They called it the Male Order, but it felt more like a cult.
No women allowed. No Ether manipulation. No Council surveillance.
Just men—hidden in plain sight, embedded in the Academy, in noble houses, even in the Council itself.
"Your body is the key," the leader said. "Your bond ability isn't a glitch. It's the original form of Ether—raw and primal."
Kael listened. He didn't trust them.
But when they handed him a scroll sealed in blood and marked "The First Flame Doctrine", something inside him pulsed.
Not his Ether.
His instincts.