're the boss lady around here?"

She stared at me for a long second. Her eyes were a pale, icy blue. She didn't look angry at my attitude. If anything, she looked... amused.

"No," she answered.

I wasn't surprised at all. No one who is actually the boss says they are the boss.

"But my superiors are gonna like you a lot," she continued, taking a slow circle around me. I could feel her eyes on my back, my shoulders, my hands. Assessing. "You've got a smart mouth. Smart mouths either die fast here, or they become very useful. What's your name, candidate?"

"I'm Loki."

She stopped in front of me again. "Loki."

"Alright Loki, welcome to ZODI."

Just like that. No handshake, no welcome package. Just those words. Welcome to ZODI. From someone else it would have sounded warm. From her, it sounded like a warning.

She showed me — and the rest of the candidates — to the main quarters where most of the candidates are to reside in. We walked through long corridors that smelled like metal and rain. The whole facility felt like it was built inside a mountain. You could hear water dripping somewhere far away.

"I was to share a room with three people who came here just like me. When I got into the room, there was a guy seated towards the east of the room.

He was alone. Brown-skinned, brunette, sitting with his knees pulled up on the bottom bunk. He glanced at me when I walked in, gave me a quick once-over, then went back to staring at the wall.

I didn't bother to make acquaintance because most people who come to places like these aren't people you should become chummy with. That's lesson one in survival. The more friends you make, the more people can stab you in the back, or the more people you have to watch die. It would be best if I just observe and keep every information to myself.

I started unpacking my things. Like I said, I don't have much. The duffel bag, the shirts, the notebook. And my mind drifted back to when the boss lady called me a young man.

It looked like I've successfully pulled off faking my gender.

I wasn't about to tell them that I was actually a teenage girl. To imagine Lady Diana's face if she found out that a mere 17-year-old girl snuck into their facility disguised as a boy, no doubt I'd be shot dead on the spot if I'm discovered.

The binding on my chest was tight today. I had wrapped it twice because I knew there would be a physical test. It hurts to breathe. My hair is cut short now, hacked off with kitchen scissors two nights before I left home. I rubbed charcoal on my jaw to make it look sharper, wore the baggiest clothes I could find to hide everything. My voice — I trained for months to make it lower, to speak from my chest and not my throat.

So far, it's working. Young man. She said young man. I almost laughed.

It's not like I was doing this for fun... well, it _is_ a bit fun, I won't lie. Seeing these big, scary men look right through me and see a boy is kind of thrilling. But I'm here on a mission, plus the extra training would be nice. Not everyone would willingly join an aeystrim without a good reason to do so.

My reason is personal.

Now this place, the Zodiac Commune, isn't the only aeystrim in existence. In this world, if you want power, you join an aeystrim. It's like an academy, an army, and a cult all in one.

But there are just three King Aeystrims. The big three. The ones that rule the continent.

The first is *The Elementals.* They believe solely on mana and magic which makes combatants have high levels of spiritual force. It gives them the power to influence nature and tap from its power. Fire, water, wind, earth. They are the most respected, but also the most closed off. That particular aeystrim is restricted and reserved for those who are in sync with the elements. You have to be born with it. I wasn't. I tried when I was younger, to light a candle with my mind, to move water. Nothing. I'm dead inside when it comes to elemental magic. So that door was closed to me.

Then there's *ZODI.* Which is the aeystrim I chose.

ZODI don't deal with just powers, they choose based on skill and intelligence and I have a bit of both. Or at least, I think I do. ZODI believes in the zodiac and its signs. The twelve signs represent the higher-ups. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. Twelve masters, each with their own fighting style, their own philosophy, their own disciples. And the main head of this aeystrim is Draco. The most powerful guy on the planet. Or so they say. No one has seen him in five years. Some say he's dead. Some say he's just meditating on top of the highest tower, waiting for someone worthy.

ZODI is the only King Aeystrim that takes in people with no magic. They take orphans, runaways, ex-soldiers, criminals. They take anyone who is smart enough or skilled enough to survive. That's why I chose it. I have no mana, but I have hands that are fast and a brain that doesn't stop.

The last aeystrim and the most dreaded is *The Levindus Clan.*

Nobody knows anything about them and they are just 200 in number, which is very small even for a minor aeystrim, but there were many talks at the time about how they use human sacrifices to get stronger. They don't recruit. They take. Children go missing near Levindus territory. No one has heard or seen them since the last battle between the major aeystrims, ten years ago, so many lives were lost. The Battle of the Bleeding Sky. My mother told me about it. The sky turned red for three days.

Some say Levindus was wiped out. Some say they just went deeper underground.

I don't know. I don't care about them right now.

I care about the fact that I'm now lying on a top bunk in ZODI, disguised as a boy, with three male roommates I don't know, and a woman called Lady Diana who already thinks I'm interesting.

Interesting people die first here.

I closed my eyes and pressed my hand against my chest, feeling the tight wrap, feeling my own heart beating fast underneath.

Seventeen. Girl. Alone. In a facility full of men who would kill me if they knew.

This is exactly where I need to be.